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January, 2007 Do you work for a planning department? Know anyone who does or donates time as a Planning Commissioner? Or are you just interested in how to have effective meetings on planning and other public issues? Hot off the press is Elaine Cogan’s third book, Now that You’re on Board…How to Survive…and Thrive…as a Planning Commissioner. Based on the popular column she has written for the Planning Commissioner’s Journal for 15 years, the book is full of helpful hints and illustrations and is already becoming a best seller. Call or email Elaine for more information. This last year, in our alphabet soup of personnel, the E’s took the lead. In addition to Elaine, we were happily joined by business manager, Erin Atkinson, and associate planners Ellie Fiore and Elise Scolnick. Associate planner, Teak Wall, fills out the complement. Each one brings skills that add to our ability to serve our clients with the high quality and seamlessness they expect from COC. Ably assisting Crystal Jackson with clerical duties, production and other essential chores is another new employee, Alisha Dishaw. Nancy Marshall has assumed graphic duties. We and our Clackamas County clients have already received three international and national awards for our groundbreaking work on Complete Communities. Now, its follow-up, Completing Connections, is a finalist for the prestigious Harvard University’s Ash Institute award for Innovations in American Government. The judges appear impressed with this effort, first in the country, to help unincorporated areas create hamlet or village quasi-governance organizational models. Kirstin Greene and Elaine have been shepherding this ambitious work, assisted by Steve Faust, Suzanne Roberts and Teak. COC and Al Gore have something in common. He did not invent the Internet and we did not invent the idea of Sustainability, but we are both heavily involved in spreading the word of its importance to us all. It is a core value for all our work, with leadership primarily by Kirstin and Bob Wise. Last year, Bob led a team to identify sustainable industries with the most potential for Oregon’s economic future for the Department of Economic and Community Development. Two similar projects are underway: assisting the Clackamas County Green Ribbon Committee to develop an agriculture/natural resources/sustainable industries strategy and working with the Portland Office of Sustainable Development and the Portland Development Commission to define opportunities for green building products and services that can be obtained locally. We also are providing assistance to Clackamas Community College and to the Economic Development Commission on how Clackamas County can be “complete” from a business perspective. A bellweather project for our firm and the region is Great Communities, an effort for Metro led by Kirstin and Arnold Cogan. What makes a Great Community and what tools will help us realize that goal? It is a simple question with complex answers that COC and a top notch team of subconsultants and a national advisory panel tackled very earnestly, with impressive and provocative implications for the region. Arnold also is giving the Port of Camas-Washougal the benefit of his expert facilitation skills to guide a broadly-based citizens committee advising on the most worthwhile way to develop 65 acres of exceptional Columbia River waterfront property in Washougal, east of Vancouver, Washington. Elaine is working with another citizens committee. On contract to Multnomah County, she is part of a team exploring the best future for the Sellwood Bridge in southeast Portland. Repair or replace? These and others are the major issues to which she is helping facilitate answers. Every year, we seem to consult on at least one strategic plan for a governmental or nonprofit entity. This past year, Elaine and Steve worked with MERC, the region’s Metropolitan Exposition Recreation Commission, to help decide the future of that agency, an arm of Metro, these next five years and beyond. One innovative and very satisfying feature of their work was a MERC Day, where key personnel engaged in creative exercises to help plan the agency’s future. Among their other interesting projects, both Jim Owens and Matt Hastie were busy with park planning this last year. Jim made many trips to Sequim, Washington, on the Olympic Peninsula, to help create a new 3,000-acre destination park, and to Illwaco, also in Washington, to continue consultation on a master plan for Cape Disappointment State Park. Jim augmented his park planning by facilitating the process for salmon recovery planning in the lower Columbia basin and completing a plan to manage the Common School Fund land for the Department of State Lands. He is leading public outreach efforts for several toll road feasibility studies in the Portland metropolitan area. Staying closer to home most of the time, Matt was in charge of producing an exciting new comprehensive park plan for the Tualatin Parks and Recreation District west of Portland, the second largest parks provider in Oregon. Matt also has been traveling. He has been the lead consultant for comprehensive plan updates in the Kenai Peninsula and Kodiak Island Boroughs, Alaska; and Ada County (Boise) Idaho, ably assisted by Steve and others. Housing is another area of his expertise. Matt led the firm’s efforts to address increasing affordable housing needs in Clackamas County, Bend and Garibaldi. Multi-tasking is no problem for him. Somehow this past year, he found time to become president of the Portland chapter of WTS, after completing a two-year term as vice president. As busy as we were in 2006, there will be little respite as we eagerly embrace the challenges of 2007. We look forward to working with all our friends and colleagues during these exciting times. Past News:
January, 2006 Awards | Publications | Partners | News | Blog |
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