WEBVTT 1 00:05:49.646 --> 00:05:50.432 Good morning. 2 00:05:50.608 --> 00:05:53.834 It is 2:01 PM on Tuesday, October 13th. 3 00:05:53.898 --> 00:05:57.980 I am calling to order today's meeting of the City Life Committee. 4 00:05:58.961 --> 00:06:00.122 Uh, could you please call the roll? 5 00:06:01.298 --> 00:06:01.925 Yes, thank you. 6 00:06:03.009 --> 00:06:04.095 Zimmerman? 7 00:06:04.903 --> 00:06:05.180 Here. 8 00:06:07.317 --> 00:06:07.706 Avalos? 9 00:06:09.988 --> 00:06:10.281 Ryan? 10 00:06:11.350 --> 00:06:11.541 Here. 11 00:06:12.427 --> 00:06:12.749 Morillo? 12 00:06:13.632 --> 00:06:13.745 Here. 13 00:06:14.502 --> 00:06:15.033 Pirtle-Guiney? 14 00:06:15.451 --> 00:06:15.514 Here. 15 00:06:16.512 --> 00:06:18.843 And Kevin, could we please get the statement of conduct? 16 00:06:20.146 --> 00:06:22.125 Welcome to the meeting of the City Life Committee. 17 00:06:22.327 --> 00:06:37.129 To testify before this committee in person or virtually, you must sign up in advance on the committee agenda at www.portland.gov/council/agenda/city-life-committee or by calling 311. 18 00:06:37.322 --> 00:06:40.482 Information on engaging with the committee can be found at this link. 19 00:06:40.771 --> 00:06:44.350 Registration for virtual testimony closes 1 hour prior to the meeting. 20 00:06:44.738 --> 00:06:48.670 In-person testifiers must sign up before the agenda item is heard. 21 00:06:49.252 --> 00:06:55.120 If public testimony will be taken on an item, Individuals may testify for 3 minutes unless the chair states otherwise. 22 00:06:55.586 --> 00:06:57.576 Your microphone will be muted when your time is over. 23 00:06:58.059 --> 00:06:59.103 The chair preserves order. 24 00:06:59.278 --> 00:07:07.194 Disruptive conduct such as shouting, refusing to conclude your testimony when your time is up, or interrupting others' testimony or committee deliberations will not be allowed. 25 00:07:07.853 --> 00:07:09.892 If you cause a disruption, a warning will be given. 26 00:07:10.358 --> 00:07:12.975 Further disruption will result in ejection from the meeting. 27 00:07:13.488 --> 00:07:16.733 Anyone who fails to leave once ejected is subject to arrest for trespass. 28 00:07:17.197 --> 00:07:20.939 Additionally, the committee may take a short recess and reconvene virtually. 29 00:07:21.420 --> 00:07:23.444 Your testimony should address the matter being considered. 30 00:07:23.829 --> 00:07:25.867 When testifying, state your name for the record. 31 00:07:26.254 --> 00:07:28.807 If you're a lobbyist, identify the organization you represent. 32 00:07:29.303 --> 00:07:32.177 Virtual testifiers should unmute themselves when the clerk calls your name. 33 00:07:32.435 --> 00:07:32.755 Thank you. 34 00:07:33.800 --> 00:07:34.216 Thank you. 35 00:07:35.228 --> 00:07:36.175 Colleagues, we have—. 36 00:07:36.288 --> 00:07:38.214 Chair, apologies, I'm late. 37 00:07:39.579 --> 00:07:42.052 Wendy, did you get that, that Councilor Avalos is now with us as well? 38 00:07:42.454 --> 00:07:43.288 Yes, thank you. 39 00:07:43.545 --> 00:07:44.315 Perfect, thank you. 40 00:07:44.379 --> 00:07:45.119 Welcome, Councilor. 41 00:07:46.882 --> 00:07:53.855 Colleagues, we have— we'll start today with public input on City Life topics, as we always do. 42 00:07:54.418 --> 00:07:57.511 We will then have a presentation on Advance Portland. 43 00:07:58.185 --> 00:08:04.533 Then we're going to, after a break, have a conversation about the city policy around privatizing publicly owned land. 44 00:08:04.596 --> 00:08:15.528 We actually have a system that the city runs through to make those decisions, and some of our colleagues have expressed some concerns with the process as it currently works. 45 00:08:15.576 --> 00:08:17.725 So we will learn a little bit more about that. 46 00:08:18.047 --> 00:08:30.928 And then we have an item before us today where we do have a bureau that is looking to dispose of some currently city-owned land, and we will take that up as the last item on our agenda. 47 00:08:34.015 --> 00:08:36.464 Uh, yeah, I'll cover the rest of that later. 48 00:08:36.511 --> 00:08:37.371 Why don't we jump right in? 49 00:08:37.727 --> 00:08:39.235 Wendy, could you please read our first item? 50 00:08:41.412 --> 00:08:46.899 Item number 1, document number 2026-359, public input on City Life Committee topics. 51 00:08:46.966 --> 00:08:50.717 We have 2 individuals who have signed We have 2 speakers signed up. 52 00:08:50.783 --> 00:09:00.546 The first is Lisa Jackson-Spotted Duck, and the next is Ghalib El. 53 00:09:00.659 --> 00:09:00.903 Welcome. 54 00:09:07.450 --> 00:09:08.368 Thank you for joining us. 55 00:09:08.673 --> 00:09:08.947 Thank you. 56 00:09:14.448 --> 00:09:16.129 Sorry, a little unprepared this time. 57 00:09:17.615 --> 00:09:18.947 Greetings, beloved committee members. 58 00:09:19.283 --> 00:09:23.261 I am Galib Ben Imhotep El, and my domicile is in District 4. 59 00:09:24.594 --> 00:09:31.059 What I offer today has much more to do with just my district and everything to do with city life. 60 00:09:32.053 --> 00:09:32.952 I will speak frankly. 61 00:09:33.177 --> 00:09:35.631 There's a part of Portland that's dying. 62 00:09:36.787 --> 00:09:41.808 That part is close to its heart, so close that it may as well be. 63 00:09:41.856 --> 00:09:42.048 Thank you. 64 00:09:43.173 --> 00:09:46.056 The dying part of Portland, it's right down the street. 65 00:09:47.269 --> 00:09:51.740 I call it my front porch, and it's so dirty that it needs to be cleaned with a street sweeper. 66 00:09:53.230 --> 00:09:55.947 Well, the PBOT street sweepers just aren't adequate. 67 00:09:56.822 --> 00:10:02.451 They were never designed for the type of dis-ease that creates the death of a body. 68 00:10:04.442 --> 00:10:07.160 Tourists come to Portland and get smacked in the face with it. 69 00:10:08.115 --> 00:10:17.469 My first trip to downtown involved a sight that is now so common to me that I actually laugh at how flabbergasted I was to see what I saw, which I will not detail. 70 00:10:20.000 --> 00:10:26.222 Chinatown and Old Town are vital parts of downtown and deserve attention that they don't receive. 71 00:10:27.385 --> 00:10:38.576 They may be parts of District 4, but they represent so much of Portland that all districts, along with the city life suffer in direct proportion to their atrophy. 72 00:10:40.169 --> 00:10:46.567 Most of the parking occurs where the homeless have a tendency to amass, making for an awkward situation. 73 00:10:47.765 --> 00:10:54.239 It's pretty rough asking a tourist to pay upwards of $50 sometimes when they're watching a guy perform acts that just are best done in private. 74 00:10:55.701 --> 00:10:58.333 The solution isn't as simple as a snap of the fingers. 75 00:10:59.317 --> 00:11:00.044 It takes commitment. 76 00:11:00.725 --> 00:11:03.678 Engagement and involvement with sincerity. 77 00:11:04.501 --> 00:11:10.715 There are hotspots where you will find the most downtrodden souls that I have seen wandering this earth. 78 00:11:14.106 --> 00:11:16.998 The narrative of those locations needs rescripting. 79 00:11:18.485 --> 00:11:21.004 The face of these hotspots needs a makeover. 80 00:11:22.649 --> 00:11:23.240 They're close. 81 00:11:24.226 --> 00:11:24.620 They're growing. 82 00:11:24.687 --> 00:11:24.868 Thank you. 83 00:11:25.980 --> 00:11:27.139 They're not sustainable. 84 00:11:29.139 --> 00:11:31.750 Please commit to the refinement of these blighted areas. 85 00:11:33.720 --> 00:11:36.340 Portland will progress and prosper. 86 00:11:37.634 --> 00:11:41.808 And thank you, and I love you all unconditionally. 87 00:11:42.730 --> 00:11:43.152 Thank you. 88 00:11:45.224 --> 00:11:46.114 Thank you for being here. 89 00:11:46.700 --> 00:11:47.836 Thank you. 90 00:11:48.845 --> 00:11:50.437 And Lisa is joining us online. 91 00:11:50.714 --> 00:11:53.038 Lisa, you can go ahead and unmute and begin your comments. 92 00:11:56.905 --> 00:11:57.082 Lisa. 93 00:11:57.227 --> 00:12:07.788 Everyone, um, I just wanted to just come in and, um, express myself as I, I, I don't even know where to start. 94 00:12:07.884 --> 00:12:08.885 There's so much going on. 95 00:12:08.933 --> 00:12:21.269 However, I feel like I needed to come speak to y'all for the school system, um, the— and I understand this is the city, but we're talking about, um, the Portland City Life, right? 96 00:12:21.365 --> 00:12:30.822 And so I just want to make it really, really real and clear that, um, the equity of this life is built around the school systems too. 97 00:12:31.609 --> 00:12:37.412 And I feel like that, that part is, is missing, um, in, in your, in your puzzle. 98 00:12:37.700 --> 00:12:41.259 That's, you know, that, that all this is working together. 99 00:12:42.028 --> 00:12:51.133 Um, the reason why I say that is if some of you board members actually sit in on some of these right-sizing conversations that is happening in your community, Yeah. 100 00:12:52.597 --> 00:12:59.394 Um, the infrastructure of your little communities is going to be affected. 101 00:13:00.278 --> 00:13:07.821 Now, if you think about Chicago and their school closure, they never— even in their city, in the surrounding areas— they never recovered yet. 102 00:13:08.759 --> 00:13:13.799 And so that should be really alarming to, to your city because those are your schools, right? 103 00:13:14.515 --> 00:13:22.408 Um, I love advocating and coming and expressing the, the deep concern about your school system and all the levels. 104 00:13:22.583 --> 00:13:33.331 I was just at the county last week expressing myself to chop from the top because, um, what people don't realize is, you know, that's all everyone's tax dollars. 105 00:13:33.589 --> 00:13:34.649 That's everyone's. 106 00:13:35.051 --> 00:13:38.634 Everyone should have a say in their school system, whether it's a county or a city. 107 00:13:39.293 --> 00:13:44.562 I feel like that key piece where we're forgetting is we need to really advocate for our generations to come. 108 00:13:44.610 --> 00:13:44.835 Thank you. 109 00:13:45.317 --> 00:13:50.759 We need to— I love how some of you think, because we need to think about 10, 20 years down the line, not 5. 110 00:13:51.577 --> 00:13:58.303 Um, and if we shut down these school systems, that's really going to affect the infrastructure of your city drastically. 111 00:13:58.657 --> 00:14:09.509 There's families that want to leave, there's teachers that aren't coming back, um, and those are taxpaying people that are Portlanders for life that are thinking of leaving your city. 112 00:14:10.519 --> 00:14:17.558 And especially with, um, with the St. Johns area that I know that, you know, Dan was speaking on. 113 00:14:18.087 --> 00:14:19.386 So that's real. 114 00:14:20.299 --> 00:14:37.643 Um, if you actually think about what is going on with your school system, I feel like for the city council thing, you guys should start trying to find some way as a city council to help support your school systems because that is city life that will affect it drastically. 115 00:14:37.932 --> 00:14:39.245 Um, like I said, the infrastructure. 116 00:14:39.309 --> 00:14:39.534 Thank you. 117 00:14:40.258 --> 00:14:41.658 Um, your taxpaying people. 118 00:14:42.028 --> 00:14:45.120 Um, these are your Portland families that really need your support. 119 00:14:45.812 --> 00:14:55.057 And, um, I just wanted to come voice my, my, you know, my thoughts on that and, and make it real that these are people's lives that are in your city. 120 00:14:56.171 --> 00:15:00.019 So I appreciate y'all for your time, and, um, thank you. 121 00:15:01.150 --> 00:15:04.044 Thank you very much. 122 00:15:04.626 --> 00:15:05.638 We appreciate you coming here. 123 00:15:05.687 --> 00:15:07.451 We appreciate you advocating for the community. 124 00:15:10.725 --> 00:15:12.325 That concludes public input. 125 00:15:13.390 --> 00:15:16.024 Thank you, Wendy. 126 00:15:16.217 --> 00:15:18.125 Could you call our next agenda item? 127 00:15:19.769 --> 00:15:26.706 Item number 2, document number 2026-360, Advance Portland Economic Development Strategy. 128 00:15:27.140 --> 00:15:28.525 Great, thank you. 129 00:15:29.379 --> 00:15:42.370 And colleagues, there is not an action item for us to take on today related to this agenda item, but it's a, an important response to some of the other conversations that we have had. 130 00:15:42.450 --> 00:15:53.730 Advance Portland is the city's economic development strategy, which was passed by a former city commission group of folks up here and has been guiding Prosper Portland's work. 131 00:15:54.566 --> 00:16:07.465 And Prosper Portland has shared that they have some updates to that work and that plan is also going to be coming to an end over the next 2 years, I believe, 2 years. 132 00:16:07.994 --> 00:16:15.240 So we'll have an opportunity to talk over the next year about what that next iteration is for economic development in our city. 133 00:16:15.832 --> 00:16:48.707 So today I've asked Prosper and our DCA, DCA Oliveira, to share with us where Advance Portland has been and what some of the changes are that Prosper is looking at for the next few years, and then create a little bit of space for us to talk about both what that looks like, what this next 2-year period looks like, and also how Council might be involved in setting our next economic development strategy moving forward, which is something that many of our colleagues have, have asked about over the last year or so. 134 00:16:48.980 --> 00:16:56.399 So I will turn it over, DCA Oliveira, to you and to Prosper Portland's Executive Director Cornell Wesley. 135 00:16:57.135 --> 00:16:57.328 Great. 136 00:16:57.874 --> 00:16:58.291 Thank you, Chair. 137 00:16:59.139 --> 00:17:00.534 Good afternoon, council committee. 138 00:17:01.880 --> 00:17:02.938 Donny Oliveira, for the record. 139 00:17:02.986 --> 00:17:05.969 I'm the Deputy Administrator for Community and Economic Development. 140 00:17:06.866 --> 00:17:13.872 So, councilors, today we are here to provide you an update on Advance Portland, the city's 5-year economic development strategy. 141 00:17:14.786 --> 00:17:18.423 But most importantly, I want to just share that this is the city's plan. 142 00:17:19.114 --> 00:17:48.625 While it informs Prosper Portland's work plans and its strategic initiatives, the truth is, is that this is a plan that's built and dependent on bureaus as the chair acknowledged, it was adopted in 2023, and it continues to inform our work plans related to economic development and focusing on 4 objectives: inclusive economic growth and innovation, equitable wealth creation, vibrant commercial districts, and connections to high-quality jobs and future-ready sectors. 143 00:17:49.675 --> 00:18:03.519 While today's presentation will cover highlights from the first 3 years, we're really thinking about what comes next, how we meet the current objectives, refine our, our goals, and ensure that we are meeting the moment for the City of Portland through this plan. 144 00:18:04.498 --> 00:18:08.573 As the chair also acknowledged, we look forward to working with council on the next iteration of this plan. 145 00:18:08.925 --> 00:18:13.354 But first, we are here to give you a highlight, which leads to my last point. 146 00:18:14.381 --> 00:18:17.541 I hope everyone takes the moment to read the Advance Portland plan. 147 00:18:17.814 --> 00:18:25.499 We're not covering every detail today because we want to get into the discussion, but it's still rich and invaluable in terms of shaping how we're seeing economic development for the city. 148 00:18:25.563 --> 00:18:25.804 Thank you. 149 00:18:26.172 --> 00:18:32.423 And with that, I'm pleased to turn it over to Cornell Wesley, who's executive director at Prosper, and Eric Knoll, policy manager as well. 150 00:18:32.840 --> 00:18:33.065 Team? 151 00:18:33.369 --> 00:18:33.561 Thank you. 152 00:18:34.989 --> 00:18:39.204 Chair Pirtle-Guiney, Vice Chair Zimmerman, and members of the City Life Committee. 153 00:18:39.862 --> 00:18:45.311 For the record, once again, I am Cornell Wesley, and I proudly serve as Prosper Portland's executive director. 154 00:18:46.114 --> 00:18:57.494 Since starting a— since starting at Prosper Portland a little over a year ago, I've been really impressed by what my colleagues have accomplished over the last 3 years in implementing Advance Portland. 155 00:18:57.592 --> 00:19:10.157 And I want to take a moment to publicly recognize Prosper Portland staff for that work, and more importantly, thank them for their dedication to advancing these goals. 156 00:19:10.286 --> 00:19:18.213 I'm also joined here by Eric Knoll, Prosper Portland's policy manager, who is available to help answer questions about the Advance Portland update. 157 00:19:18.951 --> 00:19:23.894 Now, on April 26th, 2023, City Council adopted Advance Portland. 158 00:19:24.296 --> 00:19:26.622 A call to action for inclusive economic growth. 159 00:19:27.440 --> 00:19:37.817 At its core, Advance Portland is a citywide economic development strategy focused on advancing inclusive economic growth, competitiveness, and climate action. 160 00:19:38.490 --> 00:19:39.355 But this is important. 161 00:19:39.950 --> 00:19:43.654 Advance Portland is not just a Prosper Portland strategy. 162 00:19:44.279 --> 00:19:53.068 It is a collaborative citywide strategy that was built through deep community engagement and is being implemented through robust partnerships across the city. 163 00:19:53.662 --> 00:19:58.596 Including Prosper Portland, the business community, and community organizations. 164 00:19:59.430 --> 00:20:08.290 This body of work began with a comprehensive assessment of Portland's economy, looking at both where we had real strengths and where we were falling behind. 165 00:20:09.285 --> 00:20:14.619 On the strength side, we saw growth and diversification across several key industry sectors. 166 00:20:15.452 --> 00:20:19.988 Those became our target sectors or target clusters for growth. 167 00:20:20.403 --> 00:20:21.028 They include: Construction. 168 00:20:21.446 --> 00:20:30.213 Green cities, athletic and outdoor, metals and machinery, food and beverage manufacturing, and software media. 169 00:20:30.935 --> 00:20:38.836 We also saw strong employment in knowledge occupations and growth in highly educated talent compared to the rest of the nation. 170 00:20:39.430 --> 00:20:43.653 But the assessment also made clear that we had some significant challenges to address. 171 00:20:44.825 --> 00:20:46.077 Portland's employment growth. 172 00:20:46.912 --> 00:20:57.637 Business growth, and median household income were all lagging in the region, even as home prices increased faster than 35 of the 40 largest metro areas. 173 00:20:58.231 --> 00:21:09.777 And those challenges have only become more important to address as we've seen population decline for the first time in 40 years, putting pressure on Portland's economic future. 174 00:21:10.596 --> 00:21:12.009 That includes the following. 175 00:21:12.425 --> 00:21:32.211 Housing affordability, an uneven recovery in the central city and commercial districts, an imbalance in our tax value proposition, challenges in scaling businesses, and perceptions among investors and business leaders that Portland is falling behind peer cities. 176 00:21:33.061 --> 00:21:40.244 I encourage the committee and the public to visit advanceportland.com to learn more about the work that went into co-creating this strategy. 177 00:21:40.838 --> 00:21:48.557 Including the hundreds of individuals, businesses, government partners, and others who brought their experience and expertise to the table. 178 00:21:49.450 --> 00:21:58.270 That work ultimately led us to the 4 objectives that have guided our work over the last 3 years, and that's where I'll turn next. 179 00:21:58.771 --> 00:21:59.306 Next slide. 180 00:22:02.020 --> 00:22:05.528 So as mentioned, much work went into creating this strategy. 181 00:22:06.128 --> 00:22:12.855 The robust partnership with community, businesses, and government partners gave us a strong framework to build from. 182 00:22:13.481 --> 00:22:22.618 I want to briefly walk you through those 4 objectives, give you a few examples of the initiatives, and then turn to where we're going in the final 2 years of the strategy. 183 00:22:23.855 --> 00:22:31.209 Now, as I mentioned on the last slide, the assessment identified both the strengths and the challenges, challenges of the Portland economy. 184 00:22:31.945 --> 00:22:40.823 From that assessment, the strategy identified opportunities where we could align our resources and partnerships to actually propel Portland's economic growth. 185 00:22:41.559 --> 00:22:43.307 That led to the following 4 objectives. 186 00:22:44.364 --> 00:22:48.738 Objective 1, propel inclusive economic growth and innovation. 187 00:22:49.507 --> 00:22:59.249 This objective is centered on growing the sectors where Portland has a competitive advantage and where we see an opportunity for additional investment and job creation. 188 00:22:59.699 --> 00:23:03.502 Again, those were some of the things I called out earlier around our traded sectors. 189 00:23:04.642 --> 00:23:07.034 Objective 2, equitable wealth creation. 190 00:23:07.627 --> 00:23:18.317 This objective is focused on creating more pathways to wealth through inclusive partnerships, particularly for Portlanders and communities that have historically been underserved. 191 00:23:18.943 --> 00:23:24.079 Objective 3, foster a vibrant central city and, and commercial districts. 192 00:23:24.882 --> 00:23:30.709 This objective recognizes the significant needs created by the pandemic and other compounding factors. 193 00:23:30.805 --> 00:23:30.884 Yes. 194 00:23:31.479 --> 00:23:36.569 And focuses on supporting the recovery and long-term vitality of our central city and commercial districts. 195 00:23:37.084 --> 00:23:43.556 And finally, Objective 4: connect Portlanders to high-quality jobs in future-ready sectors. 196 00:23:44.150 --> 00:23:54.732 This is about strengthening the connections between Portlanders, our workforce system, and the future-ready high-wage jobs that we know will be critical to our economic future. 197 00:23:55.455 --> 00:23:59.392 Now, next, I will highlight a few of the key initiatives that have come out of the work. 198 00:24:00.829 --> 00:24:01.279 Excuse me. 199 00:24:01.345 --> 00:24:01.714 Next slide. 200 00:24:01.844 --> 00:24:04.259 All right. 201 00:24:04.324 --> 00:24:06.416 Advance Portland key early initiatives. 202 00:24:06.481 --> 00:24:06.819 Here we are. 203 00:24:07.741 --> 00:24:07.871 All right. 204 00:24:07.968 --> 00:24:12.156 Now, I know there are a lot of words in this slide, so I'm going to call that out on the front end. 205 00:24:12.755 --> 00:24:20.342 But trying to come up with a few highlights of the robust work that my team and our partners have accomplished was no easy task. 206 00:24:20.924 --> 00:24:25.586 Now, understandably, we are all very proud of the work we have done these last 3 years. 207 00:24:25.683 --> 00:24:25.749 Yes. 208 00:24:26.122 --> 00:24:34.067 So I encourage you to read through the full list at your convenience, but I want to highlight a few examples because they demonstrate the strength of the partnerships behind this work. 209 00:24:35.076 --> 00:24:48.711 Together with our service area partners, the city developed a single permitting authority, Portland Permitting and Development, to make the process more coordinated and easier to navigate. 210 00:24:49.912 --> 00:24:57.329 Together with City Council, we approved a minor boundary amendment to the Enterprise Zone to support more than 100 new thank you. 211 00:24:57.442 --> 00:25:01.263 —Quality jobs as part of the Alaska Airlines hangar expansion project. 212 00:25:02.726 --> 00:25:12.183 Also, together with our community partners, we created the Office of Small Business, which in its first year served 809 unique businesses. 213 00:25:12.938 --> 00:25:29.375 We also established 6 new TIF districts through a co-creation process with community, and through our partnership with Travel Portland and Oregon Film, we recruited and marketed productions that resulted in more than 3,400 quality jobs in the local economy. 214 00:25:29.455 --> 00:25:33.449 And again, these are just a few examples. 215 00:25:34.267 --> 00:25:39.542 What they have in common is that none of them happened through the work of one organization alone. 216 00:25:40.215 --> 00:25:50.496 They reflect what we can accomplish when the city, Prosper Portland, community, and our business and government partners are working toward the same economic development strategy. 217 00:25:50.640 --> 00:25:53.450 And with that, I'll turn to where we are headed next. 218 00:25:54.000 --> 00:25:54.387 Next slide. 219 00:25:56.682 --> 00:25:57.021 All right. 220 00:25:57.346 --> 00:26:10.423 So we're providing this update to acknowledge that the conditions for our city's economic recovery have changed since the adoption of the Advance Portland strategy 3 years ago. 221 00:26:10.907 --> 00:26:12.730 I think we all can agree on that. 222 00:26:13.505 --> 00:26:17.828 So this before you is the matrix for the Advance Portland recalibration. 223 00:26:18.519 --> 00:26:23.451 Fine-tuning Prosper Portland's work plan for the final 2 years of the strategy. 224 00:26:23.547 --> 00:26:32.926 I want to be clear up front, the 4 objectives and the core elements of Advance Portland underneath this have not changed. 225 00:26:33.826 --> 00:26:41.664 What's changed is the sequencing and status of the initiatives underneath the objectives, and that's what we will overview with you here. 226 00:26:43.143 --> 00:26:48.679 Every initiative of Advance Portland will be sorted into this matrix before you. 227 00:26:49.416 --> 00:26:55.996 Now, the columns represent the initiative status, either recovery or growth. 228 00:26:56.718 --> 00:27:14.364 Recovery means it's funded and implementation ready, either currently in progress or on track for the next 2 years, reflecting the near-term needs of the city and where— what we are at, or where we are at capacity to address within existing resources. 229 00:27:16.218 --> 00:27:22.011 Now, initiatives in the growth category means the item still, still needs research. 230 00:27:22.351 --> 00:27:34.375 It still needs funding approval or some combination thereof, but also reflects work and initiatives that are possible to expand our economic development tools and capacity. 231 00:27:35.376 --> 00:27:37.689 Now, the rows are the time horizon. 232 00:27:38.373 --> 00:27:47.573 You will see now, next, which is roughly 2 years, and future, which is the next iteration of the city's economic development strategy. 233 00:27:48.007 --> 00:27:53.161 For example, the new storefront support program sits in recovery/now. 234 00:27:54.125 --> 00:27:55.761 It lives and it is funded. 235 00:27:56.436 --> 00:28:05.740 Cascadia High-Speed Rail sits in grow for the future, real but a decade-plus out and dependent on funding and approvals that are not yet in place. 236 00:28:07.044 --> 00:28:09.701 Next slide. 237 00:28:11.471 --> 00:28:15.557 So we'll provide an overview of the recovery and growth initiatives on the next 2 slides. 238 00:28:15.654 --> 00:28:30.108 But first, I'd like to call your attention to a new online dashboard we've launched to provide both the council and general public a sortable table to learn more and track each of these items. 239 00:28:30.846 --> 00:28:36.409 Included on this slide is both a link and a QR code to access the dashboard. 240 00:28:37.394 --> 00:28:49.465 Like our already published financial compendium, the dashboard is designed to provide a transparent and user-friendly interface for the work of Advance Portland. 241 00:28:50.336 --> 00:28:50.691 Next slide. 242 00:28:53.463 --> 00:28:56.338 So here's a summary of the recovery thank you. 243 00:28:56.386 --> 00:28:58.105 So we'll move on to the recovery-focused initiatives. 244 00:28:58.169 --> 00:29:03.516 Recovery, again, is everything currently in progress or already funded. 245 00:29:04.094 --> 00:29:06.807 Many of these initiatives have already been implemented. 246 00:29:07.321 --> 00:29:20.103 The list here reflects new or updated initiatives in Advance Portland, as well as initiatives that our agency subject matter experts have elevated in terms of importance for the final 2 years of the strategy. 247 00:29:21.692 --> 00:29:35.214 The Recovery Now column is robust and represents the volume of work we are already doing within our existing resources to nimbly respond to the current economic needs in our city. 248 00:29:36.032 --> 00:29:43.798 The Recovery Next column reflects initiatives in progress to continue advancing the city's post-pandemic recovery. 249 00:29:45.017 --> 00:29:55.622 All of the recovery initiatives we are doing now and next these concepts also align with the mayor's Central City Roundtable strategies and Prosper Portland's CIF investment strategy. 250 00:29:56.910 --> 00:29:57.152 Next slide. 251 00:29:59.442 --> 00:30:00.992 All right, here we are with growth. 252 00:30:01.477 --> 00:30:12.009 Now, these growth concepts represent 16 initiatives that need more research, funding, or approval before they can be implemented. 253 00:30:12.948 --> 00:30:19.895 On the left side, These 4 initiatives could start in the current fiscal year with the right funding or policy decision. 254 00:30:20.810 --> 00:30:29.570 In the middle, these 9 are in development and need approval, mostly over a 1 to 2 year horizon to begin implementing. 255 00:30:30.501 --> 00:30:45.112 On the right, these 3 are long-range, 5 to 10 years plus or minus out, and these can be considered in the planning process for the city's next slide. 256 00:30:45.579 --> 00:30:50.359 So our next steps. 257 00:30:51.380 --> 00:30:56.088 Our next step is to bring this work to the Prosper Portland Board on tomorrow, October 14th. 258 00:30:57.102 --> 00:31:06.666 This will provide an opportunity to share the work to date, receive board feedback, and continue aligning around the priorities and actions identified through this process. 259 00:31:07.583 --> 00:31:12.946 Then on October 20th, we will convene an Advance Portland Advisory Committee. 260 00:31:13.701 --> 00:31:29.464 The committee's role will be to help identify and address impediments to implement— implementation, advocate for the resources needed to advance key priorities, and provide an ongoing forum to monitor progress against the plan. 261 00:31:30.219 --> 00:31:34.387 Importantly, this creates a structure for continued external engagement. 262 00:31:35.029 --> 00:31:44.726 Looking ahead, We see this work as an important contribution to the city's next economic development strategy, and we look forward to continuing to engage as that strategy takes shape. 263 00:31:45.015 --> 00:32:00.202 Now listen, we're committed to bringing Prosper Portland's economic development expertise, partnerships, and perspective to that process, and to co-creating a strategy that reflects the opportunities and challenges facing Portland's economy. 264 00:32:00.862 --> 00:32:01.792 So thank you for your time. 265 00:32:02.407 --> 00:32:03.413 And your engagement today. 266 00:32:04.192 --> 00:32:09.694 We appreciate the opportunity to share this work and look forward to your questions and discussion. 267 00:32:12.209 --> 00:32:28.159 Thank you all so much for the overview and the information on where you are looking at heading next in PROSPER and for laying out that information clearly so we can understand where there might be council decision points coming that, that we should be considering. 268 00:32:29.296 --> 00:32:34.201 Colleagues, I think there's 3 places here for engagement. 269 00:32:34.746 --> 00:32:47.795 I'm not going to have us take them in that order, but just as you're thinking about your comments, there is what we've done so far and the overview of how we, how we came to the advanced strategy. 270 00:32:48.531 --> 00:32:55.568 There's some of those changes around prioritization, what's driving those changes, and how Prosper is taking on the work for the next 2 years. 271 00:32:56.387 --> 00:32:59.470 And then any thoughts you have to guide next steps after that. 272 00:32:59.535 --> 00:33:27.868 There may be comments you have that are less related to Advance and more related to economic development broadly that we probably can't get into the next year or so as PROSPER plays out the rest of the Advance agenda, but that I think are important for us to lay out now before PROSPER and CEDSA and our other bodies jump into the work of thinking about where economic development is going next. 273 00:33:27.932 --> 00:33:30.632 That's a topic that I know council will want to weigh in on heavily. 274 00:33:30.808 --> 00:33:36.453 And as the committee looking at our economy, I think we can start that here as well. 275 00:33:36.759 --> 00:33:42.403 So if anybody has questions, comments, thoughts on any of those 3 topic areas, feel free to jump in the queue. 276 00:33:46.069 --> 00:33:47.261 I'm seeing Dan's up there. 277 00:33:50.896 --> 00:33:52.453 Councilor Zimmerman, go right ahead. 278 00:33:52.903 --> 00:34:07.145 Okay, I was hoping that— I had a feeling Councilor Ryan might jump in first, but I am curious, just over this last couple years, we've had some more and more of this conversation about the mix of the different types of sizes of business, right? 279 00:34:07.210 --> 00:34:10.342 We have started the small business office, right? 280 00:34:10.726 --> 00:34:12.284 And I think we're happy about that. 281 00:34:12.349 --> 00:34:14.965 And those numbers you shared are impressive. 282 00:34:18.510 --> 00:34:26.014 One thing I've kind of failed to grasp is what is the right mix in a growing city for small, medium, and large business? 283 00:34:27.389 --> 00:34:32.516 And what are some assumptions that we make when we talk about that mix? 284 00:34:32.920 --> 00:34:42.909 And I mean it in the terms of the wages that come with each of those sectors because of the need to have— Right. 285 00:34:43.070 --> 00:34:47.577 When it comes to housing in neighborhoods, I talk about I'm a big proponent of mixed-income neighborhoods. 286 00:34:48.396 --> 00:35:04.389 But also, what does it look like from an economic development agency's perspective when you're pursuing and you see some of these out-years, how we pursue, where we put our efforts to pursue small, medium, and large business to kind of create that ecosystem? 287 00:35:05.271 --> 00:35:10.346 Which I guess maybe is the second question is, does the ecosystem of those 3 genres matter or—. 288 00:35:10.378 --> 00:35:10.603 Yeah. 289 00:35:10.748 --> 00:35:12.882 Or can you focus in on one or the other? 290 00:35:13.684 --> 00:35:19.318 I haven't quite figured out that mix, but I know we've started talking about it a little bit more since you came on board. 291 00:35:19.382 --> 00:35:22.735 And I'm just kind of curious on your thoughts on that to help guide our thinking too. 292 00:35:23.313 --> 00:35:23.715 Certainly. 293 00:35:23.811 --> 00:35:26.057 And thank you for your question, Councilor. 294 00:35:26.539 --> 00:35:35.655 Communities that get it right, they do all 3 because what they fully recognize and what COVID has revealed for us is that we did not have shock absorbers. 295 00:35:35.927 --> 00:35:42.001 And how I define a shock, Shock absorber is an employer that's 400 or more, right? 296 00:35:42.099 --> 00:35:50.831 And so when you have a major crisis like a pandemic, what we learned was that we had an overreliance on our small business community. 297 00:35:51.231 --> 00:36:05.155 And so when they were no longer— let's use Central Business District as a case study— when they were no longer selling insert widget here because they no longer had a body that was inside the big building anymore to buy the hot dog, you see how these all things are inextricably tied. 298 00:36:05.266 --> 00:36:05.458 Right. 299 00:36:05.972 --> 00:36:13.278 And so our work moving forward has to be centered around continuing to accelerate growth with our small business community. 300 00:36:14.226 --> 00:36:30.956 We do a really great job at launching and accelerating and incubating, but we also got to be able to create an ecosystem where they're able to expand in this— in our community while also recruiting the right companies that fit within that trade sector model. 301 00:36:31.280 --> 00:36:32.800 To become shock absorbers. 302 00:36:33.106 --> 00:36:36.438 So we have to grow a shock absorber while we're also trying to recruit one. 303 00:36:38.900 --> 00:36:55.911 There's an important point there, and I don't know if the term is the traded sector or— so I'm thinking through, and I'm— what I'm really asking is I'm asking for help in my vocabulary on these topics, right? 304 00:36:55.992 --> 00:37:17.701 And so so in the one hand, you could say big business, an Amazon warehouse whose many of the employees that are out there are on public services as well, and we're talking minimum wage, lots of employees, but not the kind of jobs that I think we all mean when we talk about the small, middle, and large. 305 00:37:17.764 --> 00:37:18.492 Mm-hmm. 306 00:37:18.768 --> 00:37:37.224 So from that sense, what changes within our strategy so that we when we talk about the organization that has 400+ employees, that we are talking about wages above a certain area instead of just saying who's the next, you know, I'm going to use somebody that doesn't exist so I don't offend anybody, who's the next Kmart? 307 00:37:37.561 --> 00:37:38.733 I'm not looking for the Kmart. 308 00:37:38.909 --> 00:37:39.246 That's right. 309 00:37:39.295 --> 00:37:47.688 I'm looking for what is the place that's got skilled workforce, higher wages, who I think meets that desire. 310 00:37:47.880 --> 00:37:57.141 And I don't, I don't know what the strategies are to incentivize or attract one over the other. 311 00:37:57.367 --> 00:38:00.353 And sometimes it feels a little bit like, who took the RFP? 312 00:38:00.496 --> 00:38:04.364 And I'd rather be like, no, we designed it so that we could have a headquarters. 313 00:38:04.429 --> 00:38:06.146 And that's what I'm trying to understand more about. 314 00:38:06.260 --> 00:38:08.507 And that's the real point. 315 00:38:08.603 --> 00:38:18.876 In my experience in previous communities, the cities, the counties, they determine what the end product looks like, either through the incentive request or the development agreement. 316 00:38:19.277 --> 00:38:25.411 A simple way of saying that is we've said, We state what our livable wage is and what quality of life looks like for us. 317 00:38:25.940 --> 00:38:30.661 We don't chase a Kmart if it doesn't fit in our community, right? 318 00:38:30.918 --> 00:38:39.704 And so if we're defining livable wage in Portland as insert number here, that's who we look for, and we don't fall beneath that. 319 00:38:40.940 --> 00:38:47.427 And we codify that in either through an incentive agreement if we get additional tools, or in a development agreement. 320 00:38:47.476 --> 00:38:47.668 Thank you. 321 00:38:48.664 --> 00:38:49.771 Can I add something too, Councilor? 322 00:38:49.867 --> 00:39:01.018 I think building on that, because the director is absolutely accurate, we also have to ensure that our land supply and our urban form is ready to capture that idea that we want, right? 323 00:39:01.081 --> 00:39:02.831 We are— we have an urban growth boundary. 324 00:39:03.344 --> 00:39:06.425 We have some challenging industrial land availability right now. 325 00:39:06.938 --> 00:39:18.641 Our larger sites just aren't ready for those big development investments that aren't logistics centers, that aren't, you know, storage facilities, We have to prepare ourselves to have the vision, but also have the land capacity and the urban form. 326 00:39:18.898 --> 00:39:23.429 That means infrastructure to be ready to receive those ideas that we want. 327 00:39:23.670 --> 00:39:26.706 So there's many levers that we have to still pull to make those real. 328 00:39:27.590 --> 00:39:33.896 Last question, and I think maybe it's just timely given what our community's reacting to in the last 9 days or so. 329 00:39:35.704 --> 00:39:51.452 In these kinds of conversations with those who are either in the site or headquarters, when they think about employees that they're gonna bring forward, We used to hear a lot about the Portland way of life, the stuff that came with being sited in Portland. 330 00:39:51.500 --> 00:39:55.626 And one of those things that you could always, you know, you talk to people about is their schools. 331 00:39:57.327 --> 00:40:07.795 So what are the other, I'll say, fabric that are part of our story but aren't within your wheelhouse to incentivize that do have impacts? 332 00:40:08.507 --> 00:40:28.088 That you would want us to know about, because our microphones go beyond these walls, for those conversations that help sell the Portland story about why it's not just a good place for the business, but it's a good place for the employees and their families who will be coming with that business, whether that's schools or parks or access to name the thing. 333 00:40:28.588 --> 00:40:33.969 I'd like to know that because I'd like to be able to be an advocate in those spaces that don't necessarily fall into our bureaus. 334 00:40:34.581 --> 00:40:40.574 So I can give you a very long answer, but I'm gonna keep it succinct, and, and, and if appropriate, I can follow up with additional data. 335 00:40:41.135 --> 00:40:50.525 What we have that can be measured, as opposed to quality of life, is quality of place, and that actually has, has metrics attached to it. 336 00:40:50.862 --> 00:40:57.545 So proximity to insert thing here, like airports— we have an international one, we have direct flights internationally. 337 00:40:57.896 --> 00:41:00.429 You can walk in the city or you can go on hikes. 338 00:41:00.476 --> 00:41:00.525 Yeah. 339 00:41:00.925 --> 00:41:01.599 You can ski. 340 00:41:01.824 --> 00:41:02.945 There's proximity to water. 341 00:41:03.170 --> 00:41:09.244 All of these things communities have to create, but these are— pardon my French— God-given. 342 00:41:09.516 --> 00:41:17.996 And so we have a measurable quality of place that turns on its head what used to be the notion of work-life balance. 343 00:41:18.253 --> 00:41:19.952 That's now life-work. 344 00:41:20.255 --> 00:41:23.878 And so people will choose Portland before they choose to work here. 345 00:41:24.327 --> 00:41:27.389 They will choose to live here, and then the job becomes secondary. 346 00:41:27.693 --> 00:41:28.527 So you're spot on. 347 00:41:28.606 --> 00:41:28.766 Thank you. 348 00:41:29.139 --> 00:41:31.596 What we do have is an amazing product. 349 00:41:31.840 --> 00:41:32.719 We just need to sell it. 350 00:41:35.891 --> 00:41:36.539 Thank you, Councilor. 351 00:41:36.621 --> 00:41:37.318 Councilor Ryan. 352 00:41:38.306 --> 00:41:43.576 Yes, thank you, Chair, and, um, thank you so much for that presentation, Cornell and team. 353 00:41:43.947 --> 00:41:52.588 Um, Councilor Zimmerman, I, I couldn't get my functions to cooperate, so it took a while, but I really enjoyed that dialogue, and I want to kind of build on that. 354 00:41:53.306 --> 00:42:01.677 Um, first of all, thank you for also taking the information that led to the first draft of this, if you will. 355 00:42:01.936 --> 00:42:03.536 I think it's a work in motion. 356 00:42:03.650 --> 00:42:07.931 It's a work in progress and adapting it to some realities that we have today. 357 00:42:08.027 --> 00:42:09.083 I appreciated that. 358 00:42:09.717 --> 00:42:12.297 And I noticed it in the language of the sequencing. 359 00:42:12.690 --> 00:42:14.728 So thank you for doing that, team. 360 00:42:17.449 --> 00:42:21.306 When I think of your, your economic bridge builder arm for the city. 361 00:42:21.791 --> 00:42:33.657 So you're the, you're the organization that the city must partner with so that we can partner better with those that want to invest in Portland, those that want to build in Portland. 362 00:42:35.157 --> 00:42:46.099 And we all know that what used to be a lot of cranes in the sky when the initial findings of this report was put together are basically not there anymore. 363 00:42:47.074 --> 00:42:48.715 And so we're not doing a lot of building. 364 00:42:48.762 --> 00:42:48.827 Right. 365 00:42:50.219 --> 00:43:01.460 And Prosper is our leader in being the broker, the steward of some of those investors on some big projects. 366 00:43:01.652 --> 00:43:03.081 I'll just name a few. 367 00:43:03.226 --> 00:43:03.724 You know them. 368 00:43:03.788 --> 00:43:06.550 Broadway Corridor, the OMSI District. 369 00:43:06.791 --> 00:43:07.271 Mm-hmm. 370 00:43:07.690 --> 00:43:09.231 Montgomery Place. 371 00:43:09.407 --> 00:43:11.335 There's a Montgomery project. 372 00:43:11.510 --> 00:43:12.619 I still call it Montgomery Ward. 373 00:43:12.699 --> 00:43:25.644 My point is, I'm trying to figure out how, Cornell, you're taking those big rocks that you're trying to move up the— that we are trying to move up the hill and how they fit into these objectives. 374 00:43:26.469 --> 00:43:32.338 And further, I'd like to hear how you're thinking on how you're prioritizing those in the sequence. 375 00:43:34.130 --> 00:43:34.260 Certainly. 376 00:43:34.407 --> 00:43:42.248 Because our city is in desperate times, but with desperation means that it's an opportunity to really hone in on focus. 377 00:43:43.846 --> 00:43:48.487 And I need to know where the focus is because we need to win somewhere. 378 00:43:49.298 --> 00:43:49.623 Yeah. 379 00:43:49.719 --> 00:44:06.052 So is there some thinking about those big initiatives and then your objectives and how they're coming together so we as a council, we as Prosper, more importantly, those out there that are still willing to do business in Portland can focus with us? 380 00:44:06.713 --> 00:44:08.085 Can you give me some of your thinking on that? 381 00:44:08.757 --> 00:44:09.335 Absolutely. 382 00:44:09.976 --> 00:44:14.358 Let me first kind of take a step back and start structurally around what PROSPER did. 383 00:44:14.775 --> 00:44:32.224 One of the first things, calling out the acknowledgment that we need to get these major projects across the finish line, we had to look inward first, which has presented itself in the reforming of what used to be one department, now is Capital Access, Real Estate, and Community Development. 384 00:44:32.592 --> 00:44:37.873 And that has made us more efficient in our approach and our leveraging of the existing tools. 385 00:44:37.922 --> 00:44:39.061 So that's the foundation. 386 00:44:39.108 --> 00:44:40.393 Now let's talk about the project. 387 00:44:41.018 --> 00:44:46.871 Project number 1 is Broadway Corridor, not just because Prosper's investment, but this is an entire city investment. 388 00:44:47.128 --> 00:44:49.822 Multiple bureaus, multiple interested parties. 389 00:44:50.239 --> 00:45:04.510 This is the biggest transformation project, followed by OMSI, followed by reimagining our Union Station, followed by Lloyd Center, followed by Moda, followed by Albina Vision Trust, followed by the work of 1803. 390 00:45:04.590 --> 00:45:15.139 That is 8 major priorities in our central in our city that are key projects that getting one, two across the finish line unlocks a lot of other opportunities. 391 00:45:15.188 --> 00:45:22.208 So imagine what Moda unlocks for Albina Vision Trust, would imagine what that does for the waterfront in relation to OMSI. 392 00:45:22.626 --> 00:45:25.143 All of these things are inextricably tied. 393 00:45:25.206 --> 00:45:30.898 We've got to be dedicated to getting them across the finish line, starting with Broadway Corridor. 394 00:45:32.260 --> 00:45:35.246 So So I appreciate that, and that's exactly what I was looking for. 395 00:45:35.311 --> 00:45:35.695 So thank you. 396 00:45:35.856 --> 00:45:42.423 I think I probably know I've asked this question before, and this was a very crisp answer, and I appreciate that. 397 00:45:42.954 --> 00:45:44.945 So tell me more about Broadway Corridor. 398 00:45:45.184 --> 00:45:52.554 Tell me what we can expect, how we can be helpful in terms of our action at City Council. 399 00:45:53.197 --> 00:45:58.239 Well, I'll answer that second part first on how you can be helpful, and it's your continued advocacy. 400 00:45:59.061 --> 00:46:02.681 You continuing to be loud about the need for us to get this done. 401 00:46:03.101 --> 00:46:08.989