Portland Plan Workshop Kickoff from Mayor Sam Adams on Vimeo.

Roy Kaufmann

ffice of Mayor Sam Adams

03-823-4799

roy.kaufmann@ci.portland.or.us

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

November 16, 2009

Portland Area Leaders Kick Off Portland Plan

Community input to help shape the next 25 years for the city

Portland, Ore.— Portland area civic leaders 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,” said Mayor Sam Adams. “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, the City and its partners are asking for maximum community input over the next 15 months. Portlanders 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.

The goals of the first round of workshops are to get grounded in the facts facing Portland now, create a healthy dialogue around how to solve some of our major challenges, and set a course with short and long term goals and actions to shape the next quarter century of change.

Focus areas for public engagement

Public involvement in the Portland Plan is essential. Many of the issues the city is facing may be surprising to Portlanders. Some of these challenges are:

• Only 63% of Portland’s students graduate on time.
• Portland’s unemployment rate tops 11%.
• 70% of the city’s electricity use comes from fossil fuels.
• It will take $136 million more per year just to maintain the city’s aging infrastructure of bridges, signals, reservoirs, natural areas and civic buildings and maintain regulatory standards.

The 1980 comprehensive plan addressed many of the physical elements of Portland such as transportation infrastructure and creating a vibrant central city. The Portland Plan will build off that work while focusing heavily on the human elements in order to benefit the people living here over the next 25 years.
“Portland has benefited from a heritage of excellent planning,” said Susan Anderson, Director of the Bureau of Planning and Sustainability. “Now it’s our turn to look ahead 25 years and ensure the city continues to be thriving and sustainable as we grow.”

In 2007, the City of Portland conducted visionPDX, which gathered information from more than 17,000 Portlanders about their vision for the city. Out of this process came a set of values that helped establish goals for the community. Now the Portland Plan is picking up the dialogue about how those goals can be realized.

Workshops for public engagement

The first round of community workshops start tomorrow, November 17, and run through December 15, in locations throughout Portland. The City and its partners are asking all Portlanders to weigh in on issues ranging from education, community health, arts and transportation to healthy food, job growth and protecting the environment. The workshop dates, times and locations are as follows:

November 17	November 19	December 1	december 3
Beaumont Middle School Cafeteria 4043 NE Fremont Street Portland, OR 79212 6:30–9:00pm Bus #: 75, 24 map | calendar	David Douglas High School Cafeteria (North) 1001 SE 135th Avenue Portland, OR 97233 6:30–9:00pm Bus  #: 20, 71 map | calendar	St. Johns Community Center 8427 N Central Street Portland, OR 97203 6:30–9:00pm Bus #: 4, 17, 44, 75 map | calendar	World Trade Center 121 SW Salmon Street, Skybridge Rooms A & B Portland, OR 97204 8:00-9:30am MAX and downtown serving buses map | calendar
December 5	December 7	December 15
Mt. Scott Community Center Auditorium 5530 SE 72nd Avenue Portland, OR 97255 10:00am-12:30pm Bus #: 10 map | calendar	Wilson High School Cafeteria 1151 SW Vermont Street Portland, OR 97219 6:30–9:00pm Bus #: 44, 45, 56 map | calendar	University of Oregon Old Town Event Room Rooms 142 & 144 70 NW Couch Street Portland, OR 97209 6:30–9:00pm MAX and Bus #: 12, 19, 20 map | calendar

Public partners of the Portland Plan

Because the City cannot address these issues alone, public partners working with the City of Portland on the Portland Plan include Metro, Multnomah County, Portland State University, Portland Public Schools, Parkrose School District, Centennial School District, David Douglas School District, Reynolds School District, Oregon Health and Science University, Portland Community College, TriMet, Portland Development Commission, Housing Authority of Portland, East Multnomah Soil & Water Conservation District, West Multnomah Soil & Water Conservation District, Multnomah County Drainage District and Worksystems Inc.

What the partners are saying about the Portland Plan

“Portland and all cities in the region will see significant population growth in the next 25 years,” said Metro Council President David Bragdon. “It’s important that residents become involved in the City’s planning process to help us reach goals shared by the families and businesses that make up our communities.”

 - David Bragdon, President, Metro

“Our planning needs to embrace big ideas, like how equity concerns should shape land-use choices, as well as concrete dilemmas, like how our central city accommodates and pays for adequate courtrooms to keep our public safety system running.”

 - Ted Wheeler, Multnomah County Chair

“Thoughtful, long-range planning is the only way to prepare the region for the quickly changing economy. And it will take every sector of the region working and planning together. That’s why Portland Community College is excited to be part of the Portland Plan.”

 - Dr. Preston Pulliams, president, Portland Community College

"I am very glad to be a part of the development of the new Portland Plan. As a Multnomah County, City of Portland school district Superintendent, I will be very intentional about reminding everyone how important the health of our local schools is for the eventual economic development and livability of successful families in our city. This is a great opportunity for collaboration and partnership. Let’s make the most of this opportunity by working together to build a solid and viable Plan to make Portland the greatest city in America".

 - Karen Gray, Superintendent, Parkrose School District

“Portland is uniquely qualified to drive the global green economy in the years to come. At PDC we are focusing our efforts on targeted industries and working to grow and sustain the businesses, both large and small, that have helped shape the diverse, vibrant city we have today.”

 - Bruce Warner, Executive Director, Portland Development Commission

“Vibrant, mixed-use neighborhoods with safe routes to transit are fundamental to the success of healthy and economically strong communities. The Plan’s 20-minute neighborhood concept sets us up for expanded success with our transit investments and for building sustainable communities. TriMet is a committed partner of the renewed Portland Plan.”

 - Fred Hansen, TriMet General Manager

"The Housing Authority of Portland is pleased to be a sponsor of the Portland Plan. It's important for all Portlanders, no matter what their income, or whether they're homeowners or renters, to be heard and share their hopes and vision for the community's future."

 - Steve Rudman, Housing Authority of Portland

“The long-term strategic planning process at the heart of the Portland Plan has the potential to improve our community across the board.  I am particularly interested in the collaborative effort that will take place to improve education which will, in turn, improve the economic viability of Portland and the quality of life of our citizens.”

 - Robert McKean, Centennial School District

“None of us works in a vacuum; we work in partnership.  Why? Because we are simply more effective that way. It makes sense to plan in partnership as well. If we do this right we can significantly improve our collective impact on the issues we all work to address. The East Multnomah Soil and Water Conservation District has always valued our partnership with the City of Portland and we look forward to strengthening the relationship through this collaborative planning effort.”

-Jean Fike, Executive Director, East Multnomah Soil and Water Conservation District

Find more information about the Portland Plan at www.pdxplan.com, follow us on Twitter, @PDXPlan & #pdxplan or become a fan on Facebook, www.facebook.com/pdxplan.

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Friday, Nov. 13, 2009

Contact:
Roy Kaufmann | 503-823-4799 | Roy.Kaufmann@ ci.portland.or.us
Julia Thompson | 503-823-0229 | Julia.Thompson@ci.portland.or.us

MEDIA ADVISORY

Portland Area Leaders to Host Kick-Off Event for Portland Plan Community Workshops

WHAT: Media event to kick off the first series of workshops for the Portland Plan, a strategic plan for the next 25 years to ensure that Portland is a thriving and sustainable city and our residents are prosperous, healthy and educated. The Portland Plan, a 25-year strategic plan, is part of a state-mandated comprehensive plan update. The direction it sets will touch every neighborhood, district and resident in the city as it grows. The plan will help to define priorities, guide how to invest public dollars and set the course for Portland for the next quarter of a century. 1980 was the last time the City developed a comprehensive plan; since then, 50 percent of Portlanders are new to the city.

WHEN: Monday, November 16, 2009
10:45 a.m.—media are invited to arrive
11 a.m.—event begins

WHERE: East Portland Community Center
740 SE 106th Ave, Portland
Near cross-street of SE 103rd Drive and Stark Street

WHO: Representatives from many organizations, including Mayor Sam Adams, Multnomah County Chair Ted Wheeler and School Superintendents Karen Gray and Barbara Rommel, will speak at Monday’s kick-off event at the EPCC. This partnership between the City of Portland and other public agencies will help ensure that Portland’s strategic plan is comprehensive, inclusive and successful.

WHY: Monday’s event marks the kick-off of the first round of community workshops that begin on November 17 and run through December 15, in seven locations throughout Portland’s neighborhoods. The Portland Plan partners are asking all Portlanders to weigh in on a number of issues ranging from education, community health, arts and transportation to local food, job growth and the environment. This effort builds on the visionPDX process, which captured input from over 17,000 Portlanders and led us to a set of values that helped establish goals for the City. Now the Portland Plan is creating the dialogue around how to reach those goals.

Because the City cannot address these issues alone, public partners working with the City of Portland include Metro, Multnomah County, Portland State University, Portland Public Schools, Parkrose School District, Centennial School District, David Douglas School District, Reynolds School District, Oregon Health & Science University, Portland Community College, TriMet, Portland Development Commission, Housing Authority of Portland, East Multnomah Soil & Water Conservation District and West Multnomah Soil & Water Conservation District, Multnomah County Drainage District and Worksystems Inc.

Find more information about the Portland Plan at www.pdxplan.com, follow us on Twitter, @PDXPlan or become a fan on Facebook, www.facebook.com/pdxplan.

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