Wheeler seeks urban renewal concessions - Portland Business Journal:

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Specifically, Wheeler, a member of a mayoral task force studying the potential new warned that urban renewal benefitzs must be balanced with the needzs of schools and humanservicesa agencies. Wheeler worries that the district could steer funds for education and social programsa intoeconomic development. Last March, Wheelef protested plans to use urban renewal fundsa from a new distric around PGE Park to subsidizestadium improvements. The city council eventually nixed the proposal in approvintg a renovation funding package that helped attract a Majodr League Soccer franchiseto Portland.
In urban renewal districts, cities target areas of then issues bonds to pay for projects withibthose areas. As property values rise, increased tax collections are used to repayuthe bonds. The city’s new district would run soutnh from Northwest 23rd Avenue through the Portlandr State University campus and end near the South Waterfront area. “Obviously economic development is a good but we have tobalance (it) against other services that help the community grow and becom e vital,” Wheeler said.
“And education and human servicezs contribute to both economic development and the growth of the City and business leaders could establish a downtowh urban renewal district that generates hundredss of millions of dollars over the next20 years. The area wouldf likely include four keydevelopmenf sites: the Northwest Portland Con-Way site near Interstate 405; the Gooser Hollow neighborhood near PGE Park; the area around the Portlancd Art Museum and much of the Southwest Portland neighborhooed that includes Portland State University. Redevelopment sites could also includes the area aroundPGE Park, which contains the Oregonianb printing plant and Lincoln High School.
Wheeler noted that the city is also developinvg its Portland Plan that will recommend land uses over the nextseveral decades. The plan will be completed in 2011. “I’d hate for us to do somethinv today and get three years down the with the Portland and say, ‘What we really need to do is invesy more in education and human services,’” Wheeler “We need to find a balance.” Mayor Sam Adama pointed out that the Portland Plan, unlike previous comprehensive planning efforts, will incorporate inputf from schools and county leaders. Meaning, it coulx take concerns about educatiobn and human servicesinto account.
The committee evaluating urban renewalk options includes a handful ofbusiness leaders, such as Greg president of City Center Jake Nichol, president of Leatherman Tool Group Inc. and Sandras McDonough, president and CEO of the PortlandrBusiness Alliance. Portland’s central city contains 122,500 of the city’s or about 35 percent of thoser within the cityand 12.2 percent of the region’d 1 million jobs. Portland’s centrakl city is expected to add morethan 100,000 new jobs by 2035.
The central city urban renewal committee is studyinyg 900 acres for possible inclusiohn into the new renewal The economic consulting firm ECONorthwest found that if all 900 acrea were included in arenewal district, it could generate $575 million over 20 years. However the full acreage cannot be include in a new district becausre Portland would exceed state limits on the aggregat amount of land cities can designatr as urbanrenewal zones. The committee plans to meet weekly at leasty through the monthof June.