Last of the Portland Plan workshops

Photo by Brian Libby 

The final Portland Plan Community Workshop is being held Tuesday night at 6:30pm at the University of Oregon's White Stag Block in Old Town (70 NW Couch).  Round two workshops begin in spring 2010.

As with the six previous community workshops, Mayor Sam Adams will facilitate a community dialogue about how to solve some of the city's major challenges, with audience polling being conducted on a wide range of issues. 

The first six workshops have included just under 800 participants. With a city population of over 557,000 that's not a very high rate of participation, about one in every 700 citizens.  But who have attended have a 98 percent approval rating on the usefulness of the workshops.

The Portland Plan will be a strategic roadmap to ensure the city is thriving, prosperous and sustainable for all residents over the next 25 years. The Portland Plan is part of a state-mandated comprehensive plan update and will touch every neighborhood and resident as the city grows.

The last time the City developed a comprehensive plan was 1980; about 50 percent of Portlanders today were not here at that time. Because the plan will ultimately affect every resident, the City and its partners are asking for maximum community input to define priorities, develop solutions and guide investment of public dollars as we develop the plan over the next 15 months.

A city-issued press release also says  in workshops and online surveys, the top three issues facing Portland in the next 25 years are:

1. Sustainability & the Natural Environment 
2. Prosperity, Business Success & Equity 
3. Education & Skill Development 

You can also find out more about the Portland Plan online at www.PDXPlan.com or on its Facebook and Twitter pages. If you can't get to the final Portland Plan community workshop in person, it will be streaming live online and broadcast via live TV on cable access channel 30.

Comments

[Jay]

That's really a very good plan, and hope it'll really help people have a better life.

[Jason Renaud]

I just glanced through the survey. It's leading questions are clearly developed with conclusions in mind, now building "data" to prove PR points.

It would be unpredictable but intellectually honest to ask a wider series of questions from a wider sort of person - not just self-directed or paid advocates - to reach a more representative set of conclusions.

The sad part here is the survey reveals a great mistrust by City Hall of those who live here. We're too preoccupied, too selfish, too ignorant, too old or young or deranged. But the truth is we are the people who live here and our future shouldn't be predetermined by a PR firm mentality.