---------- Forwarded message ---------- Date: Wed, 04 Feb 1998 10:09:43 -0800 From: Don Homuth <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> Reply-To: [EMAIL PROTECTED] To: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Subject: Central Cities, Budgets @ Portland Article from this morning"s "Oregonian." The author, gregg Kantor, is the chairman of the Business Development Committee of the Association for Portland Progress. I find it interesting that the 5-year statement of "problem" is that the total number of downtown jobs declined by 100 -- 20/year. As Ed said, budgets reflect something about our sense of community as they deal with our goals. Anyway, here's how we're looking at this issue in our area: Aticle begins: Central city jobs key to region's health The Portland City Council is seeking public opinion by Thursday regarding the 1998-2000 budget. For the downtown business community, the priority is family-wage jobs in the central city that would be accessible by public transportation. Why should we care about adding more jobs to Portland's central city? After all, our economy is thriving and unemployment regionwide is just 3.9 per cent. To answer that question one must dig down to the bedrock of our strategy for managing growth. For more than two decaades, our efforts to protect the city and region's livability have been guided by one fundamental principle: make sure downtown remains a healthy, growing employment center. It has been the strategy behind all the other strategies, the platform upon which we have fought the pressure of growth. It's been our weapon to reduce traffic congestion, improve air quality, limit sprawl and create a diverse, affordable housing supply, and strong neighborhoods protected from commercial encroachment. And it's worked. In the 1970's and 1980's, we battled for every downtown job. We invested in central city infrastructure and aggfressively pursued every opportunity to attract or retain jobs. The bus mall, light rail, Pioneer Square, RiverPlace, Nordstroms, the Marriott and Pioneer Place are just a few of the products of those efforts. The importance of creating jobs downtown is still well understood. But somehow we have lost our sense of urgency and focus, perhaps even our belief that every new job created in the city's core is an investment in the region's livability. It's had a serious impact. Between 1990 and 1994, the metropolitan area added nearly 100,000 new jobs, while the number in the downtown core actually declined by about 100. The central city -- which includes the downtown core and the inner eastside, added just 890 jobs in the first four years of the 1990's. Job cuts by US Bank, Wells Fargo and others over the last two years have almost certainly eliminated any job growth in the central city during the 1990's. (The 1994 numbers are the latest available.) As part of the Central City 2000 Plan, Portland adopted an ambitious job target for its central city: 71,000 new jobs by 2015. Our region is growing and thriving economically, and we should be making progress toward that goal. We are not. This is not to say there isn't a lot of hard work being done on critical issues facing our city. Government, business and citizens are struggling over education, transportation, air quality, affordable housing and many other issues. Unfortunately, the solutions being developed to these problems -- like increasing the business income tax of imposing new system development charges -- often make it more difficult to create central city jobs. So what needs to be done? First, let's reject the notion that nothing needs to be done because our economy in the region is strong. A strong economy doesn't necessarily create a livable city7. Los Angeles, Denver, Phoenix and even Seattle are good reminders of that fact. Then it's important to get serious about creating jobs downtown. We aren't doing well at the basics. For example, it's inexcusable that the latest job growth numbers for the central city are more than 3 years old. If downtown jobs were our top priority, we'd track the numbers on a quarterly, if not monthly, basis. If we were truly dedicated to adding jobs in the central city, we'd know specifically which companies were looking at expanding or moving into the region, and our elected and business leadership would meet with their management to entice them downtown. If we were convinced that our city and the region's quality of life depended on employment in the core, we would be reaching out aggressively to companies thinking about moving their operations out of the core to make sure there wasn't something we could do to retain them. It's easy to say that creating jobs in the central city is the mission of the Portland Development Commission. But PDC can't do it alone. The commission needs the mandate and support of the Portland City Council,, Multnomah County Commission, business community and public at large. Achieving those job targets also depends on the support of the elected and business leadership regionwide. The future of the region depends on a strong employment base in Portland's central city. This is the premise of Region 2040, the plan for managing the metropolitan area's growth over the next 50 years. If Portland isn't successful in capturing its share of that growth, suburban communities will face even more serious traffic, housing and taxation problems. All of us need to regain that sense of urgency and focus that saved Portland's central city in the 1970's and 1980's. Times are different. Economic forces are different. But the strategy for success remains the same: Continue to add jobs to Portland's central city. Aticle ends Salient points: 1. Clear, measurable goals 2. Need to measure progress in real time 3. Definition of shared concern 4. Outcomes desired 5. Joint responsibility
