I am a transit planner in a city far away from Portland. Accordingly, I am not sufficiently familiar with WES to offer any comments on the planning of this service.

During the early 1980s, I attended a graduate program in urban & regional planning. Several faculty had extensive backgrounds in planning at the local, regional and state levels. There was one professor who taught a transportation and land use course, but I don't remember his professional background.

I created my own transportation emphasis through courses taken at the business school. These courses dealt with regulation of the transportation industry and benefit/cost analyses for transportation investments.

During my time in grad school, I also was a work-study student at a regional planning agency and a state department of transportation. Through these assignments, I gained some real world work experience before graduation.

My first job out of grad school was a transportation analyst for a large state department of transportation. My assignments included both road and transit projects. This was a good starting job, but I had limited opportunities to do original work. Much of my duties comprised of reviewing other people's work. Additionally, I never had to go before a group to discuss a plan or project.

A few years later, a new opportunity opened up in a different city. I took a pay cut to work as a transit planner. Professionally, it was a great move as I got to perform much more original work and I frequently have to speak before various groups of people. I've been very fortunate to get some great assignments, with even a couple involving freight railroads.

Getting back to graduate school - so much has changed with respect to transportation planning that it would have been impossible for anyone to learn all he or she would have needed to know. The Americans with Disabilities Act, Clean Air Act Amendments and Environmental Justice requirements, all of which have major implications for transportation planning, came about in the 1990s. When I was in grad school, Light Rail Transit was just getting underway as a major transit mode. No new commuter rail systems had been built and Bus Rapid Transit came about much later. Intelligent Transportation Systems are an even more recent phenomenon.

If I were to do it over again, the only thing I would have done differently was taken a course offered in the engineering school on railway engineering.

Through my work, I interact with all kinds of groups and people - business & civic associations, community groups, advocacy organizations, engineers, architects, archeologists, historians, developers, government affairs officers, reporters and representatives of libraries, universities, hospitals, museums, major league sports teams, environmental organizations, the local chapter of the Urban League, chambers of commerce and local, state and federal environmental and transportation agencies.

Am I a good transit planner? Yes, are a few who would tell me to go to hell. But the responses from others in the community have been positive including some who wish that I would buy a home in their neighborhood. Other local agencies and some community organizations seek my involvement in their planning efforts.

See you in hell or see you on a bus or train.