Case Study 1- Portland

The city of Portland is one of the most progressive cities in the northwest. This city is has a group called the Portland Development Commission that has the initive to make this place into a great place to live for its citizens. Here a few plans that they have initated into there city.

Housing
We finance and develop multi-family housing for a variety of income levels throughout the city. We also provide single family home purchase and home repair loans to help stabilize neighborhoods and keep people in their homes.

Neighborhood Revitalization
PDC realizes healthy neighborhoods and neighborhood businesses are the backbone of a great city. We work with residents, business owners, owners of rental housing and nonprofit organizations to increase affordable housing and small businesses in the city to keep neighborhoods active and vibrant. This involves taking areas of the city that are distressed and providing market analysis, district planning, developing opportunity strategies and site planning to spruce them up. PDC develops housing, retail, office and other projects. We help bring together the public/private partners needed to accomplish projects. We help find the financial resources needed too.

Business Retention, Expansion and Recruitment
PDC offers a full range of direct and indirect assistance to businesses looking to expand or locate in the Portland area. This may include business loans or assistance in locating the right site for a business expansion or relocation. We also work to keep local businesses and jobs here. We provide small business loan programs and local incentives for locating businesses and jobs in target areas.

Source: http://www.pdc.us/about_pdc/faqs.asp

WHAT TO TAKE FROM THIS:

Basically this group has identified some districts and uses standards and finacial backing to make the proposals happen. They have not only gone the distance to identify problems and come up with solutions, but they have also came up with solutions to borrow money that are feasible.

Example:

Before After


This is a concept: looks a little cheasey and they are trying to get bonus points by putting a bus in the rendering, but they are putting positive green aspects into the city scape.

This can all be found at:

http://www.pdc.us/default.asp