June 2018

JUNE 2018

“Tying the Past to the Future”” Inside This Issue: Where Is Eugene Going?

One Year In—Chamber Director is Fully Involved Small Airports Could Be Doomed

A few words from Greg

What recession? Southern Oregon is moving on as though there was never a doubt.

The national unemployment rate falling below 4% to lows that haven’t been seen in fifty years is reflected in the vigorous development efforts of southern Oregon. “World Class” is an accolade I find in many places that is not a comment about athletic achievement but regarding educational progress and business development. High technology is spoken everywhere.

The robust attitudes are infectious. They are superimposed over hurdles that in tougher times might bring things to a grinding halt. It’s also necessary that everyone gets on board. The team is growing and is welcoming new additions every day.

Eugene is leading southern Oregon in several ways with strong efforts to unify local organizations. Ask the Chamber of Commerce how they are a part of the energy for growth and you will hear what they do with the city or schools or non-profit organizations. The city economic development department is fully aware of chamber activities and the excitement at Silicon Shire, the tech industry collection of 400 plus tech companies in town.

Eugene is not alone. The Bend—Redmond—Prineville area has been exploding for several years as people move into the region looking to excel in their technological endeavors. The population of a younger demographic includes an infectious enthusiasm that cannot be cooled. The future is looking just fine, thank you. The same is said about Medford and Coos Bay, Klamath Falls and Roseburg.

There are challenges, of course. How can rural Oregon compete in the contested world of big city advantage? The identification of those challenges is resulting in shared exchanges of resources and solutions to make the most difficult hurdles more easily cleared. The common concern for adequately functioning infrastructure in our communities and counties has not gone unheard— leadership is evolving with a determination to make things better suited to face the oncoming rush of a high-speed world.

We will solve our recycled waste problem. We will solve our gaps in high-speed internet service.

We will solve our transportation problems in rail, air and highway travel. We will solve our issues in healthcare. We will solve whatever issue confronts us because that is who we are.

As Steve Prefontaine said, “To give anything less than your best is to sacrifice the gift.”

Greg

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A JOURNAL FOR THE ECONOMICALLY CURIOUS, PROFESSIONALLY INSPIRED AND ACUTELY MOTIVATED

Contents Inside This Issue 2. A Few Words 4. Oregon Statewide Economic Indicators

FEATURED ARTICLES

6. Rising Inflation May be on Horizon

8. State Gov’t as an Anchor

11. Cities as Selection Environments 13. Passive Solar Homes 14. EDGE Filmmaking, Southern Oregon Style 17. Economic Update 10Years in SW Oregon 22. Eugene Arts and Culture 25. Eugene Handling Waste 27. Eugene City Budget

Industry 20. Where Is Eugene Going?

30. Eugene Chamber “One Year In” 34. Small Airports Could Be Doomed 38. Letting Go and Slowing Down

28. 5th Street Public Market 29. Where Will I Park My Car 32. SOS The State of Small Business

COVER PHOTO

703 Divot Loop Sutherlin, Oregon 97479 www.southernoregonbusiness.com 541-315-6127

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By Permission, Cyclist Near Valley River Center

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MARCH 2018 OREGON STATEWIDE ECONOMIC INDICATORS TIM DUY DUY@UOREGON.EDU

This is the University of Oregon State of Oregon Economic Indicators for March 2018. The release date is May 7, 2018. Special thanks to our sponsor, KeyBank.

The Oregon Measure of Economic Activity rose in March to 1.01 compared to a downwardly revised February reading of 0.61. Highlights of this month’s report include:

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The moving average measure, which smooths out the volatility, slid to 1.09, well above average. (“zero” indicates average growth over the 1990-present period) but cooling somewhat compared to the run-up at the end of 2017.

The construction sector made a modest negative contribution to the measure, weighed down by weaker employment components; new housing units permits made a nearly neutral contribution. A softer stock market compared to last year has reduced the contribution from that sector to

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nearly neutral. Consumer sentiment, however, continues to add positively to the measure.

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The University of Oregon Index of Economic Indicators gained for a fourth consecutive month, rising 0.4 percent. Initial unemployment claims continue to bounce along sideways at very low levels consistent with economic expansion and ongoing job growth.

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Trucking activity as measure by the Oregon weight distance tax continues to rise, reaching a new cycle high and indicating gains for Oregon’s traded-sector economy.

Together, these indicators suggest ongoing growth in Oregon at an above average pace of activity.

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Economic Outlook: History Repeating Itself?

Rising Inflation may be On the Horizon In the Pacific Northwest Good Afternoon …… Bag-Holders!

When I started my career as an economist in the 1970s, my boss had a cartoon posted near his desk. It showed a CEO speaking to company investors at the annual meeting.

The CEO began his address:

COMMERTARY: BOB WHELAN

Romer, looked back at those years and concluded that most economists in those days thought excess employment caused inflation.

Their solution, she contended, was to slow the economy, let unemployment go up, and watch inflation fall. It didn’t work.[2]

“Good afternoon bag holders — I mean shareholders!”

(Back then the economy was in shambles.)

The problems started in 1965. That year, Congress and President Johnson passed a budget that boosted spending just after cutting

taxes[1]. Spending grew quickly—up more than 50 percent in just five years. Tax receipts could not keep pace with it. Deficits grew. When the economy is in a recession, deficits stimulate economic growth. However, the economy was already running at full steam (very low unemployment, factories running at full tilt). There was very little growth to be had, so the deficit spending did little more than spark inflation.

Starting at 1.3 percent in 1964, inflation rose to 5.4 percent in just 5 years. The Federal Reserve predicted 2 percent inflation and continuously under-estimated it during those years.

The former Chair of the Council of Economic Advisors under Barack Obama, Christina

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When Richard Nixon became president in 1969, the old economic theory was tossed out. The new ‘solution’ — a combination of wage and price controls — was instituted. It backfired.

Among the repercussions of the price controls were shortages of common commercial goods

such as toilet paper and sugar. To get around wage controls, companies gave employees benefits that drove up the prices of healthcare.

The policy was a failure and inflation continued to rise.

In 1974, just 10 years after it all started, inflation hit 11 percent. Interest rates sky rocketed along with inflation, forcing many businesses and some governments, including New York City, to file bankruptcy petitions.

Even Nixon’s Treasury Secretary eventually had to declare personal bankruptcy.[3] This bit of history is relevant today because our economy is in a similar situation now. Our inflation rate was a modest 2.1 percent last year and the economy is screaming hot. But, we just saw a massive tax cut passed, federal

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spending is rising, and large projected for years to come.

deficits

are

Add in Trump’s tariffs on imported steel, aluminum, and lumber, and higher inflation was set in motion.

The implications are serious for the Northwest because we depend on an influx of new residents to fuel construction. In no state is that more important than Idaho. Its net in-migration in 2017, as a share of population, was the highest of any state (Washington ranked 5th and Oregon 8th). Inflation matters because as inflation rises, so do interest rates—few things are as bad for moving to a new state than facing very high mortgage rates.

So what do we do about it now? Many have all been lulled into a sense of complacency that comes with years of low inflation. And we want to believe it will just continue. Even the Federal Reserve predicts inflation will be about 2 percent (the same forecast they had in the late 60s). Still, we believe the inflation picture going forward looks troubling.

Start with the fact that nationally, inflation is already over 2 percent (prices were up 2.4 percent from a year ago in March 2018).[4] If you are in the Northwest, prices have been rising faster. They were up 3.1 percent in

Seattle, 3.2 percent in Boise, and 3.9 percent in Portland. If you focus on just services, especially in Portland, prices were up an astounding 5.4 percent.

While even higher inflation is not a certainty, if you are a business looking to expand, a builder hoping to construct an apartment, a person wanting to save money, a pension fund investing retiree contributions, or a government reliant on issuing bonds at reasonable rates, you should test to see how you would tolerate rising inflation. Incorporate a more sophisticated economic forecast into your plans. It will help answer questions such as, how vulnerable is my project? What would happen to it if inflation does rise over 5 percent, like it did before?

Doing so could keep you from becoming a bagholder!

[1]Spending was primarily for social programs and to fund the Vietnam War. [2]Romer, C. Federal Reserve Board of St. Louis Review. March/April 2006. Pp. 177-186.

[3]https://www.nytimes.com/1987/08/01/ b u s i n e s s / r e a l - e s t a t e - w o e s - f o r c e - c o n n a l l ybankruptcy.html [4]Year over year percent change in the US consumer price index as of March 2018.

Demonstrating and quantifying the relationships between natural assets and economic growth has been central to ECONorthwest’s work since 1974.

Natural assets are the foundation of regional economies. People value and move to places with temperate climates, mountains, coastal access, and sun. Natural assets also serve as inputs to a range of industries: agriculture, fisheries, mining, food manufacturing, wood products, and more. Managed correctly, these assets create an irrevocable advantage that supports economic growth.

ECONorthwest is the Pacific Northwest’s largest and most respected economic consulting firm. We provide independent, insightful, and relevant analyses that strengthen policy and investment decisions. https://econw.com/

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State Government as an Anchor Industry

By Joe Cortright

Eds and Meds . . . and Capitol Domes?

I recently participated as a part of an expert panel reviewed Sacramento’s economic development strategy.

You can learn more about the city’s “Project Prosper” here. It is rightly focused on identifying what can be do to promote economic growth with inclusion.

Like most regions, Sacramento has a strong interest in developing a more diverse, knowledge-driven economy. Although it’s only about 100 miles from tech centers in San Francisco and San Jose, the region has a much smaller innovation and entrepreneurship sector. What shows up clearly in an economic base analysis–which measures industry specialization using location quotients–is that as the Golden State’s capital, Sacramento has a disproportionate number of state government employees. While it’s understandable that one might want to move beyond that established base, it’s good strategic advice to build on your assets. So how could Sacramento do more to turn state government into a key component of its economic strategy?

that cities ought to tap into so-called “anchor institutions” like universities and hospitals, to promote entrepreneurship and job development. An “Eds and Meds” strategy, can promote economic opportunity, particularly in adjacent neighborhoods, and can be a way of reaching underserved populations.

In that vein, maybe it’s time for urban economic developers to add state capitals to the “Eds and Meds” list of anchor institutions. Like hospitals and universities, state capitals are large, placebased and relatively stable employers with large procurement budgets.

On its face, making state government part of an economic strategy seems to contradict one of the fundamental tenets of economic development: that one ought to focus on what we call “traded sectors” of the economy: businesses that compete in national or international markets, and who by doing so successfully generate new income that gets re-spent in the local economy.

A key insight behind this principle is that, in general, it’s difficult for the local-serving sectors of the economy to grow any faster than local population and income. The local-serving sectors–things like grocery stores, retail banks, dry-cleaners, plumbers, hairdressers, and the like–sell all or nearly all of their goods and services to the local population. If you want to grow your economy, you will usually get much more impact from boosting traded sector firms.

State Government as an anchor institution One recurring theme in economic development is

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In general, state and local government gets classified as part of this local-serving sector of the economy. Police, fire, schools, transit and other

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public services are generally driven, like retail and service businesses, by the size of the local population. For that reason, we generally don’t think about government being a traded sector industry.

But economic strategies should recognize an area’s particular strengths, and also address inclusion as well as growth. In particular, if we’re concerned about promoting inclusion creating pathways for local residents to work in occupations that we can be confident will still be in the area two or three decades from now, there are good reasons to focus on state government.

State government as a target industry If you think about the kinds of criteria that economic developers use to choose target industries, for capital cities, the state government sector seems like one you would choose. In general, economic strategies target industries that have lots of jobs, that have a strong reason to be in a particular region, that are growing, that pay well, and that bring new money into the community. State government jobs do all these things in the Sacramento economy.

First, state government is a large employer in Sacramento. According to the latest American Community Survey tabulations, roughly 130,000 state employees live in the Sacramento metropolitan area.

Second, the city’s position as state capital constitutes a defensible competitive advantage. Sacramento doesn’t face direct competition from other California cities to be the capital.

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Third, state government employment in California is a growth industry. As the California population and economy grows, so too does the overall size of state government. While it’s not recession-proof (state budget shortfalls hamstring hiring and state job growth), it has expanded even as other sectors of the economy like manufacturing, have declined. Here’s Sacramento’s state job growth record: Regardless of its exact connection to the macroeconomy, Sacramento has a strong interest in a healthy, well-managed state government. Working out a resolution to the state’s long term fiscal challenges–such as meeting future pension costs– will affect the local economy, just as much as restructuring in a more traditional basic sector industry.

Moreover, thanks to the demographics of state government employment, there are likely to be a fair number of job openings in Sacramento in the next few years. According to the American Community Survey, about 30 percent of state government employees in the region are 55 or older, meaning most will qualify for retirement within a decade. This could produce more than 40,000 job openings in Sacramento, even if total state employment remains flat.

Fourth, state jobs pay well. According to data from the Bureau of Labor Statistics, the average weekly wage of state government jobs in Sacramento was about 60 percent higher than the average weekly wage for all private sector jobs in the region.

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Fifth, even though it doesn’t fit the usual profile of a traded sector industry, as far as the Sacramento metropolitan economy is concerned, state government plays a similar role–it imports money (chiefly tax revenue) from the rest of California, which is then spent in the form of salaries and purchases in metropolitan Sacramento.

So, to summarize: state government jobs in Sacramento fit all the criteria one would apply in choosing a targeted industrial sector: it’s a large industry, it pays well, it’s growing, the city has a defensible competitive advantage, and it’s bringing new money into the regional economy.

Just as with other anchor institutions, one of the keys may be brokering a stronger relationship between the city government and the institution in question. As Richard Florida has pointed out, the success of an “Eds” strategy hinges on bridging the town/gown divide and transforming what can be an often contentious or transaction relationship into a long-term mutually beneficial partnership.

Achieving inclusion Like most cities, Sacramento has identified the challenge of promoting greater inclusion: How do we help low income populations and communities of color to achieve greater economic opportunity? One of the critical challenges in many traded sector industries is that, in order to compete in global markets, firms need to have highly skilled and educated workers. For example, innovative software and biotechnology thrive or fall based on their ability to hire workers with years of advanced education and experience in these fields, and these firms tend to recruit from national and global talent pools. That makes them poor candidates for hiring lots of entry level workers with modest educational credentials.

As with Eds and Meds, the challenge may be to create entry points and pathways for local Sacramento residents to learn about and prepare for potential state government jobs. Do elementary and high schools have career awareness and job shadowing programs or partnerships that include state agencies? Do these agencies participate in the region’s internship programs for high school and college students?

The essence of strategy is recognizing the unique characteristics of your particular situation and capitalizing on distinctive differences. For a state capital city like Sacramento, and particularly in a large and robust state like California, state government jobs are, and will continue to be an important cornerstone of the economy. Figuring out how to leverage this resource to the region’s advantage will be time and energy well spent.

“We generally don’t think about government being a traded sector industry.”

Joe Cortright is President and principal economist of Impresa, a consulting firm specializing in regional

State government is more like Eds and Meds. While some of the jobs require an advanced education and credentials (teachers, doctors), others offer pathways from entry level jobs to long term employment and in some cases more demanding careers (as in nurse’s assistant, to LPN to RN).

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economic analysis, innovation and industry clusters.

Joe’s work casts a light on the role of knowledge-based industries in shaping regional economies. Joe served for 12 years as the Executive Officer of the Oregon Legislature’s Trade and Economic Development Committee.

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Cities as selection environments

By Joe Cortright

Being cheaper may not be an advantage at all in a dynamic, knowledge-based economy It’s axiomatic in the world of local economic development that the sure-fire way to stimulate growth is to make it as cheap and easy as possible to do business in your community. Area Development, a trade journal for industrial recruiters, rates states every year. They’re clear about their criteria: What’s it take to be recognized as a top state for doing business? … The overall cost of doing business is, of course, a primary consideration, one that encompasses a wide range of components, from real estate costs to utility rates to labor expenses.

So, it’s a seeming paradox that some of the most expensive, highly regulated places are routinely the most entrepreneurial and innovative. Cities like New York and San Francisco have some of the most expensive rents, and their workers are highly paid.

And yet, year in and year out, they generate many of the most creative and successful businesses.

In part, we suspect it’s because cities function a rigorous selection environments for businesses. By selection environment, we mean that the characteristics of the city systematically favor some kinds of enterprises and disadvantage others. If you have a low margin, low growth business that’s sensitive to land costs or worker wages, you’ll likely find that its cripplingly expensive to do business in a San Francisco or New York. The only businesses that can survive in such a location are the ones that are innovating quickly enough to be able to afford to be there. You need to be highly profitable, or on a plausible track to generate profits in order to pay the bills. Businesses that can’t meet those tests

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don’t start there, are more likely to fail, or will move away. The result is that surviving businesses are likely strong competitors.

As Frank Sinatra told us in the famous refrain from New York, New York:

“If I can make it there, I’ll make it anywhere” The tough competition for market share, recognition, capital and talent in these cities means that, disproportionately, the strongest business concepts and capable management teams move forward.

The press of competition also forces firms move quickly, lest they be left behind.

Economists often speak of “the resource curse“–that an abundance of some valuable natural resource, like gold or oil, skews a local economy’s activity away from innovation and entrepreneurship.

The converse is also true: low cost locations may insulate businesses from the need to innovate. If rents are cheap, taxes are low, and labor is docile and low paid, there may be little reason to undertake the risk and expensive of new equipment investment, worker training, or research and development.

Economists often speak of “the resource curse“–that an abundance of some valuable natural resource, like gold or oil, skews a local economy’s activity away from innovation and entrepreneurship. In a sense, cheap housing and low business costs can be a kind of resource curse.

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There’s an additional factor as well: cheap housing tends to attract and retain low skilled workers. If you live in a place with low housing costs, you may find it too expensive to move to a place like New York and San Francisco–unless you have the kind of skills that will get you a job that pays enough to afford high rents. So workers may self-select as well–and as a result, employers in low cost housing markets will have a lower skilled labor force.

Selective factor disadvantages: What doesn’t kill you, makes you stronger

Economists tend to focus on the story of comparative advantage: that economies tend to grow and flourish in those industries to which their natural and human resources are most conducive, relative to other locations. But in some cases, as business strategist Michael Porter has pointed out, comparative disadvantages can prompt innovation.

What is not so obvious, however, is that selective disadvantages in the more basic factors can prod a company to innovate and upgrade—a disadvantage in a static model of competition can become an advantage in a dynamic one. When there is an ample supply of cheap raw materials or abundant labor, companies can simply rest on these advantages and often deploy them inefficiently. But when companies face a selective disadvantage, like high land costs, labor shortages, or the lack of local raw materialthey must innovate and upgrade to compete.

But when companies face a selective disadvantage, like high land costs, labor shortages, or the lack of local raw materials, they must innovate and upgrade to compete.

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With a lack of coal and high cost electricity, Italian steelmakers were an absolute competitive disadvantage to British and German steelmakers. Their disadvantages forced them to innovate, and their highly efficient electric mini-mills made them a flexible, low cost producer.

The fact that some factor disadvantages can stimulate an adaptive response with an economic upside doesn’t mean that one should treat this observation as a universal rationalization for high business costs.

The key word in Porter’s formulation is “selective.”

That suggests that you need to look at business costs, and the business climate, in a more comprehensive and nuanced way than is presented in the usual index rankings compiled by Area Development and its ilk.

You can build a simple, static model of economic competition in which having the low cost always wins. But in a rapidly changing knowledge economy, the ability to continuously create new ideas, new products and new businesses is the key to success and being “dynamically efficient,” as Douglas North put it. Cities are the selection environment that gives rise to new businesses, and the cheapest location is unlikely to be the one that optimally selects robust competitors.

Joe Cortright is President and principal economist of Impresa, a consulting firm specializing in regional economic analysis, innovation and industry clusters. Joe’s work casts a light on the role of knowledge-based industries in shaping regional economies. Joe served for 12 years as the Executive Officer of the Oregon Legislature’s Trade and Economic Development

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Passive Solar Homes Refining the Design Although conceptually simple, a successful passive solar home requires that a number of details and variables come into balance.

An experienced designer can use a computer model to simulate the details of a passive solar home in different configurations until the design fits the site as well as the owner’s budget, aesthetic preferences, and performance requirements.

Some of the elements the designer will consider include: •

Insulation and air sealing

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Window location, glazing type, and window shading

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Thermal mass location and type.

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Auxiliary heating and cooling systems.

The designer will apply these elements using passive solar design techniques that include direct gain, indirect gain, and isolated gain. https://www.energy.gov/ energysaver/energy-efficient-home -design/passive-solar-home-design

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Economic Update—Ten Years in SW Oregon

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Where is Eugene Going?

Greg Henderson, Publisher - Southern Oregon Business Journal

A thesaurus I use lists synonyms for Audacious: Brave, unafraid, fearless, undaunted, intrepid…

Quite often Oregon’s citizens hang stubbornly on to those descriptions as a self-identification, leaving out less complimentary words like, rowdy, unreasonable, impatient, and demanding. They are drawn to Eugene in sometimes large numbers.

Radical objections to everything from America’s involvement in Viet Nam in 1968 to homeless encampments downtown in 2018 create a belief that Eugene issues can be solved without compromise. A generation of students taught a younger demographic that they could have a voice if they were persistent enough, loud enough, were numerous enough, and had an element of local support beyond the student body.

First called Skinner’s Mudhole, in 1846 Eugene Skinner brought over 1,000 colonists with him to settle in the area.

Oregon achieved statehood in 1859 and not until 1862 did Skinner’s Mudhole receive a new name Eugene City, becoming Eugene in 1889.

Fertile soils, a mild climate and abundant timber resources welcomed the newcomers to an Eden they could not have imagined. Its doubtful they foresaw hydroelectric power, automobiles, the end of malaria and polio, or a war in SE Asia, but that’s

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what was carried to the region in the second half of the 20th Century. One-hundred years carries with it many unpredictable changes.

Where will Eugene be in 20 years? Forecasting a city’s future is risky business with primary determinants being historical events. Like choosing to place a bet on one of two inventions; the Edsel or the Princess Telephone, both work but it’s the marketplace that will decide if an invention will last, or not.

Economists and developers can’t resist the temptation of the forecaster’s guessing game. Civic leaders and politicians demand it.

A brief review of recent history coupled with the current state of the area may add confidence to predictions for the future. We’ll see. Our heroes sometimes help us to remember.

“There comes a time in every life when the past recedes and the future opens.

It’s that moment when you turn to face the unknown. Some will turn back to what they already know. Some will walk straight ahead into uncertainty. I can’t tell you which one is right. But I can tell you which one is more fun.”

Phil Knight

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business leaders from the older and established industries to those new to business and adrenalin are filled with excitement for what promises technology brings. Jobs are requiring education that the schools and colleges want to provide, proving it by their partnership with industry.

The Chamber of Commerce, the city of Eugene, Lane Community College, the University of Oregon, businesses large and small, and new and long-time residents are eager to leap into that envied place of relevance where every community wants to be.

This is going to be an exciting ride.

PRE

New York Sports

“Fame is fleeting in athletics”, says

His determination, self-confidence

“With ordinary talent and extraordinary perseverance, all things are attainable.”

Thomas Buxton Every coin has two sides. Eugene takes special pains to give voice to every opinion, and objection or support of an issue. It can slow the decision-making process, but it assures that better consideration is done in the effort to do what is right for the community. The intent is to build a healthier city.

The collaborators of Eugene’s future are many.

They tend to move from generation to generation and from demographic to demographic. A few of them are mentioned in the following pages.

Eugene is headed into the future with a confidence new to the region. An energetic community of

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The Pioneer a thirteen-foot-tall bronze sculpture located on the University of Oregon campus. It was the artistic work of A le x an d e r Ph im is t e r Pr o c t o r , Commissioned by Joseph Nathan Teal

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Arts and culture

“A vendor's craft booth at the Eugene Saturday Market” https://www.flickr.com/photos/stuttermonkey/24799455/ https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ File:Eugene_Saturday_Market_craft_booth.jpg

“Eugene has a significant population of people in pursuit of alternative ideas and a large original hippie population. Beginning in the 1960s, the countercultural ideas and viewpoints espoused by Ken Kesey became established as the seminal elements of the vibrant social tapestry that continue to define Eugene. The Merry Prankster, as Kesey was known, has arguably left the most indelible imprint of any cultural icon in his hometown.

He is best known as the author of One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest and as the male protagonist in Tom Wolfe's The Electric Kool-Aid Acid Test.

In 2005, the city council unanimously approved a new slogan for the city: "World's Greatest City for the Arts & Outdoors". While Eugene has a vibrant arts community for a city its size, and is well situated near many outdoor opportunities, this slogan was frequently criticized by locals as embarrassing and ludicrous. In early 2010, the slogan was changed to "A Great City for the Arts & Outdoors."

Eugene's Saturday Market, open every Saturday from April through November, was founded in 1970 as the first "Saturday Market" in the United States. It is adjacent to the Lane County Farmer's Market in downtown Eugene. All vendors must create or grow all their own products. The market reappears as the "Holiday Market" between Thanksgiving and New Year's in the Lane County Events Center at the fairgrounds.” https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Main_Page

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Hult Center Memories History of the Hult Center for the Performing Arts

National acclaim followed the opening of the Hult Center for the Performing Arts more than 30 years ago on September 24, 1982. — That attention was especially rewarding, because the Hult Center was the last of five major arts facilities to open in the U.S. during a two-week period.

Marilyn Horne, the opening night guest, called it the most glorious hall she had ever been in. Bryon Belt, music critic for Musical America, noted that it was "a tremendous triumph." The Washington Times' Jay Alan Qauntrill referred to it as a "jewel."

Opening night rivaled the celebration that broke out when supporters learned voters passed a 1978 bond measure to build the center. Twice before - in 1972 and 1973 - similar bond measures were soundly defeated. And now, during an economic

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downturn, voters embraced the concept.

When former Mayor Les Anderson was asked to head the city's Civic Center Committee to develop a plan in 1977, the local economy was in the doldrums. He enlisted businessman Maurie Jacobs to lead the political effort to pass the $18.5 million measure to build the arts facility. It passed by a 2-to-1 margin. The genesis for the facility can be traced to a community-wide campaign by the Lane County Auditorium Association, which worked tirelessly to raise money for the first two ballot measures. The Association would receive credit for raising public interest and understanding of how a performing arts center could be a true cultural cornerstone for Eugene. That awareness was considered vital to passing the 1978 bond measure.

The Eugene Arts Foundation was formed in 1978 to raise private funds for the performing arts center, which was the first in the country built without the

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benefit of state or national funding. Benson Snyder served as the foundation's executive director.

In addition to numerous contributions from a broad spectrum of the community, three local families contributed major gifts. Nils and Jewel Hult created an endowed fund to enhance the center's programming capability. The Chambers family provided supplemental operational support for local performing arts groups using the center through the Silva Endowment. The Soreng family contributed to building costs.

The Eugene Arts Foundation was subsequently renamed the Arts Foundation of Western Oregon

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(AFWO) and its funds are now part of the Oregon Community Foundation. A committee of local community leaders directs how funds are distributed.

In April of 1983, arts advocates and supporters organized the nonprofit organization, Support Hult Center Operations (SHO) to raise funds for the operations of the center and develop a volunteer base to support activities in the building. Today, SHO volunteers manage special projects and continue to serve as volunteers in support of the Hult Center.

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Handling Waste Pollution Control Oregon’s Bottle Bill was introduced in 1971 as the very first bottle bill in the U.S. The bill was created to address a growing litter problem along Oregon beaches, highways and other public areas. Over the years, the Bottle Bill has prompted several other green initiatives.

The law remained relatively unchanged until [c] bottled water was added to the system (effective in 2009).

The law was expanded again to allow for an increase of the deposit/refund value to 10¢ beginning April 1, 2017 as a result of the redemption rate staying below 80% for two consecutive years. Because the redemption rate was 68.26% in 2014 and 64.45% in 2015, the refund value increased to 10¢ effective on April 1, 2017.

The same bill further expanded the law effective January 1, 2018, that all beverage containers except distilled liquor, wine, dairy or plant-based milk, and infant formula will include a deposit. Water, beer, and carbonated soft drinks will continue to require a deposit and most other beverages, including but not limited to tea, coffee, hard cider, fruit juice, kombucha, and coconut water will be added.

For nearly 40 years, redemption centers did not exist in Oregon, but early in 2010, the Oregon Liquor Control Commission approved the first experimental distributor-run redemption center in Wood Village, and later, Oregon City. Operating under the name BottleDrop and run by the Oregon Beverage Recycling Cooperative, there are currently 21 redemption centers operating around Oregon.

Eugene, Home To:

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Founded in 1976 and headquartered in Eugene, Oregon, BHS designs, manufactures and installs processing systems tailored to extract recyclables from the waste stream.

BHS is building the largest, most rugged and highest performing MRFs in the world. As a result, our customers are leading the industry with the highest throughput, recovery, and purity rates achieved anywhere. Simply put, our customers realize higher profits than their peers.

This early experience gave BHS insight into processing various types of material streams, knowledge that would prove invaluable as we set our sights on a new and emerging market – extracting recyclables from waste streams.

The beginning BHS’s history of pairing innovation with common

sense has enabled thousands of companies to literally cut through the clutter. From the start, BHS gained rapid acceptance as a prominent supplier of functional, high quality conveying and screening equipment for the forest products and power generation industries – complete systems that featured the industry’s only inline screening.

Innovation: Changing the game The growing demand for innovative solutions to automate the recycling industry prompted the company to apply our innovative, patented screening technology to mixed recyclables and municipal solid waste (MSW) industry in the early 1980s. Shortly after, BHS designed and installed the first modern single-stream processing system in the United States – a blueprint that has defined the industry.

Eugene, Ore. April 4, 2018 In collaboration with subsidiary National Recovery Technologies (NRT), Bulk Handlings Systems (BHS) has announced the launch of new technology that will provide Material Recovery Facility (MRF) operators unprecedented levels of information about their business. The Max-AI Visual Identification System (VIS) Monterey County, CA. February 13, 2018 The Monterey Regional Waste Management District (MRWMD) has started up its new Materials Recovery Facility (MRF). Supplied by Bulk Handling Systems (BHS), the technologically-advanced recovery system processes up to 80-tons-per-hour (tph) on two lines.

York, PA November 1, 2017 Penn Waste is all systems go after adding new optical sorting and artificial intelligence (AI) technologies to the company’s state-of-the-art Single Stream Materials Recovery Facility (MRF) in York, Pennsylvania. Provided by Bulk Handling Systems (BHS)

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Obie proposal will transform the Eugene city core

Fifth Street Public Market proposed $60 million expansion will transform part of the city’s urban core. Three proposed buildings would add more than 100 apartments, dozens of hotel rooms and retail and office space immediately west of Fifth Street Public Market.

According to a report in the Eugene Register Guard on March 9, 2018, “Obie’s plan would construct three buildings on a pair of county-owned parking lots covering about 1.2 acres: a seven-story, 82 — room boutique hotel at the corner of East Sixth Avenue and Oak Street; a threestory building with 30,000 square feet of retail and office space at Sixth Avenue and Pearl Street; and a seven-story, 113 — unit apartment building with ground-floor retail just north of the retail and office building.

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“The project is a partnership with Homes for Good, Lane County government’s low-income housing agency. The agency plans to construct a five-story building across Oak Street from Obie’s development, with 50 low-rent apartments over ground-floor retail space.”

Rendition of proposed expansion of the Fifth Street Public Market.

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Public Sentiment – Where Will I Park My Car?

The Jenkintonian I've attended several public hearings where the public has plenty of say in the process, and it made me long for the days when rich industrialists built their train stations, corporate headquarters, or factories wherever the hell they wanted. Most of what was built in 1900 could NEVER get built today!

As a result, I've come to consider the "charrette" or any hearing to gather public input as a pointless waste of time. I value general public opinion only slightly more than I trust the public officials entrusted to implement their ideas. At these hearings, the show is always the same: Patient, well-mannered, broadly experienced architects and planners describe the project, point to other examples to support their proposals, and then sit back and endure public comment. I'd find myself squirming in embarrassment for those patient professionals while they stood there politely taking notes listening to the most ridiculous suggestions.

Let's face it: Most of the public is resoundingly ignorant of the built environment. Mostly what they care about is parking. Just when you thought that the Robert Moses generation had finally died off, his ghost suddenly appears in the form of otherwise-progressively minded Gen-Xers with their newly minted mini-vans and SUVs and a

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heightened concern for where they might store them.

Despite the fact that Jenkintown, PA is currently a borderline wasteland of parking already, people are afraid of any development promising to bring in actual people that takes away a single space! Our town is literally dying because of too many cars, but any discussion about what to build inevitably devolves into predictions of sky-will-fall parking nightmares.

And for private projects, the pattern is usually this: Developers come and tell citizens pretty much anything they want to hear. Those of us who've seen these dog-and-pony shows already know that the real decisions will get made behind closed doors, and when the paint dries, the developer gets what he wants anyway, except maybe there's an extra tree or two.

I suppose this is okay for urban-friendly projects brought by sympathetic developers, but in our town, a developer has proposed a Taco Bell with drive-through for a key part at the edge of our downtown. Once we lose that parcel to sprawl, we can kiss a walkable commercial district good-bye for another twenty years. But, we'll have a few extra grand for tax receipts and another layer of cynical public sentiment for the process.

I would trust the public's input if we did a better job of educating them on the merits of good development, but too many think a "walkable" downtown simply means putting in sidewalks. I know that Strong Towns is doing God's work in this area, but it's not enough. I sing its praises every chance I get here, but everyone just wants to know where they can park their car.

Randy Garbin —— Savvy Creative, Passionate Design Technologist http://www.randygarbin.com

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One year in, Eugene Area Chamber of Commerce President and CEO, Brittany Quick-Warner has immersed herself in the rapid-fire activities of Eugene’s ambition.

In 2017, cancer claimed the life of twenty-five year chamber president Dave Hauser who’s name had become synonymous with the Eugene Area Chamber of Commerce. Replacing him was an impossible task, but the board excitedly hired Brittany Quick-Warner when her interview was completed.

In December 2015 The Register Guard included Brittany in the “20 under 40 Rising Business Stars” list while she was serving as the Eugene Chamber “Director of Business Advocacy”.

Education: University of Missouri, bachelor’s degree in atmospheric science; master’s degree in public affairs Accomplishments: Leads public policy and advocacy efforts to influence issues such as downtown revitalization, Eugene Water & Electric Board riverfront development, industrial land expansion, public safety, transportation and workforce policies. Encourages civic leadership through the chamber’s government affairs council and leadership programs. Co-owner of Blue Bus Creatives, a production company specializing in branding, photography, web and video productions.

Impact on the community: Serves as the Co-Chair for the Eugene Regional Accelerator and Innovation Network Board of Directors, serves on the boards of the Greater Eugene Inc economic development organization, the Arts and Business Alliance of Eugene and Travel Lane County. She is an advisory and leadership board member for Better Eugene Springfield Transportation, Eugene Civic Alliance, the League of Women Voters and the Eugene Airport Advisory Council among other community groups and organizations.

http://projects.registerguard.com/rg/business/bluechip/33702741-62/brittany-quick-warner-director-ofbusiness-advocacy-eugene-area-chamber-of-commerce.html.csp

Eugene Chamber Perspective Right now the Eugene community is on the cusp of tremendous growth and opportunity. New industries are building a footprint in Eugene. New leaders and professionals are showing up to drive positive change in business and community development in ways we haven’t seen before. Our community is gaining national attention as a great place to live and work. All of these aspects combine to create an incredible mix of energy, knowledge and an appetite to collaborate on a new approach to business. This new approach is evident in the forward movement of infrastructure projects like the riverfront project, the

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support of budding industry like our tech sector, or in collaborative ventures like the 20 x 21 mural project that demonstrate the intersection of public and private interests working together to push forward a vibrant arts and culture feel for our city.

The appetite for evolution is also felt at the Eugene Area Chamber of Commerce where we are working on a strategy that leverages our strong history into a new future. For the last 100 years, our chamber has been the voice of the business community, building partnerships with industry and helping to drive community improvements that impact the economic landscape and prosperity of everyone in our community. This role and the partnerships, accomplishments and impact that we’ve had have built a strong foundation for both our chamber and our business community. As we look out into our community, we see trends across industries that help us forecast where we should put our time and energy for the next 100 years.

We see collaboration seeding new energy into community improvement efforts. This sense of collaboration between public, private and nonprofit sectors is helping to create tremendous growth and movement of projects that we’ve been dreaming of for decades. We are working more closely with our current partners and developing new partners to help continue this push of collaborative progress.

The UO's new innovation hub opens in downtown Eugene In addition to the Tyler Invention Greenhouse, which occupies the southeastern portion of the space, 942 Olive Street is home to the university’s Product Design Program. The Product Design Launch Lab features a design studio, computer-assisted design lab and a polymer lab in the western portion of the building.

The Eugene branch of the Regional Accelerator and Innovation Network — a collaborative program to help create companies and jobs in the southern Willamette Valley and known as RAIN — occupies the north eastern section of the building and includes rooms for training and meetings and a community workspace where business founders can come together and share ideas. The 24-hour facility will be accessible to students, faculty, RAIN staff and RAIN accelerator companies with key cards.

The three occupants have their own devoted sections, but 942 Olive Street boasts numerous shared spaces and is intentionally designed to foster interaction and collaboration between students, entrepreneurs, researchers and other innovators.

“As the new leader of the Eugene Area Chamber of Commerce, I’m excited to see our community continue to grow. I see our role as a partner and advocate for the voice of business as even more essential as our community leverages the opportunities ahead and works collectively to confront challenges.” Brittany Quick-Warner.

Brittany Quick-Warner’s Community Service: • • • • • • •

Western Association of Chamber Executives Board of Directors RAIN Eugene Board of Directors (Co-Chair) Greater Eugene Inc Board of Directors Better Eugene Springfield Transit Advisory Board Travel Lane County Board of Directors Eugene Civic Alliance Leadership Team Arts and Business Alliance of Eugene Board of Directors

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• • • • • • • • • • •

Downtown Eugene Stakeholders Group 2021 Community Planning Committee Envision Eugene Technical Advisory Group Transportation Community Resource Group Eugene Airport Advisory Council Eugene Climate Action Plan Leadership Team Junior League of Eugene US Ignite Eugene/Springfield Steering Committee Lane County Sector Strategies Leadership Team BRING Recycling Board of Directors (past) Eugene Sustainability Commission (past)

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Small Airports Could Soon Be Doomed Thanks to America’s Growing Pilot Shortage

By Marty Reynolds You may or may not have noticed, but flying from New York City to Billings, Mont. is more expensive than flying to Los Angeles. In fact, this gap is on the verge of widening due to a national pilot shortage.

Why? Simple supply and demand.

carriers are responsible for around 50% of national departures. Any reduction of regional carrier service will affect U.S. passengers, but smaller airports will be disproportionately affected, especially when only a few options already exist.

Pilot shortages may also force major carriers to make economic-based decisions to permanently close less profitable destinations. United Airlines, for example, recently cited its pilot shortage as one of the reasons for shutting its Cleveland hub.

Ultimately, a sustained disruption will affect consumer’s flight options and ticket prices.

There were three main statutory and regulatory changes that impacted pilot supply and demand.

Ryanair Cancels Hundreds of Flights First, in 2009, the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) raised the mandatory "We have messed up in the “…fixing this problem will retirement age for pilots from 60 planning of pilot holidays and also require small-market to 65. Now, pilots are reaching we're working hard to fix that." passengers to enter the their mandatory retirement ages national conversation.

Lastly, we collectively need in large numbers. In fact, Their voice is important to do a better job getting young industry experts expect roughly and essential…” people excited about aviation 18,000 pilots to retire at major careers. Existing aviationU.S. carriers over the next three years. Second, following a commuter jet crash in Buffalo, N.Y. in focused events such as flights for kids, airshows, 2009, the FAA and Congress increased the number aeronautic museum programs, and military outof hours required to pursue an Air Transport Pilot reach are powerful incentive programs. It may be (ATP) rating from 250 hours to 1,500 hours. Finally, time to appoint a national aviation ambassador to the FAA instituted new crew rest regulations, energize America’s interest in the profession. making it necessary for airlines to hire more people to fly the same number of flights.

Obtaining an ATP rating is expensive and starting pay is low. Industry analysts estimate it costs over $150,000 to obtain an ATP rating. Once earned, pilots can expect to make less than $30,000 during their first few years with a regional carrier. The combination of low pay, a stressful work environment, time away from home, and significant debt make alternative professions attractive.

The impact is particularly concerning for passengers in smaller markets. RAA’s analysis shows regional carriers service 95% of all U.S. airports, yet provide exclusive service to 65% of U.S. airports with scheduled service—small markets. In total, regional

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Solving this shortage will take years. It takes time to inspire budding aviators, develop experienced pilots, change regulations, and alter pay and benefit structures. Yet, fixing this problem will also require small-market passengers to enter the national conversation. Their voice is important and essential, because absent changes, they remain the most vulnerable to higher prices, fewer flights, and lost service.

Colonel George “Marty” Reynolds, U.S. Air Force, served as the commander of the 55th Wing, Offutt Air Force Base, Nebraska, where he was responsible for a seven thousand–member wing conducting Intelligence, surveillance, and reconnaissance and electronic attack missions. Reynolds is a military fellow at the Council on Foreign Relations.

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North Bend Denver Flights Resume in June 2018 Southwest Oregon Regional Airport officials confirmed today United Airlines will resume twice “Coos County is geographically isolated because weekly summer nonstop service between North of the ocean and the mountains. Access has Bend and Denver in June. The Sunday and always been an issue. The Southwest Oregon Wednesday roundtrip flights between Southwest Regional Airport provides a critical pathway to access major transportation hubs and Oregon Regional Airport and Denver International economic drivers in Oregon and throughout the Airport will be offered between June 10th and western United States. A regional airport makes Oct. 3rd. United’s Jetcraft provides passengers the difference between an area being regionally significant and being irrelevant.” with a full-service cabin and seats up to 76 Melissa Cribbins passengers, including twelve first-class cabin Coos County Commissioner seats. Flights will arrive in North Bend at 1:38 p.m. and depart for Denver at 2:10 p.m. Tickets for the Denver-North Bend flights are available at www.united.com or by calling 800-864- 8331.

Airport working to restore Portland Flights The Southwest Oregon Regional Airport is awaiting word on a grant submitted to the Small Community Air Service Development Program in December. The grant would provide financial support over a threeyear period for a new route to Portland. $10 million in funding is available nationwide. Awards will be announced this quarter. Letters off support were received from local governments, businesses, and non-profits. Meanwhile, the Board of Directors continues to meet to ensure long-term solutions to the Portland flights. In January the board met with Jack Penning of Volaire Aviation to discuss funding models from other states and municipalities that have been successful in maintaining and growing

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Commercial Flights. Staff has also met with representatives from Skywest, United, Alaska, Southern and SkyValue airlines to discuss future schedules, available aircraft, and pilot availability.

“Southwest Oregon Regional Airport is not only vital to the success of our resort but our community as a whole. The airport provides the closest gateway for visitors looking to explore our regions wonderful scenery and experiences, and continues to support our residents as a great option for their own travel plans.”

Michael Chupka Jr. PGA Director of Communications Bandon Dunes Golf Resort

American Airlines CEO Doug Parker believes the industry will Cope.

“Economics is going to take care of this, and I think that’s what is happening now,” Parker says. “The (flight) schools are starting to fill up with people who realize, ‘If I can get myself to 1,500 hours (the minimum flight hours needed to get an airline-pilot license), I can be assured of a career as a pilot.’

That’s not something people could convince themselves of from 9/11 on until now.”

Pilot hiring nosedived after the Sept. 11, 2001 terror attacks that led to a decline in travel, and again during the global financial crisis in 2008-2009. Major U.S. airlines hired only 30 pilots in 2009, according to Future & Active Pilot Advisors, a career-counseling business for pilots.

The job market didn’t pick up significantly until around 2014. Last year 10 of the largest U.S. passenger and cargo airlines hired 4,988 pilots, the most since 2000 when they hired 5,105.

“It’s the best sellers’ market I have seen in the last 45 years of monitoring airline pilot hiring,” says Louis Smith, a retired airline pilot who runs the pilotcounseling outfit.

Smith says forums for aspiring pilots that once drew a couple dozen people now sometimes attract more than 150. Some hope to make a mid-career change, which was rare just a few years ago .

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LE T T IN G G O A N D S L OW I N G D O W N – W H Y T OD A Y ’S M OT H E R S N E E D S U PP O R T AN D C OM M U N I T Y M OR E T H A N E V E R

BY RACHEL QUEDNAU

A few decades ago, Beth Berry lived in Austin, Texas with her four children. The pace of life in that big city eventually caught up with them and they decided to move south to Mexico to find something different.

How a Productivity- and Efficiency-Obsessed Culture Harms Parents

in their parenting, providing healthy food for their kids, maybe even affording a private education and both parents are likely working. What's more, parents today must do it all on their own, with no community support system. The "village" is completely absent, and the traditionally standard model of intergenerational families living together and sharing childcare burdens is no longer the norm for many Americans.

"We were [...] blown away that it was even possible to slow down to that pace," she explains. "It really is different. People don't have the same expectation of constant striving for productivity and sense of accomplishment. [...] When everybody else is moving fast, you assume it's normal."

"Kids need a sense that they're held within a community, not just a household," Beth explains. "Their sense of safety and security in the world largely comes from knowing that there's a greater container that holds them and loves them and supports them as they grow.�

Listen to an excerpt

Beth started writing, cooking, walking and observing the family-centric life around her. "I was learning to not have an agenda and let curiosity lead me," she says. "The culture shifted my perspective on what I needed to do to be okay, to be worthy, to be successful by some measure."

Since then, she has moved back to the United States and begun working with mothers who share similar concerns about the unceasing pace of American life, and the burdens and impossible ideals it lays on women.

In previous generations, parenting was a simpler matter where discipline meant spanking a kid and sending him outside. Today, the expectations for parents are so much greater: they must be creative Southern Oregon Business Journal

Beth Berry

Parents, too, would benefit so much from a wider community of support and mentorship that would enable them to take breaks from being in the trenches of childcare and gain a healthier sense of

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balance. Yet, today's parents often pushback against the advice and guidance of the previous generation because they don't agree with that style of parenting.

The car-based nature of modern communities is also draining parents of their energy and time by requiring them to cart their kids around to numerous sports practices, music lessons, dance classes, etc. all over their cities — not to mention trips to the grocery store and doctor's office. Now the children that used to play in the neighborhood together are at soccer practice halfway across town, or summer camp in the suburbs.

Rituals, traditions and myths that center on the female transition from girl to mother to older woman have also been lost in the last century. Rites of passage around menstruation for instance have completely disappeared and those transitions have become completely private (even from fathers).

Furthermore, today we expect mothers to look as thin and wrinkle-free as they did when they were 20, instead of embracing the new phase of motherhood in body and life. "There's [no longer] a recognition of the power we come into when we become a mother and the wisdom that motherhood helps us to acquire," Beth says. "Instead, I would say most mothers feel less empowered than they did before they started having children, because we don't hold motherhood in reverence in this culture." (And that's just as true of grandmothers, too.)

So what's a 21st century parent to do? Beth suggests that parents start by letting go of the need to control every aspect of a kid's life — where they play, what they eat, what they watch, what activities they participate in. Parenting from a place of fear will only create stress and anxiety. Beth also wants parents to give the older generations a little more credit, and certainly take grandparents up on an offer to care for the kids, even if it means they end up eating some junk food or watching some television. Creating a new, more celebratory narrative around women's transitions would also make a difference (although that's a broader cultural shift).

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Additionally, Beth believes that a decrease in car reliance would go a long way toward making the lives of parents easier. That's the responsibility of the people who design our cities. "Have the grocery stores and the coffee shops and the playgrounds and the green areas be within walking distance to neighborhoods, so that we're not having to get in our car and drive 20 minutes across town to meet these basic needs," she says. The intangible sense of community that grows from seeing your neighbors as you walk somewhere would also have a deeply positive impact on families.

Costco and Walmart might feel like they make life easier for parents, but in Beth's experience, those stores only make life more efficient. "The opposite experience is what I found when we lived in Chiapas [Mexico] where they were all mom-and-pop shops and you walked through all of them," Beth shares. "That was meeting needs that were much more important than efficiency when you're talking about people thriving. [...] There's a human interaction throughout the whole thing. There's a quality of experience that's happening instead of just the quantity."

If we want to get mothers' perspectives on local issues and community design, we need to make it easier for them to share their input, and not judge them when they show up at a meeting with their kids in tow. "There's got to be safe places for mothers to be mothers," says Beth.

Beth Berry runs the website, Revolution from Home, and is a life coach, writer, and mother of four. Listen to this engaging conversation with Beth, hosted by Chuck Marohn on the Strong Towns podcast for more insights and thought-provoking dialogue.

Strong Towns is a media organization leading a national movement for change. We’re challenging every American to fundamentally rethink how our cities are built, and we’re shining a spotlight on an approach that will make us truly prosperous. https://www.strongtowns.org/about/

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Annual Azalea Festival—Brookings Harbor, Oregon Since 1943, this coastal springtime celebration features a parade, carnival, street fair, regional art show, quilt and crafts exhibits. The festival celebrates the blooming azaleas that beautify Azalea Park from April until June.