Metro candidates flash their economy-friendly credentials
Portland Business Alliance gathering hears plans to lure more jobs, businesses
BY STEVE LAWThe Portland Tribune, Feb 17, 2010
It’s the economy, stupid.
The old Bill Clinton campaign mantra seemed top-of-mind Wednesday, as the three contenders for Metro president stressed job creation in a joint appearance before the Portland Business Alliance.
Bob Stacey, the former 1000 Friends of Oregon executive, said most recent jobs have gone to Hillsboro’s “green fields” and other outlaying areas of the region, rather than downtown and other commercial centers designated by Metro for transit service and higher-density development. Metro needs to find a way to bring more employment to those centers in Portland and the suburbs, Stacey said.
Rex Burkholder, a Metro councilor, said the tri-county area must “change our game” to bring more jobs here. Metro needs to garner regional money so cash-strapped cities can lure employers and turn raw industrial law into “shovel-ready” development sites, he said.
Tom Hughes, the former Hillsboro mayor, said he’d like to transport his city’s “business-friendly atmosphere” to Metro and the region. “For a long time now, Metro has not been part of the solution,” Hughes said.
The race to lead the tri-county area’s regional governing authority pits two Portland progressives, Burkholder and Stacey, against Hughes, a suburban candidate running as an outsider.
Stacey, a former Portland planning director and aide to Gov. Barbara Roberts, stressed his private sector work as a land-use attorney.
Burkholder stressed his role in creating the Bicycle Transportation Alliance and other public and private ventures, as well as his experience managing regional transportation efforts.
Hughes, a former teacher, stressed his pro-development views and experiences luring new businesses to Hillsboro.
Not just planningDespite their efforts to stake out different ideological terrain in the race, all three candidates acknowledged voting for Ballot Measures 66 and 67, a package of income and business tax increases opposed by much of the business audience.
Burkholder and Hughes expressed strong support for the proposed Columbia River Crossing bridge to Vancouver. Burkholder has helped lead a three-year effort to build the bridge and associated light-rail line and other improvements, including a plan to charge a toll for travelers. Hughes said one of Portland’s key assets is the ability to move goods quickly from Port of Portland facilities to freeways, and a new wider bridge will help.
Stacey said he favors shrinking the bridge project. Noting that the original plan for a 12-lane, $4.2 billion project has failed to win support from local officials and our congressional delegation, he said, “I have to ask how’s that strategy working out.”
Hughes, like many in Washington County, expressed concerns that an emerging regional proposal to designate about 28,000 acres as urban reserves – eligible for urbanization in the coming 40 to 50 years – leaves the region short of developable land. When people ask him if that’s enough land, Hughes said, “My answer is, ‘Gee, I hope not.’”
Stacey said he had no doubts that will provide enough new land for development. The urban reserves also will provide a more nimble way to make urban growth boundary expansions in the future, he said. The real challenge with future growth, Stacey said, is directing more of it to established urban and suburban commercial centers.
Burkholder, the insider candidate of the three contenders, said Metro is doing its job to provide land for future growth. But it needs to help cities pay for infrastructure to enable development. One example of a possible money source is a regional construction excise tax that he championed, Burkholder said.
In an apparent dig at Stacey, Burkholder said leading Metro is “not just about planning, folks,” but about managing a huge enterprise.
Copyright 2010 Pamplin Media Group, 6605 S.E. Lake Road, Portland, OR 97222 • 503-226-6397
