Warning: This post about Mayor Sam Adams does not mention sex, alleged sex or Beau Breedlove’s totally hot intern body even once. Instead it focuses on Adam’s financial policy. I hope that’s cool with everyone.
Next Friday afternoon, according to City Club, host of Mayor Sam Adam’s State of the City address, “Mayor Adams will – for the first time – articulate his economic strategy, which focuses on sustainability and developing the transportation infrastructure.” Luckily, the Merc snagged a early draft of Adam’s Economic Development Strategy, which lays out how the mayor and PDC plan to create jobs and bolster the city’s grim economy over the next five years.
Jobs? Oh yeah, LOTS of jobs. The current draft aims to create 10,000 jobs, all of them “green”, within the next five years. To do this, the PDC and Adam’s economic development team recommends attracting headquarters for big green businesses in three target industries (two activewear HQs, three software HQs, two clean tech HQs and three manufacturing operations) and expand the amount of industrial land available in the city to help advanced manufacturing.
Other elements of the plan include founding a sustainability institute in town and declaring the Rose Quarter, South Waterfront and Jasmine Block near PSU to be “eco-districts” to test new green building and ecological-minded city planning tactics.
The plan itself is very ambitious. The main goal of the strategy is stated right off in bold language: To become America’s most sustainable city. In five years, Adams and the PDC want Portland to be known as the model of sustainable job growth, sustainable city planning and sustainable industries that can sustain sustainable sustainability.
Several early critiques of the plan that emerged last week when business leaders involved in the plan-creation process the chance to look over the draft. Some voiced the opinion that creating 10,000 jobs may be a pie in the sky (a delicious, organic sustainable pie) given today’s economy and Oregon’s nine percent unemployment rate. Discussion at a meeting today turned to the strategy’s lack of emphasis on workforce training in schools.
But the most persistent criticism emerging over the last week is that the plan overlooks growing small local businesses in favor of attracting large new ones. “This a job creation document but then hidden on page 16 it says small businesses create 75 percent of jobs,” piped up Valerie Plummer, executive director of the Oregon Microenterprise Network, at a meeting last Thursday. “There’s a disconnect there.” As I wrote about a couple months ago, many of Portland’s small businesses have been teetering on the edge of financial disaster thanks to the recession.
The economic strategy plan is just a “50% draft” right now and won’t be 100 percent done until it is presented to City Council in July. Some sort of public forum open house with the regular citizens is slated to take place in the Spring but for now you should just download the draft and read through it yourself before Sam’s big State of the City address: Economic Development Strategy. Also, our print-version news story here.
‘sustainable industries that can sustain sustainable sustainability.’
Nice work Sarah.
And, you know who ELSE had ‘five-year plans’
“articulate his economic strategy, which focuses on sustainability and developing the transportation infrastructure.”
The ED plan sounds good. It plays to one perceived competitive advantage we have here. It doesn’t say anything about the costs of these programs. But the focus is fine. I just hope they don’t spend too much money in the false hope that the public sector can really have much influence on business development.
The “transportation infrastructure” talk sounds ominous. That usually translates into: it will become more miserable for you to drive anywhere, but a few score “bike advocates” will be happy.
The solution to all Sam’s problems? Marry that Breedlove!
Actually, transportation infrastructure in this case probably means MAX and streetcars, both of which are hated by a large proportion of bike advocates (have you ever got your wheel caught in the tracks??). It’s code for the already-known plans for Eastside Streetcar and MAX to Milwaukie.
As for attracting headquarters of big green businesses? Good luck with that – no company in the country can afford to relocate within the next five years.
What about the schools?
as in, if we have crap schools, doesn’t that make our city “unsustainable”? If we have crap schools, are families going to move here? If we have crap schools, who is going to work our sustainable jobs? If we have crap schools, who is going to start the next big things in Portland?
We have crap schools. And throwing more money at teachers unions won’t fix them.
The next big things will be started by someone motivated by innovation and competition, not being dragged by the nose by the city.
But don’t expect them to understand that.
(No offense to the hard workers at Portland schools, I’m going on overall results and rankings)
Yes well where to spend the money is another debate, but clearly we need MORE money in the schools, no matter how potentially fruitless it is. Schools are closing, most schools don’t have equitable services or full programs, and, I have yet to see us overpay for schools and regret it (ever).
Any economist knows that large businesses beget small businesses to support them. Duh.
Streetcars are not the answer. Neither is throwing money at bike improvements that will hit a wall when everyone who wants to bike everywhere already does.
What we need:
New Sellwood Bridge. New Interstate Bridge with light rail and 12 lanes. Hell, *14* lanes. That bridge is a huge bottleneck, and Adams wants to Sam-atage the new bridge to satisfy his anti-suburbs and anti-car base.
Another dirty little secret is that any new “sustainably sustainable” businesses will employ engineers, architects, blue-collar workers and office drones, with fewer “cultural creatives” than you might think.
Also – watch that PDC like a hawk. They’re itching to give sweet, sweet tax breaks and redevelopment funds to Friends of Sam.
Speaking of crap schools, the spelling you want, Sarah, is not Adam’s (or Adams’) but Adams’s. Just FYI.
Streetcars are the answer. So is throwing money at bike improvements that will not hit a wall when everyone who wants to bike everywhere already does. AFter all, the golden years of the automobile are well behind us.
What we need:
New Sellwood Bridge. New Interstate Bridge with light rail and 6 lanes for cars, the rest for light/heavy/bikes. Hell, *4* lanes. That bridge is a huge waste, and Adams wants to Sam-ify the new bridge to satisfy his anti-suburbs and anti-car base.
I sure as hell am not paying for a 14-lane beheamouth. Again, the days of people driving their wasteful little automobiles is over. The economy is proof.
Ordinarily, I’m cukoo for 5-year plans.
But, I get an empty feeling about this one.
“Anti-suburb” Portlanders are hilarious. Portland is more suburban than Beaverton.
This plan needs a slogan. How about:
“It’s Sustainable-rific!”
or
“We’re Talkin Green Jobs, Bitch!”
That’s all I got. What do you guys have?
It’s Sustainabillable!
Adams’ is perfectly acceptable, professor.
Long live our sustainable motherland,
built by Adams’s mighty hand!
Strong in his beneficence, tried by fire,
long may his verdant flag inspire,
shining in glory, for Gresham to see!
Ok… Blabby, you got me with that one. Kudos
“We’re Talkin Green Jobs, Bitch!”
I want it on a t-shirt.
We were also going to have thirty thousand awesome jobs in biotechnology… if we just built the tram. Government cannot create jobs. Government can create an environment conducive to job creation…. but they haven’t been doing a very good job around here.