icon next to each of them.
Portland most certainly does care about its planning and priorities, as demonstrated by consistent full-house Portland Plan workshop attendance at the November 17th session held at Beaumont Middle School, on December 1st at St. Johns Community Center, and on December 7th at Wilson High School—and at almost every session in-between. Over 200 concerned citizens came to this week's Southwest installment (at Wilson High) to find out more about where the Rose City stands in terms of the economy, the environment, land use/livability, education, transportation, and more. Goals of the workshops include discerning where our priorities lie in an effort to gauge where we just might be headed over the next 25 years.
I eagerly attended the Portland Plan session held at the World Trade Center on December 3rd, where at 8 a.m. Sam Adams enthusiastically addressed a crowded room packed with soon-to-be caffeinated downtown/business types. This condensed workshop—most usually last 2.5+ hours, but our pre-work day session content was crammed into 1.5 hours—covered the same topics as all the others but lacked in discussion, a critical part of the workshops and their overall value to the community process. Sure, we were able to learn some important facts about the state of the union as it were, but beyond voting on topical priorities with our fun high-tech clickers that offer immediate, tallied results from the collective, we weren't able to engage in the conversation, nay, in any conversation, which is the whole point.
We did learn something about our group and our interests. Our particular session was comprised of mostly white (38% of the room) business people who work downtown (48%) and who will be 65 to 80 years old in 25 years (37%—do the math). No big surprises there. When we voted on priorities, some interesting trends emerged. Of the entire group that day, 37% believe Portland should invest in education to promote job growth. 58% want more arts/education opportunities for kids. 43% think that hiring and retaining great teachers will improve high school graduation rates. 37% strongly agree that all neighborhoods should offer a variety of housing choices. And 34% believe that sustainability/the natural environment is the most important challenge facing us over the next 25 years. We cast our ‘votes' on 23 areas that morning. I recommend that you view our group's results as well as slide shows and stats from all the Portland Plan sessions. It's interesting to compare demographics and priorities from each workshop.
I strongly recommend that you attend the final session of the year to involve yourselves in this high-touch process. Not only is it interesting to see our mayor out in front of the issues and the people, it's great to see who's sitting next to you and get a snapshot view on what interests and concerns us most right now based on the information being presented. What will be truly interesting, though, is what happens with this information once it's mulled over. Will the results of the Portland Plan community workshop sessions truly be valued by City officials—and then be used to positively influence and impact policy decisions affecting the future of our City and its citizens? We shall see.
Portland Plan Community Workshop
December 15, 6:30-9 p.m.
University of Oregon Old Town
Event Rooms 142 & 144
70 NW Couch Street
Portland, OR 97209
MAX and Bus #: 12, 19, 20
Addendum
Our November article previewing the Portland Plan workshops (that also recapped the various steps leading to this current phase of civic planning) needs even further clarification, as provided by Julia Thompson, Communications Manager at the City of Portland Bureau of Planning and Sustainability.
Thompson writes:
VisionPDX was an open-ended visioning process, designed to develop a grassroots vision for the future, and to identify the values Portlanders care about. VisionPDX, through VIA Coalition, pioneered ways to involve those who have traditionally been left out of the planning process. While VisionPDX resulted in vision/value statements, and created new ways of partnering with community organizations, it was not an effort to create a strategic plan.
She continues:
While the Portland Plan builds on the information and values identified in VisionPDX, it is now focused on specific public policies, public agency priorities, and strategies that address the critical issues facing the City. This is a unique opportunity to better align the different public agencies operating within Portland, improve efficiency, and provide better services by collaborating to make more informed policy, program, and budget decisions to achieve common goals. The Portland Plan will be a collective platform for many public partners and create a roadmap for the next 25 years to ensure the City is thriving, prosperous, and sustainable for all of it residents. [Hear, hear!] VIA continues to exist as a coalition supported by PSU School of Social Work Regional Research Institute." This group's research, grants objectives, and reports can be found on the VisionPDX web site.
Thanks, Julia!
