May 21, 2025 The Skanner Portland & Seattle Page 7
Bids & Classi ed
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Prosper
cont’d from pg 3
time it was intended to
take some pressure –
from the increased cost
to deliver programs – off
of future general fund
increases,” he said. “SIF
allowed us to fare better.”
“Many councils in the
past have asked agencies
and bureaus to consid-
er diversifying revenue
models to be less reliant
on the general fund,”
Vickers said. “So Prosper
put together a financial
sustainability plan that
really looked at our in-
vestment opportunities
and that’s what (SIF) is
built from.”
Prosper Portland re-
ported that SIF has al-
lowed them to fund $12
million in loans since
2023. Those 22 loans
have largely been to
small businesses that
struggled to find fi-
nancing, and include
McTavish Shortbread,
women’s sports-focused
venue The Sports Bra,
Pan’s Mushroom Jerky,
Vitalidad
Movement
Arts Center and Javelina
Restaurant, an indige-
nous cuisine restaurant.
Prosper Portland also
reported that 64% of
loans supported BIPOC
business owners.
Eyeing An Overhaul?
Alongside
concerns
about balancing the bud-
get, Dunphy and Green
criticized Prosper Port-
land’s somewhat unique
structure: the former de-
velopment commission
is run by an executive
director who reports not
directly to the city but to
a volunteer board of five
local citizens who are ap-
pointed by the mayor and
who must be approved
by city council.
“Prosper Portland is
not our government,”
Dunphy said. “That is a
separate legal govern-
ment with their own
volunteer,
appointed
board and their own gov-
ernance structure, and
they have told us they do
not listen to us. It’s the
same as if we were trying
to prioritize a $13 million
grant for Portland Pub-
lic Schools, or to Mult-
nomah County.”
Vickers would dis-
agree.
“I grew up in inner
Northeast Portland; my
family too was impacted
by what the former (Port-
land Development Com-
mission) and the process-
es that used to occur,”
Vickers said. “One thing
I think is really great
about our model and
our board is they are in
fact volunteer communi-
ty members. Across the
state TIF is (often) admin-
istered behind the elect-
ed mayor and/or city
council. And we’ve seen,
time and again, commu-
nity members mention
that feels incredibly
opaque. And so we have,
right now, a board filled
with diverse folks – with
regard to expertise, ex-
perience, perspective,
lived experience – who
are involved in econom-
ic development or small
business, who are sitting
on our board. They’re
Portlanders who care
about our city and they
help make decisions,
alongside council and
many different efforts.”
She added, “TIF dis-
tricts action plans get
vetted and approved by
city council. We see it as
working alongside coun-
cil.”
Green explained his
frustration with Prosper
Portland, citing Dun-
phy’s assessment that the
agency maintained an
“arm’s length relation-
ship” with the city.
“I tend to refer to it
as a ‘lack of democratic
oversight’ relationship,”
Green said. “The only
Nike to Start Selling Its Products Directly
on Amazon’s US Website Again
Advertising deadlines 12:00 Noon Monday
touchpoint I have as an
elected leader to bring
forth questions of ac-
countability and over-
sight that my constitu-
ents raise, is through the
budget-setting process,
so I think that’s a prob-
lem.”
Programs At Risk
During a May 8 city
council session, the
council heard from a
number of Prosper Port-
land supporters who
had benefited from their
range of programming
or their support of part-
ner organizations’ pro-
grams. Elena Dubrovsk,
a Ukrainian refugee,
talked about resettling
in Portland and trying to
re-establish her career in
ophthalmology. Through
Prosper Portland-sup-
ported programs she was
able to study English, ob-
tain textbooks and study
materials for a licensing
exam, pay for the exam
and obtain references
from her native country,
she said, then quickly
landed a job in her field.
Ernesto Fonseca, CEO
of Hacienda Communi-
ty Development Corp.,
told The Skanner that the
proposed cuts to Prosper
Portland would mean the
end of one of his organi-
zation’s successful small
business programs.
“For communities of
color, many of us don’t
choose the path of col-
lege. So either you can be
a blue collar worker, or
you can start your own
business,” he said. “Right
now, we are serving
at maximum capacity,
about 53 small business
owners that are graduat-
ing this year. They have
been incorporated, they
are doing business, they
are just pulling through.
(What the cut would
mean to us) is that we
won’t be able to welcome
anybody else within
the community. What it
means to those individu-
als is that about 53 fami-
lies at least, in only that
one program, won’t have
a chance to get that kind
of help.”
He added, “I would
rather see a couple of pot
holes here and there than
not see investment in
economic development.
It is one of the biggest
things that we need to
double down on support-
ing.”
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5-21-25
SUB-BIDS REQUESTED
Colonia Libertad 1 Rehab Project
A man walks with his purchased goods as he shops at a Nike store outside a shopping mall in Beijing, Sunday, May 11, 2025. (AP Photo/Andy
Wong)
By MICHELLE CHAPMAN AP
Business Writer
N
ike is going to start selling
its products directly on Am-
azon’s U.S. website for the
first time since 2019 as the
company looks for more ways
to bring goods to customers and
boost sales.
Nike, which sells footwear,
clothing and other items, cut ties
with Amazon at a time when the
online retailer was trying to lure
big brands to its website. While
Nike stopped selling its sneakers
and athletic gear directly to Ama-
zon in 2019, Nike’s goods were still
available on Amazon.com, sold by
independent sellers that list their
merchandise directly on Amazon’s
marketplace.
Now Nike is resuming its direct
relationship with Amazon.
“Nike is investing in our market-
place to ensure we’re offering the
right products, best services, and
tailored experiences to consum-
ers wherever and however they
choose to shop,” the company said
in a statement. “This includes ex-
panding to new digital accounts,
including Amazon in the U.S., new
physical partners like Printemps
(a French luxury department
store chain), elevating retail ex-
periences across the marketplace,
and launching Nike’s AI powered
conversational search to improve
our online services.”
Amazon is navigating its way
through bringing Nike back on
board.
“While independent sellers have
listed some Nike inventory in our
store for many years, Amazon will
soon begin sourcing a much wider
range of Nike products directly to
expand our selection for U.S. cus-
tomers,” an Amazon spokesperson
said in a statement. “We value in-
dependent sellers, and we’re pro-
viding an extended period of time
for the small number of sellers af-
fected to sell through their inven-
tory of overlapping items.”
When Nike announced the pi-
lot program with Amazon.com in
2017, it hoped that it would have
more control over the brand. Am-
azon acknowledged at the time
that there were problematic sales
of counterfeit goods on its site and
implemented some tools to try to
stop them.
Nike is reestablishing a more di-
rect relationship with Amazon at a
time when its sales are weakening.
In March the Beaverton, Ore-
gon, company reported that its
third-quarter sales fell 9% to $11.27
billion as revenue declined for the
Nike brand and Converse.
Jefferies’ Randal Konik is sup-
portive of Nike reconnecting with
Amazon.
“We like this move by Nike
plain and simple,” he wrote in a
note to clients. “Amazon is the
largest e-commerce platform and
the move further cements Nike’s
brand ubiquity.”
Shares of Nike rose more than 2%
in Thursday afternoon trading.
2911 Saddle Club Street SE
Salem, OR 97317
Bids Due: June 3rd, 2025, at 2:00 pm
This is an occupied phased renovation -The existing
site consists of 9 existing buildings with 48 dwelling
units (mix of 1,2,3 and 4 bedroom units), community
support spaces, associated parking, open spaces
and site infrastructure.
The scope of this project is to replace all exterior
envelope components, select interior unit finishes,
and make modifications and upgrades to MEPF
systems. Please review the drawings and see the
unit matrix on sheet A3.00.
Bid Document Link:
https://bids.lmcconstruction.com/ColoniaLibertad1
Bid Submissions and Project Contact:
bids.ColoniaLibertad1@lmcconstruction.com
19200 SW Teton Ave
Tualatin, OR 97062
P: (503) 646-0521 | F: (503) 646-6823
CCB # 161282
LMC Construction is an Equal Opportunity
Employer and requests sub-bids from
Disadvantaged, Minority, Women, Emerging, and
Service-Disabled Veteran businesses.
5-14-21-2025