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Instead of my usual monthly column, I thought I would share the Alliance's Voters Pamphlet statement on the two tax measures recently referred to the ballot. This statement lays out our organization's long history of working with elected leaders when times get tough. We hope we will have that chance to work collaboratively with our state leaders again in the future.

Alliance statement on tax measures:
The Portland Business Alliance, a coalition of nearly 1,400 small, medium and large employers in the Portland-metropolitan area, urges you to vote no on Ballot Measures 66 and 67.

The Alliance and its members support schools and needed public services. For more than five years, when Portland-area schools faced unacceptable budget challenges, the Alliance backed temporary business tax increases, as well as a temporary local income tax, to keep schools open. In 2007, the Alliance, with other business organizations, agreed to give up the corporate kicker to fund the state's first-ever Rainy Day Fund, and in 2009 the Alliance was prepared to support temporary tax increases to bridge the temporary budget gap.

But the legislators in Salem ignored the pleas of Oregon's employers not to hurt jobs in the middle of one of the deepest recessions in history. They took advantage of a short-term budget shortfall to dramatically and permanently increase taxes on businesses and individuals.

Two-thirds of taxpayers affected by the personal income tax increase are employers, many of them small - all of them struggling to keep Oregonians employed. Some businesses will pay a new gross sales tax of up to $100,000, even if they are making no profit, laying off workers and fighting to survive.

Economists estimate these retroactive taxes would cost Oregonians 70,000 jobs. According to the State Economist, Oregon ranked 47th among the states for job creation in July and it may be 2013 before Oregon's employment reaches pre-recession numbers.

The small, medium and large employers of the Portland Business Alliance are ready to work with legislators to find a reasonable and responsible approach to solving state budget issues. But Measures 66 and 67 are neither reasonable nor responsible.

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2. More than 500 business and civic leaders gather at Business Leadership Evening

On November 4, more than 500 business and civic leaders celebrated the Portland region's business community at the Alliance's annual gala. J. Clayton Hering was honored with the William S. Naito Outstanding Service Award for his work on downtown vitality and the region's arts and cultural institutions.

The evening's keynote speaker, Mercy Corps. CEO, Neal Keny-Guyer, wowed the crowd with examples of the organization's work to drive prosperity to communities around the world through innovative economic development efforts. He also encouraged people to support and engage in social entrepreneurship and innovation locally and globally.

"Entrepreneurship transcends ideologies and politics and fuels progress in social, business and government sectors," said Keny-Guyer. "So let's promote it everywhere we can." Keny Guyer ended with an African proverb, stating, "The best time to plant a tree is twenty years ago, the next best time is now."

The evening's festivities were made possible by Wells Fargo, the presenting sponsor, and Hoffman Construction, Miller Nash Attorneys, Portland General Electric, Regence BlueCross BlueShield TransCanada, and Oregon Business Magazine.

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3. City's Business Retention and Recruitment Credit approved by council

This week, the City of Portland passed a new ordinance designed to deal with a problem faced by a small number of locally owned capital management firms that pay an exceptionally high Business License Tax due to their local ownership, small number of shareholders and sole location within the city.

The Alliance testified in favor of the ordinance as a part of the city's ongoing commitment to create greater fairness for Portland businesses through business license tax reform. Alliance President and CEO, Sandra McDonough, testified in support of the ordinance, "We believe that the ordinance is narrowly crafted in a way that specifically and exclusively addresses the inequities of the business license tax structure for these small, locally owned, highly mobile, high value firms.

"At the same time, the ordinance reaffirms the city's continued commitment to creating broader Business License Tax relief for locally owned companies, including other professional services firms, by increasing the owner's compensation deduction to $125,000."

The Alliance also supported the ordinance as a way to retain jobs in the central city. Last year, the Alliance found that the central city lost roughly 3,000 jobs.

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4. Alliance weighs in on city's draft River Plan

Because the North Reach of the Willamette River is Portland's working harbor and supports a significant number of jobs in the Portland area, the Alliance recently voiced concerns over the City of Portland's draft River Plan. The Alliance's main concerns stem from the plan's unreasonable costs and the conflicts it creates with existing policy.

Currently, the plan includes a 15 percent landscape restoration requirement, which the Alliance believes will ultimately result in the loss of jobs and economic activity in the city by removing productive land.

"Harbor related businesses should not be held to costly restorative standards when no other property in the city is held to those standards," said Alliance President and CEO Sandra McDonough in a letter to Mayor Adams. "Standards have changed over time and cannot be retroactively applied to the current occupants of harbor sites."

Read the Alliance's full letter to Mayor Adams >>

Portland City Council will hear the plan in November. Questions or comments about the plan should be addressed to Commissioner Amanda Fritz.

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5. Alliance expresses concerns about Metro's "Making the Greatest Place" plan

Decisions will be made this fall and early spring 2010 on Metro's "Making the Greatest Place" policies. Making the Greatest Place attempts to integrate land use, transportation and infrastructure planning for the next five to 50 years. The Alliance has several concerns about how the plan might impact economic development.

"We do not believe the Metro analysis has adequately defined the risk if the strategy even marginally reduces the region's ability to attract and accommodate new or expanding business opportunities," said Alliance President and CEO Sandra McDonough in a letter to Michael Jordan, Metro's Chief Operating Officer. "Until that risk is better defined we believe it is imprudent to adopt such a restrictive land supply policy."

The Alliance will continue to work with Metro on these concerns throughout the planning processes, particularly future urban growth boundary decisions.

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DOWNTOWN SERVICES

Next week, city and business leaders will host a Holiday Lighting kick-off event in front of Brooks Brothers at The Galleria (on Morrison between 9th and 10th). The event will celebrate the continued effort to make downtown a festive and sustainable shopping destination for the holidays.

Downtown's Holiday Lighting Program will have new features this year to support the efforts of the Downtown Retail Strategy. New features include:

The holiday lighting program not only enhances the vibrancy of downtown, but it also supports Portland's approach to sustainability. Last year, downtown property owners invested in 22,000 strands of new LED lights, which saved 320,000-kilowatt hours of electricity. The LED lights are so durable that none had to be replaced this year.

For the second straight year, Pacific Power and Portland General Electric also donated renewable energy credits to make the holiday light program even more "green." The lights will remain up through March 30 in order to keep downtown bright during the darker winter months.

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7. Downtown Retail Strategy brings enhancements to downtown

Results from the Downtown Retail Strategy, an initiative launched by Mayor Sam Adams last year, are starting to "pop-up" downtown with new features being added during the holiday season. The focus of the strategy is to develop a signature retail district in the retail core using Yamhill and Morrison streets as the "spine" of the district.

Together, the Alliance with Portland Development Commission, the Downtown Marketing Initiative, the City of Portland and the Downtown Retail Advocate, are implementing a number of new features to drive activity along Yamhill and Morrison and bring shoppers to downtown.

One of the most anticipated new features are "pop-up shops" in vacant retail spaces that will feature young local clothing and jewelry designers and artists. Two stores are scheduled to open in mid-November in space donated by Greg Goodman's Downtown Development Group. Another two are slated to open by the end of the month. In addition to supporting local talent and emerging entrepreneurs, the shops will also allow property owners to showcase their space for future tenants.

The Downtown Retail Strategy also includes:

In a testimony before the Portland City Council, Sandra McDonough, President and CEO of the Portland Business Alliance, stated that previous efforts were intended to find an appropriate balance between enforcement and services for the downtown environment. "The plan addresses the needs of residents, employees and visitors for a safe, clean and inviting sidewalk environment while providing needed social and community services and facilities," said McDonough.

Together with Commissioner Nick Fish and Mayor Sam Adams, the Alliance is developing a program that would allow people to donate money to benefit service providers. United Way will collect the money and distribute it to homeless services. "We believe that redirecting funds from panhandling toward providing services and treatment will help reduce homelessness and criminal activity," said McDonough.

Portland City Council members are currently developing their respective portions of the new Sidewalk Management Plan and will convene within 60 days to consider the details.

MEMBERSHIP SERVICES

9. Join us for the annual Alliance Holiday Open House, December 4 from 1 to 4 p.m.

Celebrate the holidays with Alliance board members and staff while networking with other member businesses. The Alliance will also be collecting canned food for the Oregon Food Bank; please bring two cans to donate, and help our community while having fun! This is a no-cost event, but please register now so we know who is coming! Register Now >>

10. The Alliance welcomes 50 new Leadership Portland participants

Incoming Leadership Portland participants received a warm welcome at the annual Welcome Reception on October 22 at the Courtyard Marriot. Leadership Portland alumni and Portland Business Alliance leaders mingled with the new participants and heard from speakers who talked about the success of the program.

"Leadership Portland is important to the Portland Business Alliance because it connects leaders from different backgrounds and experiences," said Don Krahmer, the Schwabe Williamson & Wyatt partner who serves as the Alliance Board liaison with the program. "Participants acquire business and leadership tools that will help them serve their companies and their communities."

There are 50 Leadership Portland participants this year, including 11 nonprofit professionals, three higher education administrators, and 36 business professionals.

11. Alliance's Annual Review hot off the press!

The 2008-2009 Annual Review was recently released at the Business Leadership Evening and focuses on the Alliance's efforts to find opportunity in difficult times.

"Our membership organization is about ensuring a strong and vital economy," said Steven Holwerda, 2008-2009 Chair of the Alliance's board, in his opening letter, "and that is what we focused on through our programming, advocacy work and communications efforts."

12. Support Alliance member organizations this holiday season

Looking to donate to a charity during the holiday season? Make a tax-deductible donation to an Alliance member organization!

Click here to see a list of organizations to donate to before the end of the year.

OHSU President, Joe Robertson announced recently that OHSU will add new jobs in some areas, including patient care and research. OHSU research projects have attracted over $51 million in federal stimulus funding this year. This funding has already created 116 full- and part-time grant-funded jobs. More information >>

14. The Hyatt Place at the Portland Airport / Cascade Station opening soon

The hotel will be opening on November 18. All 136 Suites (44 with 2 queens, 92 with kings) include complimentary continental breakfast, complimentary airport shuttle, and complimentary corporate shuttle within a five-mile radius. Rooms include a corner sectional sofa, a media entertainment center with Plug Panel for personal media devices, a 42" flat-panel HDTV, a refrigerator and a single-serve coffee maker.
More Information >>

15. Hasson Company Realtors to collect professional clothing for local people in need

The ninth annual clothing drive benefiting Dress for Success will be held during Suit Week, from November 2-6; 8:30 am to 5:30 pm. Community members may contribute new or gently used suits, skirts, slacks, blouses, jackets, shoes, belts, handbags, scarves, jewelry, and unused pantyhose. In addition, donations of winter coats, and umbrellas will also be accepted. All clothing will be donated to Dress for Success and must be ready to wear to a professional job interview.
Find a donation location near you >>

16. Film Oregon Alliance to host a Veterans Day tribute

The Veterans Day tribute will begin at 6:00 p.m. on Veterans Day, November 11, at the Tower Theater and will include a welcome reception, raffle, music, recognition of a local war hero and the film, "Everyman's War." The film won the 2009 G.I. Film Festival Award and was shot in Oregon and chronicles the Battle of the Bulge. This event is open and free to the public, but reservations are required. For more information, visit www.filmoregon.org. Reserve tickets through the Tower Theatre at 541.317.0700 or online at www.towertheatre.org.

17. Willamette MBA Program recognized for stewardship, ethics and social responsibility

In October, The Aspen Institute's "Beyond Grey Pinstripes" survey recognized Willamette University's Atkinson Graduate School of Management as a top global MBA program for innovation in social and environmental stewardship. Relevant data collected in the survey, as well as the list of top business schools, is available at www.BeyondGreyPinstripes.org. For more information on Willamette's MBA programs, visit www.willamette.edu/agsm.

18. ESCO receives manufacturing award

The Portland Business Journal presented its annual Manufacturing Awards at the Portland Art Museum on October 29. Portland-based manufacturer ESCO Corporation was honored in the "Excellence in Training" category. ESCO Corporation is known for its application of "lean manufacturing" practices that emphasize waste reduction. For more information on ESCO, visit www.escocorp.com. For more information on this year's Manufacturing Awards, click here.

19. Upcoming Meetings

November 10, Transportation Committee, noon
November 10, Communications Committee, 9:30 a.m.
November 11, Sustainability Committee, 7:30 a.m.
November 13, President's Council, noon
November 17, Central City Standing Committee, noon
November 18 , Small Business Council, 4 p.m.
November 19, Public Saftey Committee, 8 a.m.
December 2, Government Relations Committee, 4 p.m.

November 2009 Newsletter

FROM THE CHAIR

1. Growing and Celebrating Leadership

2. More than 500 business and civic leaders gather at Business Leadership Evening

3. City's Business Retention and Recruitment Credit approved by council

4. Alliance weighs in on city's draft River Plan

DOWNTOWN SERVICES

6. Holiday Lighting Program adds new features

8. Sidewalk Management Plan framework approved

MEMBERSHIP SERVICES

10. The Alliance welcomes 50 new Leadership Portland participants

11. Alliance's Annual Review hot off the press!

12. Support Alliance member organizations this holiday season

14. The Hyatt Place at the Portland Airport / Cascade Station opening soon

15. Hasson Company Realtors to collect professional clothing for local people in need

16. Film Oregon Alliance to host a Veterans Day tribute

17. Willamette MBA Program recognized for stewardship, ethics and social responsibility

18. ESCO receives manufacturing award

19. Upcoming Meetings