04.09.13: Your Morning Buzz

The High Five

The Completely Puzzling Relationship Between City Population and Parks – Why do some cities – and neighborhoods – have so much more “urban nature” than others?
Should We Be Zoning With Crime in Mind? If residential areas are safer than commercial ones, it would seem so.
How Government Helped Turn Portland Entrepreneurial – In 1973, Oregon Governor Tom McCall established growth management legislation that has profoundly affected the evolution of Portland, the state’s largest city. Now Portland is a boiling pot of collaboration, innovation, and entrepreneurship, nestled in a backdrop of lush green. This picture could have looked much different if the city’s urban renewal and economic development agency, Portland Development Commission (PDC), hadn’t pushed entrepreneurialism.
Houston Rising—Why the Next Great American Cities Aren’t What You Think – While urbanists and developers tout the oldest and priciest American cities, they ignore or deplore the real growth that’s happening in more spread-out urban newbies, writes demographer Joel Kotkin.
New Orleans: America’s Next Great Innovation Hub? In the wrinkled edifices of the French Quarter and the worn-out storefront walls along Canal Street, a legacy of decay in New Orleans intrudes on the mossy city. It is a sense of things that have nearly fallen apart and stayed nearly-fallen-apart for decades.

4-1-1 on E-L-G-L

N ewest ELGL Member: Zach Henkin, Oregon City, Planning Commissioner

Upcoming ELGL Forums: April 11: Greg Baker, Damascus City Manager and April 17: K.L. Wombacher, Hillsboro Hops General Manager

Weekly Reader – Top 5 Blog Posts of the Week

I’m Just a Bill

Bill Would Ban Arbitrators from Ordering Portland to Rehire Cops Fired for Excessive Force – A new bill, filed last week, would prevent police unions from turning to state arbitrators to reinstate Portland Police officers fired for excessive force.

Oregon lawmakers aim to raise $275 million in taxes on wealthy, corporations – Oregon Democrats want to tax high-earners and corporations to fill a $275 million hole in their proposed state budget.

Washougal council votes to oppose CRC – Resolution calls project too costly, call for more cost-effective option.

Obama Invokes Newtown Dead in Pressing for New Gun Laws – As President Obama gave an impassioned speech in Connecticut, Republicans on Capitol Hill were threatening to prevent a gun-control measure from even coming up for debate.

Oregon Senate Republicans push job-creation bills – The Senate Finance and Revenue Committee held a hearing Monday on concepts pushed by Senate Republicans to grow jobs in Oregon. The committee took testimony on bills that would allow for accelerated depreciation of business assets needed to expand a business.

Drone regulation; state microbe: Oregon Legislature today – The Legislature gets down to the business of regulating drones Tuesday with a work session on House Bill 2710.

Medical marijuana shops would be state sanctioned under Oregon House bill – Oregon is home to a booming medical marijuana retail industry, where the state’s estimated 53,000 patients can walk into a club or collective with cash and walk out with cannabis.

Fiscal Cliff

Clark County works out a way to refund parks parking fees – More than 600 people also have option to donate.

Nonprofit promotes city arts tax as payment deadline nears – Portland nonprofit Creative Advocacy Network says that thanks to the city’s new arts tax, 100 percent of Portland Public Schools elementary students will have access to art, music, dance or drama classes at their schools next year.

City survey: Public safety is No. 1 budget priority so far – Public safety is the No. 1 budget priority, according to Klamath Falls residents responding to a city survey looking for feedback on the upcoming budget season.

No Lawyer for 100 Country Miles, So One Rural State Offers Pay – With rural Americans increasingly underserved by legal firms, South Dakota has enacted a financial inducement that could become a model.

A Governor Retrenches on a Big Idea – Gov. Bobby Jindal of Louisiana announced that he would shelve a plan to get rid of state income and corporate taxes, saying that he was listening to those who had expressed concerns.

$384,949 in public funds to study the private parts of ducks? Patricia Brennan answers critics of her duck genitalia research grant by promoting weird science.

Inside Portlandia

City Suspends and Fires Inspectors Accused of Brunching on the Job – The Bureau of Development Services has suspended most of its top electrical inspectors and fired one after allegations they were meeting for brunches at a Northwest Industrial District diner while they were supposed to be examining the wiring on commercial construction projects.City officials confirmed on Monday that a complaint they received Nov. 30 about long breaks is under investigation, but declined to offer details on what they termed an active personnel matter.

Positively Clackamas files election violation complaint against Clackamas County over Portland-Milwaukie light rail vote – A pro-light rail political action committee filed a state complaint against Clackamas County over a May 21 special election ballot measure, right on the heels of a ballot title challenge in court.

Businesses sue to block Sunrise highway project – Clackamas property owners followed through with their threat to hold up the $1.4 billion “Sunrise” project to build a new highway between Highway 224 and 162nd Avenue by filing a lawsuit against the Oregon Department of Transportation.

Outside Portlandia

Council taps Gorayeb as city manager – A divided city council has selected Andrew Gorayeb as the “limited duration” city manager for a period of four months.

Tracking tourism – Lane County looks ahead to another strong summer season

Three firms are finalists for Eugene City Hall design – The finalists, picked from seven firms that applied for the work, are Robertson Sherwood Architects and Rowell Brokaw Architects, both of Eugene, and THA Architecture of Portland.

Police say property unit audit will lead to changes – The department plans to use the report to improve the operation, which has lost track of 1,116 items.

County takes on building code role in Sisters – As of last month, the Deschutes County Building Safety Division has assumed responsibility for plan reviews and inspections of all projects in the City of Sisters for compliance with the state building code.

Career Center

Job Hoppers: Don’t Forget Saving – As 20-something workers move around, focusing on the long term can be tough.

In Oregon, women earn 22 percent less in full-time jobs than men, report says – Women in Oregon earn 22 percent less working full time than men, says a new study from a national workplace rights group.

Arggggh! American workers are at a breaking point – A whopping 83 percent of American workers said they are stressed out by at least one thing at work, up sharply from 73 percent in 2012, according to a survey by Harris Interactive for Everest College.

So, We’re Going to Hire a Millennial…For one, their expectations walking in the door are different than any other generation we’ve seen in the past. Where Baby Boomers and Gen Xers came to us believing they had to put in their time to “earn” various elements of compensation or benefits, Millennials expect those up front. Remember, many Millennials have grown up in a world where an effort produces an immediate result or reward. The idea of having to wait for rewards can be both foreign and frustrating for them.

Social Network

@BarackObama is not who you think he is – You probably know that the president of the United States doesn’t run his own Twitter account, but it turns out that President Obama’s campaign staff doesn’t control @BarackObama anymore, either.

Twitter users clueless about who Margaret Thatcher was – If you don’t know who Margaret Thatcher was, think of her as the British equivalent of Ronald Reagan. Both spent the 1980s leading a major English-speaking world power (she was prime minister of the United Kingdom, he the president of the United States), and both were considerably more conservative than their predecessors. That’s why, to this day, they’re both utterly loathed by the political left wings of their respective countries.

Here’s What Government Is Vine-ing About – Government-friendly terms of service inked by the General Services Administration and Twitter cleared the way last week for U.S. agencies to post six-second Vine videos without fear of violating any rules.