ORLA's government affairs staff, along with our Portland Lodging Alliance and Portland Kitchen Cabinet members have been actively engaging in meetings and conversations with business partners and policymakers in the City of Portland the last few months. The following is a brief recap of activities, partner updates, and upcoming meetings. Chamber Agenda: Our partners at the Portland Metro Chamber have just released their 2024 Policy Agenda. This is a fluid document that will most likely change over time. ORLA along with other coalition partners to the regional chamber will rally around objectives they view as critical priorities. The policy agenda priorities focus on:
The Chamber also presented the 2024 State of the Economy showcasing how the Portland region remains at a crossroads. According to the report three of the four metro counties, excluding Multnomah County, have exceeded their 2019 job totals. And the GDP recovery offers even better news and is aided, in part, by the ongoing growth of the region’s technology sector. This year’s report still finds the region in unfamiliar territory. Once a migration magnet, the Portland area appears to have hit an affordability wall. Regional leaders must maintain a competitive mindset and engineer a tax, service, and livability package that is more appealing than it has been in recent years. The report offers some modest improvements over last year’s, but on critical measures like population growth and housing production, the region still has a long way to go. Good news is that elected officials and business leaders enter 2024 with an agreed-upon list of remedies courtesy of the Governor’s task force. If productive action is taken on those then the community can look forward to a better report next year. Business Credit Program: Portland City Council adopted the Downtown Business Incentive (DBI) credit program. The program is a $25 million temporary nonrefundable tax credit designed to incentivize commercial lease signings and lease renewals that will contribute significantly to the recovery and revitalization of Portland’s central city. This program will retain and support future investments from a variety of central city tenants that drive job creation, pay taxes, and generate economic activity throughout the City’s core. Learn more and apply. Food Carts: Portland Bureau of Transportation (PBOT) recently launched a pilot program to bring food carts downtown to help with revitalization. The ordinance waives right-of-way city code that prohibits food trucks from operating within the district, and builds off of the PBOT’s Healthy Business Program, which allows downtown property owners to request food truck services for their employees and tenants during the COVID-19 pandemic. This pilot program, which was adopted by Portland City Council last month, will be monitored closely as to how it affects downtown brick and mortar restaurants. While revitalization of the city is important many of our downtown restaurants are still not seeing business as usual pre-pandemic and are struggling to stay open. We would hope the city would prioritize existing food services and businesses in the downtown area over allowing others to come in. Outdoor Dining: ORLA staff recently met with Portland City Commissioner Gonzalez’s office and Portland Fire to discuss changing the tent permit for restaurants so they no longer would have to remove the tents for 180-day period or find a way to create a tent permit for year-round use in Portland. The current permit requires restaurants to remove tent/membrane structures during the winter months for safety reasons. With outdoor dining here to stay in the Portland region we are looking for solutions to allow restaurants to keep these structures up year-round. There is also a permit through Development Servies Department for permanent structures currently and we are discussing ways to possibly fund those permit fees through grants or other resources for businesses. Task Force Updates: If you missed in December, the Governor’s Portland Central City Task Force has shared recommendations for solutions to Portland’s most pressing challenges and a vision for its economic future. Notable items include declaring a moratorium on new taxes and offer targeted tax relief. Portland is the second highest taxed city in the nation; we trail New York City by only a fraction. Elected officials should agree to a three-year pause, through 2026, on new taxes and fees. A Tax Advisory Group should be established to study and evaluate improvements to our taxing structure, and state and local governments should identify a few targeted incentives, including an expansion of the Business License Tax (BLT) downtown tax credit. In addition, declaring a tri-government fentanyl emergency and further elevate law enforcement response in the central city. Portland Leadership Team Meetings: Next Portland Kitchen Cabinet and Portland Lodging Alliance meeting will be another joint meeting held on February 29th at the Royal Sonesta. Our guest will be Nathan Vasquez who is the candidate running against Mike Schmidt for Multnomah County District Attorney. Learn more about Nathan Vasquez. Portland Downtown Clean & Safe will also be joining to share updates on the hotel security district was implemented this past fall. ORLA members wanting to get involved in a Portland area Regional Leadership Team should contact Makenzie Marineau, Government Affairs and Regional Leadership Teams Coordinator.
0 Comments
|
AuthorMakenzie Marineau is the Government Affairs and Regional Leadership Teams Coordinator for the Oregon Restaurant & Lodging Association. This Portland-focused blog intends to highlight the good news and work being done in Portland by ORLA and our leadership teams. Archives
September 2024
Categories
All
|