Social and Behavioral Sciences Commons^™

Black And White And Read All Over: Print, Profit, And Passion - An Interview With Peter Bhatia, Ben Lundin

Institute of Portland Metropolitan Studies Publications

Few industries appear as precarious in today’s economy as newspapers. Once the main source of information for millions of people, printed papers now have to compete with a variety of alternative forms of information gathering and reporting. The ink-stained wretches of yore now lock horns with anonymous bloggers, pompadoured TV anchors on 24-hour news channels, YouTube, and social media for the attention of a fickle public. Among the threatened giants of the old media is The Oregonian, one of the state’s oldest businesses. We sent Ben Lundin, an awardwinning freelance journalist who worked as a staff writer for three Louisiana …

Hopping Mad : The Metroscape Has A Tall, Cold, Crafty One, Laura Nicole Cesafsky

Institute of Portland Metropolitan Studies Publications

Discusses the state of the craft brewing industry in Portland, as well as its roots and future direction.

Periodic Atlas Of The Metroscape: The Face Of Density, Diversity, And Disparity In 20th Century Portland, Craig Wollner, Meg Merrick

Institute of Portland Metropolitan Studies Publications

We of the 21st century often congratulate ourselves on policies that have led to greater density and diversity in our urban settings, as remedies to the sprawl, ghettoization, and poverty that became the bane of planners and activists during the last half of the previous one hundred years. But the maps on this and following pages, generated by the Teaching American History Project of the Institute of Portland Metropolitan Studies, suggest that there was plenty of density in various parts of the city at times in the twentieth century and a lot of diversity in certain neighborhoods. Often, these outcomes …

Stimulus And Response: Is The Recovery And Reinvestment Act Working For Us?, Elizabeth Morehead

Institute of Portland Metropolitan Studies Publications

From the beginning, the Recovery Act has received mixed reviews. Skeptics worry about wasteful government spending and a crushing national debt while proponents argue that it is the only way to dig out from the recession. Locally, reaction has also been mixed. While some local leaders have enthusiastically embraced the Recovery Act, others are frustrated by its restrictions and see the program as a missed opportunity to effect real and permanent change. Additionally, several projects within the metroscape have received negative attention on both a local and national scale, causing embarrassment and raising questions about the judgment of those involved …

Population Dynamics Of The Portland-Vancouver Msa, Webb Sprague, Emily Picha

Institute of Portland Metropolitan Studies Publications

This article offers a descriptive overview of population dynamics in the Portland-Vancouver Metropolitan Statistical Area (MSA). The MSA includes five of Oregon’s 36 counties–Clackamas, Columbia, Multnomah, Washington, and Yamhill, as well as Clark and Skamania counties in the state of Washington (see Figure 1). (In 2007, the Portland-Vancouver-Beaverton MSA was redefined to include Skamania County in Washington. For the sake of comparability, we have therefore derived all historical data as if this definition has always applied. Because of this change, many of our historical numbers may have shifted since the last report on Oregon demography in the 2007 Metropolitan Briefing …

Population Characteristics Within The Portland-Vancouver Msa, Webb Sprague, Emily Picha, Sheila A. Martin

Institute of Portland Metropolitan Studies Publications

In this article, we will explore population characteristics in different parts of the Portland MSA using Census Public Use Microsample (PUMS) data from 2005-2007. For the spatial component, we will use a Census-defined small area geography called Public Use Microsample Area (PUMA), designed to follow existing county boundaries and contain around 100,000 people. (The Census reports the one-year and three-year ACS data only to the detail of this geography in order to maintain the privacy of survey respondents and to improve the precision of the estimates.)

We will sometimes focus on a couple of example PUMAs to show the interesting …

Where The Ends Don’T Meet: Measuring Poverty And Self-Sufficiency Among Oregon’S Families, Melissa Rowe, Sheila A. Martin, Danan Gu, Webb Sprague

Institute of Portland Metropolitan Studies Publications

This report uses the Self-Sufficiency Standard developed by Dr. Diana Pearce at the University of Washington to analyze the extent to which Oregon households earn enough money to meet their basic needs without a public subsidy. This standard, a vast improvement on the federal poverty level, accounts for differences in the cost of living based on family structure, age of children, and county of residence. Dr. Pearce has defined the income required to meet basic needs for every county in Oregon and a number of household types. A large number of Oregon households not considered poor by the federal poverty …

Foreclosure Activity In The Portland-Vancouver Msa, Webb Sprague, Emily Picha, Nicole Iroz-Elardo, Tom Heinicke

Institute of Portland Metropolitan Studies Publications

Foreclosure activity is an important indicator of community and neighborhood health and the economic viability of households. In the Portland region, foreclosure activity is comparable to many areas of the United States, with significant segments of the population struggling to make their mortgage payments.

The foreclosure crisis continues to unfold in the United States. In 2009, RealtyTrac reported 3.9 million foreclosure filings on 2.8 million properties in the U.S., up 21 percent from the previous year. Foreclosure filings include default notices, scheduled foreclosure auctions and bank reversions. About two percent of all U.S. housing units received at least one foreclosure …

A Riverfront Park Runs Through It : A Bend In The River For Citizen Involvement In Portland -- 40 Years Later, Tim Duroche

Institute of Portland Metropolitan Studies Publications

Gives a brief history of the people and events that led to the establishment of Tom McCall Waterfront Park in downtown Portland, Oregon. It also discusses how this impacted the future of citizen activism and participation in a variety of civic projects in the years that followed. The article discusses the process by which the Portland of today was formed in the period from 1970 to 1980. The author interviewed many of the people directly involved in the events described in the article.

Photovoice As Authentic Civic Engagement: Lessons Learned In One Immigrant Community, Meg Merrick, Angie Mejia

Institute of Portland Metropolitan Studies Publications

It is widely acknowledged that equitable and sustainable public policy can only be achieved when it is informed by the concerns, hopes, and experiences of those who are affected. Public agencies wishing to engage recent immigrants can find this to be challenging, however. Effective public participation and civic engagement can be difficult when community members cannot speak English and/or come from very different cultural and political environments. The Chronic Disease Prevention Program (CDPP) of the Multnomah County Health Department and Metro, two public agencies serving the Portland, Oregon region, have actively sought to learn from the experiences of immigrant community …

Jobs And Gender: Does Sex Play A Role In The Region's Recession?, Mary C. King

Institute of Portland Metropolitan Studies Publications

Unemployment rates in Oregon have been among the highest in the nation. In a real role reversal, unemployment in the seven counties of the Portland metropolitan area have hovered less than a percentage point below the state level, defying the usual rule that unemployment hits the rural counties far harder than the more diversified economies of the urban areas. Are we experiencing a “he-cession” here in the metroscape? Is the economic downturn hitting men hardest, leaving women relatively unscathed? Has stimulus spending disproportionately benefited men? Does it even make sense to think about an economic downturn having a gendered impact, …