Warren Jimenez's blog

HIRED: Kimberly Schneider, Senior Policy Director for Economic Development & Workforce Training

Warren Jimenez — Thu, 07 Jun 2007 10:52:02 -0700

Please welcome Kimberly Schneider, our new Senior Policy Director for Economic Development and Workforce Training. Kimberly is a proud native Portlander and comes from a family with strong experience in workforce development. In one sentence, her background is: Grant High, Colby College, Peace Corps in Burkina Faso, Harvard, Congressman Blumenauer's D.C. office. Feel free to contact Kimberly at 503.823.4541.

WILLAMETTE WEEK: A real break

Warren Jimenez — Wed, 09 May 2007 08:37:50 -0700

IMAGE: Matt ClarkA real break

Real-estate agents want to widen an unusual tax benefit.

BY NIGEL JAQUISS

A bill introduced by the Oregon Association of Realtors to extend a local income-tax exemption to more of its members could backfire on the whole industry.

The aim of House Bill 2541 is simple: to give principal real-estate brokers the same break on local taxes, such as Portland's business license fee, that rank-and-file real-estate brokers already enjoy.

Principal brokers are distinguished by their supervisory positions and by their "ownership" of listings, says the Realtors Association's government affairs director, Jana Jarvis.

But the bill, now in a Senate committee after the House approved it last month, raises a more fundamental question for Portland City Commissioner Sam Adams: Why aren't all real-estate agents paying local business taxes just like other independent contractors?

"I am searching for a legitimate reason why Realtors should be exempt from the business license fee, and other professional service providers, such as lawyers, doctors or physical therapists, should not," Adams says.

Currently, most businesses that operate in Portland, from sole proprietorships to large corporations, pay a 2.2 percent business license fee on net business income. The fee last year generated $62 million, or about 17 percent of Portland's discretionary general fund, according to Terri Williams, the city Revenue Bureau's license and tax division manager.

According to the City Attorney's office, the real-estate agents' tax break harks back to the early 1980s, when industry lobbyists persuaded legislators to classify brokers as contractors rather than employees.

The city responded by charging brokers an annual license fee on net income. But in 1987, the industry took care of that by getting an exemption from the Legislature. That exemption, however, did not include principal brokers.

Real estate is a big business locally. In 2006, according to the Regional Multiple Listing Service, 13,986 properties worth more than $4.3 billion sold in Multnomah County.

The RMLS says 3,276 brokers and 420 principal brokers do business in the county. The former are already exempt from paying the city tax, which Williams says costs the city up to $250,000 annually.

Ironically, Jarvis says, the impetus for the bill doesn't come from Portland. It comes instead from Medford, which has been trying to tax out-of-town brokers.

Nonetheless, Adams, who wrote changes this year that will reduce the BLF's impact on some small businesses, says it's time to examine the break for real-estate brokers.

"We spent months trying to reform the BLF last year and one of the questions that kept coming up was, why are real-estate brokers exempt?" Adams says.

Adding to the perception of inequity, Adams says, is that all real-estate brokers pay the Multnomah County business income tax, a substantially similar tax that costs nearly all companies doing business in the county 1.45 percent of their net business income.

OREGONIAN EDITORIAL: A state of low-wage jobs

Warren Jimenez — Wed, 02 May 2007 10:48:09 -0700

As the President of the Local Elected Officials on the Workforce Investment Board and the Higher Education Liaison for the City of Portland, Sam has been advocating for more state funding during this legislative session.

Unfortunately, the federal trends are worst. Since 2003, federal allocations for our region have gone from $25 million to an anticipated $15 million for 2007.

Worksystems Inc. recently received word from the Oregon Department of Community Colleges and Workforce Development that the primary federal resources available to provide workforce development services in our region will be cut by nearly 27% or just over $2.7 million for services beginning July 1, 2007. These cuts mean about 800 adults and 300 youth will not receive training or related services.

A state of low-wage jobs
Wednesday, May 02, 2007

O f all the questions raised by the Progress Board's report on the Oregon economy, here's the most important:

Do you want fries with that?

That is the vital question in a state that is becoming the world's best place to find a low-wage job. The Progress Board's new Benchmark Report to the People of Oregon, released Monday, paints a discouraging picture of a state led by a Legislature that still hasn't made the connection between quality education and skills training, and good jobs.

Instead, the report is full of statistics that painfully illustrate the results of Oregon's decades-long disinvestment in education and training. Among them:

Per-capita personal income in Oregon is only 93 percent of the U.S. rate, has steadily declined since 1996 and is now at its lowest level in nearly 20 years.

Only one Oregon worker in three makes at or above 150 percent of the poverty rate for a family of four.

Oregon's concentration of professional services, such as lawyers and accountants, is falling. Less than 40 percent of Oregon workers received at least 20 hours of training in 2005 -- far from the distant goal of 75 percent.

In the dry language of the Progress Board report, "Adult education attainment and skill development indicators, key to building a quality work force, are off track." Yes, they are.

If you wonder why, you could look back over the past 20 years and see the choices that Oregon has made: Measures 5, 47 and 50, property-tax limits that foisted K-12 school funding onto the state; the Measure 11 decision to invest in prisons, not education; voters' stubborn insistence on funding public services with a single volatile source, the income tax.

But really, you need look no further than the budget debate now under way in Salem. It's all there: The lip service lawmakers are paying to universities, the utter disregard of community colleges, the fight it is taking just to get lawmakers to invest a measly $10 million in work force training.

That's not how you build a strong work force. That's not how you get companies to bring family-wage jobs here, or persuade them to keep them here.

No, that's how you get an economy where new jobs pay less than the old ones they are replacing. That's how you wind up with a huge population of working poor, who live without health insurance and spend a huge portion of their income on housing. That's how you wind up with Oregon's economy.

Look at the neighbors: The Washington Legislature just agreed to invest several billion more dollars in education. The Oregon Legislature, meanwhile, is trying to summon the nerve to require some of the state's largest corporations to pay more than the $10 a year they now pay in corporate income taxes.

Ten bucks. It all leads back to that essential question in the new Oregon economy:

You want fries?

Need A Worker? Call 503-257-HIRE

Warren Jimenez — Wed, 18 Apr 2007 15:08:55 -0700

As the President of the Local Elected Officials for the Workforce Investment Board, Sam has push for reforms to streamline this complicated system for its customers - employers and job-seekers.

One solution to make it easier for employers to access the labor pool is creating one point of contact. Creating this point of contact by using one phone number seemed like a simple solution but required cooperation from the Oregon Employment Department, Worksystems Inc., and workforce training providers to co-locate in order to provide this service.

So, if you are an employer in need of a worker, call 503-257-HIRE!!

Worksource

BUSINESS JOURNAL: Tax forces VCs to flee Portland

Warren Jimenez — Mon, 16 Apr 2007 15:33:24 -0700

Portland Business Journal - April 13, 2007
by Aliza Earnshaw
Business Journal staff writer

A change of heart in Portland City Hall might lure venture capitalists back to Oregon's commercial center, but only if Multnomah County follows suit.

The Portland City Council is now working on an exemption to a tax on companies' net income, hoping to persuade venture capital firms to return to the city.

But unless Multnomah County enacts a similar exemption, it's unlikely that refugee investment firms, or new ones, will flock to Portland.
A combined 3.65 percent tax on investors' gains has caused all but a couple of local venture investment firms to locate outside the city limits and outside of Multnomah County. Once a VC firm sells a company and earns a return for its investors, it must pay city and county taxes on that gain, effectively reducing returns.

Firms such as OVP Venture Partners, Mt. Hood Equity Partners LP, Cascadia Partners LLC -- about to be renamed Reference Capital Management -- are all headquartered outside of Portland and Multnomah. Seed-stage fund Northwest Technology Ventures recently moved to Beaverton to escape the dual income taxes.

SmartForest Ventures has located its limited-partners entity -- the actual investment fund -- in Lake Oswego, where the Multnomah and Portland taxes don't apply. The entity that manages that fund is located in downtown Portland, and does pay the business income taxes. Capybara Ventures, a seed-stage investment fund that is located within SmartForest's downtown Portland offices, has stayed in Portland because "we are optimistic the city will change its tax structure," said Managing Partner Eric Rosenfeld.

If the city and county don't make a change, Capybara would either have to do what SmartForest did, or move entirely out of Portland, to honor its fiduciary responsibility to get the highest possible return for investors, Rosenfeld said. "It's hard to raise institutional venture capital in the only jurisdictions in the country that tax venture capital investors."

Portland and Multnomah County have long levied taxes on companies' net income, a practice that puts the region at odds with nearby cities and counties.

The tax does not apply to banks, private equity funds and other regulated investment firms. Those sectors are exempt. Not so for VC firms. That's unfair and inconsistent, say local venture capitalists. Adding insult to injury, venture capital firms that have offices in Portland but are headquartered elsewhere don't have to pay the tax.

Portland and Multnomah are "discriminating against their own," said Gordon Hoffman, managing director of Northwest Technology Ventures.

Beaverton charges a $50 yearly business fee, plus $8.50 per employee per year. Vancouver, Wash., charges $125 per year. Hillsboro, where chipmaking giant Intel Corp. has more than 16,000 employees, has an $80 fee, plus a per-employee fee capped at $830 per year. Portland's minimum fee, at $100 per year, is comparable to surrounding cities' fees.

But the tax on net income for companies above a certain revenue level means that some companies are liable for "hundreds of thousands of dollars" in city and county taxes, said Warren Jimenez, senior policy director for City Commissioner Sam Adams. "A small number of payers are paying the majority of the tax," he said.

A group of venture capitalists, tax lawyers and tax accountants took their case to Portland's City Council and seem to have been clearly heard.
"Alarm bells went off," said City Commissioner Dan Saltzman. "These are the types of businesses that should be in Portland." The capital they provide funds new companies and helps Portland's economy, Saltzman said.

"We are coming up with exemption language, to keep the VCs in Portland," said Jimenez, adding that there's "an appetite" among council members to retain and win back these firms.

However eager the City Council may be to welcome venture capitalists, an exemption will do no good unless Multnomah County enacts the same kind.
That could happen, and soon.

"If Portland does it, I guarantee you we will do it too," said Multnomah County Commissioner Jeff Cogen. County commissioners will vote next week to reduce county business taxes to benefit small companies. The Portland City Council already approved a similar change. Businesses in Portland with gross receipts of less than $50,000 no longer have to pay any business fee at all. Formerly, businesses with less than $25,000 were exempt. Owners of small businesses can now exempt $80,000 in annual compensation from their taxable revenue, up from $60,000. Portland's decision was made easier by a one-time, $30 million revenue surplus.

Though Multnomah is faced with a deficit this year, Cogen is confident the county commissioners will replicate Portland's changes, starting in 2008.
Though Portland will forgo about $3 million per year with its revised business tax, city commissioners think it's worth it, to keep small businesses in the city and encourage them to grow.

It's the same story with venture capital firms, said Saltzman.

"What about the impact on revenue? If they are gone, there's no revenue at all," he said.

Aearnshaw@bizjournals.com | 503-219-3433

Multnomah County Aligns BIT with City's BLF reforms

Warren Jimenez — Thu, 12 Apr 2007 11:41:43 -0700

Today, the Multnomah County Board of Commissioners unanimously approved a resolution to align the Business Income Tax with the Business License Fee reform which Portland City Council adopted in January 2007. Essentially, this change results in a $1.7 million tax relief package for the small business community.

Below is the testimony given by Sam at the hearing:

Good morning. I am here to congratulate you on your leadership to improve equity of the County's Business Income Tax. You are doing in a few months what took Warren (Jimenez) and myself two years to accomplish.

These reform measures are groundbreaking. In January 2007, City Council unanimously approved a resolution to improve equity to the BLF and invest in our small business community. City Council increased the gross receipt exemption to $50,000 and owners compensation deduction to $80,000. This entrepreneurial investment was $3 million. The City will also institute a progressive minimum fee based on the number of employees, gross receipts in Portland or a combination of these two options.

In the 13 months leading up to this point, my office engaged various stakeholders by discussing this issue. We held a special meeting with large employers in our region; we held three town halls inviting more than 8000 stakeholders; we held two City Council work sessions; and we met with Neighborhood Business Districts, Small Business Advisory Council, the Minority Chambers of Commerce and the Alliance of Neighborhood Business Associations. The feedback was clear. We needed to improve the equity of this tax. This is what you are considering today.

This changes improve the equity of this tax. This tax hits our City and County's smallest businesses the hardest and places an unfair burden on professional service companies and those that are just starting out.

It makes good economic sense to support our vibrant small business community. As you all already know, small business is the engine that drives our economy. An initiative like this supports growth - generating more jobs and additional resources for vital County services.

Thanks you for your consideration and allow me to speak on this issue. I look forward to working with the County Board to continue this journey of improving equity to our business tax system.

Oregonian Letter: Door open on island

Warren Jimenez — Thu, 29 Mar 2007 11:50:36 -0700

This letter was published today by the Oregonian from Sam.

The Oregonian editorial board is right in their March 27 editorial. It is the City's job to "build a plan that works for all the [Hayden Island] neighborhood."

The development hiatus that City Council unanimously approved six months ago on Hayden Island allows the residents and the City to complete a neighborhood plan that can address the unique transportation challenges of the island.

For four months before City Council adopted a moratorium my office began to reach out to stakeholders on Hayden Island, including Jantzen Beach. (While there were developments already in the permitting pipeline, Jantzen Beach was not one of them.) I personally met face to face with Morgan Stanley, held a conference call with Michigan's public employee retirement system, sent a letter to the governor and continued conversations with Jantzen Beach representatives right up to the adoption of the moratorium and as recently as last Tuesday.

In those meetings, my message was clear. I shared the concerns of the neighborhood and island businesses that Jantzen Beach's proposed development reduced on-site transit access, added no public street connectivity, increased parking dramatically and complicated freeway access off the island-one of our state's worst and most dangerous bottlenecks.

Jantzen Beach's message was also clear. The City's interest to protect the transportation infrastructure and the neighborhood's role in shaping its future were simply not their concerns. To date, Jantzen Beach's owners have not attended neighborhood meetings to discuss their plans.

As I did when we met, I continue to be interested in working together to maximize both Jantzen Beach's investment and the community benefit. That, to me, is the definition of a successful public-private partnership.

My door remains open.

OREGONIAN: Jettisoning justice for janitors

Warren Jimenez — Wed, 21 Feb 2007 10:03:36 -0800

Jettisoning justice for janitors
Tuesday, February 20, 2007
The Oregonian

By Steve Duin

E lvira Munoz is, I'm afraid, all too typical of the men and women who clean up after you at the Rose Garden and Memorial Coliseum.

She's paid Oregon's minimum wage of $7.80 an hour, although she is rarely told how many hours she'll be working until she arrives at the Rose Quarter aboard MAX after the ride in from her basement "apartment" in Gresham.

Because she is only a part-time worker, Munoz, 32, receives no health insurance through her employer, ServiceMaster of Swan Island. She receives no sick pay -- when she suffered a severe ankle sprain in the Coliseum two weeks ago, she says, there wasn't even a first-aid kit on the premises -- no holiday pay, and four exhilarating hours of vacation time for each year of service.

What's wrong with this picture? At least three things, off the top of my head:

Memorial Coliseum is still a city-owned property, and I was under the illusion that Portland's City Council resolved in 2001 that seasonal workers who labor at PGE Park, or on other city turf, deserve a "living wage."

ServiceMaster claims on its Web site, "We are accountable to honor God in all we do." The Web site continues, "Faithful adherence to a strong moral and ethical ideal should guide all aspects of a company's operation," an ideal that serves as "a constant reminder for us to do the right thing in the right way."

And the salary and benefits of Elvira Munoz qualify?

Last summer, ServiceMaster of Swan Island agreed to pay $84,125 to settle a class-action lawsuit that argued the company violated state overtime and minimum wage issues.

Yet Portland Arena Management, which owns the Rose Garden, still recontracted with ServiceMaster for janitorial services, despite pleas by Labor Commissioner Dan Gardner and city Commissioner Sam Adams to select a company that offered a living wage and affordable benefits.

Adams is still hammering on Global Spectrum, which manages the complex for PAM (and which didn't return phone calls). "There aren't that many (janitors) and they're not asking for a lot," Adams said. "Global Spectrum is part of this huge business empire. Last time I checked, they were very profitable. They have the money. They just don't have the moral backbone to do it."

When the operators at PGE Park were similarly disposed, the city stepped in to make up the difference between the "market rate" for these services and the hourly fair-wage (now $10.57) amount. That wage supplement cost the city $112,000 in 2006, said David Logsdon, the city's spectator facilities manager.

However, Logsdon said, PAM's contract at the Rose Quarter "predates Council's initiation of the fair-wages program." As a result, he added, "We don't have the ability to intervene in the marketplace and say we want higher wages because we're not paying for them."

Both Adams and Commissioner Erik Sten are eager to change that. "It's against city policy to win the contract when the savings are on the back of the workers," Sten said.

Adams has been involved for 18 months in "Justice for Janitor" issues because justice is so slow in coming, not only at the Rose Quarter but in major office buildings downtown.

On Tuesday, SEIU Local 49 will file an unfair labor practices complaint against ServiceMaster Swan Island for dismantling the janitors' pension, benefits and negotiated wage scale at the Union Bank of California in Portland. Out of sympathy for that complaint, janitors at the Rose Quarter are considering a walk-out and strike, said SEIU's Maggie Long.

Should that walk-out occur, Elvira Munoz, suspended between crutches, will limp along, proceeding with a sense of moral purpose that should -- but won't -- embarrass her employer.

Steve Duin: 503-221-8597; 1320 S.W. Broadway, Portland, OR 97201 steveduin@news.oregonian.com http://steveduin.blogs.oregonlive.com

Neighborhood Parking Benefit Program Generates Mixed Reactions

Warren Jimenez — Thu, 08 Feb 2007 10:07:05 -0800

Sam knew this was a controversial idea. Putting parking meters in a Neighborhood Business District in order to generate revenues to reinvest back into the District was the topic of the book "The High Cost of Free Parking" by UCLA Professor Donald Shoup.

Sam first heard this idea at the 2005 Railvolution Conference. Sam realized that this could be an opportunity to improve our City's parking management. Demand for on-street parking to access neighborhood businesses exceeds supply. That means we need to be vigilant about ensuring effective parking turnover. The proposed addition of parking meters, which are proven to increase turnover, would make parking more efficient.

Another reason for consideration is that we are in a transportation funding crisis. With the current lack of funding for deteriorating transportation infrastructure as well as the many unmet safety needs in our Neighborhood Business District, Sam thought this idea was worth community consideration.

Initially proposed the idea of a Parking Benefit Program to North Portland (St. Johns) and the Southeast Corridor (Belmont, Hawthorne, Division and Clinton). Sam wanted to be clear about the conditions to have this conversation:

This program would not be forced on the district. The community would make the decision whether or not to implement this program.
Any net revenues from this program would be re-invested back into the district. You get to chose what you want to do with the revenues.
We will be open and transparent about the cost of the program before you make a decision. Having this information will be critical for your decision.
The Bureau of Planning will be conducting a customer survey in the district to provider additional analysis. For example, the survey could provide customer leaking information.

What was the feedback from the community? North Portland was interested but did not implement the program because there wasn't sufficient parking demand in the district.

In the Southeast Corridor, the Hawthorne Business District and the surrounding neighborhoods were concerned that it would drive away customers. They were clear in expressing that Hawthorne would lose their identity if they were to implement this program. In the end, the community decided against implementation.

Community Partners

Media Mentions

"Idea would expand pay-to-park sphere," Oregonian, March 7
"Plan for meters not an easy sell," Portland Tribune, May 30
"Pay to Park," Portland Mercury, August 17
"Parking meter idea trips on Hawthorne," Oregonian, August 24
"Hawthorne folks return a meter plan to sender," October 17

Weblogs

PDC News Release: New Office Development in Lents Town Center Urban Renewal Area

Warren Jimenez — Fri, 05 Jan 2007 00:12:56 -0800

This is a press release from the Portland Development Commission.

January 4, 2007
MEDIA RELEASE CONTACT:

John Jackley, PDC
(503) 823-3315

New Office Development in Lents Town Center Urban Renewal Area

The Portland Development Commission (PDC) announces the first new office development in the Lents Town Center Urban Renewal Area. Assurety NW, a full-service insurance and financial service company has purchased a 77,000 square foot property, owned by PDC, along SE Foster Road between SE 88th and SE 91st Avenues at 8919 SE Foster Rd. The project is expected to break ground later this month.

Assurety NW will re-develop the 1.8 acre property as a 30,000 square foot commercial, mixed-use project which will serve as the Assurety NW new corporate headquarters. The company had been located in Gresham. Assurety NW expects to employ approximately 45 people at the new headquarters when it is operation in late 2007. The project will also include additional office and retail space which will be available for lease. The project will be developed in two phases with Phase I consisting of Assurety NW offices and ground floor retail and commercial space totaling 20,000 square feet. Phase II of the project will include a second building with construction scheduled to begin in 2009 totaling 10,000 square feet.

"With the addition of 45 living wage jobs, this project will help jump-start the Lents community," stated Portland City Commissioner Sam Adams who recruited Assurety NW. "With the enthusiastic support from Mayor Potter and Commissioner Leonard, this infusion of financial and human capital will help make the dream of a Lents Town Center a reality."

PDC provided the company with a $770,000 loan for purchase of the land and a $711,000 loan for construction of the building.

The project supports the core goals of the Lents Town Center Urban Renewal Plan, which include revitalization of commercial areas and partnering with commercial property owners by investing public funds to increase the vitality and economic heath of commercial areas. The project also supports economic development goals in the urban renewal plan by creating new business investment and job creation.

The Lents Town Center Urban Renewal Area (URA) was formed in 1998 to spur the revitalization of the Lents Town center and surrounding neighborhoods. The URA consists of about 2,500 acres. Other URA projects planned within walking distance of the Assurety NW headquarters are a new Tri-Met I-205 light rail station that will be operation in 2009 and a three-acre mixed-use, mixed-income residential/commercial development.
PDC was created by Portland voters in 1958 to serve as the city's urban renewal agency as laid out in Chapter 15 of the City's Charter. PDC provides comprehensive housing, development and economic development programs with the Portland region.

###

Finally, Portland Gets a Freight Master Plan

Warren Jimenez — Fri, 15 Dec 2006 09:41:31 -0800

Following through on a project that was set forth by former Transportation Comissioner Jim Francisconi, the Freight Master Plan was completed in 2006. City Council unanimously adopted the plan in May 2006.

Through freight policies, operational strategies, and system improvements, the Freight Master Plan will provide a road map for how Portland manages freight and delivery movement today and into the future.

As the nation's third most trade-dependent region, the Freight Master Plan was a critical step towards identifying solutions and strategies that can make the system more efficient for freight mobility.

Oregonian Editorial: Soften the blow for small businesses

Warren Jimenez — Fri, 08 Dec 2006 10:55:17 -0800

From today's Oregonian:

Commissioner Sam Adams deserves support for his plan to reduce the business license fee

Luckily, Portland attracts a constant stream of college graduates and so-called "young creatives." Although they may arrive here jobless, and spend a few years perfecting their latte-frothing technique, eventually they emerge from behind the barista bar, dream up new ventures and, in theory anyway, help the region steam up an extra-hot economy.

Unfortunately, when it comes time to make this transition, these would-be entrepreneurs discover the city of Portland poised to dip a straw into their success, with a peculiar business license fee that amounts to an income tax.

Portland businesses must pay 2.2 percent of their net income to the city. On top of that, they pay 1.45 percent to Multnomah County. This combined 3.65 percent tax bite hits professionals, small firms and nascent entrepreneurs the hardest. Yet these small businesses are the very ones Portland professes to be working hard to please and retain.

Eliminating the city tax would be ideal, but it generates between $50 million and $60 million a year. That amount is in the range of 15 percent of the city's general fund; a cut that size would force reductions in many of the very services that businesses depend on. Still, the city can, and should, soften the blow.

For several years, City Commissioner Sam Adams has championed reforms. Although some details still need to be worked out early in 2007, it appears the Portland City Council will finally stop evading this duty, knuckle down and look at reforms. An improved economic outlook should push the city to do the right thing, which also happens to be the smart thing. Reducing the tax burden of the city's small businesses will encourage them to grow and create more jobs.

Under changes that Adams proposes, business owners would take home a larger deduction for their own compensation before the city's business tax kicks in. Right now, that deduction is $60,000. It should be twice that much. Adams, in the current version of his proposal, suggests raising it to $80,000.

Adams also proposes raising the gross receipts that trigger the tax from the current $25,000 floor to a more reasonable $50,000. In addition, he favors some sort of sliding scale for the city's minimum business tax, based on a firm's ability to pay. Right now, that minimum is set at $100. Portland businesses that generate the bulk of their revenues outside the city can pay the minimum, while small firms wind up paying much more. That doesn't make much sense. The city should correct this inequity.

Does the exorbitant business license tax drive professional services and small business ventures out of town? There's ample anecdotal evidence to suggest it does.

Even so, of course, these businesses may still wind up boosting the region's economy. But it's silly for Portland to drive entrepreneurs out of town, just when they get serious about making real money.

Ideas have been kicked around for years about how to minimize the harm from the business license fee. A lot of lip service has been paid to the need to do so. An uptick in city revenues should at long last motivate the council to stop putting this off. It's not going to get any easier.

Central Eastsiders Get a Better Chance to Realize Their Vision

Warren Jimenez — Wed, 06 Dec 2006 17:18:26 -0800

For more than a year, the Central Eastside community has been discussing the possibility of extending the Urban Renewal District.

Sam supports an extension on the basis that the Central Eastside has not realized its full potential. Specifically, additional investments in affordable housing, context-sensitive transportation infrastructure, and economic development are needed to ensure the district redevelops in a way that mitigates the worst characteristics of gentrification.

With approval of Sam's amendment thanks to support from City Commissioners Randy Leonard and Erik Sten and community support, City Council approved extending the Central Eastside Urban Renewal District, leveraging a total of $51 million for strategic investments.

Related Documents

Central Eastside Accomplishments

Community Partners

Media Mentions

"Central Eastside Industrial District gets a push," Portland Tribune, July 20
"Vote extends urban renewal district's time," Oregonian, July 16
"Council set to extend east-side renewal," Portland Tribune, July 6

Weblogs

Central Eastside Industrial District Needs More Investment to Succeed

I-5/Delta Park Freeway Lane Expansion Approved

Warren Jimenez — Wed, 06 Dec 2006 12:31:42 -0800

In 2002, after more than a year of public planning, a bi-state task force appointed by Washington and Oregon Governors Gary Locke and John Kitzhaber published the Portland/Vancouver I-5 Transportation and Trade Partnership Strategic Plan.

The task force, composed of community, business, and elected representatives of Washington and Oregon, was responding to concerns about the growing congestion on I-5. The plan included recommendations for highway improvements, transit, traffic management, heavy rail, land use coordination, and environmental justice. The first recommendation for I-5 called for widening the freeway to 3 lanes between Delta Park and Lombard Avenue.

As the Transportation Commissioner, Sam was part of the decision-making body that chose Alternative 2 for the I-5/Delta Expansion. Sam made his decision based on providing the best northbound access to I-5 from Columbia, removing the bottleneck on I-5 at Delta Park, provide truck and traffic access to I-5 from Kenton and providing mitigation for the community impact by these changes.

Related Documents

Community Partners

Weblogs

I-5 Delta Park Freeway Improvement Project Moves Forward

Milestones

City Council approves locally preferred alternative #2, May 24

Increased City Funding for the Alliance of Portland Neighborhood Business Association Starts A New Era

Warren Jimenez — Mon, 04 Dec 2006 11:46:36 -0800

One of Portland's most charming characteristics is its neighborhood business Districts. From Hawthorne to Mississippi, each has the potential to be a thriving district. However, many of these districts still lack the investment and infrastructure needed to meet their potential.

Recognizing this need, Sam, as the APNBA liaison on City Council, secured ongoing funding for the APNBA Grant Program as a first step. Last year, Sam increased this fund by $100,000 but it was only one-time funding. This year, through the budget process, Sam secured ongoing funding for projects like marketing, infrastructure improvements and training for business districts.

In addition to the ongoing funding, Sam advocate for more resources to begin implementing APNBA new strategic plan. One of their goals for their strategic plan calls for an Executive Director and a facility for the organizations. As part of the Fall Budget Monitoring Process APNBA will receive $250,000 to begin achieving their goals.

Community Partners

Media Mentions

"City delays decision on spending $23M surplus," Portland Business Journal, November 24

Weblogs

APNBA receives $250,000 for Strategic Plan

Milestones

City Council approves budget for FY 06-07 which includes ongoing dollars for APNBA grant program, May 24
City Council approves Fall BuMP which includes allocation for APNBA Strategic Plan, November 29