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Last month, the Portland Development
Commission resumed negotiations on two long-debated projects requiring
millions in public subsidies: an office tower in Southwest Portland
without a carbon footprint, and a headquarters hotel at the Oregon
Convention Center. Mayor Sam Adams wants both, but neither deal is
likely to be finished before a new mayor takes office in January. We
asked the candidates for mayor which project they'd back if they could
pick just one.
Charlie Hales:
A headquarters hotel. "A reasonable version of that
project, with only a little bit of public funding in it, is going to
make us a better destination city and support this huge public
investment we have in the Convention Center. I think the goals of the
Sustainability Center are better achieved by projects like the June Key
Delta House (a North Portland community center), a very small investment
of public funds that's already going to reach the living-building
challenge."
Rep. Jefferson Smith (D-East Portland)
Sustainability Center. "I'm not sure that either rise to the level where we should be investing a bunch of public money. I'd probably go with a scaled-down Sustainability Center. If we invest in a Convention Center hotel, what we're trying to do is match what other cities are doing in the way they're doing it. A strength in clean tech, a strength in green energy, is part of our distinctive strength.â
WWeek 2015