August 2007
1. New PDSI board steps in
2. City Council moves to implement SAFE Committee
recommendations
3. BID crime rate down 17 percent
4. Community Court welcomes new crew leader
5. Sidewalk Ambassadors continue TriMet work
6. Street Fair highlights finished sections
of transit mall
7. Urban Renewal Task Force considers river
district expansion
8. Consumers choose chamber member businesses
1. New PDSI board steps in
In July, PDSI board members stepped into their new positions
for the 2007-2008 fiscal year. The new board members are as
follows:
- Ron Beltz, Chair. Beltz is Vice President for CommonWealth
Properties Management Services, LP. He is also a member
of the Alliance Central City Standing Committee, Transportation
Committee, and the Government Relations Committee.
- Mike Kuykendall, President. Kuykendall is Vice
President of Downtown Services with the Portland Business
Alliance. He has served on the PDSI board for two years.
- Trond Ingvaldsen, Chair Emeritus. Ingvaldsen is
Assistant Vice President, Real Estate with The Standard.
He has served on the PDSI board for four years, serving
last year as Chair. He is also a member of the Central Standing
Committee and the Public Safety Committee.
- Tom Shimota, Vice Chair. Shimota is a Manager with
the Pacwest Center. He is currently involved with the Central
Standing Committee.
- Michelle Martin, Treasurer. Martin is a Property
Manager for Ashforth Pacific. She has served on the PDSI
board for one and a half years.
- Anne Naito-Campbell, Ad Hoc. Naito-Campbell is
in Community Relations with Bill Naito Company. She is a
graduate of the Leadership Portland program and a member
of the Public Safety and Central Standing committees.
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2. City Council moves to implement SAFE
Committee recommendations
On Wednesday, August 15, the Portland City Council voted
to implement the Sidewalk Access for Everyone (SAFE) Committee
recommendations. The recommendations, created by a broad group
of stakeholders including city government representatives,
residents, homeless advocates and local businesses, take a
holistic approach to ensure Portland's streets are welcoming
and open to all who use them.
"The city's leaders created a process by which a diverse,
cross-section of our city could come together and develop
a way to make Portland's sidewalks and streets more accessible
while helping to meet the needs of the homeless population,"
said Sandra McDonough, President and CEO of the Alliance.
"Today's vote to implement the recommendations is not only
good for business, but is also good for all people living,
working and visiting Portland. We thank Mayor Potter and the
City Council for their tremendous work to make SAFE a reality."
The SAFE recommendations include enactment of an ordinance
prohibiting sitting or lying on sidewalks in downtown and
the Lloyd District during business hours while providing homeless
individuals with additional services in the Central City,
including:
- A day access service center;
- Additional public bench seating;
- Access to public restrooms, including a 24-hour restroom;
and
- Shower and locker facilities.
The Portland Business Alliance and the Downtown and Lloyd
Business Improvement Districts are contributing $150,000 over
a two-year period to support implementation of the new homeless
services. Approximately $79,000 of those funds will be used
to operate Transition Projects' day shelter with the remaining
funds to support other services as recommended by the SAFE
Oversight Committee during the next two years.
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3. BID crime rate down 17 percent
The overall crime rate in the Downtown Business Improvement
District (BID) has dropped 17 percent to date, far below the
citywide crime rate. The BID's downward trend is contrary
to the citywide crime rate, which is currently up 4 percent.
This decrease is crime also significant because cities typically
experience an increase in crime during the summer months.
One of the reasons why the BID continues to reflect a much
lower crime rate than the rest of the city is due to the Portland
Police and Clean and Safe officers' continued focus on street
drug dealing which drives many of the other types of crime
in downtown. Clean and Safe encourages everyone in the BID
to report drug activity whenever they see it. The police are
also continually running undercover drug operations downtown
and Clean and Safe officers help pinpoint areas of concern
for the police.
The lower crime rate in the BID can also be attributed to
Clean and Safe Security Patrols' tens of thousands of public
interactions. In July, The Clean and Safe Security Patrols
engaged in 22,184 interactions with individuals on the streets
of downtown Portland as they continue to enhance the safety
and security of citizens in the BID. These contacts included
5,275 business assistance and referral contacts, 10,984 pedestrian
contacts, 169 arrests, 347 exclusions and an additional 166
non-enforcement problem solving contacts.
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4. Community Court welcomes new crew leader
 In
August, Lena McConnell stepped in as the new Westside Community
Court crew leader. She will oversee the work crew participants
that clean the streets and sidewalks throughout the BID as
part of their community service. McConnell formerly worked
with the Alliance as a Sidewalk Ambassador. Matt Bellet, Community
Court Crew Leader for the past 18 months, left the position
to go to work for Central City Concern.
In July, 185 defendants were ordered by the Westside Community
Court to perform community service on the Westside Work Crew.
A great deal of crew time is being spent cleaning on SW 3rd
and 4th Avenues due to the increase in activity from Tri-met
traffic. The work crews removed 68 bags of trash and 22 pieces
of drug paraphernalia in the BID last month. In all there
were 720 hours of community service performed by defendants
from Community Court. These hours of community service include
work at the Blanchet House and at Loaves and Fishes.
Thirty-two defendants successfully completed the Theft Accountability
Class. The Downtown DA Legal Assistant reviewed a total of
202 misdemeanor cases for prosecution and referral to the
Westside Community Court.
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5. Sidewalk Ambassadors continue TriMet
work
As TriMet continues the completion of the Green Line, TriMet
needs additional customer service assistance to help customers
find their way. TriMet has turned to the Sidewalk Ambassadors
to guide customers to new stops and navigate changes in the
Max system. Sidewalk Ambassadors work for TriMet officially
began in July and will continue over the next two years. The
Ambassadors are aiding customers already, and they participated
in a thorough training, which has paid off as they fielded
more than 1,355 transportation-specific questions in July.
Activity Statistics
- Business Modifications (adjustments to the database):
48
- Business Visits (check in with merchants in BID): 258
- Information (questions fielded): 6,258
- Publications (literature distributed): 2,753
- Service calls (reported graffiti and waste): 161
Overall, these totals amount to a 140-percent increase from
July 2006.
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6. Street Fair highlights finished sections
of transit mall
TriMet's 5th Avenue Street Fair kicked off on Thursday, August
2 and the Alliance Downtown Services team was there to assist
in planning and execution of the event. The Alliance recruited
several downtown retailers to be a part of the festivities
and will continue to aid TriMet and downtown businesses through
the revitalization project. TriMet will host a series of street
fairs during the next two years along 5th and 6th avenues
as a lead up to the completion of the mall revitalization
program in 2009.
7. Urban Renewal Task Force considers
river district expansion
The Urban Renewal Task Force met three times in July to discuss
which new areas should be included in the River District Urban
Renewal Area 61-acre expansion. The task force will make recommendations
to the Alliance board and, ultimately, to the Portland Development
Commission, Multnomah County and Portland City Council this
fall. City Council and PDC will make a final decision in January
2008.
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8. Consumers choose chamber member businesses
A new national study reveals that membership in a local chamber
of commerce can significantly boost a business's image among
consumers, as well as among other businesses. In a scientific
survey of 2000 U.S. adults, The Schapiro Group, an Atlanta-based
strategic consulting firm, found positive perceptions of chamber
members in a number of areas, including overall favorability,
consumer awareness and reputation, and likelihood of future
patronage.
The study, commissioned by the American Chamber of Commerce
Executives (ACCE), IBM, Administaff, Small Business Network,
Inc., and Market Street Services, showed that consumers were
63 percent more likely to want to purchase goods or services
from a small business that is a chamber member. The study
also found that when respondents were told that a particular
small business was a member of its local chamber, they were
44 percent more likely to rate it favorably than study respondents
who were not told of the chamber affiliation.
The positive impact of perceived chamber membership is felt
by big businesses, too. For example, when consumers believed
that a restaurant chain was a member of the local chamber
of commerce, they were 40 percent more likely to eat at the
franchise in the future.
Click
here to view the whole study.
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