252 research outputs found
Metropolitan Portland Looks at Governmental Reorganization: A Public Opinion Study
No full textThis is the report of a study of public attitudes toward local government and governmental reorganization in the Portland Metropolitan area.
The survey was conducted and compiled by Bardsley & Haslacher, an independent and impartial research organization, with offices in Portland, Oregon and Stanford, California
Portland City at a Crossroads: Portland Civic Index Project
No full textBeginning in June, 1989 and continuing through May, 1990, a group of citizens from the Portland Metropolitan area met to study the future of the community through the Civic Index process established by the National Civic League. This report represents the results of this effort
The Portland Boundary Commission: a case study
No full textBy the late 1960s, the literature of state and local government had been long dominated by what might now be termed a traditional approach, although the public choice paradigm was challenging it successfully. Those who took the traditional approach saw America\u27s metropolitan areas to be in a crisis state, to be suffering from a variety of social, cultural and economic ills which were making these areas virtually uninhabitable. Exacerbating these difficulties was a system of local governmental organization which the traditionalists characterized as fragmented, overlapping, and duplicative, a system incapable of providing an areawide governmental structure to respond to areawide problems. A number of ameliorating steps to deal with this situation were recommended to the states by such institutions as the Advisory Commission on Intergovernmental Relations, The Council of state Governments, and the Committee for Economic Development. These included recommendations to establish state boundary review agencies to apply state policy to local government boundary changes. Oregon was one of a number of states to adopt these recommendations when in 1969, after a twelve year gestation period, it created local government boundary commissions in the Portland, Salem, and Eugene metropolitan areas. This dissertation is an exploratory evaluation of the Portland Boundary Commission and hopefUlly makes a contribution to the meager body of knowledge on boundary commissions in Oregon. Data necessary to such purposes include published and unpublished materials from the Portland State University library; the joint Columbia Region Association of Governments--Portland Boundary Commission library; the files of the former Tri-County Local Government Commission; the Bureau of Governmental Research, and others. The resources of the state of Oregon Archives, including minutes, tapes, exhibits, and reports of interim and regular committees were also utilized. A major source of information, of course, was the records of the Portland Boundary Commission. These included correspondence, tapes of public hearings, summarized minutes of public hearings and meetings, and files on each proposal (maps, staff reports, final orders, and other written materials). In addition, personal interviews were carried out with nearly all persons who have played important roles in all phases of the Commission\u27s development and operation. Findings and conclusions were reached with respect to a number of aspects of the Commission, including: the bill\u27s development by local institutions (the Portland Metropolitan Study Commission) and individuals (Ronald Cease, A. McKay Rich, Frank Roberts, John W. Anunsen, and others) and interim committees of the state legislature, and Legislative Counsel; the bill\u27s legislative history and development, what factors affected the bill\u27s passage and the major policy issues which concerned it; critical decisions made in the earliest stages of the Commission\u27s operation with respect to leadership and staff; revisions in the Law made since the original statute became operative and how those changes related to Commission operations; the intergovernmental relations in which the Commission engages and case studies illustrating a taxonomy of those changes; the difficulties in the 1977 Legislature and an analysis of the structural and functional components of the Commission\u27s political vulnerability which draws upon the work of the Joint Interim Task Force on Boundary Commissions and Annexations; the relationships among the commissioners, their perceptions of the Commission\u27s operation and the relationship between the Commission and its staff; and comments by the author on the general operation of the Commission, the major problems presently facing the Commission and some informed speculations and recommendations with respect to the functional and political future of the Commission
Patterns of metropolitan development : what have we learned?
No full textMuch of our knowledge about metropolitan development is still imperfect, but in the past 35 years a great deal of theoretical and empirical work has been carried out in cities and metropolitan areas in both industrial and developing countries with market-oriented economies. This work has produced empirical findings with remarkably strong regularities across countries and cities. Moreover, many of these empirical regularities are quite consistent with urban location theory and suggest the broad applicability of our basic theory to market-based cities. These regularities offer insights about development and growth pressures in many cities and indicate the directions future development is likely to take. The development pattern of cities in industrial and developing countries with market-based economies exhibit similar patterns of decentralization of both population and employment, with the largest metropolitan areas converging to similarly decentralized structures with multiple subcenters, highly decentralized manufacturing employment, and the central business districts'emerging specialization in service employment. Cities in developing countries typically have higher population densities than those in industrial countries, but the differences have been narrowing over time in the largest metropolitan areas. Decentralization of population and employment increases reliance on road-based transport for both passengers and freight. Industrial countries have experienced decreases in transit use as auto ownership levels have risen. Many developing countries show early signs of a similar pattern, although their transit ridership levels are still high and their transit systems often offer a rich mix of options in terms of vehicle size and level of service. Land markets are strong determinants of decentralization. Cities without land markets exhibit quite different development patterns from cities with even poorly functioning land markets. In market-based cities, land rents are closely related to development densities, although empirical work on land rents and values is relatively rare, for lack of data. Demand patterns in urban housing markets are similar across cities in developing and industrial countries for supply-side impediments vary widely -resulting in a wide range of ratios of housing prices to income. Similarly, the efficiency with which public infrastructure is provided varies widely across cities and across sectors within cities. In the coming decades global urbanization will increase, mostly in low-income countries (which in 1995 contained nearly 60 percent of the world's people). Many of those low-income countries already have large metropolitan areas, whose populations will continue to grow.Banks&Banking Reform,Urban Housing and Land Settlements,Urban Services to the Poor,Municipal Financial Management,National Urban Development Policies&Strategies,Banks&Banking Reform,Urban Housing and Land Settlements,National Urban Development Policies&Strategies,Urban Services to the Poor,Municipal Financial Management
The Mass Transportation Commission demonstration program
No full textThe Third Progress Report marks the completion of six months experiments in the program conducted by the Mass Transportation Commission, with the cooperation of the Office of Transportation of the Housing and Home Finance Agency. As of mid-June, experiments with two railroads, six bus companies and the Metropolitan Transit Author- ity were in progress. In addition, two bus experiments have been completed. This Progress Report contains considerable material which should be of wide interest to all concerned with the future of public transportation. Among the more notable items included are (a)up-to-date information on the Boston and Maine lines indicating that passenger volume has continued to increase,(b)revenue figures indicating that total fares paid by new riders have off-set the overall experimental fare reduction,(c)a survey of Boston and Maine passengers, analyzing the diversion of new passengers from highway and other forms of public transportation,(d)an analysis of the terminated Lynnfield bus experiment,and (e)parking data survey information on the MTA parking lot experiment which offer grounds for concluding that this particular experiment has resulted in substantially increased use of rapid transit facilities. In addition to presenting new material developed between mid-April and mid-June, this Report has been prepared as a self-contained, six-months' summary study incorporating much of the basic information first two Progress Reports
Urban Forms : An Introduction to the Concept and a Review of Some Factors which Influence the Shape of the Community
No full textThe growth of the Portland metropolitan area can continue as it has in the past or it can be guided into one of a number of regional development patterns. This study will attempt to assess the values of several possible forms of development and some policies needed for their implementation
Portland. Metropolitan Boundary Commission - Portland. Metropolitan Study Commission
No full textPart of the Oregon Index compiled by Oregon State Library staff and volunteers
Portland. Metropolitan Study Commission - Portland. Mock's Bottom
No full textPart of the Oregon Index compiled by Oregon State Library staff and volunteers
Zoning and the Distribution of Locational Rents: An Empirical Analysis of Harris County Texas
No full textThe Coase theorem presents two criteria for evaluating regulation. The first is how successful the regulation is at reaching the efficient outcome relative to private solutions. The second and less discussed criterion is how the regulation affects the distribution of wealth. Previous studies of the impact of municipal zoning have focused on Coase's first criteria: whether zoning raises land values overall. There has been less focus on distributional aspects of zoning. How does municipal zoning affect the wealth of participants in the property market? Most of the existing studies focus on the transfer of rents between those who have developed property and those with undeveloped property. This study estimates the transfer of wealth between owners of existing homes that results from the creation of a municipal zoning ordinance. We find that property best suited to residential use gains in value while property with relatively higher potential as commercial property experiences a decline in the value. Our results support the contention that zoning is distributive.
Changing Climate, Changing Behavior: An Interview with Angus Duncan
No full textIn a 2010 report, the Oregon Legislature-created Oregon Global Warming Commission (OGWC) stated with confidence that human activities were primarily responsible for a 1.5 degree Fahrenheit increase in 20th century temperatures in the Pacific Northwest. Transportation and electricity were responsible for about 70 percent of Oregon\u27s greenhouse gas emissions during the 2003-2007 period of study, while agriculture, waste, combustion, leakage, and other sources were responsible for the balance of emissions. Metroscape\u27s Michael Burnham sat down with OGWC Chairman Angus Duncan recently to discuss the commission\u27s work and how a warming world might affect the metropolitan Portland area economically, socially, and environmentally
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