Governor’s Office and Union Pacific to partner on trash, graffiti clean up
Portland, OR—Today, Governor Tina Kotek and Co-Chair Dan McMillan, president and CEO of The Standard, reported progress on the Portland Central City Task Force’s goals following its third meeting.
Following up on a recommendation that came out of the Task Force’s Livable Neighborhoods, Governor Kotek shared today that her office is taking immediate action to partner with Union Pacific (UP) to invest in trash and graffiti abatement along UP rights of way. The Governor’s office and UP are currently working to identify priority areas for clean-up.
“We need everyone to keep stepping up with good ideas and real commitments. That’s how we will get things done and start to see meaningful progress,” Governor Kotek said. “Our task force and committee members are working hard to refine and prioritize their recommendations, which I expect to include action items for the City, County, State, and business community to carry forward.”
“Since convening in August, we have put together in the same room a diverse group of leaders – over 120 people in fact – many of whom have never met or worked together, and who frankly don’t always agree,” Co-Chair McMillan said. “We’re leaving these conversations with broad agreement and a sense of urgency to invest in the things we love about this city and the things we need to fix.”
The bulk of the work of the task force has been done through committees, which focus on the following areas: Central City Value Proposition, Livable Neighborhoods, Community Safety, Housing and Homelessness, and Taxes for Services. The task force is on track to make its official recommendations at the December 11 Leadership Summit.
In addition to action items that address their respective issue areas, the task force will produce a publicly available report that illustrates their work and recommendations in conjunction with a presentation at the December 11 Summit.
Committees will continue meeting between now and December to finalize recommendations. In September, the task force published a questionnaire requesting community members to weigh in on their top issues in Portland’s Central City as well as what would compel them to return downtown. More than 9,000 people participated. Click here for a summary of the results.
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