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A proposal to create a new urban renewal area in downtown and Northwest Portland was formally unveiled Tuesday afternoon.
Boundaries of the potential 325-acre renewal area was presented to a 24-member advisory committee appointed and led by Mayor Sam Adams. If approved by the City Council, the Portland Development Commission would administer the new urban renewal area.
After meeting at the PDC’s Old Town offices, Adams said he expected that the council would vote on the proposal by the end of the year.
As explained by PDC staff, the new area would run from just east of Portland State University along Interstate 405, past the under-developed Conway trucking company site in Northwest Portland.
It would also circle the downtown retail core and include parts of Old Town.
The proposed urban renewal area is projected to generate $252 million in property taxes for investment inside the boundaries. Adams said the funds would create jobs, support higher education, preserve and increase affordable housing and improve livability.
Multnomah County Chair Jeff Cogen asked whether the committee had already decided that the urban renewal area was necessary. The meeting was the first Cogen had attended since replacing former Chair Ted Wheeler as the county’s representative.
Adams said that basic decision had not yet been made. He said the issue needed to be discussed after the committee members had a better idea of the scope of the proposed area.
The committee is scheduled to meet again on Aug. 17.
I think it is better to let the City Council continue to destroy the downtown area and raise THEIR property taxes to pay for this nonsense, than it is for the City Council to focus on other neighborhoods to screw up and force us out of our homes with increased property taxes. I say let them be. If you are an affected property owner, you have my sympathies, but the rest of us have to protect what little we have left.
(email verified)
Wed, Jul 14, 2010 at 07:48 AM
Anyone care to estimate just how many millions a year this will siphon off from things like police, fire, parks and all the other city services dependent upon the general fund?
These urban renewal districts weren't such a bad idea a few decades ago when there were legitimate problems that needed a big bucket approach. But now they've become the slush funds for the Sams and Randys and their ilk to use on pet projects.
And why isn't downtown successful considering the gazillions that have been spent there over the past twenty or so years by the same political bosses that have been so full of ideas and so free with somebody else's money all this time? Downtown went into its slide long before this recession hit and it sure looks to a lot of us that it was the arrogance and economic ignorance of the bosses (and yes, that includes Vera) that led to this situation.
And Portlanders close their eyes and ears and continue to wonder why there's never enough money to go around....
(email verified)
Wed, Jul 14, 2010 at 09:44 AM
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GOT ANY SPARE CHANGE?
Pouring more tax money into downtown Portland will be the same exercise in futility by the ideologues at City Hall as pouring more tax money into Jefferson High School has been by the ideologues on the Portland School Board.
Been downtown lately? Me either. Thank Sam Adams and Randy Leonard and their lap dogs Dan Saltzman, Nick Fish and Amanda Fritz - and let's not forget the forgettable Tom Potter, Eric Sten and Vera Katz.
Other than weekend tourists from Madras, who would want to go downtown and why? Granted the street pukes and their suburban wannabes along with the druggies and crazies are drawn like a magnet to the core area, but who else?
Many neighborhoods within the Portland city limits have unpaved streets and away goes the Portland City Council on another scheme to make dying-downtown attractive.
Boycott downtown, replace the current city council and let's deal with our REAL problems.
"DON'T STEP ON THAT UNCONSC IOUS PERSON"
(email verified)
Tue, Jul 13, 2010 at 05:49 PM