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About Northwest labor press. (Portland , Ore.) 1987-current | View Entire Issue (Oct. 2, 2009)
OCT. 2, 2009 :NWLP 9/29/09 9:53 AM Page 2 Labor agency conducts flu education campaign Planning for headquarters hotel at Oregon Convention Center shelved Portland Mayor Sam Adams, Mult- nomah County Chair Ted Wheeler, and Metro President David Bragdon re- leased a joint statement Sept. 18 an- nouncing that they will shelve planning for a headquarters hotel at the Oregon Convention Center. The statement read: “We have agreed that now is not the right time to move forward with pre-development ef- forts to build a convention center head- quarters hotel due to the current eco- nomic climate. Estimates we received of likely future revenues for the Visitor Development Initiative are not suffi- cient to support the project’s pre-devel- opment costs. The tourism and hospi- tality industries have been hit hard by the national economic recession. “The Portland metropolitan area re- mains an attractive tourist destination, an important economic center for the region and a vibrant hub of the arts and cultural activities. We acknowledge and are grateful for the efforts of many indi- viduals who have worked hard on this project. “Job creation and economic devel- opment remain critical goals for our re- spective organizations, and we will con- PAGE 2 tinue to work together in pursuit of those objectives. The current climate re- quires a focus on maintaining what we have, and we will work with partners and stakeholders to develop new strate- gies for making the most of our exist- ing facilities.” Construction unions and the Oregon AFL-CIO have long-supported building a headquarters hotel in Portland, em- phasizing that it would create jobs and help spark other development in the Lloyd District. In 2005, the Portland Development Commission appointed a Headquarters Hotel Evaluation Committee to explore building a 800-room hotel. By October 2006 it was evident that no developer would build a hotel of that size without a large public subsidy. PDC then asked Metro, the regional government that operates the conven- tion center, Multnomah County, and the City of Portland, to help research the feasibility of a 600-room publicly- owned (by Metro), privately operated (by Starwood/Westin) headquarters ho- tel. Metro took the lead and in Novem- ber 2007 hired Garfield Traub and Ash- forth Pacific to make the evaluation. The process took longer than expected, and over the next 22 months the con- tract was extended four times. During that time, construction cost estimates for the hotel were whittled from $247.5 million to $197.5 million. More than $600,000 had been spent on the feasibility research, but Metro and its partners were now up against a Sept. 28, 2009, deadline to decide whether or not to proceed with the next step — the “pre-development phase.” This phase, which included architec- tural and engineering drawings, had a price tag estimated at $12 million. Around $9 million of that cost was to be repaid from lodging and rental car taxes collected by the county. On Sept. 18, Adams, Bragdon, and- Wheeler met and decided to put the pre- development planning on hold. Bragdon said he has asked his staff to present to the full Metro Council within the next 60 to 90 days an action plan “to determine a strategic plan for the region’s convention efforts and the public facilities that support these ef- forts.We also need to consider the po- litical and financial framework for sup- porting these strategies.” NORTHWEST LABOR PRESS AFT’s Lincoln pursues potential House vacancy Eddie Lincoln, president of Portland Community College Federation of Fac- ulty and Academic Professionals, American Federation of Teachers Local 2277, is seeking appointment to the Oregon House in District 43, after cur- rent Rep. Chip Shields was appointed to the Oregon Senate. Shields is filling the unexpired term of Margaret Carter, who resigned to take a job with the state. Lincoln is employed at PCC at the Metro Workforce Training Center, where he helps Portlanders access an education, improve their work skills, and compete for family-wage jobs. He is a former TriMet transit opera- tor and was formerly a member of Amalgamated Transit Union Local 757. Labor’s Community Service Agency, Inc. (LCSA) has initiated a campaign to educate the labor commu- nity on the 2009 H1N1 “swine flu” and seasonal flu viruses. The agency will promote the use of flu hotlines such as the toll-free Public Health Hotline (1-800-978-3040), and the State of Oregon’s flu resource Web site (www.flu.oregon. gov or www. cdc.gov/flu). Resources for vaccines and immunizations, links to flu clinics, and informational workplace posters and materials also will be distributed to Northwest Oregon Labor Council affil- iates. “Influenza, and particularly the threat of the H1N1 virus, has the po- tential to cause substantial time loss for our working men and women,” said LCSA Executive Director Glenn Shuck. “Flu season runs from October through May, so we want to make a concerted effort to ensure that everyone is informed and armed as soon as pos- sible to reduce its impact.” Shuck can be reached at 503-231- 4962. OCTOBER 2, 2009
