It laid the groundwork for revitalizing North, Northeast and Outer Southeast Portland. Mayor Vera Katz answers that the 1999 vision is not about zoning or new buildings or plazas or expanding the central city. It's about achieving America's best schools, a center for world-class higher education and a healthy river and enhancing the city's mosaic of housing, jobs, services, arts and culture for a diverse population. These are the right places to look. The waters are murky, but this is a popular vision, and the endangered species listing gives it added urgency.
Housing is costly in the central city.
The vital arts and cultural opportunities also tend to need public assistance. The commitment to a diverse downtown population is vital, defining a downtown different from sterile suburban malls. In the past, Portland has met such questions head-on, and overcome enormous hurdles. But redevelopment tools, such as urban renewal, that have rebuilt so much of the central city today have largely fallen out of favor. Katz worries that complacency, smugness, will stand in the way of making Portland the best it can be.