Hard to grasp the boundaries on the O's site, but I wonder if the new additions include PPS's Blanchard site that is slated for the Costco.

It isn't going to be a Costco, unless you spell it C-O-N-D-O.

Jack,
What a way to get our week started!! Full Speed Ahead all right!!

8:49 Portland City Hall cover-up on Hayden Island.
9:42 How your property taxes stack up
10:45 Fate of Portland Water Bills to be decided in Salem.
12:40 Sam Rand Twins Full speed ahead with "urban renewal"
What are we going to get hit with this afternoon?
Think it was last week Snards said he can't take this. . he may not want to read anymore today.

clinamen, I can't pry my eyes off of the lunacy. It's a curse.

I like how the article says that the Interstate District "still has $200 million to spend."

It has up to $200 million to BORROW. Urban Renewal is a credit card. Issued in your name. The collateral for these funds is literally the city's ability to levy taxes on you.

""Urban renewal" on the east side has provided little public benefit "

That's the point - The area needs to remain blighted so they can collect the TIFs and keep the URD alive.

URDs can never fix a neighborhood up. Besides this TIF is much more important than spending it on stupid stuff like schools.

It is tragic that this forced-march-through-the-jungle style real estate development that's constantly being facilitated and pushed by City Hall onto the backs of the local taxpayer is actually destroying the very character of the city that draws people here in the first place.

It's only a matter of time before the word becomes widespread that Portland has become a was.

http://www.oregonlive.com/portland/index.ssf/2011/03/rose_quarter_not_included_in_p.html

Funny how the online version doesn't but the print version has thhis money quote. It's the ultimate admission that Light Rail doesn't spur squat.

Even where multiple lines service an area there's still no spurring.

"Adams wanted to alter the urban renewal boundary to include Memorial Coliseum and land around the Rose Garden to provide millions of dollars from taxpayers to spur private development in the area."

Why would this Mecca of all things planning would there need to be more millions to "spur" private development?

We've been told Light Rail spurs that development. We're being told right now that Milwaukie Light Rail will "spur development".

We're being told the Lake Oswego Streetcar will "spur the Foothills development"

Vancouver is being told light rail will "spur new development in their downtown".

Beaverton is attempting to pass a 1000 acre UR district to spur what MAX did not.

The fact is the Convention Center/Rose Quarter area has everything possible to already "spur".

IN the heart of it all Trammel Crow's Merrick

A Savvy East-Sider With A-List Amenities
AT 1231 NE Martin Luther King Jr. Blvd needed, and got, a 10 year property tax abatement to provide the "spurring".

http://www.oregonlive.com/portland/index.ssf/2011/03/rose_quarter_not_included_in_p.html

"The Rose Quarter currently is within the Oregon Convention Center urban renewal district, which expires in 2013 and has little tax dollars left to spend on redevelopment projects."

******RED FLAG ALERT**** Adams needs millions for the Convention Center Hotel.

Here is some funny stuff from the PDC web page for the Interstate Urban Renewal District.
http://www.pdc.us/pdf/ura/interstate/interstate_corridor_urban_renewal_plan.pdf

Optimize Light Rail Investment. Recognizing this as a unique opportunity to link urban renewal to a major new transit facility, urban renewal will serve to optimize the public investment in the Interstate light rail line by ensuring that the entire area benefits from this investment, in particular through the creation of catalyst projects near light rail stations and other key locations.

Return on Investment. Consideration should be given to focusing tax increment dollars, especially in the early years of the urban renewal area, on projects which are likely to attract significant private investment, which in turn will generate more immediate tax increment dollars using a return on investment (ROI) analysis. It is recognized, however, that some programs and projects may not provide a strong ROI but are nonetheless supportive of other goals and objectives of the urban renewal plan and, therefore, merit early funding.

Strategic Use of Resources. Tax increment dollars should be used strategically; other sources (private investment, other agency funds, etc.) should be utilized when possible. To achieve the efficient use of tax increment funds, they should serve to leverage other investments whenever possible.

The only "spurring" is the pain we the taxpayers feel in our collective backsides from TIF.
When are the voters in Portland going to throw these cowboys who are doin' the spurrin' off and out?

But wait - there's more! Latest fire sale of townhomes formerly known as Riverscape is here:
http://www.bizjournals.com/portland/news/2011/03/07/pacifica-condos-up-for-auction.html?ed=2011-03-07&s=article_du&ana=e_du_pub

And for more details about Riverscape - taking you right to the good part - pricing:
http://www.riverscapeproperties.com/pricing.html

Here's where Google places them:
http://maps.google.com/maps?hl=en&tab=wl

Are these in a URD? Yep:
http://www.pdc.us/pdf/maps/river-district/rd-budget-map.pdf

So, how's that TIF workin' fer ya?

I recently saw a quote that immediately made me think of Adams. It goes like this:

"A man’s greatest reward is to live with integrity, and his greatest punishment is what he inflicts upon himself for placing anything above his integrity. Whenever the man sacrifices his integrity, he loses his freedom… and himself as well. He becomes an object of pity."