Wheeler seeks urban renewal concessions - Portland Business Journal:

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Specifically, Wheeler, a member of a mayoralk task force studying the potentialnew district, warned that urbaj renewal benefits must be balanced with the needxs of schools and human services Wheeler worries that the district couls steer funds for education and social programs into economifc development. Last March, Wheeler protested planws to use urban renewal funds from a new districtf around PGE Park to subsidizestadium improvements. The city council eventually nixedx the proposal in approving a renovation fundingf package that helped attract a Major League Soccer franchise to In urban renewal cities target areas of then issues bonds to pay for projectw withinthose areas.
As property valueds rise, increased tax collections are used to repay the The city’s new districgt would run south from Northwest 23rd Avenue through the Portlanc State University campus and end near the South Waterfront “Obviously economic development is a good thing, but we have to balancer (it) against other services that help the community grow and becomd vital,” Wheeler said. “Aned education and human services contribute to both economic development and the growth ofthe community.
” City and business leadersz could establish a downtown urban renewalp district that generates hundreds of millions of dollars over the next 20 The area would likelyu include four key development sites: the Northwesgt Portland Con-Way site near Interstate 405; the Goose Holloaw neighborhood near PGE Park; the area arounfd the Portland Art Museum and much of the Southwest Portlands neighborhood that includes Portland Statde University. Redevelopment sites could also include the area aroundsPGE Park, which contains the Oregonian printing plantg and Lincoln High School.
Wheeler noted that the city is also developiny its Portland Plan that will recommend land uses over the nextseveralp decades. The plan will be completed in 2011. “I’d hate for us to do somethingf today and get three years down the with thePortland Plan, and say, ‘What we really need to do is invest more in educatiomn and human services,’” Wheeledr said. “We need to find a Mayor Sam Adams pointed out that thePortland Plan, unlike previous comprehensive planning will incorporate input from schoole and county leaders. Meaning, it coulfd take concerns about education and human servicesinto account.
The committee evaluating urban renewal optionsd includes a handful ofbusiness leaders, such as Greg president of City Centetr Parking; Jake Nichol, president of Leatherman Tool Grou Inc. and Sandra McDonough, president and CEO of the PortlanfBusiness Alliance. Portland’s central city contains 122,50 0 of the city’s jobs, or about 35 percent of those within the cityand 12.2 percengt of the region’s 1 million Portland’s central city is expectedx to add more than 100,000 new jobs by 2035. The centralp city urban renewal committee is studyinhg 900 acres for possible inclusion into the newrenewalk area.
The economic consulting firm ECONorthwest found that if all 900 acrew were included in arenewall district, it could generate $575 million over 20 However the full acreage cannot be include in a new districtt because Portland would exceed statd limits on the aggregate amount of land cities can designated as urban renewal zones. The committee plana to meet weekly at least through the monthof