Communities in the Portland metropolitan region are seeing streetscapes and skylines change with multifamily, mixed-use developments located near transit that not only provide needed rental housing, but create jobs and generate economic activity. Two transit-oriented projects tell a story repeated throughout the Portland region and the nation: the smart money is on development projects that push economic recovery.

Repositioning a business as a consumer destination can change an entire city, says Jon Schallert, nationally known marketing coach for independent business, retail and service providers. Business and property owners driving the revitalization of the region's downtowns and main streets spent a morning with Schallert as part of Metro's Get Centered! series to learn how to attract customers to their store – and community.

Humboldt Bay Energy, a corporation registered in Nevada but operating out of Eureka, Calif., has come forward as interested in buying the site, and the bankruptcy court trustee charged with selling Blue Heron's assets said the company is furthest along in the process of buying the property.

Review of the industrial replenishment concept show its benefits would be limited, Metro staff says. Meanwhile, work continues on creating an inventory of the Portland region's available large employment sites.

To get a first-hand sense of the communities in the Southwest Corridor between Sherwood and Portland, Metro councilors Carl Hosticka and Barbara Roberts led the Southwest Corridor Plan Steering Committee on a bus tour of the area Monday morning.

Methodically piled heaps of steel and cement mark a block in downtown Cornelius under development. In the coming months, an informal parking lot and alley in downtown Cornelius will be transformed into a full-service medical campus, complemented with a green ribbon of a walkway funded by a Metro Nature in Neighborhoods capital grant.

Today the Metro Council voted 6-0 to add 1985 acres to the region’s urban growth boundary for future housing and jobs. (Councilor Rex Burkholder was excused.) This represents less than a one-percent expansion of the region’s urban footprint to accommodate thousands of additional households and workers over the next 20 years.

Restoration work will transform a former gas station lot into green space at Beaverton's Eichler Park.

The transformation comes through the successful partnership between Metro, the Tualatin Hills Park & Recreation District, Business Oregon and the Oregon Department of Environmental Quality. The brownfield cleanup will add two-thirds of an acre to the park.

Later this month, my Metro Council colleagues and I will decide whether to expand the urban growth boundary and, if so, where. This decision will affect how the region’s communities develop and thrive, with good jobs and safe vibrant neighborhoods. A proposal was released in July followed by a public open house held in Hillsboro.

At www.oregonmetro.gov/greatplaces, you can view interactive maps and download reports about each of 10 areas being considered.