Nothing less than new jobs, thriving communities and a resilient regional economy – that's the bold vision the Leadership Council of the Community Investment Initiative committed to delivering when it formed three years ago to address the $20 billion gap between the Portland metropolitan region's infrastructure needs and available funding.
On a recent overcast mid-June afternoon, a cross-section of the region's most active leaders from the public, community and business sectors joined members of the Leadership Council to hear Tom Murphy, Senior Resident Fellow at the Urban Land Institute and former three-term mayor of Pittsburgh share his experience of what that realized vision might look like.
"How cities position themselves to be 21st century cities is not based on what success looked like in the past," claimed Murphy. "Twenty-first century cities are about how we tie together the traditional and innovative through public-private partnerships."
Model for a successful city
Describing a model of today's most successful cities as well-managed, vibrant, educated and entrepreneurial, Murphy moved quickly through case studies from Denver, North Carolina's Research Triangle Park, Central Florida, Dallas-Fort Worth and San Diego as examples of how leadership from public-private partnerships can drive economic revitalization, create jobs and transform aging central cities into vibrant, livable hubs of activity that attract new business, private investment and people.
"Public-private partnerships all over America are infrastructure delivery mechanisms," said Murphy, "and it's happening in large part because the federal government has checked out of the equation."
But it’s Pittsburgh's own story of economic and physical regeneration that held the crowd of almost 70. "$500 million worth of investment created a vibrancy in our city that didn't have a lot of hope," said Murphy.
According to his biography on the ULI website, from January 1994 through December 2005, Murphy initiated a public-private partnership strategy that leveraged more than $4.5 billion in economic development while mayor of Pittsburgh.
He led efforts to secure $1 billion in funding for the development of two professional sports facilities, and a new convention center and developed strategic partnerships that transformed more than 1,000 acres of blighted, abandoned industrial properties into new commercial, residential, retail and public uses.
Lessons in rebuilding the economy
Just one year into the implementation of their strategic plan, the Leadership Council listened for lessons learned from Murphy's experience in Pittsburgh on what drives investment and ensures long-term commitment to revitalizing the economy.
Addressing a question on the tax policy shifts that funded much of Pittsburgh's revitalization, Murphy responded that most taxes levied in a region are based on communities that no longer exist.
"People who work in our cities don't live there so they're not adding to the tax base," said Murphy. "Universities, hospitals and banks that were some of Pittsburgh's largest employers were tax-exempt because we needed them."
Having to explain to taxpayers the value to the city of tax-exempt institutions was one of the tradeoffs of having large employers that provide living-wage jobs, Murphy explained.
"We were able to work out payments in lieu of taxes," said Murphy, describing a nonprofit intermediary created to accept donations from the tax-exempt employers and then make payments to city.
"We didn't want to set the precedence of taking away (large employers) tax-exempt status," said Murphy.
A slide showing that an average of 70 percent of voters nationwide from 2000 to 2012 approved transportation funding drew a comment card from one audience member that the Portland metropolitan region "cheats itself by not asking the question."
Murphy described one of Pittsburgh's strategies as developing a Regional Asset District managed by a board that raised the sale's tax by a half cent to fund parks, a library, cultural activities and a couple of stadiums.
"Nobody likes to talk about (taxes)," said Murphy, "but somebody needs to think about it."
Attracting new dollars through innovation
The Community Investment Initiative's Leadership Council invited Murphy to share his success story at their partnership recognition event, held to mark a year of progress made since they released their strategic plan in June of 2012.
Corky Collier, executive director of the Columbia Corridor Association, Leadership Council member and one of a handful of business leaders that formed an exploratory group three years ago to research the viability of a public-private partnership for the Portland region recalled in his opening remarks how they studied other cities that looked to the private sector for bold, innovative ideas.
"We were looking for innovative ways to bring new dollars into the solution," said Collier. The Community Investment Initiative grew out of the exploratory group and a year ago, proposed four strategies for creating jobs and building economic prosperity that put investment in infrastructure at the center of their approach.
"It's hard to say which comes first," said Collier. "Jobs pay for infrastructure and infrastructure produces jobs."
In addition to proposing the development of a public-private partnership referred to as the Regional Infrastructure Enterprise, the Leadership Council is pursuing strategies that support development ready communities, help school districts assess where to prioritize investments in facilities and properties, and promote a transportation funding agenda in the 2015 legislative session. A performance and measurement strategy has also been developed to factor the impact of future infrastructure investments on the region's communities.
Murphy framed the challenge faced by the Leadership Council in his closing remarks as needing to look into a future that's fundamentally undefined. Rather than becoming paralyzed with the challenge of the prospect, Murphy advised, figure out where you're going and move forward.
"Somebody needs to lead," challenged Murphy, "Maybe it's you."