Press Release about the Economic Dashboard
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Contact: Warren Jimenez
June 13, 2005 503-823-4541
WHAT IS ECONOMIC SUCCESS?
Commissioner Adams and Local Economists Launch Community Discussions to Get “Broad Agreement” on Goals for Business Success and Family Prosperity
(Portland, OR) How should we define economic success for Portland and the region? This is the central question posed to business, labor and government as part of the “Portland Area Economic Dashboard” [1] project facilitated by Portland City Commissioner Sam Adams and local economists this summer.
“Hard to believe, we have never set actual goals for business success or individual and family prosperity,” Commissioner Sam Adams stated. “Instead, business, labor and government muddle along with often disjointed economic development efforts, sometimes holding hands, sometimes taking swings at each other, but never working off the same set of agreed upon, specific and accountable goals. Well, that’s no longer good enough.”
A group of the State’s leading economists along with representatives from the Portland Business Alliance and Portland Jobs for Justice will launch the discussion and outline the draft project goals. The final draft of goals [2] will be presented to business, labor and governments for their consideration and adoption in the fall of this year.
Adams said he initiated the “Portland Area Economic Dashboard” project in response to what he learned during his visit to over 100 businesses in the first 100 business days of his term.
“It’s clear to me from my business visits that no one agrees on what our economic development goals are because they don’t exist,” Adams said. “Our economic development plans are glorified “to do’ lists, but lack actual outcome goals. My hope is the Economic Dashboard will help change the nature of our economic conversations from ‘who’s to blame’ to ‘what needs to be done’ to address economic issues.”
The “Economic Dashboard” project will gather information through discussions with the community that will create a set of economic goals [3] for the measurement of Portland’s economic progress. The “Economic Dashboard” becomes a strategic tool to guide local and regional efforts. Once the goals are in place, quarterly performance reports will be generated by independent Dashboard economists to guide policy and investment.
“This effort fills a gap. It will be meaningful in our regional work to align people towards actions and continue towards a goal,” said Duke Shepard of the Portland Business Alliance. “I’m interested in how we can make this a regional business tool, and how this will help plot interactions between regional governments and businesses, too. This is especially important in our business efforts to be globally competitive.”
As facilitator, Adams and his staff, along with the Dashboard economists, will lead discussions with a variety of groups and organizations, including private citizens. They will use a set of draft business success goals as well as individual and family prosperity goals to seek agreement on indicators to define and to measure Portland’s economic progress.
The draft lead goals are currently under consideration:
Business Success Lead Goal: Local business confidence survey matches national business confidence survey rating currently at 62.
Individual and Family Prosperity Lead Goal: Local median family income of $67,900 matches median family income of $75,100 for western U.S. Metropolitan Statistical Areas.
Margaret Butler, advocate, Jobs for Justice said, “I am especially interested and excited that individual and family incomes are being considered by Commissioner Adams’ proposal. As this unfolds and we see our city’s conditions, we can especially note the situation in the health care industry. Additionally, I am very interested how other groups respond to this.”
The completion of the Economic Dashboard and the quarterly reports from independent economists can serve to inform City Council plus other local governments as decisions, projects and policies are considered. Regional businesses can use this factual information, rather than conjecture and perception, to make location and expansion decisions.
Adams said the Economic Dashboard project is a complementary effort to the City of Portland’s strategic visioning process begin in this Fall 2005, Mayor Tom Potter’s Economic Development Summit which will be held on June 24, 2005 at Kaiser Town Hall, and the Regional Business Plan facilitated by the Portland Business Alliance.
A summary of all the draft goals [4], along with an on-line survey [5] and a schedule of community discussion meetings is available on Commissioner Sam Adams’ website: www.commissionersam.com [6].