SUSTAINABLE EDGE IN PORTLAND, OREGON

In Business, January-February, 2006, Vol. 28, No. 1, p. 10

A combination of City initiatives and grass roots efforts promotes green building, ecoinvestment funds, neighborhood involvement projects, recycled building materials, bike lanes, alternative transportation, renewable energy, local food, composting and recycling.

Amy Stork

PORTLAND, OREGON cut its teeth on citizen commitment to sustainability in the 1970s, when activists blocked a freeway that would have sliced through historic neighborhoods. Bright young politicians lobbied to shift the funds that would have built the freeway into public transportation infrastructure and other projects. The money made Portland's first light rail line possible in 1986, and opened the door to new ways of thinking about how to shape a city.
Portland's legacy of bold environmental policy continues. In 1993, the city became the first local government in the U.S. to adopt a plan to address global warming. It is also one of only a handful of cities that have set a target for reducing all city emissions rather than those associated just with local government. Since its climate change plan was introduced, Portland has bucked the national trend, reducing per capita emissions of greenhouse gases by 13 percent and keeping total emissions essentially flat despite economic and population growth.
A combination of government initiatives and citizen passion may be the unique recipe that has made Portland so successful. For each effort launched by the Office of Sustainable Development or other city bureaus, there is an equally strong grass roots effort that lends sparkle to what might otherwise be seen as a bureaucratic push.

BUILT GREEN FROM TOP TO BOTTOM
Perhaps the most tangible example of the dynamic combination of government initiative and citizen action is the green building movement in Portland.
In 1998, the city created the Office of Sustainable Development and within it the G/Rated green-building program. The program communicates with homeowners, builders and suppliers to encourage connections between building green and economic development. Policy-level work has included requiring all City buildings and buildings financed through the Portland Development Commission (the city's economic development agency) be certified with the U.S. Green Building Council's Leadership in Energy & Environmental Design (LEED) Gold standards. Today, Portland has more LEED certified buildings than any other North American city. In November 2004, Portland's convention center hosted more than 7,500 people for the 2004 U.S. Green Building Council conference.
In 2001, Portland also created the first green investment fund, doling out $800,000 for 74 cutting-edge trial projects from green roofs (rooftop plantings that absorb rainwater and regulate building temperature) to innovative HVAC systems to reduce energy use in commercial buildings. In the fall of 2004, the City announced a renewal of the fund with $500,000 a year in grants for the next five years.
Meanwhile across the Willamette River on Portland's east side - the very neighborhood that would have been slashed by the doomed Mt. Hood Freeway - a young architect and his friends were experimenting with creating new neighborhood gathering places and reducing human impact on natural systems. Mark Lakeman and his neighbors launched the City Repair Project in 1996, with the aim of creating public spaces designed with creativity, artistry, and compassion. Most of City Repair's projects focus on what they call “Intersection Repair,” which turns intersections into gathering places with painted streets, corner kiosks and small tea houses. After a few initial hitches, the City embraced the idea, and City Repair has become a model for citizen-driven neighborhood improvements.
City Repair Project was also the impetus for the Village Building Convergence, an annual gathering dedicated to “the Restoration of Communication and Sharing, Working Together to Rebuild our Common Culture, and to Transform the City into a Network of Ecological Village Places.” During one week each spring, natural building enthusiasts take on up to a dozen neighborhood projects, from public benches to backyard saunas built from straw, 'cob' or reclaimed material.
And in North Portland, the nonprofit ReBuilding Center offers reclaimed materials from two-by-fours to kitchen cabinets - and uses the profits to fund “neighborhood conversations” meant to open channels of communication between all residents of the rapidly gentrifying neighborhood.

“VOTE FOR THE RECUMBENT”
Repeatedly named the “Best Bicycling City in North America” by Bicycling magazine, Portland also leads the way in promoting and enabling alternatives to the personal automobile. In addition to a light rail system that connects east, west and north suburbs to the downtown core, the city boasts a streetcar connecting downtown to residential and commercial districts, and nearly 700 miles of bike lanes and off-street bike paths. A 2004 report titled “The Young and the Restless: How Portland Competes for Talent” found that Portland tallies the nation's eighth-fastest growth rate among 25- to 34-year-olds regardless of education, in part because young people are attracted by public transportation, attitudes toward bicyclists, distinctive neighborhoods and independent businesses.
Commitment to alternative transportation parallels green building in its mix of grass roots and policy elements. Oregon state law requires that “reasonable amounts” of state highway funds be expended by the Department of Transportation, counties and cities to provide walkways and bikeways.
The results are evident, with census data showing that commuting on foot and bike increased almost 10 percent between 1990 and 2000 while rates of people driving alone have decreased. Each day, over 10,000 cyclists cross the four most popular bridges leading into downtown Portland. This number has tripled in the past decade, while auto traffic on the same bridges hasn't increased at all.
Bicyclists are seen rain and shine in the Rose City, and have even spawned a distinct subculture that includes events such as: free monthly breakfast for bike commuters heading into downtown and the annual Bridge Pedal, where thousands of riders take over the city's dozen bridges.
Tom Potter, a former Portland police chief who ran successfully for mayor in the fall of 2004, actively courted the bicycling vote with weekly rides and t-shirts sporting the slogan “Vote for the Recumbent.” (The Mayor himself rides one of the unusual feet-first bikes.)
Transportation currently accounts for over 40 percent of local greenhouse gas emissions in Portland and is therefore a critical area for action. Besides encouragement of alternative transportation, Portland is using carbon-offset funding to retime traffic signals and improve traffic flows on local roads-limiting unnecessary braking, acceleration and idling and thus reducing emissions from vehicles. City vehicle fleets have also changed. The City has purchased more than 30 highly fuel efficient hybrid vehicles since 2001,and was the first major U.S. city to outsource many of its motor fleet needs to a carsharing company, Flexcar, Inc.
Indeed, on a per capita basis, more hybrid vehicles are sold in the Portland area than anywhere else in the U.S. Overall, per capita gasoline use has fallen almost 10 percent since 1990, contributing over $40 million annually to the local economy.

ONE PERSON'S TRASH
Much of Portland's innovation in the world of solid waste and recycling comes from its strong partnership with Metro, the unique regional government serving a three county area. Metro has worked doggedly to reduce the waste stream by helping local municipalities maximize recovery of major garbage inputs such as construction debris, organics and paper. The City of Portland boasts an overall recycling rate of nearly 55 percent (one of the highest in the nation) with a goal of reaching 60 percent this year.
In January 2005, the City and Metro launched Portland Composts!, a voluntary program for food businesses to contract for hauling of food waste including food soiled paper, plate waste and meat and dairy scraps. The launch represents a breakthrough in public-private partnerships, after a long search for a private firm to provide the composting services at the level desired by the regional government. Although the collected waste is currently being shipped to a facility in Washington State, a composting plant will locate in Portland within 18 months. Composting is expected to take a significant chunk out of the nearly 30 percent of Portland's waste stream that is made up of organic material.
Even trash inspires passion in Portland. Located in a nondescript warehouse on a busy street, the School and Community Reuse Action Project - known as SCRAP - collects reuseable items from local businesses and distributes them to educators, artists, families and kids. On Saturday mornings, the space teems with children and their parents, Do-It-Yourselfers and teachers on the prowl for everything from empty film canisters to fabric scraps. The truly dedicated, meanwhile, can become certified “Master Recyclers” through an eight-week course offered by the City's Office of Sustainable Development and a consortium of regional jurisdictions in exchange for a commitment to education and outreach voluntarism.
The young women of Portland have even taken to recycling last season's fashions at so-called “Naked Lady” clothing exchanges. The parties bring women together to clean out closets and swap old duds, then donate whatever is left to a shelter or thrift store.

100% RENEWABLE BY 2010
Energy efficiency has always been a priority for Portland. Within the city government, an energy management program called City Energy Challenge has reduced the City's energy bill by $14 million since 1991. Recently the City finished converting its traffic signals to highly efficient LED bulbs, an improvement that saves almost five million kWh and over $500,000 annually in energy and maintenance costs.
This energy efficiency work has been extended to the residential and business communities via the Energy Trust of Oregon. Founded in 2000, the Trust administers energy efficiency and renewable energy programs for customers of the region's utilities. In its first two years, the Trust provided energy efficiency incentives to over 200 businesses and 14,000 Portland households generating annual bill savings of $1.5 million.
In addition to work on energy efficiency, Portland's Local Action Plan on Global Warming sets aggressive goals for renewable resources, instructing the City to acquire 100 percent of its energy needs from renewable sources by 2010. Current renewable energy purchased stands at around 11 percent. The City is currently negotiating with a private sector partner to provide the remainder of the City's power needs from new renewables resources generated in Oregon.

FRESH LOCAL FOOD
Bicycling may be fun and trash can be cool, but nothing gets Portlanders more excited than fresh local food. The city is rife with farmers markets. Dozens of Community Supported Agriculture farms sell yearly or seasonal produce subscriptions, delivering baskets of picked that day veggies to drop-off sites in various neighborhoods. Everything from pizza to tofu comes in organic - and widespread demand for what might be “specialty” foods in another town, helps keep costs competitive.
The City of Portland and Multnomah County formed a citizens' Food Policy Council in 2002. Through its work in health, economic development, recreation programs, solid waste, purchasing and urban planning, the City and County can influence how food gets from the farm to the table and how food waste gets back to nature. Council projects have included working with local prisons to purchase more food from local farmers, holding workshops to help immigrant farmers connect to marketing opportunities, and conducting food security research in low income communities. A recent report titled “The Diggable City” inventories land owned by the City which might be used for small-scale agriculture or community gardens.

LET IT RAIN
Portland's generous helping of winter rain sends billions of gallons of stormwater into the city's sewer system a dozen or more times each winter, leading to overflow into the Willamette River. To combat the problem, Portland is building two “big pipe” projects to divert stormwater, and new regulations mandate that all new buildings manage all runoff on site. Bioswales - plantings that filter or absorb rainwater - are visible at many commercial buildings including the Oregon Convention Center. And lawns sport signs proclaiming “I disconnected my downspouts to protect Portland rivers.”
LOOKING FORWARD
Both clouds and sun are on the horizon for sustainability efforts in the City of Roses. A ballot measure passed by voters in November 2004 stipulates that property owners must be compensated for any loss of land value due to regulation. The new law is being contested in the courts, but is sure to result in some changes to the state's hallmark land use rules. Despite the bicycling and transit numbers, vehicle miles traveled in the Portland area are on the rise. And funding challenges are hitting both city and state agencies.
Nonetheless, the City of Portland continues to take on new challenges. The Water Bureau is moving towards running all its vehicles on “B100”, 100 percent biodiesel fuel. More bike lanes go down with every street repair project. Businesses and local government agencies are coming together to formulate a broad economic development strategy leveraging Portland's green image and status to attract and grow companies. And the people of Portland are living proof that things can be done differently.

Amy Stork is a Communications Specialist with Portland's Office of Sustainable Development. Visit the website at www.sustainableportland.org. She can be e-mailed at astork@ci.portland.or.us.

Copyright 2007, The JG Press, Inc.