A Son of Portland, Ore., Tries to Puncture the Myth of 'Smart Growth'

Randal O’Toole thinks riding the train damages the climate more than driving an SUV. And he thinks his numbers prove it.

It’s just one of the nuggets that have made O’Toole a regular gadfly for the “smart growth” movement. When gas prices spiked last year, drivers flocked to mass transit, and urban planners took note. They knew it would lend credence to visions they had long imagined: dense urban neighborhoods, with transit veins that would make cars almost obsolete. It would be a “smart growth” model far more gentle for people — and the climate — than suburban sprawl.

O’Toole, meanwhile, continued to recommend deep cuts in federal transit funding. He still derides rail projects as “urban monuments” that burnish mayors’ resumes without reducing traffic or emissions.

…”With smart growth, they’re trying to turn us back into streetcar cities. They’re not going back to the pedestrian era, but they do want to turn automobile-era cities into streetcar cities, and it doesn’t make sense,” he said. “Why should we design our cities for the 1.6 percent of people who take transit?”

NY Times