and yes, i think change is good. where do you live darepdx? westside? your url is nwrepublican.blogspot.com so i can only assume you live in gresham or maybe even clark county. hmmmm i actually live up here. 2 blocks off n. interstate. i’m young, i bought a house at a great price and i do want to see change. the motels on n. interstate are crap, utter horror and they all cater to drug dealers and prostitutes. now, if just one pdx project could get some other developer with some deep pockets to come in and raise one of the motels and put up something else, then yes darn it, i support change.

Change for the sake of change isn’t necessarily good. Many project pursued in North Portland have caused much more problems than help to the community and did so at the expense of tax payers. The downtown of St. Johns was decimated by an urban renewal plan in the 70’s that rerouted traffic (over a dozen businesses closed or relocated with seven years after the projects completion).

Also, did you know that the PDC monies used to pursue these projects is taken directly from property tax revenues that would go to state coffers. So, any time you see a PDC urban renewal project you see another multimillion dollar leach on our schools that can’t fully fund ourselves. Thats one of the reasons Jack Bodanski is so critical of these projects (he’s a tax attorney).

You make the decision of your priorities Diesel. I’m confident that NoPo offers enough just with the community that the lot will develop itself without huge sweet heart deals (Nike Town and the Addidas HQ defintly did). That is if the PDC will sell it without unreasonable strings attatched that then force the need for a subsidy.