It can start with something as simple as taking up the carpet covering beautifully-aged wood floors in a historic building or removing plaster from the façade of a downtown landmark to reveal the original brick beneath. Sprucing up one building can inspire the owner next door to do the same, and before long, the entire block and beyond becomes – or goes back to – the lively downtown it once was. This is the premise that Michelle Reeves of Rethinking Urban Places is bringing to her downtown revitalization work in Tigard and Oregon City. Metro has partnered with Reeves and the two cities to promote making the most of what downtowns already have with efforts that lead to on-the-ground results.

The Building Tomorrow’s Jobs forum held Feb. 1 featured many ways the Portland metropolitan region can better position itself to be an attractive and competitive job market. Tuesday’s speakers, experts in developing economically and ecologically sustainable employment, highlighted clear opportunities for local employers to improve their triple bottom line, as well as tips for cities and counties that want to attract and retain business. Bert Gregory, an expert in developing resource-efficient structures and communities, noted that communities with ambitious objectives are doing great work in the region. "Employers are looking to locate in areas that are hip, urban and green," he said. 

Join in Metro’s weekly community conversation called Perspectives. This week’s question: What investments in the next 20 years will yield the greatest return for the Portland region's present and future residents?

Read responses from Nick Sauvie of Rose Community Development, Dave Nielsen of the Home Builders Association of Metro Portland, and Jonathan Schleuter of the Westside Economic Alliance. Then share your views.

The council addressed the urban growth boundary as a board for the first time at a Tuesday worksession, and at least four councilors said they were comfortable with saying the region will need about 15,000 new residential units to meet state capacity requirements.

Metro chief operating officer Michael Jordan presented the overview of his proposed Community Investment Strategy to members of the Coalition of Communities of Color, a group founded nearly 10 years ago to address disparities and inequity of services experienced by minority communities.

Although only five members of the coalition attended Monday's briefing, the discussion was instructive in underscoring the importance of continual engagement with, and involvement of, communities of color to the Metro staff and councilors present, which included Councilors Rex Burkholder and Robert Liberty.

This Friday, Oct. 1, is the deadline for providing comments on how and where we should invest in important public structures and systems and how, where and if we should expand the urban growth boundary to accommodate future residential and employment growth. Take an online survey

Metro Council briefed on upcoming environmental report at Tuesday worksession. Express bus would be $328 million cheaper, but federal matches make project substantially cheaper for regional partners.

An exploratory committee is ironing out details on a task force that could try to put the pieces of the puzzle together to steer jobs to the region. At meetings with regional stakeholders this summer, Metro Chief Operating Officer Michael Jordan has been pitching the creation of a team of 15 to 25 community sages who could tackle projects government and business alone can’t handle.

Metro COO Michael Jordan calls for more effective investments in public structures to maintain quality of life.

Responding to what he labeled an “imperative to act,” Metro Chief Operating Officer Michael Jordan today released recommendations that are designed to foster partnerships to invest in sustainable, prosperous and equitable communities. Jordan’s strategy lays out both broad and specific actions that, if followed, will build the public structures needed to make the most of existing communities, provide for good jobs now and in the future and protect important natural areas and recreation opportunities. The recommendations call for cities, counties, Metro and businesses throughout the region to tackle looming financing gaps and inefficiencies that slow progress and increase costs. They also call for new state rules that would improve the efficiency and effectiveness of local investments. Along with efficiency measures, the report also responds to Metro’s legal obligation to analyze the region’s employment and population growth capacity within the existing urban growth boundary. The recommendations lay out multiple options for regional policy makers to consider, ranging from no expansion to a very limited expansion primarily for large site industrial development.