The local "Street of Dreams" real estate extravaganza in Portland, which is generally focused on a suburban development, will be in the Pearl District this year, along the Streetcar line.

The stated reason is that the suburban projects are not getting built due to lending conditions.

"Dream… more

This message came this morning from Mr. Peter Ong, Permanent Secretary of the Ministry of Trade and Industry, Singapore, who is on a world tour of global cities.

"Carol

Seattle is interesting.  People come here first without a job because they
have first decided… more

Sounds like another routine business release:  SAIF Corp., which runs Oregon’s workers’ compensation system, will move its Portland operations and 128 workers downtown.

Doesn't sound like a big deal.  But it represents the second major suburban tenant in Portland to choose a more urban location.

More significantly, the… more

Joe Cortright wrote an important piece for today's Oregonian on why Oregon's economy has faltered and how Oregon should prepare to come back.

Joe warns against believing that when the economy comes back, it will look just like the economy we knew before the recession hit.  Clinging to the… more

Portland won approval today for not just the 3.35-mile eastside streetcar extension, but to start a new streetcar industry here in the Portland region with an order for 6 streetcars to be built at United Streetcar.

The Loop Project is a 3.35-mile extension of the Portland Streetcar… more

Good for Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood for his endorsement this morning of Portland's transit system as "a model for the nation."  LaHood also called Portland a model for reducing pollution, "getting people out of their cars" and creating "livable" communities.  How encouraging it is to see Secretary LaHood acknowledge… more

Only in Portland?  Here's an ad from the Red Cross Chapter there for Singles CPR.  (Hat tip to Ethan Seltzer)

Alone on Valentine's Day? Find that special someone by attending our first-ever Singles CPR class!… more

An email from Portland State U colleague Ethan Seltzer started an interesting conversation I thought I'd share...

First, Ethan pointed me to this excerpt from Willamette Week: 

"[Musician]Liz Harris is about to quit her job. It’s not a stretch by any means to say it’s a risky idea;… more

PORTLAND CITY COUNCIL ANNOUNCES $503 MILLION-PLUS "PORTLAND JOB
CREATION AND ECONOMIC STIMULUS PACKAGE" TO FAST-TRACK AN ESTIMATED
4,985 PRIVATE SECTOR JOBS

Plan also boosts housing development, business assistance and worker
retraining programs

January 13, 2009

PORTLAND, ORE. — Portland City Council at City Hall today announced amore

From new Portland Mayor Sam Adams inaugural remarks:

What a glorious and quirky city we have.  Where else can you buy a donut designed to look like “dirt?”   Or browse one of the world’s largest bookstores and then walk a couple of blocks to the world’s smallest park. There is… more

Well, travelers favorite cities.  Ranking the 25 top U.S. cities in 45 categories, 155,000 travelers (or readers of Travel and Leisure) cast their votes and here's a sampling of what they said:

While Charleston and Austin have the friendliest people, Seattle and Minneapolis/St. Paul have the brainiest.  Unfortunately, LA… more

Our colleague Joe Cortright sent us the photo below from an above the fold story in the Living section of the Oregonian about different kinds of bike accesories for hauling kids and cargo. 

Photo by Torsten Kjellstrand/The Oregonian

Read the… more

A nice film on how bike sharing works in DC can be found here.  Portland, Oregon, is considering its own program, as is Chicago and a number of Southern California communities.  The biggest hurdles seem to be liability, resistence to more advertising on the streets (the way most communities… more

Newly hired president of Portland State University Wim Wiewel will join the throngs of downtown bike commuters tomorrow when he reports for his first day on the job. Wiewel will join Commissioner (and Mayor-elect) Sam Adams on the ride and a small reception will follow in the South Park Blocks.

Monocle’s 2008 listing of the World’s Top 25 Most Liveable Cities features two new U.S. entries to the list.  Along with Honolulu, which was included in the first listing last year, Minneapolis and Portland have also ranked in this survey of the cities that offer the best quality of life. … more

Joe Cortright, senior advisor to CEOs for Cities, took the day off yesterday to show me two extraordinary streets in his hometown of Portland -- Mississippi and Alberta.  They are both reflections of Portland's entrepreneurs at work, curating their small retail collections,  inventing new restaurant concepts, providing charming places to… more

I've spent the past two days in Seattle and Portland. I arrived late Tuesday night in Seattle. Approaching downtown by taxi, I was struck by the growing size of the city skyline. My hotel, Inn at the Market (which gets a big gold star for service and staff), is situated… more

With less time and money spent commuting, the greening of Portland is paying off in big ways that other cities can learn from, according to a cost analysis of the city's environmental, land use and urban development strategies titled "Portland's Green Dividend."

What if you could add $2.6 billion annually to your local economy? That's what Portland has effectively done by getting its citizens to drive just 4 fewer miles a day, according to a briefing paper by our colleague Joe Cortright called Portland's Green Dividend. What Joe found has big implications… more