We read with interest this post about how the shells hiding the pea keep moving in the new Portland State-Lincoln High School "urban renewal" district in Portland. Apparently the authors of this illegal boondoggle can't make up their mind on the details; so long as there are lots and lots of ugly apartment complexes, it's all good.

One of the big budget items for the district is the "cluster development" program, which is code for the Portland Development Commission's economic development efforts. Unlike bricks and mortar projects, this is staff people sitting around thinking about how nice it would be if Portland could become the "green" industrial capital of the world, or sports apparel, or biotechnology, or something. Their budget keeps going up while everybody else's goes down.

We see it again in the current round of city borrowing for the Convention Center "urban renewal" district -- of the $70 million the city's about to borrow, $3.2 million is expected to go to --

various business development activities. The majority of this amount is allocated to PDC’s Business Incentive Fund ("BIF"). The BIF program supports PDC’s Economic Development Strategy by promoting target industry clusters (i.e. Clean Technology, Athletic and Outdoor), high growth businesses and neighborhood economic development.

"Urban renewal" is supposed to remedy urban "blight." It wasn't designed to be used as a funding device for general economic development activities, and one has to wonder whether use of tax-increment financing for staff time on such activities is even legal. But then again, the legality of so much of Portland's version of "urban renewal" is dubious. This is simply par for the course.