TMMPDX Marketing Innovators Podcast Series: Green Marketing and Sustainability Consultant Michelle Hippler

Sustainability by definition relies on a status quo if input equals output. Growth is not a factor and often can be viewed as a purely negative factor.

Boulder, Colorado for example, has limited building permits within city limits for a few decades. By design, they have chosen not to become another Denver.

Adding one million more residents to Portland , OR will not create a quaity of life addition for anyone, except out of state contractors, builders, and architects…and building owners! What benefit does a high rise condo project in SW Riverfront help someone in SW or NE Portland? Most constructioon workers are from out of state!

Existing problems of homelessness (most are not even from Oregon), limited parking, poor schools, noise, high housing costs, unemployment, etc are to many would be immigrants, negatives to overcome as much as moving to Detroit, MI. As a former person from Michigan from 1999 – 2006, Portland has many more issues to over come, than Detroit.

Bent,

You’re absolutely right that inputs and outputs need to be equal and it will be interesting to see what happens in Portland. I’m one of those recent immigrants to PDX, though I lived here from 97-99 and knew how livable the city was, so I’ve only been listening to the recent city conversation since February. My impression is that while Portland is trying to position itself as an eco-city people should visit to learn how to do city planning right, it is not necessarily marketing themselves as a place for people to come and live. That is happening without any city marketing. I fully expect New Yorkers to become increasingly suspect as their numbers increase here, like California transplants in Montana (they’re greatly resented by natives).

But the growth will happen no matter what. The planning that is happening is meant to mitigate that growth. Portland is suffering from their success: by offering a good quality of life, they are attracting more people, which threatens to diminish that quality of life. I often wonder if the homeless are attracted to this city for the same reasons: PDX offers better than most others. I don’t know.

The high-end development on the waterfront and in the Pearl District and downtown are all results of the developing party that started in the late 90′s. Remember the Pearl back then? That party is over. The economic downturn and the housing collapse were a correction on the systems that were built on delusion. Nobody thinks about the hangover when they’re in the throes of the party, but my sense is that this hangover is bad enough for people to start changing behaviors, especially developers and city planners. Already a baseball diamond and a convention hotel have been rejected in the last couple months. Two years ago they would have been green-lighted and put on the fast track.

But I have to say that Portland is better positioned, planning-wise, than a city like Detroit that for too long depended on a single delusional and unsustainable industry (I lived in Michigan from 94 to 97). Michiganders more than any other US citizen sees their car as a symbol of their status and personal freedom. Building efficient transportation systems has never been on the agenda. Portland has high unemployment now, but houses are not selling for $10 as in parts of Detroit. Portland attracts innovative people, and innovative people tend to make their own way and not rely upon their employer to take care of them and their pension. But even the Wall Street Journal warned today in the Oregonian that “As nice as it may be to live in Portland…you can only sleep on someone’s couch for so long. At some point, you have to get a job.” link: http://tinyurl.com/ybgtlc6

I agree that Portland has its share of problems that are likely to become chronic if they aren’t already, but my limited understanding of the causes tends to blame the poor taxing strategies (if that’s what they can be called) and poor state leadership. Coupled with obstinate voters, you get poor schools, etc., etc. Just my thoughts as a newcomer to the city and state.