Racking up sales YOUR ONLINE LOCAL Netminder Recycling auto racks big biz DAILY NEWS Hawks’ Burke settles in — See SUSTAINABLE LIFE, C1 www.portlandtribune.com — See SPORTS, B10 PortlandPTHURSDAY, SEPTEMBER 13, 2012 • TWICE CHOSEN THE NATION’S BEST NONDAILYTribune PAPER • WWW.PORTLANDTRIBUNE.COM • PUBLISHED THURSDAY Counties, cities hit in rebate (P)RETIREMENT’S debate Local leaders balk as lawmaker seeks cuts NEW FRONTIER to job creation fund By JIM REDDEN The Tribune An infl uential Portland-ar- ea legislator thinks local and regional governments are owed too much money from state income taxes collected as part of their econom- ic develop- ment efforts. State Sen. Ginny Burdick, who repre- sents South- west Portland and parts of BURDICK Washington County, wants the 2013 Legislature to recon- sider how the state repays cit- ies, counties and special dis- tricts that waive their property taxes to attract new jobs. The state ■ Study focuses on city’s young creatives — economic saviors or slackers has not made “We’re not any such pay- he key thing to understand about Ev- But Jones isn’t lazy in his between job pre- ments yet be- an Jones is that he doesn’t lack ambi- tirement phases. He is, in fact, usually very asking for a cause of a pos- tion. It only looks like he does. busy in his home offi ce programming comput- handout. sible legal T A Southeast Portland resident, er-controlled machines that can carve out glitch in the Jones, who moved to Portland 15 years ago, three-dimensional structures. We entered program cre- admits he isn’t ambitious in the traditional “My ambition is to be able to do things I love into a ated by the sense. A software engineer and make enough money partnership 2007 Oregon who possesses a number of for a comfortable life,” Legislature. talents, he has a very on- Story by Peter Korn Jones says. “I have no de- with the Called Gain again, off-again work re- Photos by Christopher Onstott sire to be running a mil- state, we Share, it re- cord. A few years of making lion-dollar business.” quires that 50 big bucks writing code for In a roundabout way, upheld our percent of the Apple, then off for six months. An animation Portland has staked much of its economic fu- end of the state income studio job followed by months of traveling. ture on young, college-educated people who bargain and taxes generat- Jones, 34, has a word for his lifestyle: pre- have moved here, the so-called young cre- ed by new jobs Engineer Evan Jones (top) relaxes while getting some computer work tirement. Or, to borrow a phrase from author atives who supposedly will lead the city to an we expect that qualify done in his yard. His roommate, Daniel Casto (above) takes full John McDonald, Jones is taking his retire- economic renaissance. them to do for the pro- advantage of Portland’s night life. Both wonder if Portland’s young ment in installments. When the money gets low, he takes another job. gram be sent creatives have lost, or redefi ned, ambition. See SLACKERS / Page 2 so, too.” back to the lo- — Andy Duyck, cal and re- Washington gional govern- County Chair ments. Burdick says the poten- tial cost is more than the Legis- lature estimated, however. She believes the distribution for- New street plan gets city out of a rut mula should be recalculated. “When the state is facing fi - Portlanders would see a curb, a ning support, even if it’s some- nancial shortfalls, we have to Some worry low-cost grass parking strip and a side- times lukewarm, from neighbor- be careful how we spend our walk. hood leaders, homebuilders and money,” says Burdick, who paving proposal “I’ve been trying to get the advocates for pedestrians and chairs the State Senate Interim city to do something about that people with disabilities. Most Finance and Revenue Commit- could get bumpy street since 1974,” Teeples says. appear to agree with the assess- tee. Now Mayor Sam Adams is ment by Christine Leon, who is But Washington County By STEVE LAW pushing a new bare-bones ap- spearheading the project for the The Tribune proach — dubbed Portland Bureau of See REBATE / Page 8 “Out of the Mud” Transportation: On warm sunny days, — to improve Port- “Doing something Jeanne Teeples cracks opens land’s substandard TribTown is better than noth- a window at her Southeast residential streets. FIRST OF TWO STORIES ing.” Portland home and it fi lls Adams’ notion is Yet some say it’ll ThisWeek with dust from cars rumbling to let Portlanders still be a long shot over potholes on her partially pay for a modest, 16-foot-wide to get Portlanders to pay thou- Online paved street. slab of asphalt to replace the sands of dollars for new streets TRIBUNE PHOTO: CHRISTOPHER ONSTOTT “When it rains,” she says, “I dirt in front of their home, plus in front of their homes, even at a Portland’s Out of the Mud project could make it cheaper for have a lake out front.” gravel for parking, and skip the discount. And nobody says Out Local stories that you homeowners to pay for paving dirt and gravel streets in front of their Gazing across the street on sidewalks, curbs, landscaped of the Mud is a panacea for a read about first at homes, though not to the same standards as regular streets. There are 79th Avenue, just north of Pow- parking strip and storm drain- problem that Adams says has www.portlandtribune.com 45 miles of unpaved residential streets in Portland, a festering ell Boulevard, she sees three- age system. decades-old problem. foot-high weeds where most So far, Out of the Mud is win- See ROADS / Page 9 ■ NEWS — Boy dies when out-of-control car strikes him — A 17-year- old from Aloha was hit and killed Tuesday on S.W. 185th Avenue. (Posted Swifts show up, manners take wing Tuesday, Sept. 11) Search: Aloha. ney each night at sundown. — and someone did. Often, ■ Portland re ghters Audubon lends a Thousands gather on the hill- trash has littered the school remember those killed in hand as neighbors side behind the school to watch hillside after Swift watchers 9-11 attack — Portland the display, which sometimes have left for the night. Fire & Rescue hosts Day of endure unruly crowds includes falcons dive-bombing Neighbor Hisashi Fujinaka Silent Re ection and other into the Swifts in search of prey. says one drunken hillside visi- events to commemorate By PETER KORN Audubon Society tor tried to force the 2001 terror attack. The Tribune member Hilda his way into a (Posted Tuesday, Sept. 11) Welch, who lives home, thinking it Search: 9-11. Residents on Northwest next to the crowd- TribTown was his own, and Pettygrove Street under- ed hillside, says the NORTHWEST ended up vomiting ■ SPORTS — Back to stand that when 12,000 birds nightly Swift view- on the driveway. work with the Lakers as fl y overhead, they should ex- ing changed from a neighbor- Cars are frequently blocking a champion this time, pect a little mess. But some hood to a city-wide event about the street’s fi re hydrant, Fuji- Steve Coury says win- of them believe the matter fi ve years ago. And that change naka says. ning isn’t everything has gotten out of hand. brought trouble. “The problem I see, it’s a — Coach of Class 6A title Those 12,000 birds are Vaux’s Welch has had Swift watch- comment on modern society,” team says other things are Swifts, part of an aerial display ers urinate in her backyard Welch says. “It’s an event. It’s more important. (Posted that in recent years has become bushes. She has had her drive- not a natural phenomenon. Peo- TRIBUNE PHOTO: CHRISTOPHER ONSTOTT Thursday, Sept. 6) Search: a Portland must-see event. The way blocked. Once, she shouted ple come and watch the event Those little specks in the sky might not mean much to 2-year-old Coury. small birds dart and swirl above down the hillside asking who- out of context. They scream and Oothoon Chambers as he holds on to Aaron Palmer. But over 3,000 Chapman School before torna- ever had parked in front of her people have begun to descend on Chapman School each evening to doing inside the dormant chim- driveway to remove their car See SWIFTS / Page 4 watch the air show provided by as many as 12,000 Vaux’s Swifts. A2 NEWS The Portland Tribune Thursday, September 13, 2012 Slackers: Cheap lifestyles hurt tax revenue ■ From page 1 Portland has for years at- tracted these young creatives at an incredible rate. Economists have been saying that they are exactly the type of new resi- dents that helps a city develop new ideas and new jobs. They’ll start businesses, the thinking goes, and those businesses will grow and employ people. A new study to be released Sept. 19 by Portland State Uni- versity professors Jason Jur- jevich and Greg Schrock re- veals just how many young cre- atives such as Jones have been coming here. The study is called — with a nod to IFC’s “Portlandia” — “Is Portland Really the Place Where Young People Go To Re- tire?” Jurjevich developed a “demo- graphic effectiveness measure” that basically grades cities on their ability to attract and re- tain young people with college degrees. Portland ranks No. 2 nationally, behind only Louis- ville, Ky. Underemployed by choice Thirty years ago, one in four people moving to the Portland area had a college degree.