CommissionerSam.com - Speeches & Testimony

Vanport Square Opens on MLK

Kimberly Schneider — Fri, 25 Jan 2008 19:14:18 -0800

Commissioner Adams joined developers Ray Leary and Jeana Woolley, PDC Commissioner Charles Wilhoite and Carl Talton to celebrate the grand opening of Vanport Square - located on NE Martin Luther King, Jr Blvd & Alberta. Sam's remarks follow:

Thank you Ray for that introduction. It's wonderful to join you all here today on this brisk morning for a project opening that warms the heart.

As a resident of North Portland's Kenton neighborhood - who uses MLK daily -- I'm excited about this development and what it means for our City.

MLK is a critical boulevard in the City of Portland. It connects the Oregon Convention Center, the Central Eastside, the Lloyd District, Emanuel Hospital, PCC's Cascade Campus, Trail Blazers Boys and Girls Club, the Skanner, Observer and Asian Reporter newspapers, and numerous parks, churches and schools. The boulevard provides a connection through Portland's most diverse neighborhoods.

Studies show that 28,000 cars drive along MLK Boulevard each day. Now that's a tremendous opportunity for businesses located along MLK, but it's also an opportunity to get people out of their cars and onto the Streetcar system.

I hope you can envision with me a time in the not too distant future when the Streetcar line will extend from downtown to the Central Eastside and Lloyd District all the way up MLK. This will help reduce the congestion on the Boulevard, and will also make it a more walkable street, which is what retailers along here need to grow and thrive.

But today we are gathered for the opening of the Vanport project and there is much to celebrate about this project.

Vanport Square is a hard-fought triumph for Ray and Jeana, for Martin Luther King, Jr. Blouvard and for PDC - and we're grateful to them for that fight. We would not be here today if it weren't for their perseverance, vision and creativity.

The result is a project that will support 75 jobs - and 16 businesses that have the opportunity to own a business AND build equity in their property on MLK. At the same time, the large plaza will be a gathering place for the entire community.

With this success, this project sets the stage for new commercial activity, new vitality and new development on this Boulevard.

Ray and Jeana's tribute to the City of Vanport and the residents who lived there also sets the tone for any new development: the past is not forgotten; the past remains with us today.

I'd also like to acknowledge former Mayor Vera Katz - for her involvement in this project - and Mayor Potter - who could not be here today but sends his congratulations - for all the support he has shown in this effort.

So, to Ray and Jeana, to all the citizens who volunteered their time at countless meetings, to the City staff involved - a big thank you.

I look forward to joining you along MLK for other celebrations of this great boulevard.

Thank you.

READ ON

Jane Ames — Sat, 01 Sep 2007 13:39:17 -0700

Schools are starting up, and student energy will begin to focus in from the expansiveness of summer life lessons to the intentional lessons that make up formal education. Many of those lessons involve reading: either learning to read, or learning from reading.

Chalk It Up for Oregon LiteracyA few weeks ago Sam addressed those gathered for the Oregon Literacy event in Pioneer Courthouse Square.

Chalk It Up is an event where artists created beautiful works that depicted covers, characters or events of many popular books. The art pieces were sold and the proceeds benefited Oregon Literacy programs. The Chalk It Up website links to the pictures and identifies the artists.

Here are Sam's prepared remarks discussing the importance of reading and the literacy concerns facing many people in Oregon. Right now, 2 in 5 Oregonians struggle to read in their daily lives. No one is too young or too old to start learning to read. For an infant, the lessons begin by watching how a book is held and listening to the rhythm of written words. For adults beginning to read, the encouragement and respect of those around one as they step up to the challenge is very important.

Enjoy your last days of summer and cozy into fall with some good reading. Celebrate your ability to read and remember to reach out and encourage those who still need to learn this set of valuable skills.

Oregon Literacy exists because: knowledge empowers, and literacy should be a right for all.

From Here to Portland's Transportation Tomorrow

Sam Adams — Sun, 29 Jul 2007 17:41:19 -0700

From Here to Portland's Transportation Tomorrow
City Club of Portland Remarks
Commissioner Sam Adams
July 20, 2007

Listen to the speech here.

Thank you, Don Williams, for that gracious introduction. It is an honor to return to the Portland City Club.

I have never seen a passion for any other issue be more intense, a problem more intractable, or options so hotly debated. It was on the front page of every newspaper and the top of all the newscasts for weeks. In fact, history likely will regard it as the most important transportation-related question of our generation. If you haven't already guessed, the issue I am talking about is, "Should, or should we not, allow duct tape on our streets and sidewalks?"

I guess it is all about perspective, isn't it?

Context is important: and to my way of thinking, a great transportation system never guarantees a great city, but a lousy transportation system almost always guarantees a lousy one. Why? Because transportation should not be an end unto itself but must serve to promote other important civic goals, such as: an educated citizenry engaged in life-long learning; locally-owned businesses ready to win sales at home and in the world's marketplace while providing family-wage jobs; a sustainable and green and beautiful city in balance with nature; a robust creative and science community; affordable housing and equality of opportunity; a safe city that embraces the world and flourishes as a hub for trade; and, an effective regional partnership between citizens, labor, business, advocacy groups and government.

We all know that Portland gets high praise for its transportation innovations. Just yesterday, CNN reported, that "Probably the best asset [Portland] has to offer travelers...is its extensive and reliable transit system." This feedback is great for our collective ego. But we need to stay humble in the knowledge that our transportation system does not adequately serve tens of thousands of Portlanders. And we must be honest with ourselves that the 30-year-old transportation vision we have been operating under has outlived it usefulness, that we face major new challenges, and that a key decision-points that will shape what kind of transportation city and region we will for the next half-century are fast approaching.

Today I'm going to summarize the key transportation challenges we face and our efforts to address them over the past 24 months. Then I'll transition to potential solutions and wrap up with the community benefits I see if we embrace a transportation transformation.

The challenges:

Our first and most tragic: Portland's streets are killing and injuring people despite the fact that we know how to make them safer. Streets like 82nd Avenue, 122nd Avenue and West Burnside - these are dangerous streets because we have lacked adequate funds to implement safety solutions, to enforce traffic laws and educate road users. And when I say, "safety solutions," I mean the most basic of things like sidewalks -- over 60 miles of Portland busiest streets - the streets that people to walk on to catch the bus - over 60 miles of these kind of streets lack sidewalks. Sixty miles: that is the distance between Portland and Hood River.

With such a safety gap in our transportation system, I don't blame parents for not wanting their kids to walk or bike to school, which contributes to the rising rate of childhood obesity. And I understand why the concerns about safety keep more adults from using their bikes. Congressman Earl Blumenauer rightly calls the bicycle the single most efficient form of urban transportation ever conceived. And yet only 3.5% of city travel trips take advantage of such efficiency because so many perceive our streets to be unsafe.

Our second transportation challenge: our basic road and bridge system is crumbling. Early estimates put the repair bill at $422 million today and $9 million more for each year we wait. Add another $325 million for the County's Willamette River bridges. The City or County does not have this kind of money or a revenue source to get it.

These antiquated streets also contribute substantially to another, sometimes not-so-obvious problem: the $1.4 billion price tag we have to pay to stop untreated pollution from entering the Willamette River. I'm talking about the Big Pipe Project, the largest public works project in the city's history. More than 60% of our stormwater pollution comes from our road system.

Our third major transportation issue is the erosion of our land use laws. Measure 37 claims filed in our area threaten to blow out the region's Urban Growth Boundary, the most important tool we have for keeping a region scaled for people; if the UGB goes, likely so too will the remaining capacity of our road and freeway systems. This is a disaster in the making.

Our fourth challenge is gridlock: Each morning and evening, 7 million motor vehicle trips try to squeeze into Portland's arterial streets and freeways. With so many people stuck waiting in traffic congestion, unabated, it will cost the local economy $1 billion every year by 2025.

And that brings me to my final two transportation issues, numbers five and six on my list, respectively: global warming and peak oil. Kudos to Commissioners Erik Sten for his forward thinking plan to reduce CO2 gas emissions, Dan Saltzman for his leadership on our peak oil response plan and Randy Leonard on his biodiesel local production and sales strategy.

There work is important because the age of cheap energy is over. Consider this: the Environmental Protection Agency reports that America is now spending more on transportation than food. And it is worse for the working poor, who now spend more on transportation than housing and food combined.

Ok, upfront, I have hit you hard with the gloom-and-doom to drive home the fact that the transportation challenges we face are numerous, very tough and more lethal than ever. But our collective transportation challenges are also very solvable with a smart new regional vision that integrates regional transportation and land use planning, wise investments that diversify transportation choice, and some good ‘ol Portland-style gumption.

Our new approach started 24 months ago when I was appointed the city's transportation commissioner. As commissioner-in-charge I am determined to lead Portland's transportation agency in a new direction of increased sustainability, accountability and results. With the appointment of Sue Keil as Portland's new transportation director, most all the senior managers in PDOT are new to their posts. We have completed two outside management reviews and we are implementing changes from a recent audit. The agency's budget is put together with advice for a citizens and labor budget committee. And we don't just wait for transportation problems to come to us downtown; we're out looking for them. We have held 15 transportation public town halls and eight neighborhood and business district walkabouts.

And we are doing everything we can to get the basics right, like paving and repairing potholes. We have increasing our pothole repairs by 30%. If we don't see it first, call our pothole hotline at 503-823-BUMP and get it filled.

We have strengthened our partnerships. For the first time ever, all the transportation providers in Portland meet regularly to focus on operational improvements. With the Oregon Department of Transportation, we passed bills in the state legislature that give us the authority to clear more quickly disabled vehicles on the freeway - 50% of local congestion is due to non-repeating delays such as non-injury crashes. And with TriMet and Metro and Milwaukie and Clackamas County we successfully lobbied the state legislature for $250 million to expand light rail from Milwaukie into downtown, and $20 million for streetcars. And along with investments in South Waterfront and on the eastside, we are in the midst of the largest extension of streetcar trackage since the early 1900s.

And we are making a new industry of streetcar manufacturing. Congressman Peter DeFazio - my former boss -- got us started by securing $4 million in federal funds to help build the first Oregon-made streetcar. The state legislature saw a good job-creation opportunity and invested another $20 million. More than 80 delegations from around the country have visited to see our streetcar. I hope it's only a matter of a few short years before Oregon-made streetcars are running throughout the nation.

After inheriting costly mistakes early in the process, we finished the OHSU Tram on the revised timeline and budget with the private sector picking up 85% of its cost.

The city council approved the initial I-5/I-405 "loop group" study recommendations and we are now looking for resources to do the next phase of needed studies.

We moved forward another important project: the Burnside Couch Couplet Plan. We put it through the wringer with a year of additional outside scrutiny, improved it by adding an express streetcar line, and ultimately got it approved by the City Council with unanimous support.

We held Portland's first transportation safety summit and then successfully lobbied for $11 million in city funding to improve Portland's most dangerous intersections. The crosswalks on NW 23rd, NE Alberta, Belmont and other neighborhood main streets are the result of this initiative. So are 100 new school crossing beacons throughout the city. Soon you will see pedestrian medians on east 82nd, 122nd, Foster and more; my thanks to Mayor Tom Potter who was the first of my city council colleagues to grasp the importance of this safety investment.

We completed the city's first freight master plan, which identifies key corridors for safe, effective freight movement-so vital to our economy-that minimize the impact of trucks in our neighborhoods. And from that plan, we have almost finished a complete rebuild of the Columbia Boulevard/North Killingsworth intersection to eliminate a dangerous turns for trucks.

For bicyclists, we've put Portland on the path to Platinum bike status, a national achievement no major city has yet earned. We're planning the next wave of major bicycle investment: an aggressive expansion of the bicycle boulevard network. These are low-traffic, low-impact streets designed to accommodate the auto needs of residents, but where the bicycle rules the road.

And we just yesterday we dedicated the Hollywood sewer and streetscape improvement project with a neighborhood business leader saying that the city's was great to work with, doing everything it could to minimize the negative impacts of construction and boost all the possible positives.

I may have the fancy title of "Commissioner-in-charge" but these results come from a team effort. Thanks to my colleagues on the City Council, all my staff in city hall, at Portland Office of Transportation, our partners at Oregon Department of Transportation, TriMet, Metro, Portland Streetcar, Inc., Portland Development Commission, Oregon Health Sciences University, Bicycle Advisory Committee, Bicycle Transportation Alliance, Pedestrian Advisory Committee, Willamette Pedestrian Coalition, Portland State University, our Freight Advisory Committee, and everybody else who volunteers countless hours of time to make Portland a safe, better place to get around. If you belong to any of the groups I just mentioned, please stand so we can recognize you.

That was a highlight of good work underway to address our transportation dilemmas; now let's discuss other solutions on the drawing board.

Portland enjoys a reputation for being ahead of the curve thanks to the people of this city who embrace innovation. Some of the additional solutions I will discuss today are in the works, others are decades from fruition but all are intended to call upon the best of what it means to be a Portlander.

I'm going to discuss the solutions to our safety and maintenance deficits as one package.

I recently hosted five transportation town halls to discuss this unglamorous but important issue that has been 25 years in the making. After two years of improving the operations of the city's transportation department and unsuccessfully begging the Oregon state legislature for more money, but just as dozens of Oregon cities already have enacted local transportation funding sources, I feel we have no choice but to look at new local transportation funding options.

It might not be widely understood but there is little mystery in how we got here: As project costs have skyrocketed as the price we pay for raw materials and health insurance goes up and up and up. Meanwhile the amount of money we receive from the state via the gas tax, in real terms, goes down, down, down. This has resulted in seven years of budget cuts from current service levels at Portland transportation department.

On this issue, I always get asked some similar questions, good questions that I will try and answer succinctly:

Did the tram eat money that could have been used for maintenance? No, the $8.5 million we spent was for tax increment resources that legally cannot be used for street maintenance.

Should we have spent some of money used to build streetcar and lightrail for maintenance? The bulk of the funds used to pay for these projects - federal transit funds, lottery bonds, tax increment - legally cannot be used for street maintenance.

Aren't Oregon's transportation taxes already high? Oregon's transportation-related fees and taxes, per gallon of gas - the best apples-to-apples comparison - are the lowest in the U.S. west.

If transportation is so important, why not cut other less important city programs and use the savings to pay for transportation? Given the $422 price tag, it is question of trade offs. Do you cut police, fire or parks - all with their own unmet funding needs to pay for transportation?

Why not cut the waste out of PDOT and use the savings for maintenance? We are always looking to improve operations at PDOT but again it has been cutting at its budget for seven years.

With gas prices so high, you in government must be making a mint off your gas tax? Actually, the gas tax is on a gallon of gas not the price of gas so when gas prices rise consumption slows bringing in less revenue. And it is a state gas tax, the Portland region only gets 46 cents of each gas tax dollar we send to Salem.

In terms of what new local funding options we might select for consideration, it too early to tell. We have created a diverse 60-person to audit how PDOT currently spends it money, the list of identified needs and recommend funding options.

Of course, the best tax is one that somebody else pays. But I am intrigued with Seattle's approach of a three-legged funding source. Maybe a modest monthly basic street safety and maintenance fee, a smallish local gas tax, and some other revenue option. By looking at three modest funding sources instead of loading it all on to just one tax, we spread the pain as evenly as possible among all those who use the system.

I want to be sure we all see any fine print on the funding package options. For instance, at $40 million of new revenue per year, we can eliminate the safety and maintenance backlog in ten years. At $20 million annually, it will take 20 years. And any proposal I bring forward will show exactly when, where and how the money will be spent.

We knew before I rolled out this issue that this would be an unpopular but the early feedback from the town halls has been very encouraging. That said, I am cautiously optimistic we will have something to present to City Council in January. Since my funding efforts are focused on our maintenance and safety deficits, the regional and state funding efforts to expand transportation capacity must continue as well.

And whatever transportation package we may ultimately end up with, I guarantee it will include aggressive plans for more greenstreets. This year I sponsored the nation's first comprehensive greenstreets policy for a major city. As we build or rebuild streets, we'll employ greenstreet technology, which saves the taxpayer money because it addresses road-produced pollution close to the source instead of piping it to the treatment plant.

The solutions to our land use start with passage of a state ballot measure and extend to more robust development around transit stops.

It's imperative that we keep our land use laws in place - fix the parts that need fixing but keep them in place. Indeed, much of what Portland has done better than the rest of the country harkens back to previous generations of leadership who recognized the inextricable relationship between transportation and land use. Light rail, streetcar, safe streets for bicycling and walking - none of it is possible without land use laws that encourage a more compact and humane development pattern. When you receive your ballot this fall, get out that #2 pencil and take a good 10 seconds to darken that bubble in support of Measure 49.

We also need more vigorous transit station area development. The slow pace of redevelopment along the Yellow Line in North Portland concerns me. At my direction PDOT has initiated a review of the Banfield and I-205 transit stops to understand the barriers to redevelopment. We need a review of our zoning, building codes, planning practices, and market analyses as they relate to transit stations. Every transit station in the city should be a vibrant micro-community with its own unique sense of place and identity. We need to maximize the return on our multi-billion transit investments with station area development that makes walking, bicycling, and transit the easiest and best set of travel choices.

Our solutions to congestion need to be assertive and regional in scope. As the 3rd most trade dependent region in the nation, congestion is much more than just an inconvenience; it's the annual $1 billion hole in our pocket by 2025 if we do nothing.

We need modernize our freeways. But more importantly we need to reduce congestion by creating real alternatives to personal auto dependency. We must use our existing road right-of-way, fully 1/3rd of the city's land mass, more efficiently.

As I have already discussed, it's starts by fixing the basic infrastructure we already have and dramatically diversify our good travel choices. It's like any good investment portfolio: diversify, diversify, diversify.

So our solution to congestion must also move forward achievement of our global warming and peak oil goals. What would Portland look like if we implemented solutions to global warming and peak oil? Well, ironically enough, it would look a lot like Portland circa 1920 - a time when the main means of motion were your feet, streetcars and bikes - and maybe horses, but we should leave them in the pasture. In that era we had more than 100 miles of tracks. Streetcars were literally setting the footprint for how the city would grow. In fact, one of Portland's finest charms, our distinctive neighborhoods, is a direct result of our original streetcar grid.

To me it's obvious that we should grow what we know works and return the streetcar to its original stature in the city, along with lightrail. We are close to completing a nearly 30-year-old regional rail transit plan. So, we have initiated a citywide - followed by a region wide -- rail transit plan that will determine the best corridors for rail transit expansion.

For our new regional transit plan I foresee new light rail and express streetcar lines, more frequent bus service going more places, more car-sharing, bikes, bike boulevards and sidewalks and walking paths, appropriate auto use, and new deployment of transportation management associations -to ensure you could get where you need to go when you need to be there without you wanting to use your car.

And to ensure we are disciplined about linking transportation and land use planning I believe we should plan to accommodate our share of projected regional growth-Metro anticipates 300,000 more Portlanders by 2035-within ¼ mile of all existing and to-be-planned streetcar and lightrail transit stops. That will be a huge task but a worthwhile task. Why? Because it will simultaneously encourage responsible, transit-supportive development while protecting our existing single-family neighborhoods from undo growth.

With all the lightrail and streetcar projects underway or planned, it is fair to ask, do we really need more? My answer is an emphatic, "yes." As recently reported in the media, many of the cities that we compete with are doing much more than we are. Denver has 12 year program to build 119 miles of light rail and commuter rail. Houston has a $7.6 billion initiative to 73 miles of lightrail. Portland, we cannot afford to fall behind.

These efforts will relieve congestion by leaving the freeways and major streets for the most valuable travel trips - freight and those for whom transit, or carpooling or human motion is not a realistic choice.

Creating a true diversity of travel choices also means dealing with the disruptions of building it out and questions as to how to pay for it.

Right now there are over 30 current and planned public and private projects worth an estimated by some to be valued at $1 billion that impact the right-of-way in downtown. It is a Herculean task to keep things moving as normal as possible. But I meet with PDOT, TriMet, small business owners, resident and 35 other stakeholders meet every other week under the banner of "Keep Portland Moving" to provide assistance and coordinate the reduction of our collective impacts. We opened a hotline. If you see something that concerns you, call us at 503-865-MOVE. Live operators really are standing by to help. I do.

Given the $422 million maintenance repair bill already on the table, a natural follow-up question to any mention of a robust regional transit system is, "How do we pay for it?"

As I already mentioned, the funding options work underway on the state and regional level must go forward.

When it comes to streetcar, if you pick the right routes and they help pay for them selves; along our existing system we've seen more than $2.4 billion in private investment. The Burnside/Couch Couplet Streetcar is estimated to pay for itself in 14 years.

The federal government needs to refocus and return to its role as our nation-builder. Historically, the federal government has always picked up most of the tab for major infrastructural investment. In the 1950s Congress set the federal government's contribution to interstate freeway projects at 90%. Stop the war in Iraq and save $175 million each day. Impose a federal tax surcharge on excess oil company profits resulting from this price gouging.

And we should slap a surcharge for urban transit projects on national oil companies engaged in what appears to be price gouging while prices at the pump hover around $3 per gallon. U.S. Speaker of the House of Representative Nancy Pelosi is right when she calls the $97 billion dollar annual profits they made last year, "Obscene."

Duct-tape, bailing wire and band aids are apt metaphors for how we have funded our transit and transportation projects. But this approach will leave us falling behind of where we need to be for regional mobility.

So in the immediate term, we've got to invest in our basic roadway infrastructure. Access to safe, well-maintained streets is everybody's right, and consequently everybody's responsibility.

We must protect our land use laws to keep our wonderfully diverse mosaic of safe, livable neighborhoods that make Portland special. Congestion paired with anticipated growth isn't just a frustration; without alternatives it will be a billion dollar annual burden.

We must focus our response is to diversify our portfolio of travel choices, investing in real alternatives for around-town travel needs. And last by certainly not least, global warming and peak oil are basically the exclamation at the end of the travel choice sentence. The consequences of inaction are simply too dire to assume we can ignore them.

Taken together these actions will result in a "transportation transformation." Simply put, as the transportation commissioner of your city, I don't think we have a choice.

Remember that history is replete with examples of once-fine cities that grew complacent in their accomplishments and let innovation pass them by. In the 1980s when massive freeway expansion was still en vogue, some renegade city hiding in the car wash corner of America turned its back on the Mt. Hood Freeway, took the federal dollars, and tried the nation's first light rail system instead. Now it seems everybody's been to or coming to Portland, Oregon to experience first-hand what we've been up for the last twenty years.

Yes, we start ahead of other cities but we need invest in more. We already attract a disproportionate share of young, creative talent, in part because we've made smarter transportation investments than other cities. One nationally-renowned economist, Joe Cortright, says we're already reaping the benefits. Portlanders commute on average four fewer miles than the national average, saving us a collective $2.6 billion in fuel and time savings.

The transformation is how we get from here to Portland's transportation tomorrow. I hope you will join us.

Thank you.

Overcoming Federal Barriers to Green Stormwater Infrastructure

Lisa Libby — Fri, 18 May 2007 16:50:49 -0700

Click to view video of the hearing.

Last week Commissioner Adams was called to Washington, D.C by Congressman David Wu, chairman of the House Subcommittee on Technology and Innovation, to testify during a hearing addressing “Green Transportation Infrastructure: Challenges to Access and Implementation.”

The Subcommittee hearing was the first step toward expanding Portland’s innovative stormwater efforts and local Green Streets Policy, to national policy with a federal funding base.

Click on the photo above to view complete video of the hearing. If you don’t have an hour and a half to watch the entire hearing, fast forward 34 minutes in to hear Commissioner Adams testimony on federal barriers to increasing green stormwater infrastructure. Or click here to read written testimony.

Contact your state legislator & tell them to support CHAMP: Funding for Culture, History, Art, Movies & Preservation

Sam Adams — Mon, 30 Apr 2007 20:04:16 -0700

These are the remarks I gave today speaking at the noontime "CHAMP" (Culture, History, Art, Movies and Preservation) rally on the steps of the Oregon State Capitol in Salem, Oregon.

"I am Sam Adams and I am proud to be Portland Arts and Culture Commissioner.

Just like parks, police, social services, housing and transportation, funding for arts and culture should be part of what we define as a basic government service.

And as you have already heard from some very eloquent speakers, but it bears repeating, funding for arts and culture is good for the economy by bringing family-wage jobs to this state.

And as Senator Brad Avakian just said, arts and culture in public education means that kids learn better and faster in all subjects; it's a good deal.

Finally, arts and culture serves as the mirror and sounding board for our individual growth as human beings - and for every community across Oregon. It is essential to our "humanness" as a state.

For far too long arts and culture funding has been treated as a luxury -- something we fund if we have extra money. Well, this Governor and First Lady Mary Oberst and the state legislators standing behind me are trying to change that.

They deserve our support they deserve the support of Oregonians across this state. Thank you."

Please contact your state legislator tell them to support CHAMP, Governor Kulongoski's $10.9 million investment package for arts and culture.

Bush's Transportation Secretary Praises Rail Transit

Roland Chlapowski — Tue, 14 Nov 2006 11:04:56 -0800

George Bush's transportation secretary offered words of praise for rail transit at the Rail-Volution conference in Chicago last week. Take a look at why even conservative officials see the merit of rail transit as they seek to serve a diversity of transportation needs for the public.

-Roland

Remarks by the Honorable Mary Peters

Secretary of Transportation for President G. W. Bush

RAIL-VOLUTION CONFERENCE

Chicago, IL November 6, 2006, 8:45 AM CST

Good morning! Thanks to Jim Simpson for his kind introduction. Jim has been doing a terrific job leading our transit team. We are lucky to have him.

It is great to be in Chicago today. The Windy City is world-renowned for its innovative urban planning that relies on a world class transportation system to connect people with culture and commerce. So, it is certainly a fitting backdrop for a thoughtful discussion on how we can use transit to create more livable communities.

Since our Nation's founding, transportation has transformed our country. It fueled Chicago's evolution from a fur trading center to the home of the world's largest futures exchange. And it transformed the American landscape from a place where farms dotted a largely undiscovered wilderness into a sophisticated network of metropolitan communities powering the world's strongest and fastest growing economy.

Transportation has always been synonymous with opportunity in America-connecting workers with jobs, products with markets, and travelers with destinations. The same is true today.

If we want to keep our economy strong and maintain our high quality of life, we must keep our transportation systems vital and viable. That means it is critical for all of us to work together to tackle problems like traffic congestion, threats to safety, and the growing strain on traditional sources of transportation funding.

When I spoke with President Bush about serving as Secretary, I assured him that the Department would tackle these challenges head on. And I told him we would do this by taking a fresh look at the issues, and finding creative ways to keep our people and products moving across all modes of transportation.

I have spoken a lot about my top three transportation priorities since taking the oath of office last month. First and foremost, we must make travel safer. We must never accept fatalities and injuries as the price we pay for mobility. That means we must build safety considerations into every transportation decision.

Second, we must boost the entire network's performance by improving predictability and reliability. And, finally, we must find 21st century solutions to 21st century mobility challenges.

Today our roads, airports, and transit systems are being choked by congestion in communities large and small across America.

These tie ups waste energy, reduce air quality, and cause Americans to spend less time with their families and friends. It is time for all of us--public and private citizens alike-- to stop accepting congestion as a fact of life or as just another cost of doing business.

While we may not be able to simply pave our way out of gridlock, we might just be able to ride the rails around it.

With America's population and economy growing at a record pace, the Bush Administration understands that rail and other transit services must play a role in shaping and sustaining the development of our communities. We also know that while local funds and passenger fares account for most transit funding, the federal government is a key partner, especially for major capital investments. So, we are investing record amounts of money in public transportation to help communities make transit affordable and accessible for all Americans.

Since President Bush took office in January 2001, funding for the New Starts program has increased nearly 40 percent, from $980 million to more than $1.5 billion. In the past two years alone, we have proposed to spend over $3 billion to finance 31 major transit projects.

That amount includes an initial down payment of $100 million for the Small Starts program which would level the playing field by allowing smaller, less costly projects to compete for federal dollars against like-sized ones.

It also includes $260 million in funding to keep six projects moving forward, and more than $1.2 billion for nine entirely new Full Funding Grant Agreements.

Let me share some details from the most recent funding commitments we have made.

A little over a week ago, the Department was on-site to sign a $117 million Full Funding Grant Agreement for the Wilsonville-to-Beaverton Commuter Rail project outside Portland, Oregon.

In June of this year, we signed two other agreements - one for $1.4 billion in Dallas to extend its light rail system, and one for $611 million for Salt Lake City to build a 43-mile commuter rail line.

In the booming city of Charlotte, we supported a $427 million light rail line. In Pittsburgh, we have committed funds for the $435 million North Shore Connector that will connect downtown with the rapidly re-developing North Shore area.

And in my home state of Arizona, we are partners in a $1.4 billion light rail system in Phoenix that will provide access to major employment centers and to popular cultural venues in that growing metropolitan area.

Time and again, this Administration is demonstrating its commitment to public transportation. At the same time, we are committed to results, and to making sure that every federal dollar is used to the maximum benefit of those who are paying the bills--the American taxpayer.

The billions of dollars being spent under New Starts are not just figures on a government spreadsheet.

This is a huge amount of real money that is being invested to enhance mobility and accessibility, fight congestion, and improve our quality of life. And because this is real money and not just a blank check, we have to be careful that we spend it wisely.

We have worked hard to make sure that the New Starts standards are rigorous. After all, each of us has a responsibility to build good systems on time and on budget. These stringent standards are key to this program's success thus far, and are critical to ensuring the longevity of the program in the future.

The best way to make sure more and more Americans can enjoy the benefits of transit is to make sure that every dollar invested is spent well. So today, I am asking you to redouble your commitment to the responsible management of the public funds entrusted to you.

To a point, accountability will help our dollars go further. But, we will never be able to meet the transportation needs of the future if we do not re-examine the methods of the past.

Our vision for meeting future transportation needs and reducing congestion is to find 21st century answers to 21st century problems.

Today, many of America's cities and communities are serving as incubators for innovation when it comes to finding 21st century solutions to 21st century transportation problems. Transit-Oriented Developments (TODs) are a terrific example.

From Northern Virginia, to Portland, to Northern New Jersey, Transit-Oriented Development is not only creating vibrant, livable communities. It is creating one of the latest, most successful trends in urban planning.

Look at the success with the development around the Minneapolis Hiawatha Light Rail Line.

The transit line has exceeded ridership expectations. And the line has proven to be a powerful catalyst for denser development.

Before construction began in 2000, planners predicted the areas surrounding the LRT would draw 7,000 new housing units by 2020. By the end of 2005, more than 5,400 units were completed or under construction.

Additionally, several new corporate headquarters opened in downtown Minneapolis between 2000 and 2005, while small retailers, restaurants, and coffee shops opened in neighborhoods along the line. These are amazing developments - and, it all started with public transportation.

At the federal level, we are trying new things as well.

We are working to give states more options, new ideas and better tools for fighting local mobility problems. We are exploring how the private sector can play a bigger role in funding, building, and managing transportation systems. And, we are working to cut red tape and streamline our programs to better help you deliver first-class transportation systems that meet the needs and the expectations of your customers-the American people.

These are promising first steps toward keeping our entire transportation network vital and viable. But, if we are to create more livable communities, keep our economy vibrant, and maintain our high quality of life, we must work together to tackle the transportation challenges we face. And we must do that by finding fresh new ways to keep our transportation systems safe and strong.

As transportation experts and enthusiasts, you are at the forefront of that change - discovering better ways to build transportation systems, new approaches for financing them, and more efficient ways to manage our transportation network. And we are going to be right there with you every step - or stop - along the way.

Thank you for inviting me to share my thoughts with you today. May God bless each of you, and may God continue to bless America.

# # #

My Statement on Council's Consideration of 30% TIF Set-Aside

Sam Adams — Thu, 17 Aug 2006 16:22:52 -0700

We are at a pivotal decision point in our collective and ongoing city-making and city-remaking responsibilities.

Depending on the choices we make, and how we spend tax increment financing, we can greatly influence affordability for perhaps the next two generations of Portland families.

Rarely have the stakes for Portlanders been higher.

The state legislature has been resistant to taking needed action on housing.

The current federal administration has made some phenomenally bad choices that now have them defunding many federal affordable housing programs.

In the FY 06-07 budget, we as a City Council backfilled some of the federal cuts on a one-time basis with local funds. But the City's General Fund cannot continue indefinitely to backfill all of these federal government affordable housing cuts.

State inaction and the federal government disinvestment in affordable hosing come at a very bad time for Portland - many local wages are not keeping up with the rising cost of living. We do not control things in Salem and we cannot immediately change the misadventures of the current federal administration, but until times get better with this nation's government, we must respond locally.

Are we going give in to gentrification or fight it? Are we going to be a city with a diverse range of incomes or are we going to be a city that hollowed out its middle class?

I know first hand that low-income families rarely make the leap to middle income status without getting help through tough times. And with this discussion about setting aside 30% citywide, we have the opportunity to municipally to actually do something to help poor families become middle income earners.

My approach is to raise the maximum indebtedness in increment districts where housing can be built to reach the 30% set aside. By raising the debt we do not raid projects already approved in each tax increment district. As always, if someone has a better idea, I look forward to hearing about it.

I want to thank Commissioner Erik Sten, Mayor Tom Potter, the Portland Development Commission and the Bureau of Housing and Community Development for shepherding this conversation. I look forward to the discussions ahead.

For more information about the proposal to set aside a percentage of urban renewal dollars, visit PDC's website. Read The Oregonian's coverage here.

Radio Comments Against Cyclists

Sam Adams — Thu, 20 Jul 2006 12:02:41 -0700

An open Letter to City of Portland:

It has been brought to my attention by several concerned members of the community that the 95.5 radio broadcast of “The Playhouse” on July 13, 2006 and July 16, 2006 included a number of inflammatory statements that could negatively impact the safety of Portland. These statements may have included sentiments that news of people dying is funny. It is not. The discussion included statements to the effect of:

“When I hear on TV that a cyclist has been hit and killed by a car, I laugh; I think it’s funny,

“If you are a cyclist you should know I exist, that I don’t care about you. That I don’t care about your life.”

Upon first becoming the Commissioner of Transportation, I set traffic safety as my number-one priority. I believe that one death on our roads is one death too many, and in Portland, we have 10% more traffic fatalities each year than murders. Last year in America (I note that the show in question is broadcast in 12 markets), 43,200 people died in traffic crashes. This was more than any year since 1990. If the USA had shared the same success in reducing fatality rates as Australia, England, and Canada, we would have had 20,000 fewer dead people last year.

It is in this light that I wish to express my extreme concern for the statements in your show that made light of the tragedy that visits families coping with the aftermath of traffic casualties. This past year alone has brought us here in Portland an unacceptable number of tragic pedestrian and bicycle fatalities – fatalities of mothers and fathers, sons and daughters, husbands and wives. While making light of these tragedies exhibits poor taste, the main concern I hold is that the broadcast may have actually encouraged people to behave in reckless and dangerous ways towards others. While I am a strong defender of freedom of speech, incitement to violence is not afforded the same protections as other types of speech.

Through our “I Share the Road” campaign, the City is working to combat road rage and promote safety and tolerance through education, engineering, and enforcement strategies that relate to motorists, bicyclists, and pedestrians. This effort is led by a coalition that includes the Oregon Truckers’ Association, AAA of Oregon, the Bicycle Transportation Alliance, the Willamette Pedestrian Coalition, Trauma Nurses Talk Tough, Elders in Action, and others. We take increasing the civility on our streets seriously. As a coalition, we have pledged to challenge statements that trivialize or dehumanize the effects of road rage.

I have had a chance to listen to some edited versions of the broadcasts in question, and am shocked by some of the inappropriate commentary I have heard. However, since the Jamn 95.5 has taken the full versions of the broadcasts off of their website’s public archives I have not had the opportunity to hear the entire unedited broadcasts. Because of this, I am calling on the 95.5 management to cooperate with community requests and provide a transcript, tape, or the podcast of the show to the public. This action would either alleviate community concerns or help to foster a dialogue about the appropriate actions 95.5 could take to assist in efforts to improve the safety of our streets.

I hope to do what I can to help turn this seemingly unfortunate incident into a constructive event that may lead to something positive within our community. I look forward to continuing my work with transportation advocates of all sorts, as well as radio staff, in the case that I can be of additional assistance.

Thank you,

Sam Adams
Commissioner of Transportation
City of Portland

Bridger Rainwater Garden Grand Opening

Warren Jimenez — Mon, 24 Apr 2006 14:24:54 -0700

Sam attended the grand opening of Bridger Rainwater Garden on Earth Day. After more than five years of hard work, the 12,000-square-foot rainwater garden was recognized by the community. This rolling native plant garden fills the school's center courtyard where there used to be a sea of barren asphalt. Once the plants are fully rooted, the garden will be fed by storm water runoff from its roof. By returning this water to the earth's groundwater through natural filtration, the garden will help divert almost 300,000 gallons a year from our sewer systems. Here are Sam's comments from the event:

Good Morning. With the help and contributions from Urban Water Works, Portland’s Bureau of Environmental Services, Portland Public Schools, the Environmental Protection Agency and the countless volunteer hours from the parents, children and neighbors of Bridger Elementary School, this project became a reality. Give yourselves a round of applause because you deserve it!

This is one of many important partnership projects between BES and PPS. We were pleased to have Urban Water Works join us on this project. BES and PPS have had a long history of collaboration on a variety of watershed improvement projects.

In providing important financial support, the Innovative Wet Weather Program has enabled BES to work with the community in demonstrating a variety of innovative sustainable storm water strategies.

Storm water management projects are an important learning opportunity for students and the community.

Storm water runoff from this area is typically directed to combined sewer pipes, which can contribute to combined sewer overflows to the Willamette River. Runoff from roofs and asphalt can pollute water, destroy habitat, and degrade our watersheds if not properly managed.

Bridger’s Water Garden will reduce the quantity and improve the quality of storm water leaving the site.

Voluntary storm water retrofits like this project support our recently adopted Watershed Plan, help the city meet regulatory and financial requirements and engage citizens in improving local watersheds.

Once completed, this project will manage almost half a million gallons of storm water runoff per year, helping to reduce combined sewer overflows and providing an innovative outdoor learning opportunity for students and the community. That is amazing.

Once again, thanks to all for your commitment to this important project.

Excerpts from Sam's speech to the PSU Ferdinand Society

Jane Ames — Thu, 16 Feb 2006 22:10:02 -0800

PSU is a real-world university; it really reflects Portland and truly serves the city. I’m a good example. My background:
I lived on my own in high school, and paid my own way through my first round of college. I quit college when I got a job with now Congressman Peter DeFazio. I was 38 when I started at back at PSU. I went back to college because I do not like to leave stuff undone.
I also went back to college because PSU made it possible for me to hustle up here from City Hall during the day and after work…
Attending classes for two years at PSU allowed me to finish my degree at the U of O – but I will always be a Viking at heart.

PSU doesn’t have to wow people with statistics on diversity… just walk around the campus.
Nearly everybody is represented.
And because everyone is expected to be here,
everyone is pretty well accepted as belonging here.

According to a Fall 05’ survey on perceptions of PSU, that dedication to diversity is one of the qualities students, faculty, and staff identify as something that sets PSU apart from other institutions.

I am grateful for PSU's mission: "Let Knowledge Serve the City".

The educational opportunities you provide and the academic excellence, including research, that you perform are often where the conversation concludes about how universities serve. But at PSU, another large category of impact exists: public and community service and engagement.

Currently, our economic development plans do not set attainable, measurable goals. Our cities and counties are pulled in different directions and, as a result, we get muddled outcomes. Meanwhile, our cost of living is increasing; our median family income is declining. The economic challenges facing our region are not unique but our lack of urgency to deal with them is unique!

I also think we need to turn PSU’s motto around and
Let the City Serve Knowledge.
I have a responsibility to serve you as a City Commissioner.

I asked Mayor Tom Potter to create the position of Higher Education Advocate and I asked to be appointed to the job. He did and I am.
So, I am responsible to help PSU serve Knowledge to the city through its teaching, research, and civic engagement. I bring passion and ideas to this new role:
I plan to launch a Knowledge City Strategy:

1. “Knowledge Cities” are characterized by a significant investment of community resources in research, education and training. (We clearly have to work on this. Sunday, Feb. 12th’s Oregonian article on "Two States, Two Directions" pointed out the dismal Oregon Higher Ed spending level of $613 million, compared to Washington’s $1.53 Billion.) And our current K-12 funding crisis reflects our long standing battles over school funding.

2. Knowledge Cities engage in knowledge-driven community development: development that provides both direct and indirect benefits to individuals, communities and institutions.

3. Knowledge cities rely on a critical skill base in the business and legal sectors;

4. And in research excellence in social and life sciences, as well as technology;

5. They build, and build on an entrepreneurial culture linked to local and global expertise and enterprise;

6. They depend on efficient and accessible infrastructure to facilitate the flow of people, goods and information.

Please click here for the entire text of Sam's speech to the Ferdinand Faculty Club.

Creativity: The Fuel in our Engine

The Office — Tue, 08 Nov 2005 11:18:26 -0800

Chris Coleman is the Artistic Director of Portland Center Stage. He delivered this speech at Northwest Business for Culture & the Arts' annual Arts Breakfast of Champions on November 4, 2005. Download his speech (PDF) here.

One of my favorite past times since moving to Portland has been reading about the city’s history. This might come as a surprise to my friends back in Atlanta, because during the 27 years I lived there, I don’t think I ever cracked a book about my hometown’s history.

My favorite discovery of late is the fact that in 1850, a year prior to Portland’s founding, there were 821 residents; 2/3 of whom were male; 90 percent of which were in their 20’s. If you consider this carefully, it becomes much less difficult to understand why today, the Oregon Supreme Court places such a high premium on the basic rights of strip club owners.

In 1886, Portland was first connected to the transcontinental railroad; and the following year, 1887, the first bridge spanned the Willamette (the Morrison Bridge) and the city’s first theatre was constructed.

By the year 1900, fifty years after the city’s founding, Oregon was the second largest producer of timber in the country, and enough wealth and ambition had coalesced in the region to make hosting the World’s Fair seem a viable proposition.

The Lewis & Clark Exposition occurred in the summer of 1905, shining the international spotlight on the city, and resulting in a burst of economic expansion that continued right up until the Great Depression. Many new industries emerged, many fortunes were built, and, until the mid 70s, timber was the unrivalled engine of this region’s economy.

By now, I know you are thinking, “I am listening to some theatre guy from Georgia teach me about Portland History. Did I get off on the wrong bus?” But stick with me.

I am no expert on either Portland or economics, but what I do understand is narrative: how stories are built, how they fit together and how you discover what is at their core.

I would argue that there currently exists a profound disconnect between the story we collectively carry around in our heads to describe who Portland is – and the reality of who we are actually becoming. And I would add that the task of reframing this story holds the key to both our economic and cultural future.

Two Snapshots:

Number one.

I am sitting in the CEO’s office of a local construction company. I ask, “How has this city changed most since you grew up here?” He casts his glance out the expansive window beside us and thinks for several moments.

“You see those buildings out there? The vast majority of them were built by companies that once had their headquarters in this city. Most of those companies are gone.” I ask, “Why were they here? What was the magnet?” He says: “the timber industry.”

You’ve heard the story before. You wouldn’t have to walk across the room to find someone who would be willing to tell it today. This is the story many people still carry around in their heads about what is driving (or not driving) our economy. The timber industry imploded, headquarters left and we will never recover.

Snapshot Two:

Joe Cortright, our eminent local economist, is addressing a group of leaders from the Biotech Industry. In the middle of his powerpoint presentation, he flashes a slide onto the screen.

On the slide is a picture of the universe. Not just any picture of the universe, but a picture of the high tech universe in Portland. The slide features two dominant orbs juxtaposed against each other in the heavens: one says “Tektronix”, the other says “Intel”. Then circling around each of these giant stars, are hundreds and hundreds and hundreds of planets, moons, and asteroids – with the names of high tech companies who were birthed in response to, or by talent emerging from Tektronix or Intel.

Two pictures of Portland: Which expresses the truth? That’s what we’re all trying to figure out, isn’t it?

Commissioner Sam Adams recently spent a chunk of time traveling around the city talking to businesses about what they needed to succeed. I’m so happy I didn’t have to go with him. Can you imagine? A government official asks a business person how to make the city better, and he’s going to start hearing about the tax burden, and regulations, and permitting. How depressing. I mean, has anyone ever actually met a business person who thought his tax burden was reasonable? It’s a dead-end conversation.

But I’d be interested to see what would happen if you changed the question and asked: “how are creativity and innovation fueling your business?” I’ve tried this one out a few times, and rather than leading to a dead-end, the answers open up an astonishing universe of possibility, imagination and profitability.

You find surprising answers in every industry: it is not just the brilliant footwear designer at NIKE who relies on her creativity to differentiate in the marketplace. It is also the computer engineer at AMI who is making a more reliable pacemaker; it is the graphic designer at Lancair, who is figuring out how to make small planes both faster and cooler to look at; it is the environmental specialist at Glumac who is figuring out how to build a condo that only spends $18 a year on energy; it is the marketing person at Widmer Brothers who is creating a new distribution system for beer; it is the mechanical engineer at Freightliner who makes it possible to custom design more trucks than any company in North America; it is the executive at Wieden & Kennedy who is launching a record label to connect local talent to a larger marketplace; and yes, in the timber industry, it is the chemist at Columbia Forest Products, who is figuring out how to make a non-toxic particle board by harnessing the adhesive properties of Oregon Mussels (that’s my favorite).

If you ask Duncan Wyse at the Oregon Business Plan, he will tell you flat out that the local companies competing most effectively in the global marketplace are those innovating at the leading edge of their industry. Now you might say, “Well I don’t care about competing in the global marketplace,” and I would reply: “Yes, you do.” Not perhaps for your own enterprise – but the horses drawing our economy are largely traded sector companies (those that produce goods and services in Oregon and sell them elsewhere). If those companies are not competing aggressively at the global level, then the rest of us are riding in a car without any gas.

So we are searching for the narrative thread, the story of who Portland is becoming – and two words seem to rising to the surface: creativity and innovation. And it is not just about making things cooler, or more fun. It is not just about zany cows on the sidewalk, or singing Lions, or martinis of various hues (all of which I love).

Snapshot Three:

This time I’m at lunch with executives from M Financial Corp, an Executive Benefits Firm, and Gerding/Edlen, a Real Estate Developer. I ask them both to talk about what had fuelled their success. They speak of their ability to innovate at the front of their industry. I ask what enabled them to innovate. They both reply with slightly different words: “We hire geniuses.”

Talent. They hire the most talented, creative people in their field (whether the need is for a construction project manager, or an actuarial scientist) – and set them to work on a problem. THIS is the key as I see it. Attracting and retaining high level talent is the key to creating profitability and success for both an individual business and a region in today’s economy.

Now, if this thought is starting to sound familiar, it’s probably because it has begun to find its way into conversations around the country, due to the writing of Richard Florida. Until very recently, Florida taught at my alma mater, Carnegie Mellon University, and began his research with the question: “Why is everyone leaving Pittsburgh?” (If you’ve ever lived there, it wouldn’t take a study to come up with an answer, but let’s be generous). In 1900, Pittsburgh was the 6th largest city in the U.S. and steel had made it one of the wealthiest cities in the world. But over the past thirty years, it has consistently lost both population and economic traction.

He studied what was driving regional economic performance and published his findings in a book entitled “The Rise of the Creative Class”. He first defined the “Creative Class” as people who add value to the economy by thinking; and then, the “Super Creative Class” – as people who add value to the economy by creating a new way to do something. In the year 1900, by Florida’s estimation, 3% of the American workforce could have been said to belong to the “Creative Class”. In 2001, that number was 33%, and was responsible for generating more than half of all American wages.

He discovered several basic factors that seemed to contribute to a region’s success in this model: 1) density of high tech companies; 2) density of Creative Class workers; 3) density of Bohemians; and 4) visible tolerance.

The basic theory he drew from his findings was that economic success was no longer driven by which companies were in a particular region, but by which TALENT could be attracted to and retained in that region. So, if you jump back to the conclusion we heard earlier from M Financial and Gerding/Edlen (“We hire geniuses”) – a relationship starts to emerge.

And what seems to attract this level of talent to a given place? Many different things – but at the top of Florida’s list are a few key factors: a) density of knowledge workers (“if I go work for Intel and they dump me, are there enough other opportunities in this place so that I can get work; or are their other creative people around so I can set out on my own if I need to?”); b) tolerance (is this a place where new ideas are welcomed; where you are encouraged to experiment; where diversity is celebrated and where someone like me will fit in?); and c) artistic stimulation (is this a fun, interesting place to live?). It was no accident that every city that made the top of Florida’s economic list also had thriving cultural scenes.

Think about it for a second: you are recruiting a ‘genius’ computer whiz at the top of her field. She can choose to work anywhere in the world. Money is an incentive, but she is going to weigh many factors, one of the most important being how interesting, how stimulating the place is to live in. Do her recreational, intellectual, and cultural options stack up against Austin, Denver, Toronto, London, Shanghai? Florida’s measurement of the “bohemian index” (how many artists, writers, dancers, filmmakers, actors, etc. are living in a city) is a direct barometer of how culturally interesting a place might be to live in. And in his interviews with members of the creative class, the desire to live in a community with a vibrant cultural scene, from the Symphony to the street, was critical.

But the value of the cultural scene actually extends a step further in this model. If your job depends on your ability to create a new way of doing something, then you need the intuitive and intellectual materials with which to accomplish that job. One aspect of your work will be gathering tons and tons of data, defining your goal, selecting creative partners, and chewing on the problem at hand. Then you hit what is known in the creative process as “the point of saturation”. You’ve taken in as much information as you can digest.

And at that moment, you have to let the problem sit in the oven for a while. And you seek (consciously or unconsciously) external distraction or stimulation that might spark the intuitive leap required to deliver your brilliant solution. You go to an art gallery, you ride your bike, you listen to a concert, you watch a movie, you go rockclimbing, you see a ballet. And the themes from the latest Decembrists concert ends up in a new ad campaign at Wieden & Kennedy, or the imagery at Elizabeth Leach Gallery surfaces in the design of a new condo tower.

The Creative Worker wants a creative city because it is more interesting to live in; and he needs a creative city because the stimulation it affords is required in order to perform at his peak.

So the equation looks like this: a company’s ability to differentiate and compete in today’s marketplace is increasingly driven by their ability to innovate; innovation is driven by a high level of talent; that talent is attracted first to the PLACE, then to the JOB.

What do we do with this information? Statistically, Portland is doing a pretty good job of attracting talent. But are we able to attract and retain the level of talent that will allow us to stay competitive? Once the talent is here, what are the obstacles that stand in the way of their success? How do you make certain that the next Kristy Edmund, or the next Phil Knight are connecting to the level of capital needed to transform their brilliant idea into an enterprise? What are we doing to identify and fortify the excellence already living in our midst? And how are we building an educational system that arms our kids with the creative problem solving skills they will need to compete for jobs? Those are a few of the questions we should be asking.

And those of us in the “arts community” need to change the lenses on our glasses. Instead of asking, “How can we get business to more generously support the Arts?” we need to ask instead, “What kind of investment could we collectively make to transform this city into one of the most creative communities on the planet?” We should be looking at every single way we can identify, foster and celebrate creativity whether in the rehearsal hall at BodyVox, or the research lab at OHSU.

The Rise of the Creative Class was reprinted in paperback form in 2004, and I was struck by how Portland ranked on Florida’s overall “Creativity Index” (the amalgam he uses to define a region’s overall readiness to compete today). In the 2001 statistics, Portland ranked 16th overall. Not half bad. But in the 2004 version, we ranked 6th.

What this says to me, is that if you believe any of this guy’s research, then many of the advantages a community needs to thrive economically are already here, alive and kicking. And our job as leaders is to look in the right direction, seek out the connective tissue, remove the obstacles, connect talent to capital – and most critically – to reframe the story of who Portland is becoming.

The Launching of a Partnership

Jane Ames — Wed, 14 Sep 2005 19:05:32 -0700

The following is a summary of Sam's comments before City Council as he introduced the Public Safety Partnership.

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