This presentation was used to inspire participants at the first CivicCamp Calgary hosted April 18th, 2009 in Calgary, Alberta, Canada. It was presented by Byron Miller.

1. Calgary April 18 2009

2. PORTLAND AND
1000 FRIENDS OF OREGON
2

3. PORTLAND’S QUALITY OF LIFE

4. HOW DID PORTLAND BECOME
PORTLAND? (the version we know)
• Just an ordinary city in the 1960s
• State land planning legislation passed in
1973
• Not well enforced until founding of 1000
Friends of Oregon in 1975 by Republic
Governor Tom McCall and
environmentalist Henry Richman

5. 1000 FRIENDS OF OREGON:
AN ALLIANCE OF DISPARATE INTERESTS
• Alliance of environmental, small
business, and agricultural interests
• Constant negotiation and compromise

6. 1000 FRIENDS OF OREGON:
FOCAL ISSUES
• Governance: 1) multi-scalar governance,
2) elected metro council,
3) citizen participation
• Transportation: 1) transit, 2) walking,
3) biking, 4) link land use and transport
• Economics: 1) manage growth efficiently,
2) promote quality of life, 3) preserve
farmland, 4) neighbourhood business

7. PORTLAND METRO POLICIES
• Stop building freeways
• Spend on light rail, streetcars, bicycle
routes
• Manage metro growth through efficient
land use, environmental safeguards,
transit, and attractiveness (sound
economic development, not anti-growth)
• Use growth boundary to guide re-
investment inward

8. METRO PORTLAND TRANSIT SYSTEM

9. METRO PORTLAND’S URBAN
GROWTH BOUNDARY

10. LESSONS OF 1000 FRIENDS
• Is Portland perfect? No, it’s not
• Can citizens take charge and turn around
their city and region? Yes, they can!
• Broad, and even unlikely, alliances are
needed
• Multi-scalar governance—provincial,
regional, and municipal must be
addressed

11. CIVICCAMP CALGARY:
LET’S TALK, LET’S DEAL!