Welcome to our 2006 Year-in-Review

Welcome to our 2006 Year-in-Review. First, whew! Yes, I'm so glad the tram is running. But as you will read we did much more than build the tram. Thank you for interest in reviewing my team's work. We're proud to serve you.

You may be wondering, "uh, Sam, year-in-review? It's February... don't these things usually get released in January?"

Usually.

This year we're deviating slightly because December and January were busy months reforming the City's Business License Fee and finishing the Tram. Practically speaking, we completed both projects in December but formally, both were launched in late January.

Okay, I admit that if "business tax reform" showed up as a song on your iPod, you'd likely hit fast-forward. But I promise this topic is worth twenty seconds of your time. Here we go.

Business License Fee financially slammed many smaller, new and Portland-based businesses. If you owned a small business, say 50 or fewer employees, it likely hit you hard. If you owned a really small business, say 5 or fewer employees, it likely hit you harder. I witnessed this firsthand at many of the 160 businesses I have visited.

Too often the City's tax structure treated Wal-Mart better than we treated Vanilla Bicycles. (And you know how I feel about Wal-Mart's business practices.) It was so not Portland. We had complained about it for more than 13 years without actually doing anything about it.

Until now.

After more than two years of outreach with our staff tediously crunching numbers, Council unanimously agreed with my proposal to stair-step fee reduction over five years.

City government needs tax dollars to meet your needs. But bottom line: $3 million to grow our small business entrepreneurs is tax dollars well-invested.

Now to that tram.

I'm really proud (and, yes, relieved) to see it running so smoothly. When I inherited the project 20 months ago it was floundering. I pushed a public/private funding package that not only closed the tram budget gap (the City's contribution was capped at 15% or $8.5 million of the $57 million budget) but also added millions more to affordable housing, parks and transportation projects in South Waterfront.

To address our City's natural environment, we adopted the nation's first comprehensive Urban Watershed Management Plan earlier in 2006. This may sound like another snoozer, but the plan is our environmental baseline, and in the years to come we'll use it as a foundation to make our everyday actions even more conscious of its impact to our planet.

And before I spotlight our Arts & Culture accomplishments please allow me a brief sermon.

A thriving Portland arts scene no longer is a "nice to have," it is a "must have." Why? Whether we like it or not, traditional manufacturing work is moving abroad to developing countries. Our economic future increasingly depends on our creative output here at home.

Don't think of "creative output" as only the traditional visual or performance arts. Now even our "traditional" manufacturing jobs now focus overwhelmingly on more specialized products that require more sophisticated and creative skill sets.

This past year, we issued a City matching grant that more than quadrupled private giving to the arts through Work for Art, a campaign by the Regional Arts & Culture Council. We increased ongoing support to the arts and expanded grant programs. Most exciting, we are moving forward in developing a permanently affordable place for artists of all media to create their work, learn from each other, and focus on professional development.

In 2006 we also got the resources to make Portland's most dangerous streets safer. We studied in-depth each problem area. And, at my request, the City Council approved $5.6 million in one-time funds to add school crossing beacons, cross walks, pedestrian islands, red-light cameras, traffic lights and enhanced enforcement at Portland's most dangerous intersections.

We are just getting started.

Thanks for letting me serve you.

Sam

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