They're a pretty progressive think tank. I believe some of their studies were used to justify some insane public policy disasters in the recent past. Well I guess their bread is getting buttered by a new hand...

They're consultants. They tell the clients what the clients want to hear. Or else they go out of business.

It's interesting that the Port of Portland wants disaster news. All the better to justify paving over Hayden Island to ship Wyoming coal to China.

"All of those folks have axes to grind"

That's the problem, no matter who does the report, if local pols don't like it, the report is wrong and the source is questionable. Heck, Kitz' guy said as much and then ignored the report.

Then we go back to building trolleys, condos and making nice Christmas' for Gerding-Edlen.

Unfortunately, before local people catch on, I'll be gone. Also any young talent in this town will be gone looking for jobs. All of us will be replaced by the homeless and creative-type baristas.

Back in the mid-90s, I lived in Oxnard, California, a city that was named one of the 50 worst cities in the United States, after being singled out by the Kennedy School of Government at Harvard University as a city that "resembled a scene from an Ibsen play."

And Oxnard continues to languish economically, even though it has economic and geographic resources that most cities would die for, mainly due to a culture of political corruption that continues to drive away investors.

And my take on Portland, after living here for four years, is that most of Portland's problems can be traced to the same reasons.

Think about what you face as a business moving to Portland. Nothing but hassles from the smug 30-year-olds in the city planning bureaucracy, who won't even let you prune a tree in your back lot without bowing down to them; nickel and dime charges at every turn, from "leaf removal fees" to "local improvement districts"; half your property taxes going to "urban renewal" grifters like Homer Williams, and fat cops who retired before you got here; $50,000 in city fees to move your pizza stand across the street; an obstacle course of panhandlers day and night; water and sewer bills headed through the roof with no end in sight; parking meters in front of your business until 7:00 at night and even on Sunday; potholes that won't quit; a payroll tax of 0.7% for a transit district that's fast becoming worthless; an absolute requirement of political correctness in all aspects of operation... it doesn't take long before you realize that hey, Cowlitz County is pretty close to the mountains and the coast, too.

Could the authors have made the tabulated data any less readable? Sheesh, for paid consultants...

I did not that Figure 5 shows a 10-15% per capita income penalty for living in Clark County, compared to Multnomah, Washington, or Clackamas. This would seem to neutralize the income tax advantage that some here have advocated. Snards, are you paying attention here?

Income tax and capital gains tax rates. If you're looking to start a business - invest in your own company - Oregon is not the place to do it. You'll just go to Washington. It's pretty simple, really.

Nicely played. That sums it up perfectly.

Its all bad, but news to who?

"Income tax and capital gains tax rates. If you're looking to start a business - invest in your own company - Oregon is not the place to do it. You'll just go to Washington. It's pretty simple, really."

If it's best of both worlds with Portland close by and a tax rate from heaven, how come Clark County is sitting here with a 13% unenployment rate.

I thought the PBS news story tonight was particularly insightful.

Ireland's Woes: Onetime Celtic Tiger Now 'Nations of Beggars'

Economic & Social Research Institute: Given the sort of suffering that people are now enduring through higher unemployment, wage cuts, tax increases, emigration, all the difficulties that people are having inflicted on them, there is a -- sort of a clearly identifiable group of people who are at fault. And that is the government.

Over the past five years, the Irish government became enamored with property. Developers were given tax breaks, and banks were encouraged to hand out loans worth 100 percent of the price tag. Construction took over all other industries to become Ireland's number-one earner.

Read more and weep, it is Oregon in a nutshell

http://www.pbs.org/newshour/bb/business/july-dec10/ireland_12-07.html

Anon Too: If it's best of both worlds with Portland close by and a tax rate from heaven, how come Clark County is sitting here with a 13% unenployment rate.
JK: Maybe because their jobs, in Oregon, went away.

I hope you know that the fastest growing county in the Portland MSA is Clark County.
I hope you know that most increase in jobs in the Portland MSA is in Clark County.

It might because they have better schools, perhaps because they don’t take school money and give it to developers. Or maybe because they have a sane school board.

It might be because they don’t have a Metro to drive up land costs and housing costs.

It might be because they still build roads instead of toy trains.

Thanks
JK

And don't leave out the crappy schools.
Several years ago I knew of a company looking to relocate. This company would have brought about 60, $60,000 a year jobs to the area. This company actually makes stuff !
After talking to the city wonks, they chose not to come to Portland. The educational levels for prospective employees were just not good enough nor were the schools good enough for the emloyees relocating. They went to Colorado.

Looks like Sam the Scam is a little pissed at Portland's "go-to" guys for economic smoke and mirrors:

A new study of Portland’s business climate shows the “City That Works” might deserve another, less laudatory nickname.

But rather than let Portland become the “City of Meh,” Mayor Sam Adams, on behalf of Portland Development Commission officials, rejected the new $14,000 study by an economist at Portland’s ECONorthwest.

The mayor characterized the independent analysis that PDC commissioned this fall as unimaginative and incomplete.

Maenwhile Rentrak is considering picking up it's operaions in Portland and moving across the river to Clark County. There go 230 jobs - most paying over 60K.

"Mayor Sam Adams, on behalf of Portland Development Commission officials, rejected the new $14,000 study by an economist at Portland’s ECONorthwest."

Don't forget, most of those govt commissioned reports have a clause where they don't pay for it if they don't like the conclusions. You might want to consider that the next time Sam comes up with a study he paid for.

In the 50's and 60's, businesses that made things in Portland routinely talked about expansion. Some began leaving in the early 70's. Usually they had a throw away line of "the camels nose getting under the tent". (This was before outsourcing became a whipping post.)

JK: It might be because they don’t have a Metro to drive up land costs and housing costs.

Sorry, Jim, your information is outdated. It just doesn't go by the name "Metro"

Although it's arguable that the horse was already out of the barn when they started the process way too late in 2008.

Here's one data source for the Portland MSA that's often useful. "Growth" is a loaded term; "economic growth" even more so.

http://mkn.research.pdx.edu/2010/05/population-dynamics/

I knew Sam "Mayor Creepy" Adams was dumb and poorly educated, but am slightly taken aback by just how out of touch he actually is with the city he lives in.

Especially since he travels so frequently to more prosperous cities -- it shouldn't take much mental agility to notice that there is something very wrong here in Tacoma South.

People are suffering in large numbers, Mr. Mayor. U-6 unemployment was somewhere around 21% a month ago, and it is probably safe to say that number isn't going anywhere good at any point in the near future.

Wake up!

John: The link was to the Clark County Board of Commissioners. I think the point being made was that Metro is an additional layer of government. We also have a City Council and Multnomah County Board of Commissioners. I didn't see anything in the link that suggested this was a group similar to Metro. Metro is always bragging about the fact that they are one of the only regional governments that overlay other governments in the country. That has always been the best argument for me why they aren't really needed.

Maybe I missed something in the link.

This is all George Bush's fault. And his Father's. And Reagan too. Republicans hate Portland, and this is how they're punishing us.

Gary,

Read further down the page that I linked to; there's reference to a UGB being implemented in 2008, which was the substance of Jim's complaint (driv[ing] up land costs and housing costs), not necessarily the existence of a Metro-like agency.