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LEE PERLMAN
THE MID-COUNTY MEMO
The Portland Development Commission last month officially adopted rules governing Main Street programs and the six budding Neighborhood Prosperity Initiative districts, four of which are in East Portland.
The NPI districts, centered around commercial streets which are lagging behind others in terms of private investment, and which serve lower income populations, will operate like mini-urban renewal districts: property taxes in excess of those now being collected will be placed in special tax increment accounts for local physical improvements. From these and other sources, the districts will have up to $1.2 million each to spend over the course of ten years.
The new rules specify that decision-making in the district will be in the hands of stakeholder groups and a district manager whom they will hire. PDC will provide technical assistance, training and fiscal oversight. They will also contribute money, on a one-to-one match to local fundraising, in an amount of up to $50,000 per district for administration and operations, up to $3,000 per district for promotion and branding, and unspecified amounts for district improvements. In this last category, staffer Kate Deane told the PDC Board, any single project over $50,000 will require their approval. Deane added, “We don't expect that to happen.”
The NPI districts were formed on “an aggressive timeline,” Deane said. “I didn't think it could be done. I was happy to be proved wrong.”
Now, she said, the stakeholders in all six districts are working “hot and heavy” on fundraising. In fact, representatives of all six have been convening to meet another program requirement: that they raise at least $30,000 each in matching funds to hire program managers by June 15. Closed to media, representatives say the discussions and meetings are making progress in securing money from major funders.
Meanwhile, in Parkrose NPI news, the steering committee held a walk along Sandy Boulevard, inviting Parkrose Farmers' Market Master Steve Voorhees along with the hope of finding a site for a future move to the street.
Saturdays, from May thru October in the parking lot adjacent to Parkrose High School on Shaver Street at 122nd Avenue is the market's current home.
Voorhees is open to the idea, suggesting once a site is secured, adding a Sunday market on Sandy to test the efficacy of a full move to the boulevard in the future.
With a July 1 Portland Development Commission deadline looming to secure $30,000 in actual monies or pledges, the Parkrose NPI is hosting a fundraising dinner at the Russellville Grange on June 15. Not a public event, the committee decided to invite only past contributors and potential donors to their fête, feed them and, in a power point presentation, present the compelling reasons why they should support Parkrose NPI efforts.
At its May meetings, the Parkrose NPI Steering Committee elected Joe Rossi chair of the group and welcomed back Luke Shepard after his premature resignation last month. They also added Parkrose resident Mark Gardner to the steering committee.
In other business, they created a subcommittee to determine an annual dollar amount to ask of the Parkrose Business Association, and then draft a formal letter containing the request for the PBA's July board meeting.
Tim Curran contributed to this report.
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