Oregon GOP Chairman Allen Alley and Metro Council President Tom Hughes discuss the importance of businesses’ involvement in regional policymaking at a Dec. 9 forum sponsored by the Westside Economic Alliance, Portland Business Alliance and Metro. Photo courtesy WEA. Metro Council President Tom Hughes joined Oregon Republican Party chairman Allen Alley today in addressing a group of about 150 business leaders, elected officials and other community leaders on questions and topics related to how the business community can be more engaged in regional decision-making.
The forum, held at the Embassy Suites Hotel near Washington Square, was sponsored by the Westside Economic Alliance, the Portland Business Alliance and Metro. Following brief opening remarks, the format featured a question-and-answer session moderated by Jim Pasero, a principal with Third Century Solutions, a Lake Oswego-based public affairs firm.
Hughes opened the event with a plea to the business community to get more engaged in regional policymaking. After several years of involvement in regional policy discussions, including two terms as Hillsboro’s mayor, Hughes noted, "My observation is that the business community had largely checked out. The business community felt it had been beaten up."
"We have to hear from the business community," he continued. "We need to hear from you in order to do what is right and have that business perspective going forward."
Alley, who sought the Republican gubernatorial nomination in 2010, raised general concerns about the restrictions that state and local governments often put on small businesses that can hamper economic growth. Alley relayed the story of a farmer in Baker City who was required to purchase a $350,000 non-working fish screen because a state official noted a particular type of fish migrating in his stream.
He sought to draw an urban parallel, imploring audience members to imagine limitations that government might place on how technology-based businesses use and operate computer equipment. "That’s what we do here to people who have to derive their income from the resources of this state."
Pasero led off the question-and-answer period by inquiring of Alley whether he believes Metro should have promotion of economic development in the region as its first priority.
"Yes it should," Alley responded. "You’ve got to create an environment where people can invest and take risks."
When Pasero noted that, "We see a lot of officials wearing 'JOBS' pins who want to promote economic development," but nothing has really changed, Hughes replied that, "It all starts with what businesses need. There are not enough of us in public service who work with businesses to understand how some of our policy abstractions don’t make sense on the ground."
One focus of the forum was to encourage greater participation among business leaders, suburban and more conservative residents in Opt In, Metro’s online participation panel. Adam Davis, a principal with DHM Research that administers the Opt In tool on behalf of Metro and other organizations, implored attendees to sign up and participate. He stressed the importance of new tools and methods, including online tools such as Opt In, to engage a broader range of citizens in public policy decision-making.
As of today, Opt In has more than 7,900 participants, but the demographics of the participant pool do not yet reflect the demographics of the region as a whole. Currently a smaller percentage of Republican-leaning and suburban participants participate in Opt In compared to the percentage living in the region as a whole, and Hughes and Metro are reaching out to more conservative-leaning groups to enlist them in Opt In and other methods of influencing regional decision-making.
Note: An earlier version of this story had an incorrect estimate on the number of attendees at the forum; according to the Westside Economic Alliance, about 150 people attended. This version has been corrected.