Portland has a nice little racket going. They severely restrict land use by prohibiting the building of intown high-density housing, forcing new residents to live farther and farther from the city, then penalize those same residents for living so far away. Nice job, leftists.
The real goal of leftists is to get you out of your car and onto public transportation. Then they can mess with you via all the strikes by the unionized public transit workers shutting down the only way you have to go to work.
The automobile represents individual freedom. Mass transit = socialism.
You wrote -- "They severely restrict land use by prohibiting the building of intown high-density housing..."
My understanding, from living there, is that it's the opposite of what you're talking about. They actually want to use those land-use laws and regulations to pull people into town and not push them far out. And they have a term -- "densification" -- which is the opposite of what you're talking about. They're talking about having services and people "densified" and in closer proximity, making it so people can get all their services and needs "close-in" rather than drive long distances. And also, Portland is known for being a "walking town", as a lot of people walk and run and ride bikes and so on. It's not so bad, having done it all myself.
So, actually, my understanding (and experience) is the opposite of what you're saying.
And if you were living there right now, you would see all sorts of in-town, high-density living going on -- all sorts of new construction happening.
Regards,
Star Traveler