North Portland Latino Outreach

Increasing traffic and safety issues on North Fessenden and other streets in St. Johns are of concern to all residents.  COC Associate, Ellen Wyoming, and Portland Bureau of Transportation (PBOT) Project Manager Rich Newlands had an opportunity recently to speak with Spanish-speaking residents at their weekly parents’ group meeting at James John Elementary School.  Ellen, speaking in Spanish, introduced Phase 2 of the St. Johns Truck Strategy project and interpreted answers to questions from the PBOT planner.  During a lively discussion, the attendees mentioned many problems they face, particularly crossing with their children to their neighborhood schools, and suggested locations for appropriate cross-walks and other possible solutions.  This information will be reviewed as part of the community outreach process that will result in recommendations by the City for improvements in the area.  Ellen will be attending another Spanish-speaking parent’s meeting at Sitton Elementary with a member of PBOT staff in early March to continue the project discussion with the Latino community in St. Johns.

Stevenson, Washington Completes Successful Visioning Process

Steve Faust recently helped the City of Stevenson, Washington create a new comprehensive plan vision and goals to guide its future growth.  The vision relies on these four cornerstone principles: an active waterfront; healthy economy; natural/scenic beauty; and high quality of life.  It was formulated after an inclusive public engagement process, which included interviews with key stakeholders; an online community survey; a booth at the Gorge Blues and Brews Festival that gave hundreds of citizens the chance to weigh in with their opinions; two well-attended public events and other outreach activities. Founding principal, Elaine Cogan assisted Steve and the City in this effort and our Graphic Designer Nancy Marshall designed icons for the cornerstone principles.

Bob Wise Launches Series of Articles in Sustainable Business Oregon

On January 31, Bob Wise posted the first of six articles on import substitution at www.sustainablebusinessoregon.com/columns. The first article summarizes the crisis in job creation facing Oregon and the nation.  Currently most economic development strategies are focused on exports of products – the traded sector.  This strategy attempts to capture money from elsewhere and bring it to Oregon.  Bob details a totally separate but compatible economic development strategy of import substitution.  At its simplest, import substitution replaces spending on imported goods and services for those made locally.  This approach keeps money here and circulating rather than sending it away.  Over the next few weeks Bob will address how this strategy can be applied to the food we eat, energy we consume, houses we build, public works we construct, and the exemplary companies focused on these markets and others.

Former COC Intern Reports on Interesting Findings in Yuhuan, China

Michael Burnham is a second year graduate student in the Masters of Urban and Regional Planning in the School of Urban Studies and Planning at Portland State University.  In his first year, Michael was an intern at Cogan Owens Cogan, LLC, undertaking research in the field of eco-industrial development for the Portland metropolitan area.

Last summer, he was selected for an eight-week internship at the China Academy of Urban Planning and Design in Beijing.  The introduction to Michael’s paper, “A River Ran through It,” is a case study of Yuhuan, a disappearing Chinese island and aspiring eco-city. An excerpt follows:

“In the summer of 2011, while working at CAUPD’s Beijing headquarters, I helped develop a master plan for Yuhuan County, Zhejiang Province’s easternmost municipality, about 300 kilometers south of Shanghai. My team and I spent nine days in Yuhuan, toured the Singapore-sized county, and met with local government officials.

This paper, whose intended audience is urban planners and other sustainable development practitioners working in China, uses Yuhuan to explore the broader planning and policy challenges and opportunities China faces as it urbanizes.”

Michael concludes that Yuhuan — and, presumably, other Chinese cities — should integrate sustainable development best practices from some of the world’s best-planned “eco-cities.