Jitneys, Uber and Deja Vu
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LASSOING THE LAUGHS Cowboy comedian ropes ’em in at Umbrella Festival — SEE LIFE, B10 PortlandTUESDAY, MARCH 31, 2015 • TWICE CHOSEN THE NATION’S BEST NONDAILY PAPERTTribune • PORTLANDTRIBUNE.COMrib • PUBLISHEDu TUESDAYn AND THURSDAYe Senate removes HQ hotel hurdle Convention Center head- the street from the center it owns without asking voters to approve Bill approved to build quarters hotel moved back and operates. But opponents them. The bill now goes to the convention center inn to Salem last Wednesday, have kept the $212 million project Oregon House, where it will be where the state Senate tied up in the courts for years by referred to a committee for one without voter OK approved a bill to help it get challenging Metro’s legal ability or more hearings. built. to build such a project without “The Oregon Convention Cen- By JIM REDDEN The Oregon Legislature had voter approval. ter hotel project is a fantastic op- The Tribune previously approved $10 million Senate Bill 927 passed by a portunity to create 3,000 jobs, in state lottery funds for the ho- vote of 20-10. It confi rms Metro’s The saga of the Oregon tel that Metro wants built across authority to build such projects See HOTEL / Page 2 TRIBUNE FILE PHOTO Intel’s investment agreements have made Washington County the largest recipient of state funds under the Gain Share program, which Oregon lawmakers are reviewing. Bills put Gain Share funds in crosshairs three years under Gain Share Plan could limit — and half of that amount was paid about a year ago. Wash- state- nanced tax ington County signed a new agreement with Intel, their breaks to counties fi fth, last summer. One critic says none of the By PETER WONG three bills goes far enough. Capital Bureau “We believe Gain Share was a mistake,” Jody Wiser of Tax Legislators are reviewing Fairness Oregon testified whether the state budget Wednesday to the Senate Fi- should continue to offset nance and Revenue Commit- property tax breaks by tee. counties for “You should end it, and none large-scale in- of these bills does that. We pre- vestments, fer that it be repealed out- such as Intel right.” and Genen- But James McCauley, who tech in Hills- spoke for Washington County, boro and says all of Oregon benefits wind farms in from Gain Share, which cou- Eastern Ore- ples property tax breaks for gon. large-scale investment with A negotiat- BURDICK state funds that partly offset ed compro- those losses to counties. mise may be “It’s something, honestly, placed this that should be replicated and week in front looked at for other investment of the Senate opportunities that are in place Finance and right now,” McCauley told the Revenue Com- lawmakers. mittee, which He says other current eco- PHOTOS COURTESY OF RICHARD THOMPSON last week nomic development incentives, Portlanders depended on streetcars to get around town a century ago. Then hundreds of people turned heard three such as enterprise zones and their cars into unregulated taxis, raising cries of unfair competition with the streetcar system. bills to scale HASS urban renewal, involve only re- back direct ductions or freezes in local payments to Washington property taxes. County. Unless the law is changed, The county has received 99 Washington County stands to percent of the nearly $75 mil- lion paid out during the fi rst See FUNDS / Page 3 Jitneys, Uber and deja vu head business model. Both fl aunted city ordi- Today’s cab wars nothing nances, hoping to force their way into the market by currying public support via lower Knight Challenge new: Look what happened wait times and prices. “You might say history is sort of repeating a century ago itself; now it’s the taxis that are threatened and in those days it was the streetcar may cure biotech ills By STEVE LAW companies,” says Richard Thompson, The Tribune a retired Portlander who has written Portland professor John Down. TRIB four books on the history of local Genentech to add “Four years ago, putting pub- As Uber tries to bully its way into streetcars and rail lines. 100 more jobs at lic resources toward the biosci- Portland’s heavily regulated taxi SERIES As Portland city commissioners ence sector, as opposed to the market, the $40 billion juggernaut FIRST OF and regulators fi gure out how to deal apparel cluster, was hotly debat- and its fans portray it as the wave of TWO PARTS with Uber in the coming weeks, and cancer drug facility ed,” said Down, who is Associate the future. perhaps legalize it, the city’s history professor of strategy and entre- That may be, but in many respects with jitneys offers many parallels and By JOSEPH GALLIVAN preneurship at the University of Uber is more like a blast from the past — eeri- cautionary tales. The Tribune Portland’s Pamplin School of ly similar to the jitneys that trolled Portland One of the lessons from that history is ap- Business. streets a century ago. parent to Thompson: “When it’s survival of Cancer drug company Ge- “We don’t have to have billions Uber lets people use their private car as a the fi ttest, it doesn’t always work.” nentech’s expansion in Hills- in venture capital” like such plac- taxi, hailed by customers on smartphones fi t- boro should be a boost for es as Boston, Silicon Valley and ted with Uber’s app. Exactly 100 years ago, Challenging status quo Portland’s biotech sector, Seattle, he said. “But things like hundreds of Portlanders bought used cars At the dawn of World War I, the Portland which has seemed to be on life this will set the tone.” Down be- and began using them as do-it-yourself taxis, Railway, Light and Power Co. was the biggest support since Mayor Vera lieves the Knight Challenge can dubbed jitneys. property owner in town, a monopoly granted Katz’s 2001 promise of 10,000 swing the pendulum toward Uber, like jitney drivers long ago, seeks to a city franchise to operate on fi xed streetcar biotech jobs in South Water- making Portland’s bioscience disrupt the prevailing transportation system front. cluster viable, and the Genen- with a freewheeling, unregulated, low-over- See JITNEYS / Page 2 However, the impending bil- tech expansion is more “momen- lion-dollar bonus of the OHSU tum in that direction.” Knight Cancer Challenge could Genentech announced last be the trigger for more biotech week it is expanding within the development, says University of shell of its Hillsboro facility, spending $125 million to add to its sterile production operations and add up to 100 new skilled manufacturing jobs over the See GENENTECH / Page 3 “Pamplin Media Group’s pledge is to Portland Tribune deliver balanced news that re ects the ICE RIVALRY stories of our communities. Thank you — SEE SPORTS, PAGE B1 for reading our newspapers.” Inside — DR. ROBERT B. PAMPLIN JR. OWNER & NEIGHBOR VS. SEVERE WEATHER WARNING FOR THIS STORM SYSTEM IS GONNA BLOW YOU AWAY FRIDAY APRIL 3 MID LEVEL VOODOO DOUGHNUTS 7pm at MODA CENTER ONLY $ 503.773.4235 4 SIDELINE TICKETS 4 $5 GIFT CERTIFICATES 68 portlandthunder.com THERE WILL BE HATERS. *AVAILABLE WHILE SUPPLIES LAST 512078.033015 A2 NEWS The Portland Tribune Tuesday, March 31, 2015 Hotel: Lodging tax to fund bonds ■ be privately built, owned and operated, The hotel would be owned and oper- From page 1 but subsidized with public construc- ated by Hyatt Hotels. Once it opens, the tion and operating funds. Metro plans company would be able to use the boost the state’s tourism economy, and to sell $60 million in revenue bonds to Multnomah County transient lodging leverage private investment in the met- help pay for the construction, and an taxes generated at the hotel to finance ropolitan region,” said Sen. Chuck Ri- additional $18 million in other public the bonds. ley (D-Hillsboro), who carried the bill grants and loans have been identified The Multnomah County Commis- on the floor. “An independent analysis for the project. The development team sion has amended its policies govern- cited by Metro shows that this project will put up the rest of the money. ing transient lodging taxes for that to will generate $5.6 million in new state Opponents include several existing happen. Opponents tried to refer that tax revenues and $4.7 million in new lo- hotel owners in the Portland region. vote to the ballot, but a Multnomah cal tax revenues annually. These are They argue the project puts the public County judge ruled it was an adminis- revenues that will help support our at risk financially, but Metro President trative decision that cannot be re- Artists schools, our public safety, and future Tom Hughes says they simply don’t ferred. Opponents also have appealed rendering of the economic development endeavors.” want the competition. that decision to the Oregon Court of Headquarters Metro, the elected regional govern- The opponents challenged Metro’s Appeals. Hotel that Metro ment in the Portland area, argues a authority to help finance the hotel in Before agreeing on the financing wants built next 600-room hotel with special features to both the Multnomah and Clackamas plan, a labor peace agreement was to the oregon appeal to convention-goers will in- county courts. Judges in both counties signed between Hyatt and the union convention crease the number of large conven- ruled in Metro’s favor, but the oppo- representing workers. Construction is tions held at the center every year. The nents appealed those decisions to the planned to begin in fall 2015 and be center.