Putting the monkey back on your back

Portland vibrant: a giant vacant lot where once were blue-collar jobs.

I was relieved last year to see that "urban renewal," which had been sucking so much money out of City of Portland coffers for so many decades, was slowing down quite a bit. On my last year's property tax statement, "urban renewal" ate up 8½ percent of the property taxes imposed by City Hall. That was a lot less than in any year in recent memory. Four years earlier, it was 28 percent.

What have we taxpayers gotten for all those hundreds of millions over the decades? The "urban renewal" overlords, these days called "Prosper Portland," will point to the Pearl and South Waterfront Districts, and that will impress some people, I guess. 

But I dunno, the Pearl District used to have gritty small businesses and places where poor people could flop for the night. When all that was razed for Vera Katz's Fake New York, it seems like it set the stage for the lousy economy and homelessness crisis currently gripping the city's core.

Meanwhile, the South Waterfront is a concrete jungle that lacks any of the good vibrations you feel in an authentic Portland neighborhood. Yeah, the Usual Suspects slapped up a bunch of skyscraper apartment complexes with a ridiculous gondola ride to a hospital, but so what? They can't even get anyone to open a legitimate grocery store down that way. And good blue collar jobs were driven out to make way for the high-rise schlock. Maybe not many, but some, for sure.

History sure isn't on the side of the Prosper types. "Urban renewal" is what destroyed Portland's Black and Jewish neighborhoods 50 or 60 years ago. We're still supposedly correcting some of that with new scams like "Albina Vision." You know what they say about not studying history.

And they're still at it with the wrecking balls. They chased the Main Post Office and its many well-paying union jobs out of downtown, so that now they've got a giant empty lot where the P.O. used to be, surrounded by junkies in tents, in what's become an economic desert that nobody in their right mind wants any part of.

The one thing "urban renewal" has been really good at is skimming off tax dollars and handing them to real estate sharpies and construction toughs. On that score, Portland has been quite successful. But the average Jane and Joe would have trouble telling you anything good that they've gotten out of the deal. More likely, they'll tell you that the soulless apartment bunkers inflicted on their neighborhood by the Prospers and their friends took away their view, the sunlight in their garden, or the parking in front of their house.

So as I say, when I noticed that the "urban renewal" hit on my tax bill had gone way down, I thought, "Good." But now I see that the "prosperity" types are gearing up to start siphoning with gusto again. A couple of weeks ago, this op-ed in the O fired the opening salvo, ranting on about how "urban renewal" needed to be revved back up, and how the City Council should give up its oversight of the Prospers.

To unlock Portland’s potential, we must also ensure that Prosper Portland can direct resources toward economic development by adjusting the affordable housing tax increment financing – TIF – set aside policy. The city is in the process of creating six new TIF districts in Central City and East Portland. These districts steer the tax revenue collected on the increase in property values to Prosper Portland and other entities to fund improvements in the district....

[A]s controversial as this may sound, the current policy allocates too much of TIF proceeds – 45% – to affordable housing through the Portland Housing Bureau. Loosening restrictions to allow proceeds to fund middle-income housing would help address broader housing needs.... 

And finally, the city must ensure Prosper Portland’s independence. In 2007, a charter amendment granted City Council increased oversight of the Portland Development Commission, now known as Prosper Portland, and its budget. As Portland’s city government undergoes another significant transformation, it is more critical than ever that the Prosper Portland board and its executive director have the autonomy and clarity to drive the organization forward with purpose....

The new City Council must empower Prosper Portland’s leader to set a clear course, cut through bureaucratic red tape and maintain an inclusive growth-focused approach. It can do so by granting Prosper Portland the decision-making authority and operational flexibility to prioritize long-term economic initiatives without excessive political interference. Such independence is necessary to give the agency the agility necessary to respond to the dynamic challenges and opportunities facing Portland. 

Man, you can almost smell the graft right coming right through your screen, can't you?

And then last week, this showed up in the mail:

Too bad. You just know that the bobbleheads on the lame-duck City Council will be voting to make us Prosper like it's 1999. What do they care? At least three of them, and maybe all five, will be unemployed come the first of the year. They'll fire up the "urban renewal" machinery now, on their way out the door, and by the time the 10 or 12 newbies on the City Council book club ask questions, it will be too late to stop it for another few decades.

Twenty years ago, a prominent member of the city's Black community, James Posey, suggested that the Portland Development Commission, which is what Prosper used to be called, be abolished. I don't know what his views are today, but I thought he was making a lot of sense back in the day.