Mayor Sam Adams

On October 28^th, the Mayor’s Economic Development Policy Director, Kimberly Schneider, and representatives from the Portland Development Commission (PDC) presented the first of two updates on the City’s 5-Year Economic Development Strategy. This presentation was intended to bring City Council and the public up-to-speed on the development of financial resources to support the strategy as well as track progress on the implementation of the action items within the strategy.

Approved by City Council on July 8, 2009, the strategy began development in late 2008 when Mayor Adams charged the PDC with developing a targeted strategy to guide the city's and the PDC's investment in economic development. “We have needed this kind of strategy for a very long time," said Sandra McDonough, Executive Director of the Portland Business Alliance. "This is a critical roadmap that will help us restore our economy today and improve our economy down the road.”

The presentation on October 28^th, which you can find on the strategy’s Web site, served as a quarterly update and included a recap of the strategy itself, which focuses on a three-tiered approach to job creation efforts: (1) Maximize Competitiveness, (2) Urban Innovation, and (3) Neighborhood Business Vitality. Because of the volume of content, the October 28^th report focused on Goals 1 and 2, citing key achievements to date, such as: recruiting Revolt Technologies to establish their US headquarters in Portland, City Council adoption of Open Source Resolution (in part to support our burgeoning software industries) and lobbying the federal government for $20M for the Oregon Sustainability Center. The report also included action plans for the coming year and 2-5 year periods.

A report on Goal 3 from the PDC Neighborhood Business team will be presented to Council at the City Council meeting (item 1585) this Thursday, November 12^th.

Read the Mercury’s article on the October 28^th presentation and the strategy itself and the Mayor’s efforts at implementation.