February 2009
1. Message
from the PDSI Chair
2. Clean & Safe Security Update
3. Neighborhood District Attorney Report
4. Clean and Safe Maintenance Program
5. Comments from Citizens
6. West Side Community Court Statistics
7. Community Work Crew Activity
8. Theft Accountability Class (TAC) Statistics
9. Sidewalk Ambassadors Move
10. Downtown Marketing Initiative (DMI) Recap
11. January Retail Sales Overview
12. Portland Perks Now in Circulation
13. Club Rouge Update
14. Downtown Business Census & Survey:
Collecting Data
15. Semi-Annual Pedestrian Counts Canceled
16. Representative Needed for DEQ Advisory
Committee
1.
Message from Ron Beltz, Chair of Portland Downtown
Services, Inc.
In the
evening hours of January 24, a lone gunman arrived on foot
at The Zone, an under age nightclub at SW 2nd Avenue and Pine
Street. For reasons not yet known he opened fire, killing
two people and injuring seven more, before turning his weapon
on himself and inflicting an eventual fatal wound. Our sincere
thoughts go out to the victims and families who suffered from
this unexplainable violence.
 This
tragic event was a rare and random occurrence in what is one
of the safest neighborhoods in the city. Overall crime in
downtown has been on a downward trend and the Portland Police
Bureau's Central Precinct recently reported a nine percent
decrease in crime in 2008 as compared to 2007. In fact, the
downtown has experienced a nearly 38 percent decrease in crime
since 2005.
The Portland
Police Bureau responded with great speed and care to Saturday's
incident. The Downtown Business Improvement District's (BID)
Clean & Safe officers will continue working with the police
bureau and support the Bureau's very successful efforts to
reduce and prevent crime throughout downtown.
Back
to the top
2.
Clean & Safe Security Update
We greet
the New Year with the Clean & Safe program continuing to do
its part to make downtown a great place to live, work, shop
and visit. We will continue to actively work side by side
with our Portland police bicycle officers, Central Precinct,
the Office of Neighborhood Involvement, and the neighborhood
District Attorney.
There
were no car prowls reported in any of the Smart Park garages
in January, and only two have occurred since September. This
is a remarkable statistic, and kudos go out to our Clean and
Safe security provider, Portland Patrol, Inc. for their great
work during the holiday season this year.
Clean
& Safe security has worked with Transition Projects Inc. (TPI),
to assist with queuing issues at the Mead Building while winter
weather is here and the Mead warming shelter is open. TPI
and the warming centers greatly assist the livability of downtown
and literally keep people alive during severe weather. An
orderly process and control of groups queuing at the site
has lessened the impact on businesses in the area.
Portland
police report an influx of younger gang members frequenting
the downtown area in the SW 4th and Washington Street area.
Clean & Safe security officers and police bicycle patrols,
and Central Precinct's Street Crimes Unit and Mounted Patrol
are actively addressing this issue. Clean & Safe reports that
complaints in this area have diminished since attention was
given to this area.
Recently,
a Clean & Safe security officer on patrol in the SW 3rd and
Alder Smart Park smelled raw gasoline and discovered a car
with a major leak that was streaming down the vehicle ramp.
The officer called Portland Fire and stood-by until the hazard
was removed.
Back
to the top
3.
Neighborhood District Attorney Update
The Neighborhood
Based District Attorney Legal Assistant, Kae Zariwny, reports
reviewing and preparing 93 criminal case files in January
for the Neighborhood District Attorney to issue.
Kae also
reports that she is currently preparing a 25-count case against
a chronic downtown drinker. Clean & Safe security prepares
action reports and submits them to the DA's office when Portland
police are unavailable to take a suspect into custody. Kae
tracks these reports and, whenever the suspect is subsequently
taken into custody on new charges, all of the prior crimes
are added to the DA's charging document. This was great work,
Kae - job well done!
Back
to the top
4.
Clean and Safe Maintenance Program Update
The Clean
& Safe Maintenance supervisor reports that Central City Concern
purchased two new pressure-washing trucks to add to our fleet.
These units will be used on the new TriMet Mall and with special
projects that the crews find. The vehicles are more mobile
and this increased maneuverability will save many hours of
labor.
Clean
& Safe janitors remove trash and graffiti in addition to responding
to calls for service within the BID. The cleaning team received
more than 400 comment cards from citizens in January thanking
them for their work. Worker Robert Kennedy received a gift
certificate for bringing in #400. Robert is a great success
example of what the Homeless-to-Work cleaning program is all
about. Thanks, and a well done to Robert.
- 1,738
graffiti tags removed- Public and Private
- 1,663
bags of trash
- 444
citizen-cleaning responses
- 96
needles
- 270
pieces of drug paraphernalia
- 50
condoms
- 1,406
restroom inspections and cleaning
Back
to the top
5.
Comments from Citizens
"Thanks
so much! This was our first problem since we moved in. Hope
it's the last." - The Silver Lining
"Super-fast
clean-up. Thank you! [Cleaner] was nice and professional!"
- Silver Dollar II
"We really
needed them (leaves) removed, thank you, very nice job."
- Berbati's
Back
to the top
6.
West Side Community Court Statistics
The West
Side Community Court reports in January that:
- 134
defendants were ordered to community service
- 55
defendants were in compliance
- 69
are working toward completion
- 10
unsuccessful and facing additional court sanctions
139 jail
days saved at $176.00 per jail day, which equals $24,400.
The court
coordinator reports that one person who had been through the
community court several times has found a job and is currently
acquiring housing.
Back
to the top
7.
Community Work Crew Activity
Crews
kept busy this month with the continued clean up and movement
through the BID to assist in the aftermath of the 'winter
blast'. Marcus Marchand is a very active crew supervisor and
is very conscious of how important a clean downtown is to
Portland's livability and image to citizens and visitors.
He notes that the new 'no smoking' law has created a clean
up effort in certain areas with cigarette butts being more
of a problem.
The Crew
leader reports:
- 752
block faces covered
- 88
bags of trash removed
- 16
hours spent at Loaves and Fishes
- 716
street cleaning hours
- 90
showed up for crew
Back
to the top
8.
Theft Accountability Class (TAC) Statistics
TAC had
another successful month. It is currently at an 86 percent
success rate.
- 57
sentenced to attend
- 33
successful completions
- 5 failures
resulting in jail sentences
- 19
open cases
Back
to the top
9.
Sidewalk Ambassadors Move
The Ambassadors
used the month of January to transition to new surroundings
and a new routine. They moved base operations from their office
at NW 1st and Davis back up to the Portland Business Alliance
in the 200 Market Building. They are looking at new ways daily
to bring the program more into the public eye so they can
share their broad knowledge of Portland, including new placement
locations of the kiosk and targeting Ambassador coverage to
busier times of the year.
Back
to the top
10.
Downtown Marketing Initiative (DMI) Recap
DMI completed
efforts at the end of December to one of the most difficult
holiday seasons in decades. Efforts to support downtown business,
specifically retailers and restaurants and mitigate the effects
of a mix of snow and economic challenges were a top priority
and required nimble strategies and tactics. Public relations
proved to be invaluable during the season in shifting messages
and resulting stories to help downtown business. The campaign
also garnered national attention as the ad spots were mentioned
in a recent The New York Times article. Web site, earned
media and promotional response remained strong throughout
the season. DMI is currently in the midst of a post-campaign
and consumer perception survey; results will be available
in the next few weeks.
Back
to the top
11.
January Retail Sales Overview
Retail
Sales continued to be sluggish this month; many retailers
were in clearance mode, deeply discounting remaining fall
merchandise up to 75 percent with the goal to be completely
converted to spring by February 2. Nationally, consumer confidence
has hit an all-time low and this has affected downtown Portland
as well. Retail outlets have purchased less merchandise for
this spring season (an average of 20 percent less stock),
and some national retailers are already beginning to offer
promotional pricing on new merchandise to drive traffic to
the stores.
Back
to the top
12.
Portland Perks Now in Circulation
The 2009
Book of Big Deals, now named "Portland Perks," funded by the
Business Improvement District in partnership with the Downtown
Retail Council and Travel Portland, was released in January.
60,000 copies of "Portland Perks" will be distributed this
year, 15,000 to leisure travelers upon check-in participating
hotels in downtown Portland, and 45,000 to Portland convention
delegates. This marketing vehicle offers coupons for shopping,
dining, cultural attractions, and performing arts organizations.
Most participating businesses are located in downtown Portland.
Back
to the top
13.
Club Rouge Update
The Downtown
Retail Council, Downtown Neighborhood Association, Mayor's
Downtown Public Safety Action Committee and various downtown
businesses have written letters to the OLCC regarding Club
Rouge, a new club that wishes to open at 403 SW Stark. The
Berlitz Language Center next door to the site holds classes
for all ages, with some students as young as three years old,
and OLCC regulations restrict liquor licenses within 500 feet
of a school or children's activity area. This specific area
of downtown is also a known alcohol impact area, with numerous
OLCC violations stemming from nearby establishments; OLCC
guidelines also allow limitation of liquor licenses in problem
areas if there are neighborhood objections.
Back
to the top
14.
Downtown Business Census & Survey: Collecting Data
The Downtown
Business Census & Survey has been mailed to all businesses,
non-profit entities and governmental agencies this month,
using Oct. 1 as the baseline for data collection. The results
will be collected over a six-month period in order to receive
a 100 percent count of all employees, and a statistically
significant amount of survey information.
Back
to the top
15.
Semi-Annual Pedestrian Counts Canceled
The Alliance
conducts biannual pedestrian traffic counts on fifteen intersections
within the BID to track pedestrian traffic volumes in front
of key intersections within the downtown core. Counts were
slated for December 18-20 but canceled due to the severe winter
storm and the safety of the counters. The next pedestrian
counts will occur in June 2009.
Back
to the top
16.
Representative Needed for DEQ Advisory Committee
Oregon
has a program that acts as an insurance pool to clean up properties
contaminated by dry cleaning operations. Under the program,
dry cleaner operators pay fees and comply with waste minimization
requirements. In exchange, program funds are used to clean
up contaminated property and the dry cleaner operator and
property owners are exempt from environmental liability.
This Advisory
Committee has been active since the program began in 1995.
Currently the Committee is made up primarily of members of
the dry cleaning industry; the committee is looking for property
owners or managers to participate and provide a broader perspective.
The Committee will meet approximately once a month or every
other month through the end of 2009. After that, the meetings
will be reduced to once or twice per year. Additional information
on the program can be found at: www.deq.state.or.us/lq/cu/drycleaner/index.htm.
If you
are interested in applying for a seat on the advisory committee,
please email Lisa Frisch, lfrisch@portlandalliance.com.
Back
to the top
|
