State Adjusts Investment Portfolio
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Museum welcomes ‘Gods and Heroes’ Epic images arrive from École, famed school and repository — SEE LIFE, B1 THHURSDAY, JJUUNE 111, 2015 • TWWICE CHOSSENE THEH NATA IOONN’S BESTT NONNDAILLY PAPEP R • POP RTTLANDNDTRIBUNU E.COOM • PPUUBBLLIISSHEHED TTUESSDDAY AANND THTHURRSSDDAYY City zooms in on Vision Zero ‘action steps’ message accompanies the im- duce crashes caused by drunk, Pedalpalooza , Rash of recent bike age: “She watched for the sig- inattentive or reckless driving. the city’s annual nal. The driver didn’t.” It remains to be seen whether month-long accidents spurs city to The graphic ad is part of New Portland will be as brash as the summer bike fi x dangerous routes York City’s “Choices Matter” Big Apple in its public campaign festival, is campaign, part of its “Vision Ze- to reduce traffic injuries and focused on fun. ro” initiative to end traffi c deaths deaths with its own Vision Zero The kickoff ride By JENNIFER ANDERSON and serious injuries on the city’s campaign. this week drew The Tribune streets. But some bicycle advocates about 1,000 New York City’s mayor an- hope so. people. A woman’s bloody arm, nounced the effort 18 months “We’re going to have to fi gure wedding ring on fi nger, lies ago, with the subsequent launch TRIBUNE PHOTO: See STREETS / Page 2 JONATHAN HOUSE lifeless on a crosswalk. A bold of 63 separate initiatives to re- GREEN BONDS: a new way to pay for clean, green projects GRADUATES OLD AND YOUNG City will sell them Find out more Green Bond Principles: to environmentally http://bit.ly/1jF3rFH friendly investors By STEVE LAW ing to a new report by Moody’s TAKE FLIGHT The Tribune Investor Service. Last year, $37 billion in Green Bonds were is- Cleaning up pollution and sued around the world, three cutting greenhouse gas times as much as the prior emissions doesn’t come year, Moody’s found. They’re cheap. being used to pay for renew- To make it easier, the city of able energy, energy effi ciency Portland is poised to adopt a projects in buildings, sustain- new way to finance environ- able forestry and agriculture, mentally friendly projects. low-emissions transit, and oth- It’s called Green Bonds. er strategies for adapting to On June 24, the City Council climate change. likely will ask city staff to de- So far, investors aren’t ac- velop guidelines to sell Green cepting lower earnings for buy- Bonds. ing Green Bonds. But there’s “The Green Bond piece takes been heavy investor interest, an environmentally friendly so advocates hope Portland capital project and matches it and other issuers can cut their up with investors who are in- costs down the road by paying terested in environmental con- lower rates to bond investors. cerns,” says Jonas Biery, a city “That’s the idea,” Biery says, debt manager with the Offi ce “that as the market develops, of Management and Finance investors might be willing to who is working on the new pay more, which translates to a policy. lower interest rate cost to us. As soon as next year, Biery That means we pay a lower says, the city could sell its fi rst borrowing cost.” Green Bonds. A leading con- Corporations also can issue tender: bonds to pay for the Green Bonds. city to switch the rest of its Iberdrola, the Spanish-based Zaynab Alattar, streetlights to energy-saving utility that manages its huge ■ 19, and Michelle LED bulbs. U.S. wind power portfolio from Portland State University will graduate Reed, 77, are the The possibilities are endless. its North American headquar- youngest and Worldwide, investors seek- ters in Portland, was the oldest graduates ing “socially responsible in- world’s seventh-largest issuer more than 6,000 students, ages 19 to 77 at Portland vestments” now account for of Green Bonds last year, with State University about 35 percent of assets man- See BONDS / Page 3 this year. One aged by professionals, accord- woman looks to By SHASTA KEARNS MOORE fl ung as Saudi Arabia, but Portland egon. the future of The Tribune feels like home. She lives within Reed says she has always been walking distance of PSU’s Park the type of person to keep busy, so technology, One woman was born in 1938. Blocks in a senior living complex. earning her degree at such a late while the other The other in 1996. But both are Reed says she has loved attend- stage in life doesn’t seem like a big scours relics of graduating from Portland State ing PSU and getting to know the deal. the past. University this Sunday with their youth culture around her, meeting “Why not use it as long as I can? TRIBUNE PHOTO: fi rst bachelor’s degree. gay people and learning about mar- There are still people in their 80s JONATHAN HOUSE Tigard resident Zaynab Alattar, ijuana. doing what they love,” she says. 19, will receive a Bachelor of Sci- “Which, you know, in my genera- What Reed loves is holding an- Portland-based ence in computer science after be- tion, we didn’t even know about,” cient objects in her hands, as she Lucid Energy ing homeschooled and earning her she says. “It was just so enlighten- does in her work in Professor Shel- builds small GED when she was 16. ing. I just loved talking to people. by Anderson’s archaeology lab an- turbines such as “How ‘bout you?” Alattar asks There’s a lot of really bright kids alyzing artifacts from a dig in Alas- this one to Michelle Reed, a 77-year-old former out there today.” ka. The department gave her an generate energy emergency room nurse who will Reed herself has three children award for being the oldest graduate from inside receive a Bachelor of Science in an- and four grandchildren, two of they had ever had. water pipes. thropology. whom are also graduating this “I told them it was the only thing COURTESY: “It’s a long story,” Reed says. weekend, one from high school and SHERRI KAVEN Reed has lived in places as far- the other from the University of Or- See PSU / Page 3 State adjusts investment portfolio Securities shift aims ward shifting a small share of out in pension benefi ts. After the Oregon Legislature Still, at a joint meeting of the Oregon’s public-pension in- But by moving into securities, made those cost-saving reduc- council and the PERS board on to improve PERS cash vestments from higher-yield- it also will allow for a better cash tions in 2013, the system was May 29, members were told that fl ow for payments ing private equities into public fl ow for the system to meet in- funded at 98 percent, according the court’s decision would in- securities. creased payments resulting from to Callan, the San Francisco fi rm crease the liability of the system The move, made last week, is an April 30 decision of the Ore- that works with the Oregon In- over 20 years by $5 billion. That By PETER WONG projected to generate up to $3 bil- gon Supreme Court. The court vestment Council. The court’s gap has to be made up through Capital Bureau lion less over 20 years for the ruled that cost-of-living increas- decision will reduce that funding greater investment earnings and Public Employees Retirement es for public retirees cannot be level to around 92 percent, still higher contributions from the TIGARD — The Oregon In- Fund, whose earnings account reduced retroactively on benefi ts greater than comparable sys- vestment Council moved to- for 73 cents of every dollar paid earned before May 2013. tems in many states. See INVEST / Page 2 “Pamplin Media Group’s pledge is to Portland Tribune deliver balanced news that refl ects the MORGAN STRIKES stories of our communities. Thank you Inside — SEE SPORTS, PAGE B10 for reading our newspapers.” — DR. ROBERT B. PAMPLIN JR. OWNER & NEIGHBOR A2 NEWS The Portland Tribune Thursday, June 11, 2015 Invest: Yield will be $3 billion less over 20 years tal state investments, will reduce its type in the nation. higher-risk and higher-yield The division now relies on out- ployers will have to increase for ■ From page 1 the state’s share of private equity ones such as private equities, the side fi rms, which take a cut of the higher pension payouts. as a total of the PERS Fund from Projected drop council has to move toward “sim- earnings, to help manage the 925 government employers un- 20 to 17.5 percent — and increase The expected overall rate of plifi cation” of its portfolio. state’s investments. More competition der PERS, which covers about 95 the share of “diversifying assets” return is projected to drop from While Senate President Peter John Skjervem, Oregon’s chief Wheeler and other council percent of Oregon’s public work from 2.5 to 5 percent. The return 7.6 percent to 7.5 percent over 20 Courtney, D-Salem, and other investment offi cer, said his staff- members concede there are oth- force. rate on the fi rst category is pro- years. That will result in about $3 lawmakers say they are willing ing could handle the small invest- er reasons for the small shift “We got a pretty clear mes- jected at 10.25 percent; on “diver- billion less for the PERS Fund to approve more staffi ng — those ment shift that the council ap- away from state investment in sage from the PERS Board,” said sifying assets,” the projected rate overall.