How Will Portland Pay for Growth?
Our region faces generation-spanning economic adversity. Even with Portland’s outsized talent, creativity, natural resources, and collaborative spirit, the fundamentals are worth naming plainly: Our local governments are looking at more than a decade of “structural” budget shortfalls, our local business community has been pummeled by five years of headwinds, and working families in every neighborhood are struggling to find affordable housing, child care, and transit. It’s time for a holistic conversation about our tax system and all of the communities that public investments serve – and what role economic growth investments might play for governments, small and large businesses and employers, and working families.
This program is part of a three-part series of member discussions
This winter, Bull Run Center members will take on one of Portland’s most defining issues: What it means to grow with purpose, accountability, and shared prosperity.
Over three sessions — spanning the city, the region, and the state — we’ll explore the forces shaping Portland’s future and the choices that will determine whether growth becomes a catalyst or a constraint.
We hope this series can help us bring divergent views about growth to the surface in a way that leads to finding new common ground. Together, we’ll dig into the hard questions:
Who benefits when Portland grows — and who gets left behind?
What responsibilities does Portland have to the region around it?
How will we fund the future we say we want?
And what would it take to align our values, policies, and budgets with a vision for a more equitable, resilient, and economically vibrant city?
How Could Growth Shape Economic Mobility in Portland
Thursday January 8, 4:30 PM
How Can Portland’s Growth Strengthen Our Regional Economy?
Thursday February 12, 4:30 PM
Who Will Pay for Growth … and What Can Growth Pay Back?
Thursday March 12, 4:30 PM
RSVP for all Three
Unlike our usual “Kitchen Cabinet” sessions, this discussion series will build on insights and agreements from month to month — with a goal of finding shared direction. We hope the majority of participants will buckle up for a committed exploration of thorny issues at the heart of envisioning Portland’s future. (But we won’t turn away members who can only join for one.)