Lincoln
Exit, Hope and Loyalty: The fate of neighborhoods
By Joe Cortright How neighborhood stability hinges on expectations: If people don’t believe things are going to get better, many will leave One of the most perplexing urban problems is neighborhood decline. Once healthy, middle-class or working class-places seem to gradually (and then abruptly) fall from grace. As we documented…
Read MoreHow to be an effective marketing leader in a world of chaos
The effective marketing leader of today has to thrive in an environment of barely controlled chaos. If you’re more or less doing things the way you did them three or five years ago, you’re behind. If you’re just getting into social media marketing or content marketing, you’re behind. There has…
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Oregon Construction – A Few Words
A recent report said there are over 5,000 construction jobs available in Oregon today. It would appear that anyone meeting qualifications to work in the construction industry can find work. And yet many rural communities struggle to keep the infrastructure operating or young adults from moving to the bigger cities.…
Read MoreA Curve Ball In May
Our Investment Views, Weekly Market Makers By: Shawn Narancich, CFA Executive Vice President of Research Held Hostage by Trade As first quarter reporting season draws to another constructive close, investors’ attention was ripped away from the earnings scorecard and refocused almost exclusively on trade. Today’s imposition of additional tariffs on…
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Time to Stop Building Disposable Places
by Daniel Herriges You hear it so often it sounds like a cliché: “Our ancestors used to build things to last. Now we build them to be thrown away.” Sometimes, this sentiment is a cliché or an oversimplification: when it comes to homes, for example, our ancestors built plenty of…
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Let’s have an honest discussion about the Rose Quarter freeway widening project
By Joe Cortright Good decisions result only if state officials are transparent and honest City Observatory has been closely following the proposal to spend $500 million widening the I-5 freeway at the Rose Quarter in Portland. In the process, we and others have repeatedly uncovered instances of state agency officials…
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Could Your Plant Benefit from a FREE Energy Assessment?
By: Energy Trust Looking for new ways to trim energy operating costs and increase the bottom line in your facility? Whether you’ve already made energy improvements or are just getting started, an energy assessment can help you determine the largest savings and decide where to focus. Available at no cost…
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Your Zoning Code Is Inherently Exclusionary (But It Doesn’t Have To Be)
by Nolan Gray Since bursting onto the scene in the 1970s, the concept of “exclusion” now figures heavily in the way urban planners do their work. Now more than ever, urban planners are aware of how certain land-use regulations and forms of public process can systematically exclude certain groups of…
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Sale Prices Surge in Neighborhoods with New Tax Break
By Alexander Casey Sale prices ticked up sharply in some of the nation’s lowest-income and highest – poverty communities near the end of last year-but mostly in the neighborhoods now eligible for newly created tax breaks. Tucked within the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act of 2017 (TCJA) is a somewhat…
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Flying Lessons: How stories from Aviation can make us better Managers
In this, the second installment of our six part series, we look at the role of communication in business and examine, through the lens of lessons learned, an example of communication from the field of aviation and how it can improved enterprise performance. The picture of Boeing’s iconic 737 airliners…
Read MoreThe Emerging Digital Town Square
By: Matt Sayre reprinted by permission Picture the small villages and towns of early America. The farmers are selling produce and smoked meat in the market square, while the cobbler and sheriff barter four deerskins for a pound of wheat. The local physician atop his soapbox announces the latest ailments…
Read MoreOccupations that Pay More in Southwestern Oregon
by Sarah Cunningham When looking for a job in your field, determining which region pays the most could be a sound strategy. In 2018, there were 27 occupations where workers in Southwestern Oregon earned higher median wages than in any other region in the state. In 2017, 6 percent of…
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