The big story of the 2014 elections at the national level is the Republicans taking the majority in the Senate and further embellishing its majority in the House. As was predicted, the Republican wave formed and hit the political terrain with overwhelming force.

As President Obama looks ahead to his final two years in office, he will be facing strong opposition to his policies in both the House of Representatives and the Senate. It is our hope that the president moves firmly to implement a strategy of constructive engagement and true negotiation with the Republican leaders of Congress, rather than continuously exercising his executive authority without congressional support.

This election, the voters made it clear that they are tired of the status quo; they want action on some key national issues. The 2014 elections create an opportunity to make real, long-term economic advancements. Both parties must leave petty political vendettas and “do-nothingness” by the wayside and produce results, mainly within the economy.

As recently as mid-October, Associated General Contractors was on Capitol Hill meeting with members and staff in the Oregon and Washington congressional delegations to continue our push of an agenda that focuses on growing the economy and producing jobs. Topics of discussion included: the need to aggressively move forward on passing a long-term transportation funding package, the Workforce Innovation and Opportunity Act, and the Jordan Cove Energy Project. We also raised concerns about a regulatory proposal affecting the “waters of the U.S.” and highlighted again the need for multiemployer pension reform.

The inaction by Congress over the past couple of years on all these issues has created an atmosphere of unpredictability and serious economic concern inside the construction industry. We hope that this Congress proves more receptive to real solutions as we move forward.

Both federally and across the state, the effects of the lack of a viable, long-term transportation funding package are now being felt. The short-term fixes that have been passed as of late are not producing the predictability that is needed by contractors to bid work and actually build projects.

As the federal funding faucet has stopped flowing, state funding has also been sinking. Long-term planning programs, such as Oregon’s Surface Transportation Investment Program (STIP), have been suspended, halting the ability to get work into the pipeline and further adding to a nearly $12 billion backlog in work. Passing a long-term, federal transportation package would get major projects flowing again and give our state legislators the confidence they need to invest in projects at the state level.

In addition to advocating for a long-term transportation funding package, AGC thanked congressional members for taking initiative on the Workforce Innovation and Opportunity Act (WIOA). It is designed to help job seekers access employment, education, training and support services necessary to succeed in the labor market, and match employers with the skilled workers they need to compete in the global economy. It is the first legislative reform of the public workforce system in 15 years, and Congress passed the act by a wide bipartisan majority.

The WIOA consolidates and realigns federal funding, allowing for a greater focus on the benefits of career technical education. This move at the federal level reaffirms the benefit of the nearly $9.5 million investment that the Oregon Legislature made for the 2013–2015 biennium in career technical education and will continue to inspire greater investments in career technical education at the state level.

Finally, AGC again thanked congressional members for their work in getting the first phases of the Jordan Cove Energy Project approved, and reiterated the need to advance it further. The south-central Oregon coast has been the victim of decades of economic depression, and a nearly $7.2 billion project would greatly improve the economy there.

The project would provide work for nearly 22,000 workers and infuse a great deal of capital into a struggling part of our state. We hope that addressing the issues of importance to the construction industry at the national level inspires bipartisan work for Congress and further fuels action at the state level.

Legislative action at the state level will continue to look a little different in Oregon than the rest of the nation. While most of the nation was trending Republican during elections in early November, Oregon took a different path and remains a flashing blue light in a sea of red.

Despite the need to wage a defensive campaign in the last weeks of the election, Gov. John Kitzhaber retained his governorship for an unprecedented fourth term. Oregon House Democrats increased their majority by one seat to 35 out of 60. Senate Democrats appear to have increased their majority by one seat as well to 17 out of 30 – pending official results of the Bruce Starr/Chuck Riley race in Senate District 15. These gains put Democrats in both houses within one vote of the 3/5 super majority required for any tax increase.

With the elections (mostly) behind us, preparations for the 2015 legislative session in Oregon are already in full swing. Issues of importance to AGC and the construction industry will mirror the discussions that took place at the congressional level. These include securing a transportation funding package and making a permanent, sustainable investment in career tech education in Oregon’s high schools. AGC will work with a broad range of coalitions to ensure that these essential investments in our industry and Oregon’s economy come to fruition.

Finally, the campaign calls have stopped. Now it’s time to get Oregon back to work.

Mike Salsgiver is the executive director of Associated General Contractors’ Oregon-Columbia chapter. Contact him at 503-685-8305 or mikes@agc-oregon.org.

The post OP-ED: Following elections, state issues will mirror federal ones appeared first on Daily Journal of Commerce.

On Wednesday, ballots will be mailed out across the state in Oregon’s unique vote-by-mail system. The construction industry and the workers it employs have much at stake in this election. At a time when the industry is rebounding from the longest and deepest slump of any sector, it is vital that we elect leaders willing to work for commonsense solutions to the challenges facing our industry and its workforce. Statewide, the construction industry employs nearly 80,000 people, and AGC has shown that the active involvement of its members can and does impact elections and public policy.

Elections matter. Their outcomes can have immeasurable effect on the construction industry, each company, and even each paycheck. Over the past decade, our country has become increasingly divided. A small margin of votes may decide an election, so it is important that those who are eligible to vote do so. It is our belief that when employees of our member companies vote, the voices of the business community and the construction industry can be heard.

In off-presidential election years such as this, voter turnout historically is lower; therefore, whichever party can do a better job to activate its base has an advantage. In Oregon, the political landscape is quite interesting, with the full House of Representatives participating in the election and only half of the Senate.

Heading into November, the Legislature is sure to experience substantial transformation with key longtime legislators such as former House Co-Speaker Bruce Hanna, R-Roseburg, and key moderates such as Vicki Berger, R-Salem, and Chris Garrett, D-Lake Oswego, departing. Although the House is currently has 34 Democrats and 26 Republicans, that chamber alone is guaranteed to gain at least 17 new legislators. This means that over 28 percent of the House will consist of “freshmen lawmakers” when the legislative session convenes on Feb. 2, 2015.

For the Oregon Democratic Party, Democrat-friendly issues could boost voter turnout among registered Democrats. That said, if the “enthusiasm gap” – the gap in turnout between those who are vocal during election season and those who actually show up to cast a vote – is as large this year as it was in 2010, Democrats will have a difficult time at the ballot box. Republicans hope that increased nonaffiliated voter turnout will mimic the turnout of the 2010 midterm elections, during which the Oregon Republican Party managed to tie the Democratic Party in the House of Representatives.

In the Senate, the landscape is slightly different. A two-seat gap separates Republican and Democrat control of the Senate, with the Democratic Party controlling the chamber going into the election. District 13 Senator Larry George, R-Sherwood, is the only incumbent not seeking re-election, while the remaining 14 (93 percent) incumbents are running for re-election.

Oregon Democrats are hoping that the number of vulnerable Republican incumbents exceeds that of vulnerable Democrats, placing their party in a stronger position to maintain control of the Senate. Both parties are heading into late fall focused on the close races as well as the influence that the nearly 500,000 nonaffiliated voters can bring in those key races.

Another factor in voter turnout is what issues are on the ballot. Of particular interest to AGC and the business community at large is Measure 90, the open primary initiative.

Oregon is one of only 12 states to use a strictly closed primary process in which the selection of a party’s candidate is limited to registered party members. Overall primary turnout has slumped in recent years. This May’s primary turnout barely exceeded 35 percent – the second lowest on record and the lowest since the state started delivering mailed ballots to every voter in the 2000 primary. Numbers like this demonstrate that only a small fraction of the electorate chooses a primary winner.

Why the low voter turnout? Oregon’s voters are increasingly opting out of the two major parties. Overall, nearly 31 percent of Oregon voters no longer belong to one of the major parties – an increase of more than 10 percent in the last 20 years. This trend is likely to continue with nearly 49 percent of voters 40 years and younger registered as unaffiliated or in one of the minor parties. As a result, a shrinking number of voters can participate in the Democratic and Republican primaries that choose the winners of virtually all of the state’s partisan offices.

Measure 90 would create a primary open to all candidates of all parties. The top two finishers, regardless of party, would advance to the general election. Proponents of the measure say it would empower the growing number of voters not registered in the major parties, and be a moderating influence since candidates could no longer appeal solely to their narrow base of voters. Opponents say it would reduce voter choices in the general election and take away the ability of party voters to choose nominees to represent them. Also, they say similar primary processes in California and Washington produce more problems than solutions.

What all of these facts and figures demonstrate is that showing up matters! No matter the party or the issue, it is important to vote and turn in your ballot before 8 p.m. on Nov. 4.

In preparation for Election Day, AGC of America has proudly relaunched its ConstructionVotes.com website. This website is designed to give individuals – construction employees in particular – the necessary resources for them to cast an informed vote. Information is presented simply to help individuals cast their vote and become more knowledgeable and involved in the electoral process.

AGC believes that when employees of our member companies vote, the voices of the business community and construction industry are heard. Our highly skilled and well-paid industry has much at stake in this election, and the political landscape appears able to shift in either direction. It is important to vote on Nov. 4 not only because elections matter, but because the impact on our life, work and community is guaranteed to be immense for many years to come.

Mike Salsgiver is the executive director of Associated General Contractors’ Oregon-Columbia chapter. Contact him at 503-685-8305 or mikes@agc-oregon.org.

The post OP-ED: Elections matter to everyone in the industry appeared first on Daily Journal of Commerce.

Contractors will be able to see what a potential $90 million Clackamas Community College bond measure might look like during a series of town hall meetings at the college’s three campuses in May.

Opsis Architecture has spent the past year working on an assessment of facilities’ conditions and determining how well they are serving educational needs, firm principal Alex Holser said.

“I think they’ve had a strong commitment from the community over the last two years – in my estimate better than anybody we’ve seen – in trying to determine what the needs are in terms of workforce development,” he said.

Each campus would receive improvements, which would target workforce development with a strong focus on science, technology, engineering and math, said Shelly Parini, dean of college advancement and public affairs at the college.

Two new facilities were pitched as part of a proposed bond measure that would appear on the November ballot.

The first would be an industrial-technology learning center on the Oregon City campus. The other would be replacement of a 61-year-old building on the Harmony Community Campus near Clackamas Town Center, Parini said.

Other projects could include significant classroom renovations and electrical, HVAC, seismic, and health and safety improvements, according to the college.

“Contractors will have the opportunity to review what is being proposed on campus and take a deeper look at some of (the) new facilities,” Parini said. “They will be able to see where some of the upgrades might take place and where the new facilities might be.”

Clackamas Community College’s board of directors is still finalizing plans for the bond measure, which would go up for approval at a July 30 board meeting, Parini said. The measure would be placed on the Nov. 4 ballot.

Each campus will host two meetings, she said.

The meetings will take place at:

Oregon City campus – community center
19600 Molalla Ave., Oregon City
May 1, from 5-7 p.m. and May 2, from 7:30-9:30 a.m.

Harmony Community Campus – lobby
7738 S.E. Harmony Road, Milwaukie
May 15, from 5-7 p.m. and May 16, from 7:30-9:30 a.m.

Wilsonville campus – lobby
29353 S.W. Town Center Loop E., Wilsonville
May 22, from 5-7 p.m. and May 23, from 7:30-9:30 a.m.

The post Meetings planned on possible Clackamas college bond measure appeared first on Daily Journal of Commerce.

For Scott Moore and Kevin Mannix, last week’s election was about more than vote totals. It was about armies.

In that regard, both men got what they wanted – even though the actual election results elated Moore and frustrated Mannix.

They got their armies.

Measure 84, which would have killed Oregon’s estate tax, went down by an 857,628 to 731,205 margin. But Mannix said this is just the beginning. He said the important thing is that he rallied his troops for next time.

“We’re not going to run out to voters right now, but the time will come,” Mannix said.

When it does, another army will be waiting. Moore is the communications director for Our Oregon, the group that spearheaded efforts to preserve the estate tax and give Oregon’s corporate “kicker” (triggered when the state brings in more taxes than predicted two years earlier) to public schools. The latter one, Measure 85, passed 942,316 to 637,429.

Beyond the numbers, Moore echoed Mannix, saying that the most important outcome of the election is the army of partisans it organized.

“We spent months in communities building a network of people who believe in preserving Oregon’s basic services,” he said. “Now we’ll use that momentum to bring people together to start working on Oregon’s problems.”

He declined to identify specific problems.

“The next step is making sure our voices are heard in the Legislature,” Moore said. “The solutions will come from everyone.”

Library bonds

One army that will not be marching off to war during the next election is the one fighting for a new library in Lake Oswego.

Let there be peace, said Darrel Condra of the Yes on Lake Oswego Public Library campaign.

“We’re not going to fall back and regroup,” he said. “We’re disappointed, but we’re still neighbors and realize our neighbors might have had different priorities.”

The library project also would have included residential and commercial space.

“Some of the opposition might have been to those other aspects of the project,” he said. “A lot of people had a lot of reasons to vote against the measure.”

Condra said he doesn’t take the result as a slam against libraries in general.

“We’re library users in Lake Oswego,” he said. “We’re the highest library users in the state per capita. At least 30,000 people in Lake Oswego have library cards and use the library. What voters said is we don’t want to move the library right now.”

It was not a good year for library bonds on the ballot. Approximately 58 percent of Lake Oswego voters shot down the $14 million bond for the proposed 60,000-square-foot library. Meanwhile, 56 percent of Gladstone voters similarly rejected a new $10 million library.

Marijuana measure

At least 753,953 Oregon voters wanted marijuana to be legalized. Another 874,947 did not. However, Washington state voters legalized marijuana by a 1,177,870 to 950,221 margin.

That is going to create a problem, said lawyer Ron Guerra, who specializes in employment law as a partner in the firm of Jordan Ramis PC in Lake Oswego.

Having marijuana legal in Washington and illegal in Oregon raises all sorts of employment issues, he said, especially in Portland, where many Washingtonians work.

“We’re still evaluating and analyzing the situation,” Guerra said. “It will clearly have broad implications for employers in both states.”

Guerra said this should be a wake-up call for businesses.

“If they don’t have a written drug-and-alcohol policy, now is the time to get one,” he said.

Marijuana is still a controlled substance banned by the federal government, Guerra pointed out. Therefore, he said, policies should reflect federal law and have zero tolerance for marijuana rather than focusing on impairment.

Marijuana use promises to be an incredibly complicated issue, he added.

“There are emerging, obvious issues,” he said. “Any person who wants to smoke marijuana in Oregon for recreational purposes has a ready and able system in place with medical marijuana laws. Voters didn’t feel a need to expand on that system.”

Annexations

Annexation requests, almost always approved by voters, fared as expected in Canby, Jefferson, Molalla, Oregon City, Salem and Sherwood.

“There were no surprises,” said Glenn Gross, a planner for the city of Salem. “They all passed. That’s usually the way it goes.”

There were 12 annexation requests before Salem voters this year. Gross said they usually appear in clusters in presidential and congressional election years.

“You can hold them on off-year elections, but most people choose general elections,” Gross said. “They’re less expensive because everyone shares the cost with more issues on the ballot.”

Assorted results

In other election results:

Multnomah County voters passed a $482 million construction bond for renovating Franklin, Grant and Roosevelt high schools and replacing Faubion School. The bond money also will pay for smaller repair projects at other Portland Public Schools facilities.

Damascus voters approved a measure to reduce next year’s city expenditures to 90 percent of 2010 levels. After that, city officials must limit annual total spending increases to 2.5 percent.

Lake Oswego voters approved a $5 million bond to improve a stretch of Boones Ferry Road.

Government Camp voters approved creating a special road district and tax. The new district will provide permanent and dedicated road maintenance funding.

Mannix said the election was definitely a learning experience.

“The fly in the ointment is the public employees union,” he said of the campaign to kill the estate tax. “They outspent us 6-to-1.”

The measure was defeated by urban voters. That says something about Oregon, Mannix said.

“There is a libertarian, populist strain in rural Oregon,” he said. “The pioneer spirit that invested in Oregon is invested in land.”

Moore took another lesson away from the election. Wealthy Oregonians have received $37 billion in tax breaks since 1997, he said.

“We have to make sure we’re not giving away the store,” he said.

Yet all in all, he said, it was a good election and a healthy process.

“The ballot measures gave us an opportunity to have important discussions.”

The post Election brings mixed bag for local partisans appeared first on Daily Journal of Commerce.

Glenn Gross will never forget the blizzard of ’06.

There was a flurry of at least 70 annexation measures on Salem’s ballot that November. Gross, an assistant planner for the city of Salem, said people don’t truly realize what that means. Each annexation measure requires hours upon hours of work, he said.

Everything connected to the annexation must be backed by hearings and notices. City staffers must meet with applicants before preparing a report. Then they publish hearing notices, hold public hearings, file more staff reports, draw up maps, create ballot titles and so on.

“Most of the departments in the city are involved in one way or another,” Gross said.

Salem residents began voting on every proposed annexation in 2000. Previously, annexations were mostly housekeeping matters for city councilors.

The status quo changed in 1976, when Corvallis residents opted to vote on annexations. Drawing inspiration from Corvallis, Oregon Communities for a Voice in Annexations formed 20 years later and started a minor revolution. City by city, the organization encouraged voters to take annexation votes away from their city councils.

The group’s members believe voters, not elected officials, should decide the fates of proposed annexations to regulate growth in their communities.

Gross said voting has mostly created more paperwork. In communities where people vote on annexations, they usually rubber stamp them as casually as city councilors did previously. In the 12 years Salem voters have decided annexation issues, Gross said they have rejected only one proposal.

Even leaders of Oregon Communities for a Voice in Annexations admit the trend to vote on annexations has done little to slow the growth of cities.

“In our experience, the vast majority are approved,” said Jerry Ritter, secretary and legislative affairs representative for the organization.

The number of annexation proposals has decreased over the years, said Gross. One reason is that the sour economy has slowed construction. Another reason is that properties annexed into city limits and urban growth boundaries become “enclaves” surrounded by city property. As enclaves are cleaned out, fewer annexation proposals come from cities themselves, Gross explained.

Annexation proposals go before voters in only 32 of Oregon’s approximate 118 cities. That equates to 10 percent of the state’s population. Corvallis was the first city to vote on annexations, starting in 1977. The latest one, Wheeler (population 445), started in 2008. Salem, with its 152,000 residents, is by far the largest city to vote on annexations.

Voting on every annexation proposal larger than an acre costs a lot of money, Gross said.

“I don’t have a dollar figure, but it’s a lot of money because of all the staff time required,” he said. “Plus, the advertising is expensive.”

To try and streamline that process, the city of Sherwood has proposed a measure that would lump together annexation approval for approximately 24 properties it has pegged for future industrial development. If Measure 34-202 were to pass, properties in the 300-acre Tonquin Employment area could be annexed – pending approval by City Council.

In 2010, the city adopted a concept plan for employment-focused development in the area, which sits in the city’s northwest corner. Julia Hajduk, planning manager for the city of Sherwood, said city law requires a separate vote for each property owner’s request for annexation. City elections take place four times a year.

That can be a costly and lengthy process, Hajduk said. Getting voter approval out of the way also gives developers a greater degree of certainty.

“Any uncertainty is a concern and it can be a delay in terms of time, and time is money,” Hajduk said. “So, trying to remove that uncertainty is why the council chose to put that on the ballot to basically have the city vote up front.”

Not everyone agrees, however, and Hajduk said she has seen campaign signs opposing the measure. She said that while annexations initiated by property owners generally are approved by voters, the most recent city-initiated annexation bid – for a 258-acre chunk of unincorporated land known as the Brookman area – was denied last year.

Ritter said it’s important that people have a voice in how their community grows. Some of the larger proposals are shot down occasionally, he added.

His organization began rolling like a juggernaut through the Willamette Valley a dozen years ago or so, spurred by the success of a vote-on-annexation campaign in Philomath. The group went through the region, convincing voters in Monmouth, McMinnville, Salem, Sherwood and others to follow suit.

November ballots in these communities now regularly come with annexation proposals. Canby, Jefferson, Molalla and Oregon City are among the cities that have measures on the ballot this year.

“We do not actively push for communities to adopt voter annexation ordinances, but we do help guide them through the process when they come to us for assistance,” Ritter said.

One of the great things about voting on annexations, he said, is that it ruffles all of the right feathers.

“Public and private interests have been trying to outlaw voter annexation laws in the courts and in the Legislature since Corvallis voters passed the first one,” Ritter said. “City governments and developers see these local laws as an impediment to planning efforts. The citizens who front the initiatives see aggressive annexation policies as imperiling the fiscal health of their communities and denying them an effective voice in the process.”

The post Annexation proposals crowding city ballots appeared first on Daily Journal of Commerce.

When Steve Miller was diagnosed with cancer, he began thinking about what will happen to his Portland hardware business after he dies.

“My dream is to sell the company to my employees,” said Miller, the owner of .

He soon realized, he said, that could never happen with Oregon’s existing estate tax. Instead, his heirs would risk losing the business because of all the money they would have to pay the state.

Supporters of the estate tax say it affects only millionaires who can afford it.

“That’s a lot of hooey,” said Miller, 65. “I am far from a millionaire.”

Miller said that’s why he supports Measure 84, which would phase out Oregon’s estate and inheritance taxes over the next three years.

“The money all goes into the general fund where, with all due respect, they just (fritter) it away,” he said.

State Rep. Vickie Berger, R-Salem, who co-chairs the House Revenue Committee, said people should be aware that the general fund helps pay for public education and other programs they might not want cut.

“It will reduce the amount of money we have to spend on other things, but I am perfectly willing to let Oregonians make up their own minds on this issue,” Berger said.

Estate and inheritance taxes make up about 1.5 percent of the state’s general fund – or approximately $100 million – per biennium. Measure 84 would phase them out over three years, cutting them by a third each year.

“This is a soft landing,” said Kevin Mannix, a Republican who ran for governor in 2002 and 2006 and is now heading the campaign for Measure 84 as part of his political action organization, Common Sense For Oregon.

Berger said supporters of Measure 84 generate a lot of unnecessary fear.

“People are saying, ‘Oh, you’re going to break up the family farm!’ Well, we’ve already taken care of that,” she said.

The law includes an exemption for estates where ownership of a farm or forestland represents 50 percent or more of the gross value of the estate. The land must also be bequeathed to a family member. That family member needs to use the land for farming or forestry for at least five of the first eight years after inheriting it.

“Technically, there may be protections,” Mannix said. “Practically, they are ethereal.”

He pointed out that nearly a decade is needed to qualify for the exemption.

“If you a miss a day, there’s no credit,” he said. “Besides, guess what. Because it’s a credit, the Legislature can take it away.”

Scott Moore, the communications director of Our Oregon, the organization opposing Measure 84, writes Mannix’s warning off as fear mongering. The problem with the measure in general, he said, is that “it preys on people’s most basic fears.”

Conservatives have expertly manipulated the very language surrounding the tax, Moore said – changing it from an inheritance tax to a “death tax.” What’s really at stake, he said, are programs that matter to Oregonians.

“It’s about giving Oregonians a concrete choice between funding schools or doling out a tax break that only benefits 2 percent of the population,” Moore said. “We have to let people know what’s at stake here.”

Miller said family businesses and the employees they hire are at stake. He wouldn’t mind so much, he added, if the limit were raised to estates of $3 million or $4 million so that only bona fide millionaires were affected.

“But you buy so much as a second house and, congratulations, you’re in the death pool,” he said.

Mannix said a lot of people have estates that qualify for the tax, but their money is not sitting in the bank. It is tied up in buildings, equipment and inventory.

“People with movable assets can go somewhere else,” he said.

Most estates that get taxed in Oregon are worth far less than $3 million, Mannix said.

“In the last five years, 93 percent of the filings for the estate tax didn’t qualify for the federal estate tax,” he added.

Mannix claimed the measure would enable employers to hire 30,000 to 40,000 more employees if it were to pass, but he worries about its chances with public employee unions organized against it.

“They have a lot more money than we do,” he said.

Berger said she understands people’s frustrations. However, she said she would have preferred to amend inheritance taxes in the Legislature, where lawmakers could have made precise and surgical adjustments rather than going after the whole concept with a wrecking ball.

“This is not what I would have proposed,” Berger said.

Miller, whose cancer has been in remission for the past year, said he just doesn’t trust the people in state government anymore.

“The death tax is just one more way to feed the coffers,” he said. “Who knows where the money goes? It’s time to take control.”

The post Death and taxes spark a lively debate appeared first on Daily Journal of Commerce.

On May 15, Portland voters will choose their next mayor, and former city commissioner Charlie Hales, state Rep. Jefferson Smith and New Seasons co-founder Eileen Brady are gearing up their campaigns.

While the three major Democratic candidates align on many key issues, a recent interview conducted by board members of the Building Owners and Managers Association of Oregon highlighted some points significant to the building industry on which they diverge.

BOMA Executive Director Susan Steward said Eileen Brady was the “most prepared candidate I’ve seen in six and a half years,” and also lauded Charlie Hales for his political experience. If the organization decides to endorse or support one or more candidates, it will make that announcement in February.

Would you support a new urban renewal district around PSU?

Brady: Yes, and negotiate funding with the county to make that happen.

“We’ve done tremendous work in the downtown area over the past decade, but now we really need to take it to the next level. I come from Chicago area – Michigan Avenue creates a viscerally exciting downtown. We need to more clearly define the retail spine on Yamhill and Morrison.”

Smith: Yes, but generally not a supporter of urban renewal projects.

“I am, to a greater degree than you might be comfortable, an urban renewal skeptic. It’s not a game we can play forever. We have to be judicious how we do it and think more carefully about applying energy to closing down urban renewal zones as aggressively as we’re thinking about adding them.”

Hales: Yes.

“I think we ought to have new, carefully crafted urban renewal district that includes Portland State (University) and the new Portland public market.”

Would you consider a new urban renewal district for unfinished work of the downtown waterfront and/or South Park Blocks district?

Brady: “I would certainly consider it. We need to look at what we’re trying to accomplish around the city and choose what projects we are serious about. What leverage can you get for which projects?”

Smith: “If we do the education district downtown, I’d be pretty careful about adding another one unless somebody wanted to tell me what we’re shutting down or where the money would come from.”

Hales: “I think there’s probably one more big urban renewal opportunity after PSU, and that’s in the Rose Quarter / coliseum area, where we’ve had task force after task force and no development for the last 10 years.”

Comments on the city’s role in implementing an economic development program.

Brady: Immediately streamline permitting process, become a strong economic development partner with large employers, set up shared manufacturing centers for small apparel and food processing companies, and create a lease-pooling system for technology startups.

“Young tech companies are hiring, bringing capital into city and going unnoticed … The city should create a lease pooling program so we can help take some of the risk in short-term leases and harness that industry.”

Smith: Focus on small, local business development opportunities, CEO mentorship and establishing public/private partnerships.

“We need to help small homegrown businesses find new customers and find new markets. If you’re Wal-Mart or Microsoft, you have multiple floors of market research to figure out where your next distribution center should be, but if you’re Indow Windows or Euphoria Chocolate, you’re lucky to have 0.2 (marginal propensity to expend) to figure that out, and you don’t have same databases, which by the way, we have access to at PSU and OSU and other places.

Hales: Refocus efforts of the Portland Development Commission.

“PDC went from being an excellent real estate development agency and has swung all the way over to being an economic development and jobs agency, and I think the answer is they need to be some of each. We’ve whipsawed PDC from one core competency to another, which it may or may not be as good at – I’m concerned about that. There will be less money for PDC in the foreseeable future, so we’ll have to manage that agency with a smaller workforce than in the past; that’s just the reality.”

Perspective on business income tax, permits, fees and system development charges.

Brady: Fix fee structure, potentially modify business income tax and look at waiving SDCs.

“The fee structure in general for services provided by the city hasn’t had a strong rationale behind its increases – we need a more rational approach. For our Seven Corners store at 20th (Avenue) and Division (Street), we spent an additional $240,000 and six months rezoning a property where we made no changes. That’s the eye I bring to running the (Bureau of Development Services).”

Smith: Targeted changes or temporary moratoriums on taxes, reduce costs of expenditures on government overhead.

“As far as permits and fees, this is where I will be pretty good for you, and by that I mean I want the government to work for itself. It’s not really the fee level; it’s what’s happening that drives the costs of the fees because the fee level is set not just on what the market will bear, but on trying to cost recapture what activities are costing. I will commit to working really hard to make sure we’re not wasting time and doing dumb stuff. I will have a smaller staff than the current mayor, but I will have at least one dedicated person reporting to me whose primary job will be to reduce the amount of dumb stuff.”

Hales: Systemic reforms to the permitting process, two-year moratorium on SDCs, establish a general fund with a capital budget for the city.

“We’re not doing much construction in this city, so our SDCs are a little bit of a paper game right now. Why don’t we do what Gresham did and have a moratorium on SDCs for two years while we figure out what the fee schedule should be and get some things going here again? I think there’s only one private-sector crane on the horizon in city of Portland today – the rest of the cranes you see are all public works jobs or university construction. We can get things stimulated by having construction be less of a daunting prospect than it is now.”

The post Portland mayoral candidates tackle development topics appeared first on Daily Journal of Commerce.

Where: Sheraton hotel, 8235 N.E. Airport Way, Portland

When: Wednesday, from 7:30 to 9 a.m.

The Columbia Corridor Association is bringing together the candidates vying to become Portland’s next mayor.

Debate topics will include the Columbia River Crossing, the Portland Harbor Superfund, environmental zone overlays and brownfield redevelopment. Admission is $30 for CCA members and $40 for nonmembers.

For more information, contact Marissa King at 503-287-8686 or at mking@columbiacorridor.org.

The post CCA to hold Portland mayoral candidates debate appeared first on Daily Journal of Commerce.

Tuesday’s Portland-area elections put a focus on Urban Renewal in two different areas: Beaverton and Clackamas County.

The simple one is Beaverton: Beaverton a $150 million urban renewal area 55 to 45 percent. This comes after city officials decided to delay placing a ballot measure to create a $150 million urban renewal area from May to November and spent a lot of time talking to and getting approval from all their local districts: parks, fire, schools and so on. Read our past coverage of Beaverton’s urban renewal process in the archive to read all that history.

A release from the Beaverton this morning said the city aims to use the new urban renewal area to fund projects to create an active downtown, address congestion and provide for alternative transportation modes, provide incentives for businesses and job creators, and fund improvements to infrastructure and public safety.

Clackamas County is a little more complicated. Two urban renewal measures were on the ballot this election: one citizen-led initiative to require a county-wide vote for any new urban renewal area, and one measure drafted by the county that would have required only people within a proposed area to approve the urban renewal proposal. .

Interestingly, the county measure also has majority approval – with about 63 percent of voters casting a “yes” vote – but only the most voted-for initiative will go into effect. Clackamas County voters’ decision has the potential to affect how the county will be able to fund its contribution to the Portland-Milwaukie Light Rail project. (Read our past coverage of Clackamas County and urban renewal.)

One last bit of building-related business from last night’s election: West Linn approved a measure that will allow $8.5 million in bonds to be issued for a new police station, .

courtesy of functoruser via Flickr

The post Election results: urban renewal in Beaverton, Clackamas County appeared first on Daily Journal of Commerce.

The November 2011 elections close tonight, and voters have until 8 p.m. to submit their ballots. The most interesting aspect of today’s voting effort is the , which may issue in a new era of voting in Oregon.

School budgeting is a key issue currently on the Washington County ballots, with Measure 34-193 aiming at . The use of iPads could increase voter turnout by assisting disabled voters, as well as appealing to the tech savvy of young voters who have recently struggled through life in a public school system on a tight budget.

For now, the touchscreen tablets are only being used in a few districts where election officials have visited assisted living facilities to help disabled voters as they tap their vote on the screen, print out the results and turn the printed form in as their official ballot. This opens up a new streamlining of voting semantics, because the technology in question allows lobbyists, elected officials and assorted political figures to reach voters practically as they cast a vote.

Consider that a  was voted down in May of this year, and last week it . Schoening, the executive director of school modernization for Portland Public Schools, was a key figure among the group pushing the bond.

While there isn’t a replacement bond yet in public discussion, facilities throughout the Portland School District are still in need of attention. Case in point, Web-facilitated home schooling is growing as a popular option in lieu of traditional schooling and such programs as are catching on. Furthermore, city and county officials are relying more and more on tech savvy to save money and reach their constituents.

How instrumental iPad voting will be depends on its success during this special primary. With several issues floating in the democratic waters this and next season, voters can anticipate e-campaigns focused on capital construction issues and more in the buildup to the vote in 2012.

Just think, you can go from with your elected official to tapping for their reelection in seconds!

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