CommissionerSam.com - News

We're looking for a few good interns!

The Office — Wed, 30 Apr 2008 10:07:40 -0700

The Office of City Commissioner Adams is currently looking for self-motivated and intelligent individuals to join our team as interns.

We are offering an entry-level internship which entails office work including data entry, multiple-line phones response, staff support, filing, and policy research, as well as assisting with projects as directed by senior staff.

Commissioner Adams provides equal opportunity to all qualified individuals without regard to their race, color, religion, national origin, age, sex, marital status, sexual orientation, source of income or physical or mental disability. People of diverse backgrounds are encouraged to apply.

Deadline of Submission is April 30, 2008

Please send resume, a cover letter and a writing sample (3 pages max) to:
Maria Lynn F. Lim, Operations Manager
mlynnlim@ci.portland.or.us
(503) 823-3017 (FAX)

Or mail it to:
1221 SW 4th Ave., Rm. 220
Portland, OR 97204

Grey to Green: A Comprehensive Approach to Clean Rivers and Watershed Health

Sam Adams — Sun, 27 Apr 2008 11:51:14 -0700

Portland is blessed with abundant rainfall. With it, our city grows lush and beautiful. But all of this rain comes with a challenge: our annual average of 37 inches creates a staggering 20 billion gallons of stormwater runoff every year.

Without proper management, stormwater runoff can damage our watersheds, rivers, and streams. The good news is that Portland is well past the days of simply funneling stormwater into pipes that release fast-moving, dirty water directly into once-pristine rivers and streams.

In 2005, City Council embraced a holistic approach to watershed health in adopting the Portland Watershed Management Plan. With this new strategy and thanks to on-going help and a steady application of pressure from organizations like the Audubon Society of Portland and the Urban Greenspaces Institute, we are ready to step up our investments in clean rivers and streams to preserve our urban watersheds for generations to come. We're calling this shift in the way we do business "Grey to Green".

Portland is at the forefront of using "green infrastructure" - sustainable stormwater management technologies that mimic natural systems. The city is dotted with parking lot swales, green streets and rain gardens that filter stormwater pollutants and allow water to soak into the ground, replenishing groundwater supplies.

But repairing our urban landscape is not enough. We also need to restore and preserve existing natural areas throughout our city, by fighting invasive weeds, restoring native plants, protecting our most critical natural land, and replacing culverts that harm fish.

These are not new approaches, but shifting our focus and resources from grey to green is a vital step toward improving the health of our watersheds and rivers. With this shift comes the added benefit that we don't get from miles of piped sewers - cleaner air and water, reduced urban temperatures, and increased and improved habitat. And, these approaches often cost less than traditional piped systems.

What excites me most is that this new approach allows every residence and business to be a part of the solution, whether it's installing an ecoroof or simply planting a tree.

Grey to Green is an investment that makes sense. And we are ready to act now.

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A Penny Saved is a Penny Earned...or in this case Budgets Strategically Allocated are Lives Saved

Jane Ames — Fri, 14 Mar 2008 12:21:57 -0700

A few weeks ago, on Feb. 20th , the Office of Youth Violence Prevention reported to City Council. During the morning session it became clear there are three necessary legs of a stool to tackle gang problems: law enforcement, parole and probation, and community outreach programs all need to be present and strategically working in partnership.

There is a serious recent up tick in gang activity here in Portland. The Police Bureau's Gang Violence Response Team is called out to incidents when the attending officers suspect gang involvement. It was reported that 100% of the cases in which the GVRT was called, turned out to be gang related.

Gang Violence Response Team (GVRT) call outs comparisons
December 1st , 2007 to February 26th, 2008	20
December 1st , 2006 to February 26th, 2007	9

The numbers clearly show the increase, but so do the reports we see on the news and in the papers: six shootings within the last two weeks, mostly gang related according to Commander Dave Benson of the Portland Police Tactical Operations Division. In East Precinct there have been two severe beatings within recent weeks and one shooting, according to East Precinct Commander Mike Crebs.

During the early and mid 90's Portland geared up and effectively faced our then emerging gang problems. At council, those early days and the need to get out in front of the problem immediately came up; not allowing it to grow out of control before we devote the necessary resources.

We in City government are in the midst of developing the City's budget for 2008-09. Sam and Commissioner Sten, along with Citizen Budget Members Mary Edmeades and Martin Medeiros make up one of the 2 panels pouring through budget proposals.

This panel is responsible for reviewing the Police Budget and making recommendations to the Mayor who will propose a budget for council approval. We are asking for the Gang Violence Response Team to be increased and to add uniformed officers back on the team. Police Chief Rosie Sizer was able to respond to these concerns with the bureau's plans and strategy. I figure some folks like video, so you can watch the proceeding below or check out City Net 30.

I also figure some people like numbers:

Gang Enforcement Team Staffing
Year	Lieutenant	Sergeant	Detectives	Officers
2007 / 2008	1	2 / 1*	4	15 / 2*
2006 / 2007	1	2 / 1* / 1**	4	15 / 2* / 4**
1999 / 2000	1	3	4	27
1993***	1	4	4	30 to 35

*Notes the assignment of one sergeant and two officers to the Metro Gang Task Force effective July 2006
** Notes the assignment of one sergeant and four officers to Youth Gun Anti-Violence Task Force
***Numbers are Portland Police only after OSP withdrew from gang enforcement

A lot was learned about prevention, intervention, and enforcement back in the 90's; we need to draw upon that knowledge and reallocate our public safety resources to step in front of the increasing gang problems now.

Whooooo Wu!

Lisa Libby — Tue, 04 Mar 2008 16:52:35 -0800

Portland Green StreetThanks to leadership by Congressman David Wu, a new bill has passed through the House Science and Technology Committee to expand funding for green streets research throughout Portland and the rest of the country.

H.R. 5161, also known as The Green Transportation Infrastructure Research and Technology Transfer Act, will authorize research and educational programs on green infrastructure, such as bioswales, curb extensions, and sidewalk planters, which catch and filter runoff, naturally removing pollutants and recharging groundwater.

This bill will fund research and educational programs at select University Transportation Centers, such as the Oregon Transportation Research and Education Consortium (OTREC), a partnership between Portland State University, Oregon State University, University of Oregon, and the Oregon Institute of Technology.

Portland has won national praise for its innovative green streets designs that minimize the harmful effects of stormwater runoff and combined sewer overflows. Currently there are over 600 green streets facilities throughout the city.

Congressman David Wu, chair of the Subcommittee on Technology and Innovation for the House Science Committee, met with Sam in April to tour several of Portland's innovative green streets. Sam was invited by the Congressman to testify at a subcommittee hearing last May to share Portland's success with sustainable stormwater practices.

DJC News: Rubber meets the road at Columbia-Lombard connector

Roland Chlapowski — Wed, 13 Feb 2008 11:29:11 -0800

Efforts by businesses in the Columbia corridor helped keep project on radar screen of local agenciesLike a two-lane blacktop tourniquet, Northeast Columbia Boulevard to Lombard Street impeded the smooth flow of traffic near Portland International Airport. With freight and everyday commuters stuck at choke points, the business community and the city recognized the need to improve Portland's most important east-west arterial for freight traffic.

With the completion of the East Columbia to Lombard Connector - which widened roads, improved access points and created safer pedestrian and bicycle crossing - the city and the Port of Portland say they've solved a nearly 20-year-old transportation problem.

Dan Laden, Portland Office of Transportation project manager for the connector, considers it to be "the most significant" transportation project in the city since the aerial tram.

"In terms of road projects, this is the largest, the most expensive project we've worked on," Laden said.

Faced with a project cost of about $34 million, finding adequate financing for the complicated connector was always a main concern. The project had been pinpointed as early as the late 1980s, but budgetary concerns and a heavy backlog of road projects kept pushing the timetable back. In 1998, the project began inching forward again, Laden said.

Eventually, the city got the bulk of the connector's funding, more than $29 million, from the Oregon Transportation Infrastructure Act, which was established by the Oregon Legislature to support road and bridge maintenance across the state. Another $2 million came from Port funds, while an additional $3 million came from city development funds.

More than $7 million from that total pot of money was spent on right-of-way acquisition, a process in which the city moved seven businesses along the corridor to new locations in order to make room for the widened road.

For the businesses not displaced, keeping the project on the city's radar screen was the main goal.

The Columbia Corridor Association, an early-in-the-pipeline proponent of the connector, argued that congestion along Columbia Boulevard was a major problem for more than a decade. The association lobbies on behalf of the interests of Columbia Corridor businesses and was instrumental in gathering business-owner feedback on the project.

"The old intersection was just inadequate for the amount of traffic going through there," said Corky Collier, executive director of the Columbia Corridor Association.

With his office located on the corridor, and with a traffic-bundled bottleneck acting as a barrier, Collier says he would spend about 20 minutes per trip inching through the corridor's congestion.

The problem was a common one for businesses located along the corridor.

In 2001, Metro received 33 letters - drafted by the Columbia Corridor Association and signed by corridor-housed businesses such as Freightliner and Harsch Investment Properties - in favor of the project. The correspondence and effort of business owners along the corridor helped keep the project on the priority list said Josh Thomas, spokesman for the Port of Portland.

The corridor currently houses 3,000 businesses, 50,000 employees and has an estimated payroll of $1.4 billion, the Port says. At full build-out, the port expects the corridor will have about 90,000 employees. And with business expansion still taking place along the corridor, the city was concerned that the congestion would stall traffic altogether in the near future.

The connector is already having the desired effect in relieving congestion, according to the Port.

"We're starting to see significant improvements to that area," Thomas said.

And the Columbia Corridor Association's Collier, for one, is thankful. Businesses along the corridor depend on reliable routes for shipping and transportation. With a more dependable route, these businesses now expect to save time and money, Collier said.

Wednesday, February 6, 2008

By Tyler Graf

© 2008 DJC News
The Daily Journal of Commerce Inc.
921 S.W. Washington St.
Suite 210
P.O. Box 10127
Portland, Oregon 97296

Phone 503-226-1311 | Web: www.djcoregon.com

Link to the full story here.

Portland Business Journal: We can pay now or pay later

The Office — Mon, 28 Jan 2008 11:44:49 -0800

Oregon’s elected officials have a pointed message for their constituents: Pony up. It’s the only way to unclog roads and repair streets.

Congressman Earl Blumenauer, Gov. Ted Kulongoski and Portland City Commissioner Sam Adams are all calling for significant investments in transportation. Not tomorrow, but now.

Like it or not, they’re right...[read more. subscription required]

NYT: Building Costs Deal Blow to Local Budgets

Guest Author — Sat, 26 Jan 2008 09:39:59 -0800

By WILLIAM YARDLEY

SEATTLE - State and local governments in many parts of the country are struggling to pay for roads, bridges and other building projects because of rising construction costs, adding another burden to budgets already stressed by the troubled housing market.

The problems have come as many governments pursue ambitious projects to improve roads and airports, build schools and upgrade long-neglected water and sewer systems. Many of the projects were conceived when money from property, sales and income taxes was steady and interest rates low, but officials say the ground has shifted beneath their feet.

"Everybody's scared," said Uche Udemezue, director of engineering and transportation for San Leandro, Calif., which will soon put out a request for construction bids on a retiree center and a parking garage. "You don't know what you're going to find when you go out to bid."

Costs have jumped for projects as varied as levee construction in New Orleans, Everglades restoration in Florida and huge sewer system upgrades in Atlanta. The reconstruction of the Interstate 35W bridge in Minneapolis, a $234 million project, has been fast-tracked for completion by December, and state officials say it is too soon to know whether it will come in on budget.

The impact has been felt in different regions at different times, and not every project has been high-profile. In Oregon, high costs have forced the State Department of Transportation to slow the rate at which it upgrades roads and bridges. In Seattle, school building projects were put on a fast track this fall because of fears of cost overruns...[Read the rest at NYT.com]

The Oregonian: Warming could fry salmon

Lisa Libby — Mon, 07 Jan 2008 13:39:56 -0800

Warming could fry salmon

The region's signature fish can't survive in warm waters; they're already feeling the heat.

By Michael Milstein, The Oregonian (January 6, 2008)

Salmon survived massive dams and fishing fleets, but now they're feeling the heat of global warming -- and it's likely to hammer them as hard as anything they've faced.

Although the government has spent billions to save salmon, warming will probably force even more extreme measures in coming years at the expense of water and power for people.

Biologists who have spent their careers watching over the fish said temperatures expected to rise an average of 0.2 to 1 degree per decade over the next century will probably wipe out some fragile runs of salmon. Snow will fall as rain instead, feeding floods that flush away their eggs. Heat waves will multiply, leaving less refuge to which they can retreat.

Click here for the rest of the story.

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Activities in a Business District Near You!

Kimberly Schneider — Sat, 13 Oct 2007 14:21:28 -0700

Come support these October events in our community!

Moreland Monster MarchMoreland Monster March - Sunday, October 28th, 3pm -- Put on your costume and join the family fun! The march begins and ends at Llewellen School. For more information click here

Hollywood Booo-ster Ball -- Saturday, October 27th - Have fun raising money for hte hollywood boosters at this classic Holloween ball. Costumes encouraged! For more information call (503) 517-8584 or click here.

Hollywood Burger Battle -- October 1-31st -- Help decide who has the best burger in in the district! For details click here.

And don't forget Hollywood's Third Thursdays. Last month's theme was Rock 'n Roll. Visit here to find out what you can expect this month!

Have an event in your business district that you'd like to share? Let us know and we'll post your events too.

The Portland Tribune- City gives bike rentals a spin: Bids to launch a 500-cycle fleet are due by Lee van der Voo

Roland Chlapowski — Fri, 12 Oct 2007 17:04:34 -0700

A bicycle fleet that would make quick trips possible from kiosks throughout the city could hit Portland streets within a year, polishing the city's image as one of the most bike-friendly places in the nation.

As it does, Portlanders also might be asked to choose between paying public subsidies for cheap, available bikes and allowing advertising in public spaces to pay for a bike-rental program.

Following the lead of European cities such as Paris, city Commissioner Sam Adams wants to establish a rental fleet of 500 bikes as the first phase of a bike-rental plan for Portland.CLEMENS BILAN/ / GETTY IMAGES: Launched this summer, the “Velib” rental program in Paris seems to be a success, having logged more than 3 million rides on its 10,000-bike fleet. Portland hopes to launch its own bike-rental service, and about 10 companies are expected to bid on it.

Targeting car and transit commuters, the service is aimed at people who make short trips during the day, primarily downtown, and who could benefit from having bicycles for those trips, instead of cars. Students and visiting tourists also are expected to use the service.

Trials of similar programs began in Washington, D.C., and San Francisco this May and June.

In other parts of the world, bike rentals are supported by ad revenue generated from billboards and other public-space advertising. Advertising dollars keep rental costs low and the bike programs focused on user convenience.

With the existing programs bike rentals tend to be free for the first half-hour, then accrue small fees. People who use them register in advance, then pick up the bikes from automated lockers. In Rennes, France, a quick online registration and a magnetic card, later delivered by mail, gets riders started.

Companies bidding on a bike-rental plan for Portland are being asked to develop a similar strategy, which would place bikes at automated kiosks around the city's core.

Private companies would supply both the bikes and the technology to manage them. Once a bidder is selected, a public committee will weigh in on details about design and location.

Otherwise, city officials say that they have few criteria for bidders, hoping to invite a range of ideas.

Public subsidy not ruled out
"It's such a new thing in this country, we're not clear on how it will work," said Roland Chlapowski, senior policy director for Commissioner Adams. "Depending on how it takes off or how it goes over here in Portland, we see this as a big program that could hopefully be self-supporting."

Chlapowski said it will take a review of the proposals to determine how self-supporting the Portland program might be. He said Adams hasn't ruled out a public subsidy if the local advertising market is too small to support the bike program or Portlanders balk at the scope of required ads.

He said the bike rentals are part of Portland's overall plan to become the most bike-friendly city in the nation - Portland already has gold status from the League of American Bicyclists and is aiming to be the first large city to hit platinum.

Local cyclists believe the rentals could succeed here and boost bike ridership downtown.

"People in Portland get around in a lot of different ways and not necessarily the same way every day," said Scott Bricker, interim executive director of the Bicycle Transportation Alliance. "There are people who take transit or drive who would be interested in biking to a meeting, and bicycling is the easiest way to get around downtown."

The BTA may assist one bidder with public outreach for the program but Bricker declined to discuss the proposal.

Meanwhile, companies are lining up to help Portland make the leap. With bids due today, those leaning toward making proposals give a good indication of what's ahead.

Nonprofit organizations that loan bikes from a single hub, such as the Arcata Bicycle Library in Arcata, Calif., could be in the mix. One local firm, Alta Planning & Design, will join a team of companies in rolling out a plan that focuses on low rental costs with little reliance on advertising revenue.

Those small companies will face off against media giant Clear Channel Outdoor. Officials with Clear Channel acknowledged the company would be bidding and is likely to seek advertising space in exchange for the bike program.

Clear Channel works the U.S.
A leader in computerized bike-rental programs, Clear Channel has built eight similar services in cities in Europe and Scandinavia.

In May, Clear Channel kicked off design of a bike-rental program in Washington, D.C. Then in June, the company secured exclusive advertising rights to San Francisco's bus shelters in exchange for taking over repairs and maintenance of the transit shelters.

In the deal, Clear Channel will pay at least $325 million to San Francisco over 20 years for ad space and also supply the city with a bike-rental program, the details of which still are being discussed.

In Portland, similar advertising deals have not been ruled out, but Chlapowski said city officials would want to gauge community support before expanding public advertising to support a bike-rental program.

"I personally don't think Portlanders would be supportive of a huge ad expansion," he said, but pointed to things like bike stations, vending machines and newspaper banks - which could consolidate newspaper racks on sidewalks - as the kind of street furniture Portland might be willing to accommodate.

Indeed, Clear Channel Outdoor's Martina Schmidt, president of the company's street furniture division, Ad Shell, said the company is sensitive to such sentiment in America.

Schmidt said Clear Channel does operate one city-sponsored bike-rental program in Barcelona, Spain. The 6,000-bike program has no advertising component but is an anomaly among Clear Channel's programs.

Generally, Schmidt said, bike-rental programs are developed as part of advertising contracts.

If Portland's program takes hold before San Francisco's, the 500-bike fleet would be the largest bike-rental program in the United States to date. Only 120 are expected to hit the streets of Washington, D.C., as part of a trial run. San Francisco is still working on numbers for its fleet.

leevandervoo@portlandtribune.com

Gore Wins Nobel Prize

Lisa Libby — Fri, 12 Oct 2007 14:07:34 -0700

Inconvenient Truth

Today, former Vice President Al Gore and a United Nations panel on climate change were awarded the 2007 Nobel Peace Prize for their efforts to raise awareness of global warming.

Gore, who has laid the foundation for fighting global warming, commented that "global warming is not a political issue but a worldwide crisis." His efforts have lifted environmental consciousness and increased awareness of human impacts on climate change.

Click for NY Times Article

Gore depicted his predictions on climate change in the academy award winning film, 'An Inconvenient Truth.' In the film, Gore explored data regarding climate change and the potential for disaster. It warned that climate change - linked to drought, floods, and rising seas - could threaten living conditions around the world.

The Portland Tribune: Jackhammers Welcome

The Office — Thu, 11 Oct 2007 14:58:00 -0700

The Portland Tribune talks to people who have helped the city manage storm-water by transforming concrete into gardens and green spaces. Read Nancy Hill's article below to find out more about the projects, and DePave, an on-line resource that has helpful information on the 'depaving' process.

The Portland Tribune: Jackhammers Welcome
Web site urges people to see green where it's gray.

By Nancy HillBefore and After: Where some saw an oversize paved driveway (top), new homeowner envisioned much more. Now, vegetables and fruit grow, and so do the environmental benefits (bottom).

Inspiration struck the moment Arif Khan looked into the concrete backyard of a Northeast Portland house that was for sale.

"I'm attracted to potential and transforming things, and this house offered me both," he says. He quickly made an offer, bought the property, and immediately began figuring out how to transform the concrete into an organic garden.

He admits he had no idea of the sore muscles it would entail, but he persisted, knowing he'd soon be growing vegetables and herbs, and fruit trees would offer both shade and food.

What he didn't know at the time was that transforming his concrete jungle into a productive garden also would bear the seeds of a new avocation - acting as an advocate and source of information for others who envision a world with less pavement and more land for food, nature and wildlife.

"The first thing I had to do was to figure out how to demolish all that concrete, so I went onto the Internet for information," he says. "There was very little about the subject, so I had do a lot of digging. I realized that the information I was uncovering might be useful to other people as well, so I started DePave, a Web site where others could turn for information."

Concrete ups runoff
Khan started tackling the 2,500 feet of concrete in his yard.

"I did it in stages, so it wasn't that bad," he says. "I'd never operated a jackhammer before, and the first time I used one was quite an experience. It was tiring work, but nothing was difficult."

At the time, Khan was an urban planner and was well aware of storm-water runoff problems associated with concrete. "Water can't go through concrete, so the storm water carries pollutants to the Willamette and Columbia rivers and all their tributaries," he says.

Khan points out that Portland has a combined sewage overflow system, which means that all of the city's pipes carry both storm water and sewage. When there's too much to handle, it all goes into the rivers.

"This is a serious environmental problem," he says. "If you ask people what the connection is between concrete and salmon, they'd probably be hard-pressed to answer, but the fact is, that the extra storm-water runoff caused by concrete pollutes our rivers and has a negative effect on everything that lives in them, including, of course, salmon."

Communication officer Linc Mann from Portland's Bureau of Environmental Services reports that impervious (i.e., water-repellent) surfaces in Portland, including pavement and structures, cover approximately 23,000 acres.

The average annual storm-water runoff totals nearly 17 billion gallons. Public and private storm-water management facilities like cisterns, storm-water ponds, and swales manage about 64 percent of the annual runoff, but that still leaves huge quantities of storm water going directly into our rivers.

"Storm-water runoff is a huge source of pollution in our rivers and tributaries," Mann says, "and DePave sounds like a good idea."

Concrete also increases the temperature in cities and requires a good deal of energy to produce, and it can contribute to flooding.

Projects taken on citywide
Not long after Khan began to get rid of the concrete in his yard, people began asking him for information and help removing concrete from other areas.

Word about his knowledge and efforts spread, and soon a core group of about 20 volunteers gathered together and partnered with the City Repair Project, a nonprofit group of citizen activists who help others to transform the places where they live.

Working with City Repair as its fiscal sponsor, DePave has taken on several projects to help organizations turn concrete surfaces into areas with plants and trees. DePave broke up 100 square feet of concrete at the Villa de Clara Vista Apartments, an apartment complex operated by the nonprofit Hacienda CDC, in the Cully neighborhood.

It also broke up 60 square feet of sidewalk at the corner of Southeast Lincoln Street and 47th Avenue and has removed concrete to make way for gardens at private homes.

Efforts were scaled back when Khan went to Africa for several months in his new position as an international relief worker.

"But now I'm back and will be putting more energy into DePave," Khan says. "I have a few more people who have agreed to be on our board of directors, and we're taking steps to get nonprofit status rather than working under an umbrella group. We'll continue to act as an information clearinghouse as well as an advocacy organization, and we'll help businesses and homeowners alike turn some of their concrete spaces into green area and gardens."

When Khan was ridding his own yard of concrete, he was concerned that he wouldn't be able to dispose of it.

"That turned out to be a nonproblem," he reports. "I put a free ad in the newspaper, and people took every bit of concrete I had. People use it for building retaining walls, making steppingstones, raised beds, fire pits, and all sorts of other things. Some artists use it in sculptures, too."

Khan admits he is not a purist about concrete and asphalt. "I am a bicyclist and appreciate riding on good roads. I also drive to some extent, but I don't like the aesthetic of concrete and think we have an over-reliance on cars and should be using our urban land more productively."

Paving options are available
Developers and homeowners increasingly conscious of environmental impacts can consider alternative materials for patios and driveways. Khan suggests bricks, stones or cement paving blocks that allow water to seep through cracks and into the ground.

Pervious pavement is another option. Khan acknowledges it's more expensive than concrete and asphalt but says the extra cost is worth the savings to the environment.

"The removal of cement is a great metaphor of restoration," Khan says. "I don't think many people really think concrete is beautiful, and personally, I would rather eat tomatoes than a bowl of cement."

For information, go to www.depave.org.

The New York Times: In Portland, a Golden Age of Dining and Drinking

Roland Chlapowski — Wed, 26 Sep 2007 08:58:44 -0700

Sept. 26, 2007 //By ERIC ASIMOV// PORTLAND, Ore.

THEY come but they don't go.

In the way New York drew artists in the '50s, this city at the confluence of the Willamette and Columbia Rivers seems to exert a magnetic lure on talented chefs who come from almost anywhere else and decide to stay right here. About the hardest thing to find in Portland these days is a homegrown chef.View NYTimes Portland Cuisine Slide Show here. Portland may seem an unlikely place for such status, a city destined to play second string on the West Coast to San Francisco and Seattle. But in the last five years or so Portland has grown and evolved.

Link directly to NYTimes story here.

At first it was a sort of underground stop for food and wine lovers who had heard word of small, fascinating restaurants run by young, talented chefs serving a bounty of local produce. It's underground no more. Portland has emerged from its chrysalis as a full-fledged dining destination.

This is a golden age of dining and drinking in a city that 15 years ago was about as cutting edge as a tomato in January. Every little neighborhood in this city of funky neighborhoods now seems to be exploding with restaurants, food shops and markets, all benefiting from a critical mass of passion, skill and experience, and all constructed according to the gospel of locally grown ingredients.

In close proximity is a cadre of farmers committed to growing environmentally responsible produce with maximum flavor, delivered to restaurants and to the gorgeous farmers' markets that dot the city. There are local fisheries and small beef, lamb and pork producers. Not far away is the Hood River Valley, with its myriad fruit growers who supply glistening, fragile berries and stonefruits of every stripe and color.

World-class wine is produced in the Willamette Valley, the center of the Oregon wine industry, just a half hour's drive away. Portland has six micro-distilleries making any kind of spirits you can name and, if you'd like a chaser, more breweries than any other city on earth. Just as important is a receptive populace, demanding yet eager to be wowed.

Portland also has what anybody in the restaurant business will tell you is most important of all: affordable real estate. Just as young, passionate chefs flocked to the East Village and Brooklyn in the 1990s, chefs have gravitated to Portland because it lets them have a vision and take risks without lining up corporate backers and lawyers.

"This is one of the very few places on the West Coast that has been an affordable place to live," said Andy Ricker, who in 2005 opened Pok Pok, which started under his obsessive eye as a ramshackle Thai takeout shack and now has a hip little dining room as well. "There are a ton of people here who are going at it in sort of an indie rock way, mostly because they can."

Mr. Ricker is a perfect example. Originally from Vermont, he spent years cooking around the world before following a girl to Portland in the early 1990s. He got a job at Zefiro, an Italian restaurant that set a standard for Portland cooking back then. Restless, he left the business and became a house painter, saving money and traveling to southeast Asia for three or four months at a time. He also bought two houses and sold them, taking advantage of a rising real estate market so he could finance his vision of a southeast Asian restaurant without having to satisfy financial backers.

Now, he's won acclaim for dishes like juicy game hens roasted over charcoal and stuffed with lemon grass, garlic, pepper and cilantro, and local pork loin marinated in coconut milk and turmeric, and served with peanut sauce. .

"You could never open a place that was completely a shot in the dark in San Francisco or New York because the costs are so prohibitive," he said.

Costs were a major concern to Vitaly and Kimberly Paley, who arrived with an earlier wave of restaurant immigrants in 1994. Eager for a fresh start after working in some of Manhattan's most illustrious restaurants, they toured the West Coast, finally settling on Portland.

"We sold our 500-square-foot New York apartment, and with the money, we bought a house with a swimming pool, two cars, and had enough left to open a restaurant," Mr. Paley said.

Today, Paley's Place, a warm and intimate dining room on the first floor of a Victorian house in northwest Portland, is recognized as one of the top restaurants in the Northwest, if not the country, and Mr. Paley has been celebrated for applying French techniques to the Northwestern palette of ingredients. Just as important, Paley's Place, along with other seminal restaurants like Zefiro, Wildwood, Higgins and Genoa, has served as an incubator for much of the talent that is making its mark today.

Gabriel Rucker of Le Pigeon, a kind of new-wave bistro, learned the basics of making stocks and working the grill during two years at Paley's after he arrived here from his hometown, Napa, Calif. He passed through a few other kitchens, then last year he was given an opportunity to take over one of his own. He transformed a little storefront restaurant into Le Pigeon, an informal, slightly manic spot with seasonally changing, nonconformist dishes like braised pork belly with creamed corn and butter-poached prawns, sweetbreads with pickled watermelon, and just about anything that can possibly involve tongue. His signature dessert is apricot cornbread with bacon, topped with maple ice cream.

"I used to think of Portland as a stepping stone, but I fell in love with the city," said Mr. Rucker, who's all of 26. "Rather than going somewhere with a really established food scene, I felt as a young chef that I could really have a lot of possibilities."

Like many of Portland's top chefs, he has established firm relationships with the local farmers. "I can call and have loads of chanterelles or huckleberries delivered right to my door," he said. "When you have people as passionate about growing a watermelon as I am to use it, it's great."

Passion is an important word here in Portland, and so is politics, especially when applied to agriculture. Many of the older farmers came from the Bay Area in the 1970s with a vision of sustainable agriculture, and they have continued to adhere to those principles. Chefs around the country pay lip service to the philosophy of seasonal cooking, but in Portland they seem to take this idea especially seriously, following the examples of influential chefs like Mr. Paley, Greg Higgins (from upstate New York) of Higgins, Dave Machado (Massachusetts) of Lauro Kitchen and Vindalho, and Cory Schreiber of Wildwood - that rare Oregon native, though he's now retired.

"They did a great job establishing the expectation among Portland's dining community that restaurants were going to be using local and seasonal ingredients," said Ken Forkish, who, inspired by the French baker Lionel Poilâne, came from Maryland in 2000 to open Ken's Artisan Bakery and, last year, Ken's Artisan Pizza.

He found Portland tough going at first. Even standard fare - rustic fruit tarts and croissants - was not that familiar here six years ago, Mr. Forkish said, but he believes the population has quickly become more worldly.

"Partly it's because of all the new places that opened," he said, "but there's also been a steady influx of new people who expect these things."

One recent arrival is Tony Soter, a longtime Napa Valley winemaker who last year moved here with his family. They are living in Portland as they build a house on their property in the Willamette Valley. The Soters have 200 acres on an east-west ridge with orchards, herds of sheep and goats, and 10 head of cattle.

"Napa is country only in name," he said. "This is the real deal out here."

Mr. Soter and his wife, Michelle, come from the Portland area originally. And though Mr. Soter spent most of the last 20 years in California, working with Spottswoode, Shafer and Araujo, along with his own winery, Etude, the Soters grew tired of the gloss of Napa. They longed for an environment more in tune with their own values and a place where Mr. Soter felt he could make more balanced European-style wines than he could in California.

The local wine industry has played a crucial role in the rise of Portland's food culture. Visiting wine celebrities are drawn into the gravitational pull of Portland's restaurants, but, aside from that, wine regions naturally inspire a surrounding culture that is highly sensitive to cuisine.

Pascal Sauton grew up in Paris and had cooked in Philadelphia, New York and Colorado before he visited Portland 11 years ago with his wife, Julie Hunter, and decided he never wanted to leave. "I loved the fact that there were four distinct seasons, and the wine valley was a big factor," he said. "The climate, and the whole feel, was European."

After cooking at several different places, the couple opened Carafe in 2003, a joyful, informal bistro that is half French - Mr. Sauton's wide, friendly face is as unmistakably French as a bottle of Beaujolais - and all northwestern. To walk through a farmer's market on a summer morning and to see beautiful golden chanterelles and organic cipollini onions, sweet cherry tomatoes, pattypan squash and bell peppers in purple, ivory and orange, is to have some idea of what you might find on Mr. Sauton's lunch menu. You'll even find glorious local corn on the menu, something you would never see in France.

"Well, we bend the rules a little," he said.

In the winter, he gets tarbais beans from local farmers for his cassoulet along with leeks, celery root and winter squash. Winter is serious business for a chef dedicated to seasonal cooking, yet Portland chefs have worked closely with farmers to assure a steady supply of produce through the dark months. Brussels sprouts, broccoli, greens and cauliflower are in the winter pipeline; seasonal cooking also forces creativity.

"It's a time to slow down and really make some focused dishes that will stay on the menu for a while, maybe do a braise or a confit or dumplings," said Jason Barwikowski (Michigan), the chef at Clyde Common, a bustling restaurant that opened this year in the Ace Hotel. Mr. Barwikowski arrived in Portland after working in Wyoming, where he was able to combine cooking with a love of snowboarding, rock climbing and fly-fishing. Things haven't changed all that much except that the level of cooking is higher.

"I still snowboard and fly-fish and rock climb and ride bikes," he said. "Half an hour in any direction and you're in the mountains or woods."

These other attributes of Portland - the outdoor life, and its deliberately casual, relaxed atmosphere - may in some ways limit what its restaurants can accomplish.

"Portland may be over-hyped in some ways," said Dave Machado, who after 16 years in Portland is a respected old guard chef. "A big city with an international component is always going to have crisper service. We have a regional class of service here."

At the same time, Portland's population is growing and real estate prices are climbing, leading some to fear that the city will lose its cherished renegade spirit. But Mr. Paley, for one, scoffs at that notion.

"I think Portland innately will make sure that people always have opportunities," he said. "Portland is a free spirit."

The Oregonian: Letting It Flow

Lisa Libby — Tue, 18 Sep 2007 10:22:29 -0700

Thursday, September 13, 2007

by Kym PokornySE Ankeny Green Street (Oregonian, Homes & Gardens)

Public greenspaces to capture runoff should guide our own gardens

Several years ago, two nice young people showed up at my doorstep asking if I wanted my downspouts disconnected for free.

"Huh?" I said, feeling like a dope.

Once they explained that disconnecting the downspouts would allow rainwater to filter into the ground instead of rushing into the city's overloaded storm-water system, where it mixes with sewage and can overflow into the Willamette River, I readily agreed. After all, they were going to do all the work.

Turns out the city does the same thing on public land -- only on a larger scale. The designs -- called Green Street projects -- include curb extensions and rain gardens that capture and filter water. Three of these projects, all designed by Kevin Robert Perry, a sustainable storm-water specialist with Nevue Ngan Associates, have received national awards from the American Society of Landscape Architects.

The awards recognize the big impact of what most people would consider small projects. All three -- Northeast Siskiyou Green Street, Mt. Tabor Middle School Rain Garden and Southwest 12th Avenue Green Street -- serve a trio of guiding principles: manage storm-water runoff; use plants and soil to slow, filter, cleanse and infiltrate runoff; and aesthetically enhance the community.

In other words, the small greenspaces divert storm water from the sewer system using natural methods that look good. The one at Northeast Siskiyou, basically two landscaped curb extensions, was a pilot project designed by Perry and built by the city to demonstrate "how storm water can be managed through a landscape system within the street," he says.

As the rain hits the asphalt, it's collected into the landscape and filtered by plant roots before draining slowly into the ground. A serious downpour may still cause some water to overflow and make it into nearby storm drains, but at a much reduced rate.

Perry says the streetside project has been successful on a number of fronts. "Since it cost $17,000, it shows that we can do this in a cost-effective way. We included interpretive signs, so it gets a lot of interest from neighbors who pass by."

And because of the ASLA awards for all three designs and the admiration of other landscape architects and engineer-type people, the projects also generated interest from other cities -- another of the goals. Plus, tests have shown the curbside landscape "really does make a difference," Perry says. In the past year, rainwater has been contained by the parking strips and kept out of the city's sewer system.

Unlike Siskiyou, which was intended as a demonstration project, the rain garden at Mt. Tabor Middle School addressed the problem of a neighborhood full of wet basements during the rainy season. "The pipes there were put in 89 years ago before anyone knew it would be developed," Perry says of the storm-water system. "They're undersized, and when we have a downpour, the water backs up into basements."

Because the parking lots and play areas of schools (in fact, any pavement) intensify runoff, the city sought to redirect some of that water. So Perry, working with the Portland Bureau of Environmental Services and the city's Office of Transportation, came up with a rain garden interlaced with drains and planted with native plants. In the year since it's been completed, no rainwater has overflowed. And an integrated bike rack gives students some interaction with the garden.

Yes, the city is spending $1.4 billion to install huge pipes to help keep storm water and sewage from overflowing into the river. But I'm thinking these small gardens are the way of the future. And they can serve as examples for all of us. It's not such a leap to translate these ideas to our own back -- and front -- yards.

Kym Pokorny: 503-221-8205; kympokorny@news.oregonian.com

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The Oregonian: Big Pipe Project on East Side Starts Going Full-bore

Lisa Libby — Wed, 12 Sep 2007 12:25:06 -0700

Wednesday, September 12, 2007

Big Pipe Project on East Side Starts Going Full-bore

by SPENCER HEINZ

After a leaky launch, tunneling to stem overflows into the river picks up pace.

Portland's eastside Big Pipe boring machine has finished gearing up and finally embarked on the full-fledged start of its four-year run along a six-mile route beneath the east bank of the Willamette River.

"They're up and going," Paul Gribbon, the city's Big Pipe tunneling manager, said Monday. He added that the 960-ton subterranean train of gear should average 40 feet a day over the course of the run.

This marks the last leg of a two-decade effort to stop most overflows of rain-driven storm water and sewage into the Willamette River.

It took a while to get equipped. In early June, flooding slowed the boring machine's breakout from its 11-story-deep startup shaft near the Oregon Museum of Science and Industry. Workers stemmed the leaks in the shaft, and from early July to early August, the machine tunneled 260 feet from the shaft's base to a planned one-month layover.

During the past month, workers have connected more than 200 feet of trailing gear, totaling some 500 tons, to the boring machine. In recent days, the machine has started full-ahead on the four-year effort to install the eastside pipeline by 2011.

Part of a long-range program to improve the city's network of storm-water pipes and combined sewers, the Big Pipe project is Portland's biggest city-financed construction program. Sewer-bill ratepayers cover costs. The city estimates $1.4 billion for a system of much bigger pipelines and storm-water diversion systems along both sides of the Willamette and the Columbia Slough.