Unreal, and frankly disgusting how brazen these bureaucrats are. And it goes to fund projects like Milwaukie Light Rail no less.

Fish and Saltzman must be laughing at just how stupid we are to have re-elected them again....and we are stupid.

“On one side they make developments more expensive, but once the SDCs are used they theoretically make the development more valuable.”

Soooo, one side we KNOW happens ($$) and the other side is theoretical.

Perfect.

Fast forward to 2010 ...

The owner of the pizza shop sold the building and closed the store. I wonder what happens now to the 10-year "loan" the city made to the former owner to pay the SDCs.

There is an upside, though. Although we may have lost a pizza place, but we gained a new cell tower.

How lovely for the people who live in the Belmont Dairy complex. Mmmmmm... radiation... Nice and noisy, too!

Recollecting recent chatter on similar "fees", isn't an "SDC" a "tax"? Theoretically, or otherwise.

"Isn't that where City Hall charges you $36,000 to move your pizza shop across the street?"

Try $45,000 to connect a one toilet house up to the public sewer line.

I am getting more and more people who are just saying no to commercial development in Portland, which I guess means that much more room for bike paths.

Too bad - Portland's a nice place, but not if the only thing local govt can provide is a bill for services rendered.

A bill for rendering. Period. And it's insiders that get the fat. The purported city services are dubious.

Portland needs a new motto... The city that jobs you..... Go by screwing...

Interesting that the urban dwellers/suburbia haters love to claim how much subsidy they don't require and how much the suburbs are subsidized...

But they never mention that it's the suburbs that are forced to make up for the lost revenue that pays for much of the property tax based services that these URA located properties don't pay taxes (or the taxes are diverted) on.

"when you skin someone, leave just a little piece of skin so it can regenerate and you can come back and skin them again..."

Erik H -

Huuuh.

Nobody in the 'burbs pays a dime to make up for lost revenues that the UDAs or Urban Renewal Areas in Portland cause.

Those lost general funds to support city and county and school and various special distyrict (Port, ESDs) services come out of the pockets of real property owners in side PDX city limits, and nobody else, and certainly nobody in the 'burbs.

Those lost general funds to support city and county and school and various special district (Port, ESDs) services come out of the pockets of real property owners inside PDX city limits

Sorry, but who all pays for the Port of Portland? Not just Portland - the Port's district includes all three Metro counties.

TriMet? Covers more than just Portland.

The Multnomah ESD? Gresham pays for that too.

And certainly, "East Portland" is, by the urban dweller's definition, "suburbia". It wasn't even within Portland city limits until the 1980s when the city annexed everything out to Gresham, promised better city services...happily collected the tax payments, to fund downtown projects.

Nonny,

Actually Portland's 12,000 acres of urban renewal TIF real estate is now having over $6 Billion in assessed value/and all of it's taxes over decades, diverted aways from where it should be going including public education.

Every one of the now 117 UR districts in the State drain the State common school fund to back fill what is diverted by their TIFs.

Portland's portion of that loss to the common school fund is enormous.
And of course every school district in the State gets less because of every UR distrcit.

That means every Urban, suburb school helps pay for the Tram and every other Portland boondoggle.

Of course PPS helps pay for UR in every other city.

UR use of Tax Increment Financing is a hideous ponzi scheme that must be stopped now.

Before the municipalities and counties that are right now ignoring the state of our economy as they plot a big increase in this reckless misappropriation.

Schools, public safety and every other taxing jurisdiction must oppose it's use.

Actually, it isn't the developers that pay those SDC increases, it is, by and large, the property owners.

Think about it. Lets say a property is zoned for 100 condos or apartments and the market value of that land is $2 million. If a developer is able to bid $20,000 per unit allowed for his condo tower under current rules and the city increases an SDC by $5000 per unit, he is now only able to pay $15,000 per unit. Overnight the guy who has to move his hardware business or whatever lost 25% of the value of his property to the SDC.