January 2010: New Beginnings

Cogan Owens Cogan Celebrates 35 Years!
Passion drives our work at COC. We are inspired by our clients, the communities with whom we work and all our partners and friends.

While we are encouraged that 2010 has started off with a bang, it will continue to require efficiencies in our work, creative partnerships and innovation.  Through professional development and work with our clients, we continue to advance and refine our integrated practice areas of planning, community engagement and sustainability. We have had the good fortune to continue to be able to stretch our professional wings in broadening our creative and strategic partnerships in energy, climate change, urban design, asset management, community engagement, social media, strategic planning and process facilitation.

We hope to have the chance to work with you this year. Please continue reading for a sample of what we are up to!

~ Kirstin Greene, Managing Principal

Welcome Ric Stephens!
We are pleased to welcome planner and urban designer Ric Stephens to COC. Ric’s practice on local and national levels helps us stay on the cutting edge of public engagement and community building.  In addition to his work in Chehalem, Urban Reserves projects, the Dominican Republic and Haiti recovery planning, Ric is closely involved with community initiatives such as the recent urban design charrette in Beaverton. The Oregonian gave impressive coverage to this event. It attracted elected officials, experienced urban design and planning professionals, and agency staff to work with 70 high school students to design attributes and uses for the long neglected Westgate Theater site.

Building on his extensive expertise creating meaningful and memorable communities, Ric continues to inspire us all with his ideas and creativity in youth engagement, innovative community planning and urban design.

Climate Action Planning
As part of our 2010 commitment to continuing work on helping solve our most challenging problems, COC hosted a brown bag on Climate Action Planning on January 7.  Twenty committed professionals doing work in this field enjoyed a presentation by former COC planner Damian Pitt, PhD, on his recent research on climate action planning at Virginia Tech. The discussion that followed was intense and enlightening.  We were fortunate in 2009 to work on various aspects of climate change and greenhouse gas reduction strategies, and look forward to a continued focus in this area in 2010.  Let us know if you would like to be apprised of our next gathering on this or related topics. Please email us at coc@coganowens.com.

Community Renewal
In Oregon City, we are helping the community decide how to maintain and enhance the iconic Carnegie Center, a community asset that has been vacant for more than a year.

For the Office of Portland Mayor Sam Adams, we are facilitating meetings of a group of veterans for their perspective on how to revitalize and reuse the historic Memorial Coliseum.

In Rainier, COC assisted business owners, elected and appointed officials, railroad and ODOT representatives to reach consensus on a vision for A Street that will guide public investments to attract redevelopment along the city’s main downtown thoroughfare.

In Clackamas County, we are wrapping up an update to the County’s economic landscape project. The strategy will help decision makers and the business community guide investment, policy and regulatory decisions to maximize the benefits from both public finance and land use decisions.  Also in Clackamas County, we are facilitating Lake Oswego’s review of its sensitive lands ordinance to ensure compliance with regulatory standards, increase flexibility for property owners and simplify the permit process.

Internationally, we are initiating a new project to develop an eco-city master plan for Langfang, China, near Beijing.  COC is part of a team that includes the Woo Group, HOK Hong Kong, CW Group of San Francisco and others selected to develop a master plan to add to and redevelop an existing city of four million people.  The plan will focus on all aspects of urban development and redevelopment. Our firm will focus on the public policies necessary to implement and advance the eco-city vision and master plan.

Continuing our precedent-setting work in Asia through Team Oregon, we have completed work with Origin International on an Eco-City Plan for the City of Taipei, Taiwan.  See Net Green News’ coverage of this planning effort.  Bob Wise’s presentation on this  groundbreaking initiative given to the Natural Step of Oregon and other organizations is available here.

Sustainability Plans Roll On
Our 2008-2009 sustainability plans in Corvallis, Palm Springs, Clackamas County and Taiwan continue to gather momentum.  In Corvallis, volunteers created action teams to implement top community-based recommendations in the areas of transportation, energy, food, land use, natural areas, waste prevention and water. The Coalition is comprised of more than 130 community groups. COC designed and facilitated meetings with over 600 participants at three key points during the planning process.

Community Engagement
Individuals at COC remain personally committed to community involvement and participation. We volunteer our time to the Oregon Environmental Council, Urban Land Institute, Oregon Chapter of the American Planning Association, Hands On Greater Portland, International Society of Japanese Gardens, Three Rivers Conservancy and others. Karen Beal with Hands on Greater Portland had this to say about COC’s Alisha Dishaw:

“…This is exactly the kind of experience that we hope for on MLK Weekend of Service.  I am grateful that you stepped up as you always do.  Being a good leader is all about relationship and inspiration and you’ve accomplished both with intention and grace.”

~ Karen Beal, PhD, Hands On Greater Portland

Recent Projects

Planning

• Civic Engagement and Land Use Framing Paper, Intermountain West Funder Network
• Floodplain Zoning Ordinance Update, City of Stanfield
• Stafford Triangle Infrastructure Cost Inventory and Analysis, Clackamas County Business Alliance
• Salem-Keizer Regional Economic Opportunities Analysis, Mid-Willamette Valley Council of Governments

Sustainability

• Sustainability Planning Assistance, Metro
• Eco-City Master Plan, Langfang, China

Facilitation

• Listening Sessions, Oregon Watershed Enhancement Board
• Marine Reserves, Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife
• Memorial Coliseum Veterans Focus Group, Portland Development Commission and Portland Mayor’s Office
• Multnomah County Initiative Food Summit, Multnomah County
• Oregon Jobs and Transportation Act, Section 18 Implementation Project, Oregon Consensus and Oregon Department of Transportation
• Board Facilitation, Lewis & Clark College

Public Engagement

• Planning and Community Engagement, City of Damascus
• Junction City Transportation System Plan Update, Oregon Department of Transportation
• Complete Communities Healthy Communities Implementation, Clackamas County

Be in touch!
www.coganowens.com
Follow us on Twitter @coganowens

M/W/ESB Teaming Opportunities

Cogan Owens Cogan, LLC (COC), a Portland planning and communications consulting firm since 1975, is seeking teaming partners certified with the State of Oregon as minority, women and emerging small business (M/W/ESB) enterprises. We would like to hear from you if you are a M/W/ESB practitioner or firm experienced in any of the following disciplines or related fields:

• Economic development
• Environmental planning and permitting
• Facilitation
• Housing and community development
• Land use planning, code development and permitting
• Organizational development
• Parks and recreation planning
• Public outreach and involvement, especially to minority and non-English-speaking communities
• Public relations
• Strategic planning
• Sustainability
• Transportation planning
• Urban design

Please e-mail a statement of interest and brief informational material or samples to coc@coganowens.com.

Elaine Cogan Crashes the White House

Read all about how Elaine Cogan, COC Principal, gained entry to the White House on the strength of her Multnomah County Library identification card!

Story courtesy of OregonLive.com (http://www.oregonlive.com/opinion/index.ssf/2009/12/what_a_multnomah_county_librar.html)

What a Multnomah County library card can get you
By Guest Columnist
December 15, 2009, 7:00AM

It was April 12, 1973, and I was one of 50 guests, representing each of the states, who received a national landscaping award from First Lady Pat Nixon. I was chairwoman of the Portland Development Commission at the time and accepted the award for Pettygrove Park, a gem just south of Keller Auditorium. For evidence, I have my photograph with the president’s wife in the State Dining Room, plus the tiny pot in which I carried a gift, a Sappora Japonica seedling from the White House grounds. (We were told it was President Richard Nixon’s favorite tree.) That cutting has now grown to 40 feet and has been designated an official Portland Heritage Tree.

But back to the story. When I arrived that day at one of the many security gates at the White House, the guard consulted the invitation list. After verifying that my name was on it, he asked for identification. I must have been more nervous than I expected to be as I always carry my Oregon drivers license and other forms of identification. After fumbling for what seemed forever, I handed him my Multnomah County library card, saying that was all I could find. The guard turned it over, looked it at closely and waved me on through, saying, “It must be legitimate. I have never seen anything like this before.”

It was a gala afternoon, with the Marine Band playing, light refreshments and the opportunity to wander through the Blue Room and other beautiful ceremonial spaces. In addition to receiving a plaque and the seedling from Pat Nixon, I had the opportunity to have a short chat with Helen Thomas, who even then was a veteran White House correspondent. She obliquely warned me of the Watergate storm that would burst on the national scene shortly thereafter. When I took an unauthorized peek at the Oval Office, I was told by a staff member that the president was working there at that time. Indeed, he was, as that date appears prominently on the White House tapes.

I often have wondered if anyone else could be so easily admitted to the White House. Now, many years later, we know.

Elaine Cogan is a principal in the Portland consulting firm Cogan Owens Cogan.