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Who’s Next at the PDC? It Matters!
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P
ortland Development Com -
m iss ion is looking for a new
executive director, to replace
Bruce Warner, retiring after 5
years at the helm. This Friday, Jan
28, you can let the commission
know what kind of leader you
want to see at a meeting from 1 -2
pm at the Portland Development
Commission, 222 NW Fifth Ave.
It matters. Here’s why.
Warner recently told OPB that
he was most proud of his legacy of
repairing relationships with
minority communities and with
residents of N/NE Portland. We
agree.
Bruce got off to a rocky start at
Portland’s crucial development
agency. He arrived from Oregon
Department of Transportation, an
agency with an abysmal track
record of fairness to minority com-
munities. We knew he had experi-
ence managing $2 billion in fund-
ing and 4,600 workers. We did not
know if he had the wisdom to use
PDC’s $275 million budget to
develop projects for our communi-
ties. As it turned out, he became an
exceptional leader who made a
commitment, backed by the mayor
and city council, to fairness and
justice in economic development.
Equity is the non-negotiable foun-
dation of any sustainability policy.
During the last few years, we
have seen real progress in
Portland. The North/Northeast
development initiative is targeting
development dollars to existing
residents and businesses in the
Interstate and Convention center
urban renewal areas. At the
Killingsworth Station project, for
example, 25 percent of the con-
struction dollars are going to
f roM tHE
p uBlISHEr
Bernie Foster
minority firms and workers.
More than 20 percent of the
workers on PDC construction
projects are now people of color.
On the South Waterfront project,
47 percent of the apprentices were
minorities and women, far sur-
passing the goal of 20 percent, and
35 percent of the workforce quali-
ties in the construction industry to
people of color. That’s the key to
benefiting our communities.
In the past, none of these areas
had received this critical financial
support.
PDC has built partnerships with
minority contractors, providing
technical assistance and helping
them grow their capacity. PDC is
funding vital projects in Gateway
and Lents as well as in North and
Northeast Portland – projects like
Bradley Angle’s Healing Roots
Center, which helps African
American victims of domestic vio-
lence; the June Key Delta sorority
facility in North Portland; and the
rebuilding of the Billy Webb Elks
Club. It takes a lot more work to
They must come to the job with strong
relationships with communities of color
and a track record that inspires our
trust
fied as minorities, women and
emerging
small
businesses
(MWESB).
The Portland Plan notes that
about 13 percent of the city’s jobs,
51,000 of them, are located in
commercial corridors in neighbor-
hoods. So it makes sense to help
local small businesses grow
because they create more job
opportunities. And, after years of
discrimination, it is vital to open
up well-paid jobs and opportuni-
carry out these small, incremental
projects, but they make a big dif-
ference.
PDC staff members, such as
John Jackley who is the face of the
agency for many of these projects,
have shown the vision, the desire
and the ability to work with our
community, and to get the
resources out of the door.
Much more needs to be done.
And opportunities are underway,
in the shape of the Rose Quarter
development and the OHSU
Sustainability Center.
PDC’s executive director must
bring the connections, the skills
and the commitment to working in
partnership with Portland’s minor-
ity and urban communities to
bring grassroots economic growth
to our city.
Many candidates have vision
and ability; it’s what they will they
do with them that counts. Our con-
cern is that any external candidate
will need up to two years to get a
feel for Portland’s big picture.
As the search committee looks
for candidates with the potential to
take Portland’s development to the
next level, we urge them to take a
long, hard look at leaders within
the agency. Inside candidates
don’t generate the excitement of
the new and unknown, but they
should have a track record and
partnerships with Portland’s com-
munities of color. When it comes
to creating development that sup-
ports our communities, this has to
be the top priority.
Whoever is appointed as the
PDC’s new executive director
should aggressively pursue fair,
just, sustainable development poli-
cies. They must come to the job
with strong relationships with
communities of color and a track
record that inspires our trust.
Make your voice heard by attend-
ing the meeting. what Do You
think?
You can post your comments
on www.theskanner.com
Respect Oregonians’ Historic ‘yes’
A
year ago Oregonians
glowed under the national
spotlight. Facing a severe
fiscal crisis brought on by the
recession, Oregonians voted for a
modest tax increase on the wealth-
iest households and corporations
to help protect our schools, our
health and human services and our
public safety system.
The resounding victory of
Measures 66 and 67 demonstrated
that Oregonians had cut through
the fog of misinformation churned
by big business during the cam-
paign. Oregonians said “yes” to
protecting important public struc-
tures and Oregon’s economy.
But as the anniversary of the his-
toric vote arrives, efforts are
underway to undermine the will of
Oregon’s voters. Some lawmakers
have introduced bills that com-
pletely undo or chip away at
Measures 66 and 67. And that’s
why Oregonians must once again
raise their voices in defense of the
public structures that we value.
That bills seeking to undo the
tax measures have surfaced comes
as no surprise. Even after losing,
opponents of the measures never
stopped campaigning and have
persisted in spreading misinforma-
tion.
The state’s continued revenue
shortfall, unfortunately, has pro-
vided opponents of the measures
an opportunity to continue to mis-
lead. Inexplicably, they blame the
page 4 The Portland and Seattle Skanner January 26, 2011
N EW c oluMNISt
Chuck Sheketoff
measures for our revenue deficit.
The cause of the shortfall is no
mystery. The Great Recession was
deeper and longer than the state
economists assumed when they
issued the projections that formed
the basis of the 2009 legislature’s
budget-balancing package. That
package included not only painful
income tax returns fully filed, state
economists now say that Measure
66 alone is bringing in an addi-
tional $333 million this budget
period, and next budget cycle will
generate $245 million. The
amount generated goes down
because on the first day of next
year (2012) the wealthiest house-
holds will see their top tax rate
drop 10 percent.
Besides the efforts to repeal the
measures outright, some lawmak-
ers have proposed legislation that
Cutting the income tax on capital
gains is even more insidious than
simply repealing Measure 66,
because it confers preferential tax
treatment for the fortunate few who
enjoy investment income
cuts to key services but also the
revenue instruments that became
Measures 66 and 67.
Oregon’s budget would be in
worse shape had Oregon voters
said “no” to the measures. Months
after the vote, a state economist
told the legislature, “It’s safe to
say that without Measures 66 and
67 we would be in absolutely
lower level of revenue than we are
now.” With one year of personal
would partially override the will of
the voters by creating a work
penalty. The proposals would
lower the income tax on capital
gains — income earned not from a
paycheck but from the profitable
sale of assets such as stocks, bonds
and real estate. It’s the rich who
disproportionately have income
from capital assets, so a cut in the
income tax on capital gains would
undo much of Measure 66’s
increase in the marginal tax rate
for Oregon households making
over $250,000 a year.
In one sense, cutting the income
tax on capital gains is even more
insidious than simply repealing
Measure 66, because it confers
preferential tax treatment for the
fortunate few who enjoy invest-
ment income. Stated differently, it
would mean that Oregon would
tax income earned from a pay-
check at a higher rate than income
derived from investments.
Handing a big tax break to the
wealthiest Oregonians at the
expense of everyone else could not
be more at odds with the will of
Oregonians reflected in last year’s
historic vote. Such a move would
take needed money away from our
schools and other critical public
services — exactly the opposite of
what voters demanded a year ago.
As the 2011 legislative session
gets underway, some lawmakers
are prepared to do what millions of
campaign dollars from big busi-
ness could not accomplish in
January 2010. That’s why
Oregonians again must raise their
voices in defense of the public
structures that we value and ensure
that the legislature respects the
will of voters.
Chuck Sheketoff is executive
director of the oregon Center for
Public Policy.