Mayor Sam Adams

By Michael Mills

As a guest of the Ouvidoria-Geral da União (the National Ombudsman) of Brazil, Eliana Pinto, I was invited to speak at the First International Forum For Ombudsman held in Brasilia last week (11/10-12) www.aouvidoriavaifalar.com.br. The purpose for the conference was to examine how an ombudsman service can enhance participatory democracy.

I shared how the Office of the Ombudsman in Portland operates, and that we are one of only a handful of cities in the United States to have established an Ombudsman Office by law, and have granted the Office independence under the elected Auditor.  As the only delegate from the U.S., I also presented a current overview of the use of the ombudsman concept in our country. Brazil has some 1,000 employees in the government ombudsman profession, as well as many others in the private or quasi-public sector.

From my observations, the Portland Office of the Ombudsman has been authorized one of the highest levels of independence. Independence is the most critical essential characteristic of an ombudsman office. The essential characteristics were also emphasized by other leading international ombudsman attending the conference, such as Kjell Swanström, head of Swedish Ombudsman Parliamentary Office, where the ombudsman was established 200 years ago this year.

Portland will be the host city for the 2011 Pacific Northwest Economic Region summit, and is expected to welcome 600 industry and government leaders from across the region.  PNWER is "a regional U.S.-Canadian forum dedicated to encouraging global economic competitiveness and preserving our world-class natural environment." http://www.pnwer.org 

PNWER's members include Alaska, Idaho, Montana, Oregon, Washington, British Columbia, Alberta, and the Yukon.  The 29-year-old organization looks to facilitate regional cooperation, lobby Ottawa and Washington, and to bring together private sector interest from across the region.  Specific issues to be discussed in at the Portland summit include global competitiveness, renewable energy resources, transportation, trade, agriculture and foresty, innovation and nanoscience.

Next year's summit will be held July 16-20 in Calgary, Alberta, and will provide Portland with an opportunity to frame the following year's summit and issue a broad invitation to attend.  In addition to providing a forum for discussing pressing issues in the Northwest, the PNWER summit is also a chance to promote tourism both for the host city and across the region.

Mayor Sam Adams’ last day in Japan focused on energy and design, with the goal of shaping innovative opportunities for the city and building Portland’s design portfolio.  He met with Sanyo Homes, a modular home manufacturer, to explore a potential expansion to Portland. Senior executives from Sanyo Solar, currently operating a plant in Salem, participated in the meeting to explore synergies between solar and home building technologies in the U.S. market.

The Mayor then visited Tama Art University, Japan’s leading design school.  There he met with teachers and students in the Department of Product and Textile Design. 

The school has an existing exchange program with the Art Center College of Design in Pasadena, and the Mayor propsed a cooperative agreement with Portland that would serve as a step toward the goal of establishing an international design center in Portland.

His final meeting was with executives from Delta airlines, where he drove home Portland's commitment to direct flights between Portland and Japan (See: iflynonstop.com). In the evening, the Mayor hosted a dinner for leading business, government, and university contacts.

Mayor Sam Adams and PDC went on an electric vehicle (EV) offensive today with Portland State University President Wim Wiewel and PGE’s Economic Development Director, Charlie Allcock. All three met with leading EV manufacturers to secure Portland’s position as the top choice in the United States for EV launch sites and long-term development. Oregon was selected as one of five test markets under the eTek federal grant, and is expecting the first delivery of EVs from Japan in Fall 2010.

Mayor Adams started the day at Mitsubishi Motors, where he urged the compay to determine a launch date for their new iMiEV. Mitsubishi executives indicated that the target date will be December 2010.  Mayor Adams stressed that Portland is making great strides on EV infrastructure, and Portlanders' readiness to make the shift to EV. 

The Portland delegation continued by bullet train (Shinkansen) to meet with Nissan executives, cementing Portland’s position as the rollout city for the Nissan LEAF. Mayor Adams stressed the city’s benefits as a long-term partner for EV development and distribution in the U.S.

From there, the group met with counterparts in Yokohama to exchange best practices for carbon reduction and electric vehicle infrastructure. Yokohama City and the greater area of Kanagawa Prefecture were recently recognized by the Japanese government as a national leader in climate action. Mayor Adams invited representatives of the city to Portland to develop a more formal relationship based on shared goals.

Tokyo Kasei, a major investor in Portland, hosted the Mayor for dinner. Also known as TCI, the company relocated to Portland from California, and employs more than 300 Portlanders. The company president has agreed to help represent Portland’s interests in Japan.

Mayor Sam Adams completed the official celebration of the 50th anniversary with Sapporo today, while also promoting future business and trade relations between the two cities.

In the morning, the Mayor and Peter Cunningham of the Portland Development Commission (PDC) presented to the Sapporo Chamber of Commerce and Industry on “Doing Business in Portland.” He detailed our economic development strategy, and articulated new investment opportunities for some of Sapporo's business leaders.  The Chamber promised to work together to expand business opportunites in the future.

Mayor Adams joined Mayor Ueda for Sapporo for a ceremonial tree planting that reciprocated a similar ceremony held in Portland’s Washington Park during last June. Visitors to both parks can enjoy the beauty of the unique additions as well as learn about the Sister City relationship and its benefits.

In the evening, Mayor Adams greeted Portland State University alumni in Tokyo, together with PSU President Wim Wiewel. Following the PSU reception, PDC and the Japan Representative Office for Oregon hosted an event for the Oregon Japan Friendship Association. The group consists of Japanese business leaders with strong ties to Oregon.  Mayor Adams recruited volunteers from both groups to help increase Portland's trade presence in Japan. 

Representatives of the Board of Education in Sakai City in Japan visited the Mayor's office on October 27 for a discussion about future student exchanges. The delegation consisted of Toshio Kawamoto, Superintendent of the Education Board, and Satoko Momma and Toshiaki Shono of the Board staff. The group was especially interested in foreign language instruction in Portland schools, and explained that in Japan English was now introduced in the fourth grade.

The educators' stay in Portland included visits to Richmond Elementary, Mt. Tabor Middle School, Grant High School, and da Vinci Middle School. Sakai City is strongly interested in sending 25 middle school students to Portland for an English immersion experience, and would welcome return visits from Portland students. 

The Mayor is currently traveling with members of Portland Public Schools in Sapporo, where they will sign a new sister school agreement between Richmond Elementary (with its Japanese immersion program) and Sapporo Miyanomori Elementary. In addition to its fifty-year sister city agreement with Sapporo, Portland has a Friendship City relationship with the town of Maruoka, which was recently amalgamated with other towns into Sakai City. For many years, the two cities jointly sponsored the popular "Brief Message from the Heart" poetry contest, which has now been revived. http://mybriefmessage.com/

On November 3, Mayor Adams joined the Portland Sapporo Sister City Association to commemorate the 50th Anniversary of the sister city relationship. His visit reciprocates Sapporo Mayor Fumio Ueda’s visit to Portland in June, where both mayors formally celebrated and renewed the Sister City agreement – one of the oldest in the United States.  He attended a formal reception at Sapporo City Hall to complete the renewal of the Sister City agreement, symbolizing commitment to 50 more years of harmony and mutual understanding among both cities.

The mayor participated in activities for Bunka No Hi (Culture Day), a National Holiday in Japan to honor and promote cultural arts. He will look to Japan for inspiration and new concepts on how to connect and engage diverse local artists with city government and how to maintain traditional values in an ever-changing environment.

Mayor Adams will presented Portland's gift to the city, an etching called "Waiting for the Parade I," by renowned Portland artist and winner of the Oregon Governor’s Award for the Arts, George Johanson, to the City of Sapporo. The hand-colored etching is first in a series of pieces of the Rose Parade, inspired by Portland’s Rose Festival.

Steve Bloom, Executive Director of the Japanese Garden Society of Oregon, joined the mayor to share plans for the garden’s expansion with Sapporo leaders. The existence and expansion of the garden signifies Portland’s admiration and respect for Japanese culture as well as its desire to share different cultural experiences with Portlanders.

The mayor attended an evening dinner hosted by the United States Consul General to celebrate the strength of the Sister City relationship and emphasize the importance of continued work toward a mutually beneficial bond.

Mayor Sam Adams started his work week in Tokyo today with meetings focused on business retention and recruitment. This morning, he checked in with executives from Ajinomoto, a food research and production company based in Portland. The mayor congratulated Ajinomoto on its recent expansion and pitched CEO Shindo on an expansion of the company's N. Marine Drive operation.

Together with the Portland Development Commission (PDC), the Mayor hosted a seminar for new companies interested in doing business in Portland.  There were forty people in attendence, and the Mayor shared the stage with Satoshi Kayama of the Japan Oregon Friendship Association.

Later in the afternoon, Mayor Adams met with Fujitsu executives to continue talks about a return of the company to Portland. Though Fujitsu left the Portland-metro area in 2002, it adopted a new company philosophy this year, emphasizing sustainability, respect for human rights and corporate responsibility. The Mayor found strong mutural interest with Fujitsu's Net Community team, which is exploring smart city technology.

In the evening, Mayor Adams left for Sapporo, where he will join over sixty Portlanders and the Portland Sapporo Sister City Association in celebrating the 50th anniversary of the original agreement between the two cities.

On his first day in Tokyo, Mayor Adams ventured out to the Tokyo Motor Show.  The show is one of the premier events in the industry, and this year featured the official launch of the Nissan LEAF, the company's first electric vehicle for the consumer market.  The Mayor also checked out the latest interation of the Mitusbishi i-MiEV.  Later this week, Mayor Adams will visit Nissan and Mitsubishi EV headquarters to discuss the EV launches in Portland. 

The Auto Show featured other cutting edge motor vehicles, including experimental models of plug-in hybrids and the latest in electric hybrid bicycles.  Japan's Consul General to Portland, Mr. Takamichi Okabe, suggested to Mayor Adams that he attend the show at a Japanese business dinner for the Mayor prior to his departure.

Tomorrow, the Mayor begins his business development meetings and continues on to Sapporo for the 50th annivesary celebration of the the Portland-Sapporo sister City relationship.

Here are some short video clips from the Tokyo Auto Show:

October marks some key developments in Mayor Adams' efforts to expand Portland's international reach and create new jobs through trade and investment. Representatives of the Japanese company, Fujitsu, arrived on October 6, looking for new opportunities in smart planning and green technology. Fujitsu left the Portland area in 2002 during the last economic downturn. First Stop Portland hosted the group, and had a productive meeting with Mayor Adams. The Mayor will follow up with the company during his upcoming trip to Tokyo.

On October 15th, the Mayor's Office hosted an official delegation from Taiwan, including Ambassador Kuang-ming Yang, Director of the Taiwan Trade Center in Vancouver, and Mr. Daniel Liao, Director General for the Taipei Economic & Cultural Office in Seattle. The group was in town looking at the Portland experience in green building, and promoting future cooperation in sustainable planning and new technologies. The event was hosted jointly by the U.S. Commercial Service and attended by a number of Portland firms.

The following day, a business delegation from the Wuzhong Group arrived from Suzhou, Portland's sister city in China. The Group is the largest real estate investor in Suzhou, with a specialization in school and hospital construction. They were accompanied by Skybridge, a Chinese language educational company with a small office in Portland. The representatives expressed great admiration for Portland, and a keen interest in investing. They stressed that education was the basis of a strong relationship, and urged the creation of new student exchange programs between the two cities.

On October 19th, a delegation from Quingpu, China, visited the office seeking a cooperative relationship on sustainability. Quingpu is one of 18 districts in Shanghai and the site of the new Shangai international airport. The delegation invited Mayor Adams to visit when he next travels to China, and was eager to facilitate government and business relationships in urban planning and sustainability. 

The Mayor caps off this busy month with a visit to Japan on October 30th. He will accompany the Portland Sapporo Sister City Association to celebrate the 50th anniversary of the relationship between the two cities. In addition, he will pursue an aggressive schedule of business recruitment with stops at Nissan, Mitsubishi, Sanyo, and other companies. Each meeting aims to support Portland's Economic Development Strategy and the goal to create 10,000 new jobs in five years.