Social and Behavioral Sciences Commons^™

Counting Everyone Because Everyone Counts: The Value Of Census Data For Local Decision Making, Uma Krishnan

Metroscape

Once every ten years the US Census Bureau conducts the decennial United States census, and 2020 is the year. The census is a national effort to count everyone in the United States. Unfortunately, this year the COVID-19 pandemic has captured the nation’s attention even as the 2020 census struggles to claim relevance and broaden its reach. At the same time, census data has emerged as a critical tool for examining stark inequities in the demographics of who is contracting and dying of COVID-19. This year, counting everyone is more important than ever.

The Landscape: Making Oregon Count In 2020, Mac Cunningham

Metroscape

In our increasingly polarized national environment, the census remains one of the few tasks that all United States residents share in common. The results of the census will have implications for the decade to come.

Mandated by Article I of the United States Constitution, the census is the largest peacetime mobilization in the country. Conducted at the start of each new decade, the census is an effort by the government to count every resident in the United States at the location where each person usually lives. While this once-a-decade survey might seem labor intensive, the results of the census impact …

Indicators Of The Metroscape: Show Us The Money, Portland State University. Population Research Center

Metroscape

Chart showing census-based allocation for Medicare, Medicaid and other programs (2017), for each of the United States.

The Census Is Political: Hard-To-Count Communities Must Be Reached, We Count Oregon, Julia Michel

Metroscape

We Count Oregon is the first woman-of-color-led statewide census campaign in Oregon purposefully designed to undermine exclusionary census norms. The We Count Oregon 2020 campaign reflects the values, cultures, and needs of hard-to- count communities. In Oregon, these are primarily communities of color (including Black, Asian and Pacific Islanders, Latinx, Indigenous and native communities), LGBTQI communities, children under the age of five, disabled people, rural communities, and people experiencing homelessness. Hard-to- count communities in Oregon had less than a 73 percent self-response return rate in the 2010 census. Due to the history of the census and a variety of contemporary …

Periodic Atlas Of The Metroscape: Counting Oregon, Mac Cunningham, Xi Wei, Randy Morris

Metroscape

Every United States census has challenges ensuring that every person responds and is counted. Individuals who are missed in the census count or “undercounted” for various reasons are often referred to as “hard-to-count” populations. Hard-to-count populations include rural residents, people of color, immigrants, people experiencing homelessness, children under age five, renters, and more.

For the 2010 census, the final mail return rate in Oregon was 76 percent. Census tracts with a mail return response rate of 76 percent or less are highlighted on the map on this page. Response rates closest to the state’s final response rate are light yellow, …

Finding The Middle: Overcoming Challenges To Building Missing Middle Housing, Ryan Winterberg-Lipp

Metroscape

In the Portland metro area and across the state, the demographics of cities are changing. Urban populations and housing prices are rising, while household sizes are declining with an aging baby boomer generation and younger households both delaying marriage and children and having fewer children. With these changing dynamics, many Portland metro communities are looking to missing middle housing types to “provide for the housing needs of citizens of the state” as called for in the Oregon Statewide Planning Goals and Guidelines. With increasing interest in missing middle housing as a way to provide more housing choices for area households …

The Landscape: Happy Valley, Eavan Moore

Metroscape

This article examines Happy Valley, Oregon, with special emphasis on how to manage growth amid continued development.

Indicators Of The Metroscape: Urban Coyotes, Institute Of Portland Metropolitan Studies

Metroscape

A brief look at increasing presence of coyotes in the Portland Metropolitan Region, with an overview of the Urban Coyote Project.

Periodic Atlas Of The Metroscape: The Geography Of Health, Joshua Ollinger, Ashley Donald, Randy Morris

Metroscape

Our ability to lead a fulfilling life and pursue our goals is largely shaped by our health. Although we experience these conditions such as illness and disabilities at a very personal level, factors outside of our control are often what determines our health. Known as the Social Determinants of Health, where we are born, work, live, and spend our lives is considered equally if not more important to our health status than medical care and personal health behaviors. As a result, certain communities and populations disproportionately experience burdens. Identifying and increasing awareness of health disparities is an essential step toward …

Growing Wisely In Vancouver, Washington: An Interview With Mayor Anne Mcenerny-Ogle, Elizabeth Morehead

Metroscape

In November 2017, Anne McEnerny-Ogle was elected to a four-year term as Mayor of Vancouver, Washington. Anne served on City Council from January 2014 through December 2017. She was also Vancouver's Mayor Pro Tem from January 2016 through December 2017. Anne earned a bachelor's degree in education from Southern Oregon State College and a master's degree in education from Lewis and Clark College. Anne retired after teaching thirty years in Lake Oswego Public Schools and serving as the chair of the mathematics department. During this time, she was a consultant to numerous school districts in Washington and Oregon, presented her …

Whither Skamania?, Eavan Moore

Metroscape

An in-depth look at Skamania County, Washington, examining its financial challenges, obstacles faced by employers, the impact of declining timber revenues, long-term impacts of the 2017 forest fires, and a look at future growth and possible local government strategies.

Growing Deeper Roots: Toward Resilient Urban Forests, Sachi Arakawa

Metroscape

This article examines the urban forest in Portland, Oregon, as part of a complex system that requires management, education and outreach to remain healthy and sustainable. It also reviews the economic and ecological benefits of a health urban forest.

The Balancing Act: A Look At Dynamic School District Boundaries, Sheila Martin, Madison Levy

Metroscape

How do school districts throughout the Portland region respond to changes in student populations that cause overcrowding or under enrollment? In this article, we explore some of the key trends in school enrollment, describe the challenges faced by some of the districts in the region, and describe how different districts address those challenges.

The Landscape: Cully Neighborhood, Eavan Moore

Metroscape

This installment of The Landscape focuses on Portland's Cully neighborhood, briefly reviewing its history, demographic trends, and current planning efforts.

Source Of Down Payment, Institute Of Portland Metropolitan Studies

Metroscape

A statistical snapshot of the percentage of owner-occupied housing stock, by major source of down payment, in 2015.

Spanning The Region: A Survey Of Bridges In The Metroscape, Andrés Oswill

Metroscape

Bridges get us where we need to go. They also have character that contributes to a sense of place. Here we profile a selection of bridges in the Portland Metro area to understand the history and logistics of each bridge. When was the bridge built, how was it funded, who maintains it? The bridges we selected reflect the area’s wide variations in bridge style and management. Some of the bridges are county owned; others are run by a state or city transportation department. The bridges range in age, but all are inspected every twenty-four months. A bridge’s story offers important …

Cultivating The Technology Ecosystem: An Interview With Skip Newbury, Sheila Martin

Metroscape

An interview with Skip Newbury, President and CEO of the Technology Association of Oregon (TAO). He is a frequent speaker on technology trends and topics, economic development, public-private partnerships and civic innovation. Before joining the TAO, Skip served as an economic development policy advisor to Portland Mayor Sam Adams, where he helped create Portland’s first comprehensive economic development strategy in 16 years, recognizing software as a key industry cluster.

Scappoose, Liza Morehead

Metroscape

A brief snapshot of Scappoose, Oregon, discussing its history, growth and development, and a look to its future.

The Geography Of The Commute, Steven Howland, Randy Morris

Metroscape

It is a common misperception that low-income populations are transit-dependent or typically do without a car because it is too expensive. While much larger proportions of low-income populations use a mode of transportation other than a personal automobile to commute to work, a majority of them still use a personal automobile. In this edition of the Periodic Atlas, we looked at commuting as it relates to people of color and low-wage workers using the most recent reliable Census data as well as data from the Longitudinal Employer-Household Dynamics Origin-Destination Employment Statistics (LEHD-LODES).

A New Vision For Timber City Usa, Kerry Politzer

Metroscape

A look at the city of Willamina, Oregon, as it attempts to transition from a timber-reliant town to a sustainable future. Provides a brief history of the community and its economic struggles, and its attempts to foster economic development though tourism, arts and winemaking.

Cross-Laminated Timber: An Innovative Building Material Takes Hold In Oregon, Andrew Crampton

Metroscape

In a rapidly urbanizing world fueled by the enormous demand to house and shelter billions of people in the upcoming decades, building materials must be utilized that have a lighter climate impact than today’s commonly used energy-intensive building materials.

Is there an alternative to the energy-intensive concrete jungle that is both sustainable and financially viable? How can our built environment enhance, rather than destroy, the natural environment? Part of the solution lies in a recent innovation that uses one of the world’s oldest building materials, wood, with a modern twist: cross-laminated timber, often abbreviated as CLT. These wood-based structures can …

Women In The Trades: An Interview With Connie Ashbrook And Nora Mullane, Liza Morehead

Metroscape

Liza Morehead interviews Connie Ashbrook and Nora Mullane.

Connie Ashbrook is the Executive Director and founder of Oregon Tradeswomen, Inc., Previous to her years with OTI, she worked in the trades for seventeen years as a dump truck driver, carpenter apprentice, and elevator constructor. She was the first woman in Oregon to become licensed as an elevator mechanic.

Nora Mullane has been a union journey-person carpenter, general contractor, building inspector, and City of Portland Bureau of Developments Services supervisor. Nora says that successfully completing her carpenter’s apprenticeship program has served her well throughout her entire career, and life in general, …

Election 2016: Voter Turnout And Results Across Oregon, Kevin Curry

Metroscape

Metroscape went inside the numbers from the 2016 general election. We examined Oregon’s new "motor voter" law to see if it affected turnout and to better understand the new voters added to the rolls in the ‘Beaver State.’ We looked at voter turnout and election results in Clackamas, Columbia, Multnomah, Washington, and Yamhill counties in Oregon and Clark and Skamania counties in Washington to answer several questions about the 2016 General Election.

Periodic Atlas Of The Metroscape: The Geography Of Future Housing, Randy Morris, Sheila Martin

Metroscape

In this edition of the Periodic Atlas, we provide a glimpse of housing construction that has been permitted over the past few years, with a focus on multifamily housing. Focusing on recently-permitted units provides a perspective on how the newest housing is and will be different from existing housing. The type of housing that will be built, where it is built, its characteristics, and its price will shape the Portland region in the years to come.

Indicators Of The Metroscape: Average Wage Per Job, Institute Of Portland Metropolitan Studies

Metroscape

A chart offering Portland MSA average wage as a percentage of the US metro average wage, 2001-2015.

The Landscape: Tualatin, Liza Morehead

Metroscape

This edition of The Landscape takes a brief look at the city of Tualatin, Oregon, located twelve miles south of Portland, and examines its population, growth, and demographics, as well as defining features and points of interest.

The Landscape: Tiny And Very Small Houses, Andrés Oswill

Metroscape

The article describes one of many approaches to creating more affordable housing choices -- tiny and very small houses. The author explains how the current trend returns to an affordable housing approach used much earlier in Portland's history.

Indicators Of The Metroscape: The Young, The Old, And The Single, Elizabeth Morehead

Metroscape

Elizabeth Morehead focuses on the changing demographic of households in the Portland metropolitan region

Periodic Atlas Of The Of The Metroscape: The Geography Of Publicly Subsidized Affordable Housing, Meg Merrick

Metroscape

Meg Merrick maps publicly subsidized affordable housing units across the region, discusses their geography, and describes their location in relation to two important amenities: schools and libraries.

Is Housing Making People Sick?: An Overview Of Seven Studies That Raise Questions To Consider As We Incorporate Health Into Planning And Build New Housing To Address Shortages And Energy Efficiency, Merilee D. Karr

Metroscape

The article discusses the unintended consequences of some of the strategies for housing energy efficiency: they can lead to indoor air pollution that is making people sick. As we pursue ways to reduce the cost of housing, we must pursue innovation in building materials and techniques that might reduce the negative health consequences of sealing our homes from the elements.