Mayor Sam Adams

WE DO!

Portland area civic leaders and I gathered this morning at the East Portland Community Center to kick off the first round of community workshops for the Portland Plan. The first workshop will be held tomorrow evening at Beaumont Middle School at 6:30 p.m.

The Portland Plan will be a strategic roadmap to ensure the city is thriving, prosperous and sustainable for all residents. Through the development of the plan, Portlanders will help to define priorities, guide investment of public dollars and set the course for Portland for the next 25 years. The Portland Plan is part of a state-mandated comprehensive plan update and will touch every neighborhood, district and resident as the city grows.

Portland is a great city, but it’s not great for everyone. We have some real challenges ahead of us. Through the Portland Plan, we have an opportunity to make more informed decisions and improve collaboration among regional partners to achieve common goals.

The last time the City developed a comprehensive plan was 1980; about 50 percent of Portlanders today were not here at that time. Because of the impact the plan will ultimately have on each resident of Portland, we are asking for maximum community input over the next 15 months. You can weigh in at community workshops, complete a survey (online at www.pdxplan.com or included in December’s Curbsider publication), and participate in the conversation through social media.

For the better part of 2009, Portlanders have participated in a lively debate over the future of Memorial Coliseum. We have known that it will take investment to make needed improvements—but what are those improvements, and how much will they actually cost? We’ve known that Memorial Coliseum is now on the National Register of Historic Places, but what does that really mean for the process in moving forward? Now we have answers.

The Rose Quarter Stakeholder Advisory Committee (SAC) has been careful not to move forward without a full understanding of the area, its background, relevant policy and plans and the true status of Memorial Coliseum. The Memorial Coliseum Baseline Conditions Report, prepared by ECONorthwest, paints a clear picture of the opportunities and challenges we face in determining the future of Memorial Coliseum.

The report examined profitability, historic status, needed improvements, costs, related revenues to the city and funds available to support re-use concepts.

Some highlights:

In all, it was concluded that Portland’s Memorial Coliseum serves an important market niche for our region, and can continue to do so more profitably in the future with the right vision. Visit www.rosequarterdevelopment.org to share your ideas for the future of Memorial Coliseum and to stay involved in this process.

Want to know what more you and your neighborhood can do to reduce waste? Concerned about sustainability during the holiday season? Join us at the upcoming City-Wide Green Team Meeting to learn about steps the city is taking to reduce waste and learn how you can get involved!

When:
Wednesday, November 4^th / 6:30pm – 8:00pm

Where: Portland Building, Room C
1120 SW 5^th Ave, Portland OR 97204

Topic:
Organizing Green Team projects in your neighborhood: focusing on WASTE REDUCTION and REUSE

The purpose of the city-wide Green Team is to create a space where neighborhood leaders and citizens committed to sustainability can meet monthly to share ideas and implement best practices. 

Your input is valuable, and we encourage you to join us and share this invitation with family, friends, coworkers and neighbors interested in collaborating to build a greener city!

Questions?

Call or email Emerald Bogue at (503) 823-4186 or Emerald.Bogue@ci.portland.or.us

Council Chambers was packed yesterday as City Council adopted the Climate Action Plan, a three-year plan to put Portland and Multnomah County on a path to achieve a 40 percent reduction in carbon emissions by 2030 and an 80 percent reduction by 2050. Support for the plan was overwhelming, with more than twenty people testifying in support of the comprehensive approach to dramatically reduce local emissions.

The hour and a half hearing included testimony from Greenlight Greater Portland, Portland Development Commission, Sierra Club, and Portland/Multnomah Sustainable Development Commission. Erin Flynn, Urban Development Director of the PDC called the Climate Action Plan the "sister plan" of the city's Economic Development Strategy. Many of the testimonies today highlighted Portland's opportunity to build regional propsperity in the implementation of our climate goals. 

"Portland's good work to reduce carbon emissions over the years sets us apart from the rest of the country," said Mayor Adams. "But it's clear that our efforts so far are nowhere near enough. As the world mobilizes to fight climate change, Portland is poised to seize a historic opportunity to be at the forefront of a global economic transformation. We have everything to lose by ignoring climate change and everything to gain by pioneering the solutions to it. I'm committed to seeing our community and our businesses lead the way."

The Climate Action Plan commits the City and Multnomah County to 93 actions over the next three years and establishes 18 objectives for 2030. A second resolution also adopted today directs City bureaus to begin implementing fifteen of the new initiatives called for in the plan, including establishing a tax credit for businesses that install ecoroofs and solar panels together and including the carbon-reduction goals in major City planning processes like the Transportation System Plan and Portland Plan. 

The plan was developed over the past two years, and a draft plan was released for public comment in April 2009. Eight town hall meetings were held between April and July, and more than 600 individuals, businesses and organizations provided comments on the draft plan. 

This Saturday, I will join a group of kayakers and canoeists on the Willamette River to form the number 350, attend a rally in Pioneer Square alongside PSU students, bicyclists, walkers, dancers, and citizens committed to "making some noise," and hit up a couple of evening events to mark the International Day of Climate Action.  A full day, indeed, but there's much more happening locally to bring attention for the need for immediate climate action.  Portland's local actions will join dozens of other actions across the state and nearly 5,000 actions worldwide to demand responsible, aggressive global policies to reduce carbon emissions.  The event was created by the non-profit 350.org to organize global grassroots campaigns to reduce greenhouse gas emissions.  350 parts per million of carbon dioxide is increasingly emerging as the level scientists identify as safe. Our atmosphere currently includes 388 parts per million of carbon dioxide, a figure that is rising rapidly.  Organizers of local actions worldwide hope to raise awareness of the significance of global climate change and encourage residents and leaders to take action to reduce levels of carbon in the Earth's atmosphere.

TAKING ACTION: Next Wednesday, October 28, Council will vote to adopt the revised 2009 Climate Action Plan.  The Climate Action Plan is a comprehensive plan to reduce local emissions of greenhouse gases 80 percent from 1990 levels by 2050.  A draft plan was released for public comment in April 2009, and the City held eight public meetings to discuss the draft plan with residents, business and community organizations.  The final Climate Action Plan has been significantly revised in response to the comments and now underscores the essential role of equity, natural systems, public health, and a broad array of partner agencies and organization's in the City's climate change work.  The Plan establishes of goal of reducing greenhouse gas emissions 40% below 1990 levels by 2030 and lays out specific actions over the next three years to address this goal.

Show your support for Climate Action Plan by attending the City Council hearing:

October 28, 2009 at 2:00 p.m.

1221 SW Fourth Avenue, Council Chambers, 2nd floor

Last Thursday, Mayor Adams joined with Phaedra Ellis Lamkins, Green For All CEO and Margie Harris, Executive Director of Energy Trust of Oregon to discuss Clean Energy Works Portland on Green For All's National Call about Recovery Innovation in Portland. Clean Energy Works Portland is an innovative effort led by the City of Portland to deliver affordable home energy upgrades to homeowners in Portland.  The project leverages federal recovery dollars to reduce carbon emissions, lower utility bills, and create jobs.  It is one of the nation's leading models for how to use Recovery Act funds not just to stimulate short-term economic activity, but to lay the foundation for long-term economic, environmental and community health. 

For those who were unable to make the call, Green For All has uploaded the audio of the conference call to their website. To hear the conversation, visit http://www.greenforall.org/what-we-do/building-a-movement/community-of-practice/portland2019s-innovative-home-energy-retrofit-program.

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Last month, Portland City Council approved an unprecedented Community Workforce Agreement, which will lead to the creation of thousands of high-quality jobs in the clean-energy economy for qualified, historically underrepresented contractors and workers.  The City of Portland and Clean Energy Works Portland stakeholders- including public, private, nonprofit, community, and labor institutions- worked side-by-side to create this agreement and establish a set of sustainable contracting standards and community benefits.  Through Clean Energy Works Portland and the Community Workforce Agreement, Portland establishes itself one of the nation's leading models for how to put Americans to work and achieve significant carbon reductions. 

On Saturday evening at Portland State University's recently refurbished Shattuck Hall, I had the honor of presenting the 2009 Mayor's Award for Design Excellence at the AIA's Design Awards Gala--part of the month-long Portland Architecture and Design Festival.

Mayor Sam Adams had many stunning projects to chose from, and gave the award to Williams FIVE, an infill project on N Williams at NE Emerson designed by Path Architecture. Path's Park Box--a set of rowhouses adjacent to Unthank Park--picked up two additional awards from the AIA jury, including one for craftsmanship.

photos by Ty Milford for Williams FIVE

Though Mayor Sam Adams was unable to present the award in person, he lent his thoughts on which project he chose, and why:

It is an honor to choose from the incredible projects submitted this year—projects that have enhanced Portland’s landscape, and made our city a finer place to live. As mayor, I am committed to further strengthening our city’s reputation for great architecture and design. Portland is home to many, many talented architecture and design professionals. It is my hope that their greatest works will be built here, for future generations to appreciate.

Quality design not only makes our city more beautiful, but it allows us to successfully tackle our toughest challenges. Integrating cutting edge green building techniques will reduce our city’s greenhouse gas emissions and help us meet the ambitious goals in our emerging Climate Action Plan. Compact development counteracts sprawl, and allows us to the preserve precious farm and forest land at the edge of our region. And increasing the creative design of our infill housing ensures that Portland will grow even more livable as people move here, seeking to enjoy our high quality of life.

It is through this lens that I viewed this year’s entries. The project that I chose for this year’s Mayor’s Award for Design Excellence is a multi-family space that gracefully accommodates five units on a 50’ by 100’ North Portland lot—the size traditionally used for a single-family home. Walls of sliding glass doors allow residents to open up their unit to the outdoors, and to engage with neighbors. Attentive design details maximize natural light, while retaining privacy. And clever features like aluminum grating between the first and second floors further enhance light and ventilation.

This is a building that any Portlander would be proud to live in—or to live next to. Two of the units are live-work spaces, with commercial space enlivening the sidewalk. Warm wood exterior materials and street-side landscaping brighten the façade. The building itself smoothes the transition from a well-traveled arterial street to a single-family neighborhood.

This project represents the highest quality of design, and is an ambassador for compact urban living in our city’s vibrant neighborhoods. I am pleased to present this year’s Mayor’s Award for Design Excellence to Williams FIVE.

Yours,

Mayor Sam Adams

Growing our own food and becoming more self-sufficient is one of the ways Portlanders are working to reduce carbon emissions. 10 percent of total U.S. carbon emissions result from the food system. One component of the city's Climate Action Plan is to support efforts to significantly increase the consumption of local food. Based on the Diggable Cities Report, the City is evaluating land it owns to determine which sites are best suited for local food production.

The Sherrett property in SE Portland is an excellent candidate for urban agriculture because it is a designated open space, it has been farmed in the past and there is strong neighborhood support for the project. The land is managed by the Bureau of Planning and Sustainability, which is working with MercyCorps NW to develop an income-generating opportunity for immigrant Nepalese farmers through the New American Agriculture Project. The farmers will grow a variety of organic fruits and vegetables that will contribute to Community Supported Agriculture (CSA).

Take a look at the video of the opening of Portland's newest space designated for urban agriculture.

This Wednesday, Portland State University will host a free, public screening of Portland: Quest for the Livable City, a documentary film recounting Portland’s past and present efforts at reducing the city’s carbon footprint and growing more densely within the urban growth boundary. The film is third in the Making Sense of Place documentary series launched by the Lincoln Institute of Land Policy.

"Portland has been a notable experiment in land use planning, and the film shows how challenging that can be," said Gregory K. Ingram, president of the Lincoln Institute of Land Policy. "The issues that come to life in the film - property rights, the value of land, density and transportation, planning and citizen participation - include many that we think cities all over the U.S. will need to confront."

A panel discussion, including planning and land use experts will follow the showing of the film.

The screening is at 7 p.m. on Wednesday, October 14 in the Columbia Falls Ballroom at University Place (310 SW Lincoln St., Portland, OR 97201).

View the trailer.

Design Principles and Process for the Memorial Coliseum

On the Agenda:

Debrief of Rose Quarter Tour (taken by SAC members on 10/12)

Memorial Coliseum Future Process (and schedule)

Coliseum Process Evaluation Criteria: How will we ensure a fair and inclusive process for evaluating ideas for Memorial Coliseum?

When:

Tuesday, October 13^th

5:00 to 7:00pm

Where:

Portland Development Commission – Commission Room

222 NW 5^th Ave, Portland OR 97209

PDC is located on the transit mall and can be accessed via TriMet buses and light rail.

Meeting materials and more information available at www.RoseQuarterDevelopment.org and from the links below:

• SAC #3 Meeting Agenda (PDF)
• Project Vision and Design Principles (PDF)
• SAC #2 Meeting Summary draft (PDF)