Zoo celebrates 2011 attendance milestones, anticipates even brighter future

The Oregon Zoo will ring out 2011 in record fashion this weekend with the final nights of its best-attended ZooLights ever –– and then ring in 2012 with a celebratory day of free admission on Monday, Jan. 2.

You know it's been a busy year at Metro when a list of the Top 10 stories in regional governance has an urban growth boundary expansion at No. 6.

But 2011 was just that - a year of new faces, big decisions and even a bit of pop culture. Here's a look back at what made news at Metro in 2011.

For some people, taking transit is a choice; for others, it's a necessity. For Diana Mirkovic, transit provided the lifeline for making a fresh start some 5,800 miles from her home. Diana came to the Portland area in February 1996 with only her daughter, a few belongings and the desperation to put years of horror behind them.

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.

Baltimore Woods was in limbo. While the recession kept developers at bay, the area gave rise to weeds, litter and neglect.

But neighbors around the 30-acre corridor in North Portland’s St. Johns neighborhood saw the land as a community asset. And with the support of a Metro Nature in Neighborhoods capital grant, the woods were given a new lease on life.

The Metro Council has approved spending $70 million in federal transportation money, applauding a two-year effort by the agency to collaborate with cities and counties and give a more thorough consideration of low income and minority communities.

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.

In the last two months, Metro News interviewed eight mayors and one county chair about politics and community goals. This week, we're taking a deeper look at what's on the minds of the region's leaders.