Mayor Sam Adams gave his last State of the City address on March 2, and predictably, it featured his many accomplishments and the legacy he leaves the “incredible” city of Portland. We got the usual run down on how our streets are safer, our roads more bike-friendly, our jobs increasing and, best of all, our food is more compostable!
Mayor Sam Adams gave his last State of the City address on March 2, and predictably, it featured his many accomplishments and the legacy he leaves the “incredible” city of Portland. We got the usual run down on how our streets are safer, our roads more bike-friendly, our jobs increasing and, best of all, our food is more compostable!
But, the mayor’s not finished yet. A politician facing his or her final 10 months is like a kid in a candy store who’s got one minute to pick up as many treats as they can. The result is a frenzied whirlwind, ending with an armload of goodies precariously clutched at the heart. A trail of dropped candy follows them all the way home. Or, in Adams’ case, dropped projects.
One of the biggest and tastiest treats Adams managed to successfully grasp in time for his speech was the Education District Urban Renewal plan. He first introduced it a year ago as a partnership between Portland State and Multnomah County to “focus on expanding Portland State University as a leading engine of economic growth, prosperity and opportunity.”
It’s a plan to accommodate the growth of PSU which, according to President Wim Wiewel in the Portland Business Journal, is “grossly under-spaced.”
With a student body of 30,000 people, it is projected that in 25 years, that number could be closer to 50,000. Basically, we’re outgrowing ourselves and need some more space.
This plan aims to give us more. Over the next 25 years, tax dollars would be used towards the building up and improvement of a 134-acre zone around PSU up to Lincoln High School. This would allow the campus to expand and at the same time, according to the plan’s proponents, would provide jobs and lift income through improving the value of the land. So, that sounds harmless enough. Or does it?
It’s a great deal for PSU, undoubtedly, but what about everyone else? Well, the school district would tentatively receive funds to renovate Lincoln High School and Multnomah County would get $19 million to build a new Department of County Human Services headquarters. This makes for some happy people.
But here’s the kicker. Because it’s based on tax dollars, the urban renewal area would redirect $58 million away from the state’s public schools. Gulp. As if our schools didn’t have enough bad news, here comes a new headline.
It’s all well and good to make sure that our universities are supported and improved, but if we’re doing it at the cost of the very children we hope will one day be gracing the halls of higher education, that’s just plain wrong.
When education boards are trying to make decisions between closing schools, increasing class sizes or laying off teachers, where is an extra $58 million going to come from? This could be a fatal blow to Portland’s already-hemorrhaging education system.
Mayor Adam’s own words may come back to haunt him. At the beginning of his speech, as he outlined the greatness of Portland, the city, he said, “What this shows is that we’ve done a great job planning for and investing in Portland, the place. But we haven’t done the same for our greatest asset: our people.”
One of the top “unacceptable” consequences he observed were “steep high school and college drop out rates.” Hmm. So, the answer, obviously, is to take more money from the system that is struggling to hold on to its kids.
Nobody’s against progress. But, right now, our schools are straggling. Now is not the time to put the proverbial millstone around their necks. President Wim Wiewel says he understands the concerns, but points to the future and what the long term benefits of increased tax bases could mean for the county.
But seeing as it’s a 25–year plan, an entire generation could be missing out on what are only considered potential benefits.
It’s not just schools that will be paying, either. Aid to senior citizens and those in financial hardship, as well as state-funded youth programs, are some of the services that will be impacted by this decision, as Multnomah County is slated to foot $53 million of the cost, according to the Portland Development Commission estimates.
One does not have to look far to see the consequences of urban renewal gone awry. The South Waterfront project that once held so much promise largely remains just that. A promise. Where are all the jobs that were supposed to be created? And, as oil prices reach higher and higher, so will the cost of construction and invariably, planners will be back asking, “Please, sir, may I have some more?”
The prosperity of PSU is essential to Portland, and the potential benefits of the expansion of this urban university are no doubt numerous. However, it seems wrong and downright unconscionable to use money from a public school system which currently only graduates two-thirds of its students to do so.
We need to find the money elsewhere. And, perhaps we should be thinking about the 33 percent of our kids who won’t be making it to university this year before we plan another building.
