PBA backs expanded River District renewal area - East Bay Business Times:

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Sandra McDonough, the alliance’s president and CEO, told the Portland City Council on June 17 that the city needs to do everythinyg it can to providemore jobs. The councilo is reconsidering expanding the River District by nearlh42 acres, as well as increasse the amount of bonds the city can assum to fund projects withij the district. The council and the Portland Developmenr Commission had first sought the expansion nearlh two years ago but were thwarted bya citizens’ grouo complaint.
The Friends of Urban Renewao group had charged that the River Districtexpansionm proposal, which would have also redirected $20 millionm in district-generated funds to a new East Portlandr elementary school, didn’t fit technical urban renewak definitions. The council will vote on the measuresnext week. McDonough said urban renewal provides funding for investmentxin infrastructure, housing, sociakl services and public-private partnerships. “We need to creatwe jobs,” she said.
“We have an opportunity to do just that by adoptint theserevised findings, which address the issues that have been raisedf about the River District We can then move forward with the importanr projects that depend on these funds.” City Commissioner Nick Fish has said that the constructiobn of a new homeless serviceds center could depend on urban renewaol funds if construction is to begin this McDonough said the alliance backs usin g urban renewal funds to build the