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:

• Tax burden and cost of living
• Housing and homelessness
• Public safety
• Downtown revitalization and economic development

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.
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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.

​As the year begins to wind down, we want to share some updates on what’s been happening in the Portland Metro area.

Update on BHRC
As of Monday, Sept. 18, 2023, the Behavioral Health Resource Center (BHRC) launched a new process to maintain client access, while reducing a periodic queue that developed around the building as people waited for specific time slots. Peer staff from the Mental Health and Addiction Association of Oregon (MHAAO), the agency that operates the Day Center, will utilize peer support staff to engage community members at social service agencies in the Old Town area, offering peer-delivered services and giving tickets for time-specific entry to the BHRC. This new process should result in participants no longer waiting for services outside of the BHRC. In addition, there is a new mobile van site to help make referrals and connections in the neighborhood. Outreach teams have engaged more than 200+ groups of people around the BHRC location, with nearly half interested in connecting to BHRC services. Reports have shown of 77 people who’ve moved on from the shelter, 48 have been positive exits directly into bridge housing or other shelter locations.

City Launches New Downtown Business Incentive Credit Program
The City of Portland is offering a special incentive to bring businesses back to the heart of the city. By leasing downtown office and retail spaces, companies renewing or signing new leases can receive a credit of up to $250,000 over four years to reduce their business license taxes. A qualifying business must apply for the credit. The due date for submitting the application for tax year 2023 will be January 31, 2024. Don't miss out on this opportunity to revitalize the Central City and increase foot traffic by committing to have your employees in the office at least 50% of the time.

Local Restaurants Fight Health Inspection Fee Increase (and Win)
In late October, the Multnomah County Board of Commissioners heard a proposal to increase health inspection fees by over 20% in three years and voted it down. The increase as to cover the costs of administering county inspections and licensing for food, pool, and tourist facilities. Thanks to ORLA members and small business owners providing impactful testimony and written letters of opposition, the proposal didn’t pass. It was a great effort by the business community to show up and share the impact of increased fees in a trying time.

Enforcement Of Camping Ban Halted
After the ADA Lawsuit, the City of Portland is facing another lawsuit. Homeless Portlanders filed a class action lawsuit against the city, arguing that Portland's camping ordinance violates state law and the Oregon Constitution. In early November, a judge placed a temporary hold against the enforcement of Portland's daytime ban on homeless camps that was slated to start next week.

Take Downtown Clean & Safe Business Survey
Today it is even more important to collect information to better understand the economic impact 2023 has had on businesses and others throughout the city’s downtown core. Help identify the ways Downtown Clean & Safe can continue to support and improve the downtown business environment by completing their business survey by December 31, 2023. Honest answers are valued and appreciated, and individual responses are confidential. Take Survey.

Invitation to Engage with City Staff
The City of Portland continues to host Downtown Portland Problem Solver Meetings every two weeks with city staff over Microsoft Teams. The focus of these meetings is to hear from business owners and managers and help connect them to resources. If you’d like to attend, please inquire to get an invitation with Makenzie Marineau at [email protected].
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ORLA and Portland area members met on September 14 for a follow up meeting to the Hotel and Restaurant Safety Summit held downtown earlier this summer in August. Multnomah County Commissioners, the Multnomah District Attorney, Multnomah County Sheriff’s office, Portland City Mayor’s office and Portland Police Bureau were in attendance to answer questions.

It was presented that Downtown Portland Clean & Safe and the Portland Metro Chamber have gathered support and funds to increase safety through a Downtown Hotel Security District. The plan was pulled together in response to significant crime and safety concerns and a need for action. The funding will provide Downtown Clean & Safe the ability to add two additional patrol shifts and eight additional public safety coordinators to the already existing public safety staff who are responding in the area. The additional coordinators will patrol two defined hospitality zones, seven days a week. The Hotel Security District covers the concentration of the central city’s hotels and tourism activities. Safety personnel will focus on the hotels in the area, responding to calls for service among usual patrol duties.

As we are aware, the long-term recovery of Portland depends on bringing people back downtown and the hospitality industry plays a critical role. Tourism and hotels support a wide nexus of other businesses and are an important economic driver in the area. The plan was created as a step to ensure that residents, employees and Portland visitors feel safe, while being a support system for economic recovery in downtown.

Who’s funding this? The Hotel Security District is a public-private partnership, with funding from: 

• $400,000 from the Office of the Multnomah County District Attorney
• $200,000 from downtown businesses 
• $200,000 from Multnomah County 
• $100,000 from the City of Portland 
• $100,000 from TriMet 

These resources will fund operations for one year of enhanced security services.

Multnomah County District Attorney Mike Schmidt and Multnomah County Board Chair Jessicia Vega Pederson who were in attendance both expressed the necessity of this partnership and plan. Jean-Marc Jalbert (Royal Sonesta) shared concerns of the effectiveness of the hotel safety district but acknowledged the need and shared gratitude for the progress being made. Lisa Schroeder (Mother's Bistro) asked if there was a way to bring back a sobering center for the Portland Police Bureau to use again. Since 2020 this facility hasn’t been a resource the PPB can use. Multnomah County Commissioner Sharon Meieran seconded Schroeder’s comment that the Police do need a sobering center again and encouraged continued advocacy for this facility. Vega Pederson mentioned that the county jails lost 218 beds due to lack of funding from the state this last year, meanwhile herself and the other members of the Multnomah County Board of Commissioners recently increased the budget for jails by $4M with hopes to help offset the loss. 

There will be a follow up to this meeting in the months to come to take a pulse on how the new hotel security district is going. To mark progress and impact, Downtown Clean & Safe will collect feedback and testimony from downtown hotels and businesses in the district.

Other Portland News...

Portland City Council Passes Tax Incentive to Bring Businesses Back Downtown

• To qualify for the tax credit, businesses must enter a new lease or extend a current lease for four years or more in central city neighborhoods including Downtown, Lower Albina, the Lloyd District and Old Town/Chinatown. 
• The program requires employees to work in office at least on a halftime basis and requires businesses to have at least 15 employees.
• The tax credit will allow eligible business a credit for the full amount of business license tax owed in a year up to $250,000 per taxpayer over four subsequent years—the tax incentive program is capped at $25 million.

Upcoming Portland Lodging Alliance Meeting

• September 19 from 2-3:30pm at the Hyatt Recency Portland; please RSVP to [email protected]
• Join us for a conversation with Multnomah County Commissioner Susheela Jayapal

Upcoming Portland Kitchen Cabinet Meeting

• September 20 from 1-2:30pm at The Mahonian; please RSVP to [email protected]
• Join us for a conversation with Multnomah County Commissioner Sharon Meieran

Stay tuned on the work and progress that is being made within the city by following this blog. If you have any questions, or wish to get involved in ORLA's leadership teams in Portland, please reach out to me at [email protected]. | Makenzie Marineau 

On July 27, Portland Downtown Clean & Safe in partnership with ORLA hosted a Hotel & Restaurant Safety Summit at The Nines hotel. Nearly 50 hospitality industry members were in attendance and armed with concerns and questions. Guest panelists represented the Portland Police Bureau, Portland mayor’s office, District Attorney’s office and Multnomah County. Guests acknowledged the importance of continuing these types of meetings to bring us together and provide a bigger voice, suggesting we need to express it more directly and frequently.

During the meeting Andrew Fitzpatrick, the Director of Economic Development in the mayor’s office, made a commitment to being a contact from the city to share updates and respond to concerns from our industry. As a follow up to the discussion last week, Fitzpatrick shared with ORLA an update on the current work being done by the city to help move solutions forward:

1. All hotel and restaurant representatives are encouraged to consider joining the downtown problem-solvers meetings, which include a diverse group of other stakeholders focused on solutions to similar challenges. This meeting takes place online every other Wednesday at 11am. Email Makenzie at [email protected] to request a calendar invite.
2. The timelines document summarizes key activities the City, under the Mayor’s leadership, is pursuing to comprehensively and urgently address homelessness, safety, and livability issues – this document also includes implementation timelines.
3. The city is seeking the re-deployment of additional Portland Police Bureau (PPB) officers from other precincts into Central Precinct and will soon be authorizing double overtime to encourage the uptake of additional patrol shifts in the central city. They are looking at ways of leveraging public resources for investments in increased private security patrols to help mitigate the gap from current PPB staffing shortage. More to come on this.
4. PPB will continue to make its near daily arrests of drug dealers as well as partnering with specialty units for maximum impact in the city’s core.
5. In addition to PPB and private security, the mayor’s office is currently negotiating an expanded contract for Urban Alchemy to provide a prosocial presence in the downtown core to dissuade the sort of unacceptable activity currently taking place at 6th and Harvey Milk, for example. As most know, Urban Alchemy is the service provider who is managing the TASS (temporary alternative shelter sites) and one of our safe rest villages.  
6. The Public Environment Management Office (PEMO) has been meeting with local hotel managers to identify locations for bus and valet parking that would help attract revenue. Those asks are being delivered to Portland Bureau of Transportation (PBOT) and Commissioner Mapps’ office currently.  
7. PBOT has significantly increased security personnel and cleanings at SmartPark garages downtown to improve safety for employees, visitors, tenant businesses and surrounding neighborhoods.  
8. The Mayor’s Central City Recovery Plan summarizes the specific programs and activities that are being executed to revitalize the urban core, especially as it relates to safety and livability.
9. The City agrees with comments made that, in addition to PPB staffing and other visible security resources for the central city, positive foot traffic is critically important to reinforce positive activity and safety. Portland will continue to make investments into public events and activations, encouraging employers and employees to return to work, and into partnerships with Travel Portland to market and promote our downtown as a destination.  

​We will continue to communicate and share the work and progress that is being made within the city as we all work together to further improve the safety and wellbeing, and overall rejuvenation of the City of Portland and Multnomah County.