These new jobs cannot be credited to smart growth. Moreover, Portland-area incomes have not increased. In fact, relative to inflation, average household income has declined in the past decade. With higher housing costs and lower incomes, it is doubtful that Blumenauer's claim of higher living standards is valid. The next question dealt with safety.
Public transportation has a lousy, very lousy safety record.
As a matter of fact, I think it's safer for me to drive my car. Because it's the only place in America I can think of where maybe it would be more safe to drive your automobile than it would be to ride public transit. Actually, driving on almost any urban freeway is safer than transit. So while it is sometimes safer to ride transit than to drive, it is more dangerous to walk to the transit stations. Buses are somewhere between freeways and light rail.