December 2007
1. Police
increase presence in Old Town, work with Clean and Safe program
2. New Community Court Crew Leader hired
3. Xciting Deals promotion draws people downtown
4. Sidewalk Ambassadors help out during the
holidays
5. Portland Business Alliance works with PDC,
City on urban renewal area recommendations
6. Business Census and Survey gauges downtown
opportunities and challenges
1.
Police increase presence in Old Town, work with Clean and
Safe program
The Portland
Police Bureau and Clean and Safe are developing new strategies
to control drug dealing and street crime
with the end of the Drug Free Zone.
The Police Bureau is requesting extra funding to hire two
Parole and Probation Officers and a Deputy District Attorney
to enhance enforcement downtown. In addition, the money will
be used to staff two more police officers to work with the
Services Coordination Team. The Services Coordination Team
replaced ACCESS and focuses on the most chronic offenders,
gets them into treatment and makes jail space available to
those offenders accepted into the program. In addition, some
of the money will be used for treatment beds and housing for
offenders as they transition out of criminal activity. Historically,
this program has been very successful and the recidivism rate
very low.
Recently,
Central Precinct had an extra 20 officers from other precincts
assigned to Old Town Chinatown to enforce livability issues.
These officers were on walking beats, on bicycles and in patrol
cars. The Mounted Patrol Unit also increased patrol in Old
Town Chinatown. The drug dealing in that part of downtown
has decreased significantly and the police hold warrants to
arrest most of the active drug dealers.
The Clean
and Safe security patrols engaged in 13,472 interactions with
individuals on the streets of downtown Portland in November
as they continue to enhance the safety and security of citizens
in the Business Improvement District. These contacts included
3,987 business assistance and referral contacts; 5,354 pedestrian
contacts; 73 arrests; 180 exclusions; and an additional 132
non-enforcement problem solving contacts.
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2.
New Community Court Crew Leader hired
 Last
month, the Alliance hired Mike Doyle to be the new Community
Court Crew Leader. Doyle is a member of the Oregon Army National
Guard and is a Platoon Leader 2nd Lieutenant. He is a graduate
of the University of Portland. As Community Court Crew Leader,
Doyle will supervise the work crew as it cleans various areas
of downtown, Tuesday through Saturday.
"Mike
Doyle comes to us with a lot of enthusiasm and understanding
of the services provided by the Community Court and the Portland
Business Alliance," said Bill Sinnott, Director of Clean and
Safe. "We welcome him to our team."
In November,
128 defendants were ordered by the Westside Community
Court to perform community service on the Westside work crew.
The Community Court work crews removed 45 bags of trash,
117 pieces of drug paraphernalia and more than 300
bags of leaves. Fifty-two defendants successfully
completed the Theft Accountability Class. The Downtown District
Attorney Legal Assistant reviewed a total of 120 misdemeanor
cases for prosecution and 108 of those cases were issued
for prosecution.
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3.
Xciting Deals promotion draws people downtown
The Downtown
Marketing Initiative, the Portland Business Alliance and TriMet
partnered to create a hopping holiday shopping season downtown
in November and December. The holiday promotion, Xciting Deals
Downtown, featured shopping specials, coupons, and sweepstakes.
The promotion included radio advertising, transit advertising,
Web-based marketing, window decals, and point of purchase
displays.
"Starting
on Black Friday the holiday season was in full swing downtown,"
said Lisa Frisch, Director of Downtown Retail and Marketing
for the Alliance. "Downtown experienced heavy traffic thanks
to the efforts of the Downtown Marketing Initiative, TriMet
and all the retailers who made it a season to remember."
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4.
Sidewalk Ambassadors help out during the holidays
In support
of Pioneer Square's tree lighting ceremony, the Ambassadors
distributed the park's songbook and calendar of events throughout
the day after Thanksgiving. Around kick-off time, they took
positions around the Square, steering people to the event
and encouraging them to participate. The Ambassadors even
helped find a lost boy in the Square, by using radios to coordinate,
until the boy was found.
As usual,
the Ambassador team was on hand throughout the holiday season
to help shoppers and visitors enjoy their downtown visitors
even more. During November the Ambassadors accomplished:
- Business
modifications: 5
- Business
visits: 189
- Publications
distributed: 1,086
- Information
requests: 1,985
- Service
calls: 38
- Other:
2
- Total:
3,305
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5.
Portland Business Alliance works with PDC, City on urban renewal
area recommendations
The Alliance's
proposal to accelerate debt repayment on the two expiring
downtown districts has gained traction. The goal of the recommendation
is to shorten the time period during which tax increment financing
is unavailable downtown. Alliance staff and members continue
to meet with city and county officials regarding the task
force recommendations. In addition, Alliance staff and members
are working on a plan to ensure identified priority projects
remain funded. A recent City/PDC work group formed to develop
recommendations regarding the future of Downtown Waterfront,
South Park Blocks and River District has directed PDC staff
to work on a close out strategy that roughly follows the Alliance
recommendation.
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6.
Business Census and Survey gauges downtown opportunities and
challenges
The 2007
Downtown Business Census and Survey was recently mailed out
to all businesses, nonprofits and governmental entities in
the I-5/I-405 loop. This annual survey will accurately identify
and count all the employees and businesses in the downtown
area, and establish benchmarks and trends of leading economic
indicators for tracking the progress of ongoing downtown development
efforts. The feedback and responses from all downtown firms
and organizations will help the Alliance better understand
and respond to the existing downtown market, as well as identify
future opportunities and challenges facing the market. The
results of the Downtown Business Census and Survey will also
create a resource for prospective downtown tenants or developers
interested in conducting site analysis.
To fill
out the census and survey, go to http://www.downtownportland.org.
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