Professor Bogdanski links to this delightful item from KGW, stating that the City of Portland is considering buying the largest and best undeveloped piece of industrial property in the city to use as an assembly area in case we should be hit by a natural disaster. The property, formerly an iconic office and warehouse for U.S. Steel located at the corner of NW Yeon and Nicolai at the gateway to the Northwest Industrial Sanctuary, is now owned by the Oregonian and has been vacant for years. (In 1995 the Oregonian lavishly praised the historic qualities of the U.S. Steel buildings and lauded Costco for its plan to remodel them into a retail store. After the City Council rejected Costco's application, the Oregonian bought the property and tore down the buildings that its editors wanted to preserve.) KGW reports that Mayor Adams proposes to spend $10 million to buy this property so that, if we should have a major earthquake and still be able to travel by freeway, emergency responders will have a place to assemble.
If we are hit by a major earthquake, we will have a lot of vacant land available to use as points of assembly. We won't, however, know where emergency workers and volunteers should assemble until we know which roads are still open. The Mayor, nevertheless, suggests that we should spend $10 million to bail out Newhouse and the Oregonian, for property that the City expects to use for a few weeks every 50 years.
Here's a better idea. First, obtain the Oregonian's commitment to sell the property for $10 million (or whatever its reasonable value is right now) to any industrial user that the City might locate within the next three years. That doesn't cost anything. Second, engage three teams of industrial designers and engineers to draw plans for factories on the site that comply with City code, without variances, and get the plans approved by the Planning pooh-bahs. Third, announce to the world that Portland has a flat 11-acre industrial site with all services, ready to build, and that anyone who builds to one of the three plans can get building permits immediately on paying the application fee, because the plans are pre-approved. That is, the project is shovel-ready, and anyone who wants to build a factory and employ some Portlanders can break ground the day after closing, because the City is ready to issue every discretionary permit that is required.