May 26, 2009
Dear Portlander:
Some considered our goals too ambitious when we announced them 100 business days ago. But we have delivered. We’ve focused on creating jobs and stoking the economy while still making improvements in other areas as well. Here’s a brief report. And we are just getting started.
Helping Portlanders Facing the Worst Hardship
Cutting $9 million from current service levels: that is what is required to balance the City’s general fund budget. What was needed is a boost to housing assistance programs of 30%; an increase in assistance to small businesses of 27%; and, more funding for summer youth programs of 40%. We are balancing the budget and helping the worst off by funding those programs. You can help too: www.portlandisbettertogether.com
Economic Recovery Plan and Jobs Now
Got work? We all seem to know someone who lost a job because the slowdown. But, strangely, the city lacked a strategy to get the economy back on track. So, in January, we passed a local stimulus to get Portlanders back to work that fast tracked many of the infrastructure improvements we'd planned to do in the last five years will now be done in two.
“Jobs now” means we're building city infrastructure projects now, when the unemployment rate is at its worst, rather than later, when jobs will be easier to come by. It also means we save taxpayers money: We can negotiate better contracting deals when the contractors are hungry for work.
We also worked hard to maximize the opportunities presented in the federal stimulus (American Recovery and Reinvestment Act, or ARRA), which is designed to stimulate job creation.
Keep track of city request for proposals at: http://www.portlandonline.com/purchasing/bids/index.cfm?action=ListConstruction
Economic Development Strategy: Jobs Now and in the Future
We need a stimulus plan now, and we need a strategy for the years ahead. To better position Portland for the future, the city embarked on developing a five-year economic development strategy. Now we have a plan, and the city council will adopt a final version next month. The short- and long-term goals of the strategy are designed to create jobs, strengthen local businesses and attract investment.
This new approach to economic development, as embodied by the draft of the strategy, has already paid off. In fact, this method helped us strike a tentative deal with the world’s largest wind turbine manufacturer. Vestas plans to bring up to 2,000 high-wage "green" jobs to Portland, jobs that will help Portland lead the world’s sustainability efforts.
Take a look at the strategy: http://www.portlandonline.com/shared/cfm/image.cfm?id=246384
Dropping the Dropout Rate
Less than 60% of high school youth graduate on time. This number is even lower for students of color. With Multnomah County Chair Ted Wheeler; our new joint Education Cabinet; the city’s school districts; and partners like the Portland Schools Foundation, we aim to increase from 57% to 86% the number of current 8th graders that complete high school on time, and increase from 33% to 66% the number of students who go on to post-secondary education/training after high school completion.
Data and experts say that students who connect to work and education opportunities during the summer months between 8th and 9th grade are much more likely to finish high school. If we get more of these students engaged in summer programs, we can begin to reverse our dropout rates and boost on-time graduation for thousands of students. That’s why we’re launching Summer Youth Corps. It’s designed to help 2,500 students who are most at risk of dropping out. It will help them get career experience or academic credit. More details: http://www.portlandonline.com/mayor/index.cfm?c=50300
Sustainability Like We Really Mean It
Portland has become the first major American city to merge its planning and sustainability departments. The Office of Sustainable Development used to pilot energy conservation and other sustainability programs. The Bureau of Planning provided blueprints for neighborhood development. Now they work on these to goals together as a single bureau, the Bureau of Planning and Sustainability.
It's working. The City of Portland and Multnomah County early this year drafted the Climate Action Plan, which calls for us to cut our carbon consumption to 80% below 1990 levels by 2050. The first effort to meet that goal is underway: The Clean Energy Fund is a pioneering partnership with local utilities and the Energy Trust of Oregon to pilot the energy efficiency improvements of 500 homes in Portland.
And we’re also moving forward with another systemic approach – the health and productivity of our majestic, city-defining rivers. By fully funding the Office of Healthy Working Rivers in my budget, and entrusting the office’s leadership to Commissioner Amanda Fritz, we’re demonstrating how sustainability and planning go hand in hand, on land and in our waterways.
Better Customer Service
If you went to Portland City Hall in December to get a development permit, you could expect long delays and frustration. Previously, each of the city's five elected commissioners might have managed a piece of the permitting puzzle. Some applications traveled to eight bureaus scattered across several buildings. People complained: How can you encourage sustainable business when you make it so hard to get anything done?
Good point. In January, we decided to make it easier. If you go to the city for a permit later this summer, all the people you need to talk to will all be in the same place. You’ll get the paperwork finished faster. All the city's permit functions now reside in one place under the watchful eye of one commissioner, Randy Leonard.
Focusing City Economic and Housing Efforts
We had two agencies that often did similar things. The Portland Development Commission and the Bureau of Housing both had programs dedicated to creating jobs and to creating housing. We’ve restructured these agencies, so they won’t be redundant and can focus on what they’re best at. The Portland Development Commission and I now lead efforts to develop the economy. The Bureau of Housing and Commissioner Nick Fish now lead efforts to implement our affordable housing and homeless goals.
Promoting the Innovation that comes from Creativity
For the first time in a decade, Portland has a plan to get more support for the arts. In partnership with RACC (the Regional Arts and Culture Council) and the Creative Advocacy Network (CAN), and working alongside Metro Councilor Carlotta Collette and Washington County Commissioner Dick Schouten, we've completed “Act for Art: A Creative Action Plan for the Portland Metropolitan Region.” It gives arts advocates a unifying message and strategy so they won't be forever operating on a shoestring or at a loss. For more details, go to http://www.racc.org/resources/docs/Act4Art_FINAL.pdf.
And although the economy has forced the city to cut funding to almost all other services, my proposed budget keeps arts funding whole. Arts are vital to our well being. They enrich our lives. They deserve public support, maybe more so during hard times.
More Affordable Transportation Options
For the first time in Portland history, we’ve earmarked $500,000 a year for bike projects. It’s about time. Research shows you get more return for investments on bike projects than on any other modes of transportation. Spending money on the projects that give the most return makes sense.
Portland landed $75 million in federal funds for the construction of the Eastside Streetcar line between the Pearl and OMSI. And if state revenues increase by at least $15 million, the city will dedicate funds to help replace the aging Sellwood Bridge.
Thank You
We’ve pushed hard in these first 100 days. I want to sincerely thank everyone who has been engaged in these first 100 business days – from City Council and City staff to community activists, from cabinet members to town hall attendees. In fact, the milestones we’ve reached and results we’ve delivered happened because of your help. And as you continue to come to the table and work with us, we will continue to deliver results for this great city of ours. I look forward to all the things we need to get done, together, in the next 100 days. Thank you.
Sincerely,
Sam Adams
Mayor, City of Portland
