Can the Pearl help the east side?
Urban renewal - With the district booming, the city may have $210 million to spend -- maybe elsewhere
Monday, November 19, 2007
RYAN FRANK
The Oregonian
Developers and construction companies aren't the only ones cashing in on the success of Portland's urban playground in the Pearl District.
The city of Portland is sloshing around in so much property tax revenue that it could spend an estimated $210 million more than first expected on urban renewal projects, according to new city estimates.
Portland's urban revival in the Pearl -- and urban failure in eastside neighborhoods -- has opened up a $210 million question: How much more money should the city pour into an already successful downtown? Or, is there a way to tap downtown's excess tax revenues to improve working-class neighborhoods?
Today, city leaders will meet with the African American Chamber of Commerce and others to talk over that question. The meeting comes amid a lengthy public debate about where to invest in the future.
In addition to the Pearl's surprising wealth, two other downtown urban renewal districts are set to expire this year. If the city ends urban renewal in the two districts, other neighborhoods could qualify for urban renewal aid. (State law limits urban renewal to 15 percent of Portland's land and the city is nearly maxed out right now.)
The Portland Development Commission, the city's urban renewal agency, will likely get requests from across the city.
Oregon, like many states, created urban renewal in the 1950s to prevent and reverse urban blight.
Urban renewal taps taxes on rising property values to pay for public construction projects. Instead of going to cops, the taxes go to things like the aerial tram, street improvements or parks.
Money raised through urban renewal helped turn downtown Portland into a model U.S. city. But urban renewal in Southeast Portland's Lents, for example, has brought little change.
So how much more should the city focus on downtown?
The debate has been a long time in the making. But it took off this year when City Commissioner Erik Sten proposed using some of the Pearl's extra tax money to help build a school in outer east Portland, in the David Douglas School District.
To Sten, the idea seemed a perfect match.
It would tap a wealthy downtown district to aid a neighborhood that typically doesn't get much City Hall attention.
Sten's idea bought a new wrinkle to urban renewal. Never before had Portland used one urban renewal district to fund neighborhood projects so far away.
The proposal has prompted others to raise their hands.
"There are many who would say, 'Aren't we in line in front of David Douglas?' " said Charles Wilhoite, a board member at the development commission.
That sentiment is especially true in Old Town and in North and Northeast Portland.
A previous study recommended using the Pearl's extra money to fix up dilapidated buildings in Old Town.
In Northeast Portland, longtime African American residents recall the Portland Development Commission's role in bulldozing homes to make way for a hospital expansion on North Vancouver Avenue. Urban renewal efforts since then have improved some neighborhoods, but they lag behind downtown. Entertainment district?
Roy Jay of the African American Chamber of Commerce says the city could use the Pearl's extra money to create an entertainment district around the Oregon Convention Center.
"We have to think futuristic and create long-term jobs," Jay said. "I'd support using some of that money on the east side and build something we can be proud of."
At cash-strapped Multnomah County, some leaders would like to get their hands on some of the extra taxes to pay for social services or jail beds.
The Pearl's urban renewal tax revenues were expected to support $225 million in public projects between 1998 and 2020.
New buildings have come on so rapidly that the extra tax revenues could support far more debt than first thought. Along with the new projects, the city has spent its tax money faster. All $225 million is expected to be used by 2011, nine years early.
With the new projections, the city could spend about $210 million more, to an estimated $436 million, and pay it back with bigger-than-expected tax payments.
Shelley Lorenzen from the League of Women Voters of Portland opposes that idea.
"Everyone is looking at the (Pearl) District as a cash machine," she said. "That is so contrary to intent of urban renewal."
The Pearl district is known for its expensive restaurants, shops and condos. A 19th-floor view there can run $3 million. But it's likely to always have something the city considers worthy of help -- a new school and blight -- a worn out post office warehouse that may eventually be relocated.
But Lorenzen sees the Pearl district in a different light. "Who with a straight face can say that's a blighted area?"
Ryan Frank: 503-221-8519;
ryanfrank@news.oregonian.com;
http://blog.oregonlive.com/frontporch/.
http://www.oregonlive.com/business/o...890.xml&coll=7
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