October 2, 2007

Portland Harbor Remediation Report To Be Rolled Out October 3

Robert Colangelo, CEO of the National Brownfield Associations (NBA), will lead the first discussion of a report on the remediation of the Portland Harbor, brownfield sites and other contaminated lands.  The meeting will take place on Wednesday, October 3, from 9:30 to 11:00 a.m. at the World Trade Center in downtown Portland, 121 SW Salmon Street, Building Two Auditorium.

Together, the Portland Development Commission, the City of Portland’s Bureau of Planning and Bureau of Environmental Services, Columbia Corridor Association, METRO, Oregon Economic and Community Development Department, Portland General Electric, and the Port of Portland engaged the National Brownfield Associations to perform the analysis of redevelopment of the Harbor and adjacent lands which make up the Portland industrial sanctuary.  The work was completed under the NBA’s Site Technical Assistance for a Municipal Project (STAMP) program.

The STAMP program is based on the theory of rapid cognition presented in the book Blink by Malcolm Gladwell, wherein thin-slicing of information and first impressions can offer a better means of making sense of the world.  “NBA has found STAMP to be an effective way to help a municipality receive a quick objective analysis from an outside perspective – a chance to look at their development situation with a fresh set of ideas that are not constrained by the past,” says Colangelo.

According to Corky Collier, executive director of the Columbia Corridor Association, the STAMP report came about when a few individuals working for businesses and public agencies concerned about the Portland Harbor got together to discuss ways to bring industrial sites impacted by contamination back into productive use.  “We knew we didn’t have the answers,” Collier says. “Asking NBA to bring the STAMP team to town seemed to be our best hope for jump-starting harbor redevelopment on vacant, contaminated sites.”

The October 3 discussion will include an introduction of the project by PDC Senior Economic Development Manager Seth Hudson, a presentation of the STAMP recommendations by Robert Colangelo and Charlie Bartsch, vice president of ICF International in Washington, D.C. and a member of the STAMP expert team; and testimonials by champions of the report.

# # #

Contact information for partners in the STAMP report process:

• Portland Development Commission – Seth Hudson, 503-823-9066
• City of Portland Bureau of Planning – Clark Henry, 503-823-5863
• City  of Portland Bureau of Environmental Serv. – Rick Applegate, 503-823-7094
• Columbia Corridor Association – Corky Collier, (503) 287-8686
• METRO –Chris Deffebach, 503-797-1921
• Portland General Electric – Charlie Allcock, 503-464-7694
• Port of Portland - Martha Richmond, 503-944-7061 
• Oregon Economic and Community Dev. Dept – Mike Salsgiver, 503-229-6050

for PDC's News & Information E-Mail Lists
Archive of sent E-Mails
Unsubscribe from our E-Mail Lists