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Metro Issues & Updates

Just over a month after unanimously selecting a publicly owned, privately operated model as the preferred alternative for the potential construction of a headquarters hotel adjacent to the Oregon Convention Center, the Metro Council authorized funding to move ahead with the first phase of development at its November 8 meeting.

The Council approved the $669,000 expenditure after receiving letters of support from a majority of the Portland City Council and the Multnomah County Commission. Metro and Metropolitan Expostion Recreation Commission (MERC) staff reached a work agreement with the project development team led by Garfield Traub and Ashforth Pacific.

Recent studies by the Portland Oregon Visitor Association (POVA) indicate that large-scale, national conventions generate the greatest revenue for the OCC and provide the greatest economic benefit to the region. According to POVA, the convention center is losing national conventions due to the lack of a convention center hotel.

For more information, visit www.metro-region.org/index.cfm/go/by.web/id=24799.

On Monday, October 29, the Portland Business Alliance co-sponsored a summit on veterans' issues with City of Portland Commissioner Sam Adams, Multnomah County Commissioner Jeff Cogen, Clackamas County Chair Martha Schrader, and Washington County Commissioner Desari Strader. Participants from the Portland Business Alliance included representatives from Platt Electric, NW Natural, Qwest, PGE, Legacy Health, Providence, and Portland State University. The event focused on the unique needs of Oregon's soldiers who have recently returned from Iraq or Afghanistan.

Jim Sleeman, Platt Electric Recruiting VP and J.D. Baucom with the Oregon National Guard's Career Assistance Transition Center answer questions from the audience.

Participants in the summit urged audience members about the need for hiring veterans and highlighted the many skills veterans have gained through their military service. Veterans are experts in such fields as avionics and telecommunications, and are skilled in leadership and time management.

If your company is interested in hiring veterans, please contact:
SFC Phil Maas at 503.577.9319 or J.D. Baucom at 503.584.2393.

Oregon National Guard's SFC Phillip Mass discusses the transition process for returning veterans.

Read The Oregonian's coverage

Alliance Chair Sam Brooks, a veteran of the Vietnam War, made the following remarks about the need for hiring veterans and helping them transition back Portland:

Good morning everyone, my name is Sam Brooks and I'm the Chair of the Portland Business Alliance. I'm glad to be here today to learn about the pressing needs of our recently returned veterans. I'm also glad that I could have the opportunity to represent the local business community in this discussion. I want to thank Commissioner Adams, Commissioner Cogen, Chair Schrader, Commissioner Strader, and Brigadier General Caldwell for coming together to host this great event.

I'd like to draw your attention to the Oregon National Guard Soldier Reintegration Team. Some of the members are here today and I think it's important that we recognize them. These soldiers are working hard here in Oregon making sure that soldiers returning from Iraq and Afghanistan have a helping hand in dealing with the pressures of readjusting to life back at home. These soldiers have cell phones on them 24/7 ready to take calls from soldiers around the state who need help. They represent the very best in what it means to be a soldier. They do their best to make sure no one gets left behind. Let's thank them for their service to our state.

I'm a veteran myself so I have a personal connection with this summit, because I remember a time when this country was not as welcoming to our returning veterans as we are today. When I returned home from my service to our country there weren't any community summits like this one to talk about veterans' issues. We've come along way since that time, but we can do better and I know that's why we are all here today.

The veterans that we are here to help today are not looking for a handout or special treatment. They are just looking for an opportunity to show what they can do and what the skills and value they can bring to our community. But it is our responsibility to come together and listen to them and their needs to give them that opportunity. Let's make Oregon the model for the rest of the nation to follow. Let's also make a commitment that here in our state we'll come together and help our veterans who have sacrificed so much for us.

While in the service, these veterans picked up a wide variety of skills and services that we need here in Oregon. Veterans returning from Iraq and Afghanistan have skills in everything from avionics to telecommunications, and there are a wide variety of companies in our region that are looking for those types of employees. They also have skills like leadership, time management, and a sense of duty. Combined, these skills form productive employees and they'll be able to make Oregon even more prosperous than it is today.

However, if the veterans don't know about available job opportunities, or if local companies don't know about the skills that veterans bring to the table, these efforts will fall short. No matter if you came today to hear about employment, healthcare, family care, or education it's important that all of us network and make sure that no one gets left behind. I hope that we will make a commitment to get the word out to our peers, and keep this effort going. I'll do my part to get the word out to the Portland business community, and I hope you'll do yours.

The United States Department of Transportation announced last month that I-5 has been named a "corridor of the future." The designation is part of the National Strategy to Reduce Congestion. I-5 is one of six such corridors named as part of this new federal initiative out of 36 applications.

"This designation was a top priority for the Alliance so we are extremely pleased that all of our hard work has paid off," said Chris Mongrain, Chair of the Alliance's Government Relations Committee.

The initiative is aimed at developing innovative efforts to implement multimodal transportation solutions to reduce congestion and improve freight efficiency. The six designated corridors carry 22.7 percent of the nation's daily interstate travel. This designation should make it easier to compete for federal funds for projects in the corridor, such as the Columbia River Crossing.