Our Initiatives

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.

Harvard Picks Lobbying Registration Code and Home Again - part of the 10 Year Plan To End Homelessness - as Two of the 50 Most Innovative Government Programs

The Ash Institute for Democratic Governance and Innovation at Harvard Kennedy School today announced that the City of Portland's Lobbying Registration Code and the Multnomah County and Portland's Home Again made the Top 50 Programs of the 2008 Innovations in American Government Awards competition. Selected from a pool of nearly 1,000 applicants, these 50 programs represent the best in government innovation from local, county, city, tribal, state, and federal levels. Each of the Top 50 programs underwent several rounds of rigorous evaluation from a committee of practitioners and policy experts from Harvard Kennedy School as well as renowned institutions nationwide. Representing a range of jurisdictions from across the country, the Top 50 programs include seventeen cities/towns, four counties, six federal agencies, three school districts, nineteen states and one tribal government.

Today, at my request, city council referred the "Safe, Sound & Green Streets" program back to my office with an expectation that we will refer the program to voters in November 2008.

You have heard from me many times that Safe, Sound & Green Streets will be an important step forward for Portland when implemented. For the first time in nearly two decades, Portlanders will have stable funding to meet basic safety and maintenance needs on major streets.

A program of this consequence should be enacted by a unanimous city council. Until last week, my council colleagues were united in supporting safer streets as a matter of leadership. At council proceedings, transportation staff, community leaders, and all who have participated to date appreciated council's acknowledgment of the painstaking analytical and public outreach effort.

That effort has earned support from an 89-person stakeholder committee covering a range of transportation interests, the editorial boards of The Oregonian, The Portland Tribune and The Portland Business Journal, and untold numbers of Portlanders who responded to our citywide notices and attended one of the 21 town hall meetings we hosted in every corner of the city.

In addition, we worked in good faith to reach a compromise to address the concerns of convenience stores and the petroleum representatives.

Regrettably, the influence of oil industry representatives has taken its toll. I no longer have unanimous council support to enact the program.

I now propose that city council refer the Safe, Sound & Green initiative to the November general election ballot.

Portlanders can trust that oil industry representatives will embark upon a monumental misinformation campaign. Watch the money: they will spend much more on television ads and other venues to kill Safe, Sound & Green than they would have spent to simply pay their fair share to return Portland's major streets to working order.

As the champion of Safe, Sound & Green, it's true that I worry about holding onto the factual high ground during this tsunami of misinformation.

This is Portland, however. Portlanders have a proud history of supporting well-articulated, reasonable investments in their community. It's part of what makes us the best city in the country. Safe, Sound & Green will save money, reduce greenhouse gas emissions, and--most importantly--save lives.

The general election in November 2008 is virtually guaranteed to ensure the highest voter turnout in the city's history. As a result, the best possible conversation that engages the maximum number of Portlanders about Safe, Sound & Green will occur over the next nine months. In spite of all the oil industry dollars to be spent, I am confident Portland will prevail.

I want to thank my colleagues for their continued support in addressing the transportation concerns facing our city. And I want to thank all of you.

Links to learn more:

• Safe, Sound & Green (Project maps, finances, history)
• Safe, Sound & Green Streets Stakeholder List
• Street fee will pay off in safety, The Portland Tribune
• Moving beyond a gas tax, The Oregonian
• We can pay now or pay later, The Portland Business Journal
• Recent news articles about Safe, Sound & Green

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]

In response to the testimony we heard on Wednesday, January 9 regarding the "Safe, Sound and Green" transportation funding proposal, I propose two substantive changes and a procedural option for council and the community to consider.

Add a "Claw Back" Provision

Under the changes, lobbying entities who spend more than eight hours "attempting to influence the official action of City officials" must register with the auditor. Under the original ordinance sponsored by Sam, elected officials and bureau directors must publish their official calendars. This is an effort to disclose who is meeting with city leaders and whose interests are being represented in the decisions of the council.

We're looking for a policy associate to help us work on our Creative Capacity Strategy. The purpose of the strategy is to build and support a sustainable creative community through prioritized strategies with clear costs and achievable ways to fund them.

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?"

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

Our heroes back from Iraq.The weather was warm without being too hot, bright but not too sunny (if that is possible this time of year!); I had a great time again participating in the 45th St. Johns Parade. 

2007 St. Johns ParadeThe parade route started at Roosevelt High School at noon and ended at the St. Johns Community Center.

IMAGE: Matt ClarkA real break

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

BY NIGEL JAQUISS

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

Building a Better Bike Lane
Bike-friendly cities in Europe are launching a
new attack on car culture. Can the U.S. catch up?
By NANCY KEATES, Wall Street Journal
May 4, 2007; Page W1

COPENHAGEN -- No one wears bike helmets here. They're afraid they'll mess up their hair. "I have a big head and I would look silly," Mayor Klaus Bondam says.

Out with the people in ParkroseSam visited the Parkrose Business District today for a walk about. Parkrose was once the gateway to the Gorge before I 84 was opened. It was the last urban center on the road to Mt. Hood. Since then much of the traffic to the mountian has been diverted, but the main arterials, Prescott and Sandy, still carry a good amount of traffic both to Gresham and west though town. The District runs from about 70th to 122nd along those main thoroughfares.

We were able to learn about some of the main concerns of businesses in this traffic heavy part of NE Portland. Speed is a significant issue. Many businesses want traffic to be calmed, so that cars don't fly by their storefronts and safety is improved.

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

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

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

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

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