I was there---not a lot of energy in the audience today. Crowd was waaayyy not into what they were selling.

City of Portland and PDC have brought forth reams of economic development strategies, studies, blue papers... etc for years now.

Net result: 30,000 downtown jobs lost in a decade.

Nationally, the city of Portland has a negative reputation as a suitable location for business formation due specifically to our city council's insistence on a special tax rate just for businesses. Want to know why Columbia Sportswear departed our friendly streets for the reactionary slums of Vancouver, WA?

Dear nacient small business owner: Thinking of starting a business in the greater Portland SMSA? Anywhere but the city of Portland with as anti-business a group of politicians and bureaucrats as exist anywhere in the U.S. of A. and worse than in most.

Old joke: How can you tell if the Mayor of Portland is lying? His lips are moving.

We have met the enemy and he is our Mayor and City Council, with the Multnomah County board running a very close second (with a "special" business income tax).

Have business? Will travel.

Need a job? Don't look to our city council for help. They already have jobs. And we're paying for them.