Portland Harbor
The Portland Tribune has been publishing interesting, informative, thought-provoking articles recently. Today, another good one by Lee van der Voo, this time on the Portland Harbor.
According to Lee, “the 40,000 jobs in the Portland Harbor … are some of the best-paying jobs for the two-thirds of the Portland-area work force that doesn’t have a college degree”. Those are facts.
He then asserts, “Without millions of dollars in public investment in the Portland Harbor, jobs like these will see little growth in the future, even as other economic sectors surge ahead.”
Ah, that starts the questions, doesn’t it? How much public investment, what kind, and who benefits?
“Through the [‘Working Harbor Reinvestment Strategy’], slated for approval by the City Council by the end of the year, the city of Portland, the Portland Development Commission and the Port of Portland will coordinate 10 years of public investment in the harbor to keep industry thriving and related businesses in step with regional growth.”
But here’s the good part, at least as far as I can gather from reading the article:
“So far, the Working Harbor Reinvestment Strategy has no exclusive funding but aims to tie existing funds from the three agencies in a way that maximizes value.“
Yay! Good idea. If it really does that, while supporting the good jobs in the Harbor and cleaning it up, that will be excellent. Although some outside funds in the form of private obligations to clean up toxic waste sites, and federal assistance in doing so, would be nice.
Read the whole article. It has lots of interesting background information and appears to cover a range of challenges and issues. More details and staff contact here on the Planning Bureau site; and on the Willamette Industrial Urban Renewal Area, created in 2004, on the Portland Development Commission’s. The City has also completed several studies on the Harbor and industrial uses along the river.
The health of the harbor, both environmentally and in terms of jobs and services for Portlanders and the region, is vital to our city. I’ll be monitoring this process as it moves forward.