Daily Journal of Commerce, Portland articles from December 2003

Daily Journal of Commerce, Portland archives from December 2003

Oregon Food Bank and charities need extra help for holidays.
December 1, 2003... Byline: Aimee Curl With an unemployment rate that's still pushing 8 percent and an economy that refuses to budge much from the bottom, many Oregonians are struggling for the simple things this holiday season, such as putting food on the...

Vancouver teen Kristen Brown thrives in world of metalworking.
December 1, 2003... Byline: Jessica Swanson Kristen Brown, 17, is the only young woman in her third-year metals technology class at Evergreen High School in Vancouver, Wash., but her instructor Doug Rogers doesn't make her feel out of place. In fact, she...

Klamath-based Jeld-Wen creates interactive software program to teach students economic principles.
December 1, 2003... Byline: Ray Hughey Jeld-Wen Inc., which makes doors and windows for homes and buildings across the country, now has opened a window on the world of education. The Klamath-based manufacturer is trying to make a difference in what it...

Oregon Tradeswomen and other state environmental groups awarded grants.
December 1, 2003... Byline: Staff The PacifiCorp Foundation for Learning, a charitable arm of Pacific Power, has awarded a $2,500 grant to Oregon Tradeswomen Inc. The organization will use the money for its Pathways to Success program, which helps prepare...

Seminar offers free look at Internet plan room.
December 2, 2003... Byline: Stephanie Basalyga Companies looking for a competitive edge in Oregon's struggling construction industry may find some direction at a free Wednesday workshop offering a look at the Oregon Internet Plan Room. The seminar is...

Oregon Institute of Technology developing Klamath Basin Digital Library.
December 2, 2003... Byline: Jessica Swanson Waterways may be the last battleground for pioneers and claimstakers in the great Northwest. The Oregon Institute of Technology will see that all sides are armed to the teeth - with information. With the help of...

Hoyt Street's Pearl District buildings draw entrepreneurs.
December 2, 2003... Byline: Aimee Curl Business owners brave enough to be some of the Pearl District's retail pioneers are reaping the benefits of getting in on the ground floor and filling a niche in the young neighborhood. Catherine Cooper, who opened...

Newberg High makeover moves ahead.
December 2, 2003... Byline: Ray Hughey Emerick Construction Co. of Portland has started work on a $17.1 million addition and renovation at Newberg High School. The project, designed by BOORA Architects of Portland, is funded through a $46.3 million capital...

Industrial lands search considers 40 more sites.
December 3, 2003... Byline: Aimee Curl Gov. Ted Kulongoski's plan to create an inventory of 25 sites for industrial development statewide has expanded to include 40 more sites, to be named after the first of the year. Chris Warner, director of the...

HomeAid: Portland home builders help shelter the homeless.
December 3, 2003... Byline: Ray Hughey Portland builders have formed a local chapter of a national nonprofit organization dedicated to building homeless shelters. The new HomeAid Portland, established by the Home Builders Association of Metropolitan...

Lewis & Clark scholarship honors judge, serves minority law students.
December 3, 2003... Byline: Jessica Swanson Multnomah County Circuit Court Judge Roosevelt Robinson left a hole when he retired from the bench last December because of failing health. He had been one of two African Americans among the county's 37 judges, a...

Hillsboro landfill earns habitat recognition.
December 4, 2003... Byline: Ray Hughey Employees at Waste Management Inc.'s Hillsboro landfill have received recognition for their contributions to wildlife habitat conservation. The commitment of the company and its employees to caring for the...

New ODOT registry locates emergency contractors.
December 4, 2003... Byline: Jessica Swanson The Oregon Department of Transportation has launched an online emergency contractor and supplier registry to streamline local resources in the event of a declared emergency. In the works for nearly three years,...

Portland receives funds to design for active living.
December 4, 2003... Byline: Aimee Curl Portland is one of 25 communities from across the country chosen to receive a $200,000 grant from Active Living by Design to promote urban planning that encourages physical activity. Mark Dessauer, communications...

Eugene bank features luxury-based design.
December 5, 2003... Byline: Staff Banking took on a new look Thursday in Eugene with the opening of Umpaqua Bank's newest branch. Billed as one of Umpqua's "next-generation stores," the 7,100-square-foot branch follows a business model the company first...

Army Corps of Engineers fined for waste violations, plans appeal.
December 5, 2003... Byline: Jessica Swanson The state Department of Environmental Quality has issued $116,955 in penalties to the Army Corps of Engineers for hazardous waste violations at Bonneville Locks and Dam, the DEQ said in a statement Tuesday. A...

Hawthorne project finally finds perfect fit in neighborhood.
December 5, 2003... Byline: Ray Hughey After a rocky start, the development of a property in Southeast Portland's Hawthorne area has ended up being a good neighbor. At one point, a McDonald's restaurant was going to be built on the 23,000-square-foot site...

Industry leaders: Retail strong, but office and industrial still troubled.
December 5, 2003... Byline: Aimee Curl Like The Sopranos, showered with applause at this fall's Emmy awards, retail was the big winner at the Institute of Real Estate Management's 16th annual year-end event. It should come as no surprise - with developers...

Multnomah County seeks input on new Sauvie Island Bridge design.
December 8, 2003... Byline: Jessica Swanson Multnomah County has set a deadline of Dec. 15 to choose the new design type of Sauvie Island Bridge. A second public meeting will begin at 7:30 p.m. today at the Sauvie Island Grange, and all five bridge type...

Oregon-Columbia Chapter of National Electrical Contractors Assn. to rebuild headquarters after fire.
December 8, 2003... Byline: Ray Hughey Three months after an arson fire damaged the Portland headquarters of the Oregon-Columbia Chapter of the National Electrical Contractors Association, the organization is ready to rebuild - bigger and better. The...

Portland State University's Praxis lecture series offers first glimpse of 2004 list of events.
December 8, 2003... Byline: Stephanie Basalyga Praxis, a lecture series offered through the College of Architecture and Urban Planning at Portland State University, is offering a peek at a preliminary list of events scheduled for the winter and spring terms...

Entries sought for concrete construction competition.
December 8, 2003... Byline: Ray Hughey Concrete will be the stuff of which winning entries are made for this year's Excellence in Concrete Construction awards. The awards, sponsored by the Oregon Chapter American Concrete Institute and the Oregon Concrete...

Portland-based D.W. Sivers buys RiverPlace Athletic Club from Riverplace Associates.
December 8, 2003... Byline: Aimee Curl The Athletic Club Division of D.W. Sivers Co. has purchased the RiverPlace Athletic Club from RiverPlace Associates. D.W. Sivers is a Portland-based company that also owns the Hawthorn Farm Athletic Club in...

When economists talk, Oregon builders listen.
December 9, 2003... Byline: Ray Hughey Economics experts told Portland homebuilders Friday that the nation's slow-moving economic recovery is taking hold. More than 400 people attended the Portland General Electric 2004 Earth Advantage Housing Forecast at...

Oregon, SW Washington Chapter of Certified Commercial Investment Members presents awards.
December 9, 2003... Byline: Aimee Curl Steve Edelman of Doug Bean & Associates in Portland was faced with an enormous task last year - secure 30 leases near 23 airports in 21 cities in less than four months for the federal Transportation Security...

Bend architect makes winning.
December 10, 2003... Byline: Ray Hughey The difference Scott Steele wanted to make when he returned to his native Central Oregon to start his own architectural firm has been earning recognition. Last month, three projects designed by Steele Associates...

Dean Foods to take Georgia-Pacific space.
December 10, 2003... Byline: Ray Hughey Dean Foods Co. has signed on to take 250,000 square feet of space formerly occupied by Georgia-Pacific Corp. at Kelly Point Distribution Center in the Rivergate industrial area. While the lease succeeds in filling...

Stadium fans plan February finance pitch.
December 11, 2003... Byline: Aimee Curl The Oregon Stadium Campaign hopes to have a financing package for a Major League Baseball stadium in place by the first of February. This was David Kahn's news for members of the Portland-area Building Owners and...

Portland mother takes up job started by Marine son.
December 11, 2003... Byline: Ray Hughey After Lynn Bradach lost her 21-year-old son, Marine Corporal Travis Bradach-Nall, to a landmine in Iraq, she channeled her grief into finishing the job he had started - clearing dangerous landmines. She's not alone...

Oregon's Congressman Blumenauer calls for U.S. Postal Service to obey local zoning laws.
December 12, 2003... Byline: Aimee Curl Congressman Earl Blumenauer has introduced a bill that would require the U.S. Postal Service to consult with residents and obey local land-use-zoning regulations before closing, relocating or building post offices. ...

Oregon Zoo's construction team honored for conservation efforts.
December 12, 2003... Byline: Rich Riegel Oregon Zoo's construction team has been honored with the first-ever Conservation Member of the Year Award given by the Aquarium and Zoo Facilities Association. The zoo received the award for excellence in its long list...

Portland attorney creates natural-gas-fired power plant business for Indian tribes.
December 12, 2003... Byline: Jessica Swanson When J.D. Williams was still a student at Lewis & Clark Law School, he obtained a public interest law project grant to work with underserved populations. Originally from Louisiana, he had no concept of Oregon's...

Portland developers disagree about priorities for downtown urban renewal projects.
December 15, 2003... Byline: Aimee Curl It should come as no surprise that developers, many of whom use public financing for their projects, would like to see Portland's downtown urban renewal area live on. But these same developers vary widely on their...

Architects for Sherwood's new Public Works Facility and Field House use innovation to save money.
December 15, 2003... Byline: Ray Hughey The project team building the city of Sherwood's new Public Works Facility and Field House went over the top to overcome budget restraints. When budgetary limits ruled out a cable truss system to support the soccer...

Portland's Women's Transportation Seminar to present 2003 Project of the Year.
December 15, 2003... Byline: Staff A consultant team led by W&H Pacific, along with representatives from Washington County, will step forward Wednesday to accept a 2003 Project of the Year award from the Portland chapter of the Women's Transportation Seminar....

Multistory Residential Design Competition promotes steel in residential plans.
December 15, 2003... Byline: Staff Forget the straw, brick and stick methods of residential construction relied upon by the three little pigs of fairy tale lore. A national organization is offering a prize for the most innovative design using steel...

Portland developer, Robert Ball, announces launch of resale division.
December 15, 2003... Byline: Aimee Curl Robert Ball, a developer who specializes in renovating historic properties, recently announced the creation of a resale division as part of his newly minted Pearl Real Estate. Dave Davis, Cindy Sehorn and Laurie Ames...

Task force names sites for industrial development.
December 16, 2003... Byline: Aimee Curl A task force convened by Gov. Ted Kulongoski has named five industrial sites in the Portland metropolitan area as part of the group's efforts to identify 25 "opportunity sites" for industrial development statewide. ...

Ironworker campaign spurs safety rules revision.
December 16, 2003... Byline: Ray Hughey The pending revision of the Oregon division of the federal Occupational Safety & Health Administration's construction steel erection safety rules marks a victory for Oregon ironworkers. The ironworkers waged a...

Hollywood sewer reconstruction under way.
December 17, 2003... Byline: Jessica Swanson A multimillion dollar sewer reconstruction in Portland's Hollywood District is under way this fall. The Portland Bureau of Environmental Services will reconstruct 13,000 feet, or 2.5 miles, of pipe in the 30-block...

New $8.9 million office addition ready for Clean Water Services.
December 17, 2003... Byline: Ray Hughey Clean Water Services began moving into its new $8.9 million main offices in Hillsboro this week. Work finished earlier this month on the 41,600-square-foot Administrative Building Complex for the utility, which...

Supreme Corp. to take 108,000 square feet in Woodburn.
December 17, 2003... Byline: Aimee Curl Supreme Corp., a manufacturing company that promises to bring 120 jobs to the area, has snapped up one of Woodburn's giant, vacant buildings. The company purchased the 108,000-square-foot space formerly occupied by...

Portland Development Commission votes to extend urban renewal area's life.
December 18, 2003... Byline: Aimee Curl The Portland Development Commission voted 3-2 Wednesday to extend the life of the Downtown Waterfront Urban Renewal Area for four more years. Commissioners voting in favor of the extension cited public input as a...

Oregon Transportation Initiative Act project selection moves forward despite criteria confusion.
December 18, 2003... Byline: Jessica Swanson The selection of city and county highway bridges for repair and replacement under the Oregon Transportation Initiative Act III is coming to a close as Oregon Department of Transportation officials anticipate summer...

Business center planned for St. Helens area.
December 19, 2003... Byline: Aimee Curl A commercial project on the drawing board for nearly 14 acres of land just outside the city of St. Helens would be the first major development in the area since Wal-Mart built a store on about 10 acres five years ago....

Multnomah County chooses new Sauvie Island bridge.
December 19, 2003... Byline: Jessica Swanson The 53-year-old Sauvie Island Bridge will be replaced with a weathering steel bridge with a half-through arch design, Multnomah County officials announced this week. The new bridge will be built on the Portland side...

Oregon business group favors Measure 30, even though it will mean an increase in some taxes.
December 22, 2003... Byline: Aimee Curl Despite the fact that a "yes" vote would mean an increase in some business taxes, the Oregon Business Association is in favor of Measure 30. The measure goes before voters Feb. 3 to determine whether a tax increase...

Beaverton installs innovative traffic safety system.
December 22, 2003... Byline: Ray Hughey The city of Beaverton is installing a new type of traffic safety post to make sidewalks near a pedestrian friendly intersection even friendlier and safer. The traffic safety posts, called bollards, will line the...

Oregon trucking fees and taxes to increase Jan. 1.
December 22, 2003... Byline: Jessica Swanson Oregon truck taxes and fees will increase Jan. 1 as a result of major legislation passed earlier this year. The revenue raised will repay $2.5 billion in highway-user tax bonds, with most bond proceeds going to...

Portland Office of Sustainable Development offers grants for environmentally designed projects.
December 22, 2003... Byline: Stephanie Basalyga The Portland Office of Sustainable Development wants to help pay for emerging green building practices and technology. The office's Green Investment Fund will award a total of $100,000 to proposals for...

Union Station improvements welcome holiday travelers.
December 30, 2003... Byline: Ray Hughey A $1 million facelift for Portland's landmark Union Station kept its schedule so holiday rail travelers could keep theirs. "We wanted to complete this for all the holiday travelers," said Clark Zeller, senior project...

Northwest industrial area vacancy still low.
December 30, 2003... Byline: Aimee Curl The buildings may not have the latest in loading dock designs or boast ceilings that are 35 feet tall without obstructions, but Portland's oldest industrial area, tucked into the Northwest corner of town, still has the...

Oregon Univ. System board approves $101M bond request.
December 30, 2003... Byline: Jessica Swanson The Oregon University System Board of Higher Education approved earlier this month the request of nearly $101 million in state treasury bonds to finance capital construction projects on four OUS campuses, for use in...

New Rock Creek Tavern built from past.
December 30, 2003... Byline: Ray Hughey It was a challenging job making the new McMenamins Rock Creek Tavern in Hillsboro look older than its years, but it was an effort made necessary after fire destroyed the original pub in September. A new tavern now...

Cities looking to airports for industrial land.
December 31, 2003... Byline: Aimee Curl As towns across the state search for space for industrial development, some are finding it at an unlikely spot - the local airport. The Eastern Oregon city of John Day is pinning its hopes on development of a...

New commercial truck safety rules rolling in.
December 31, 2003... Byline: Jessica Swanson The U.S. Department of Transportation will begin enforcing new hours-of-service regulations for truck drivers on Sunday, after several years of investigation and public process. The Federal Motor Carrier Safety...

Portland's pilot program reduces timeframe, hassle for residential remodeling.
December 31, 2003... Byline: Ray Hughey The city of Portland Bureau of Development Services has embarked on a pilot program to reduce the time and hassle it takes for residential remodeling contractors to get plan reviews, permits and inspections. The...