Business Journal-Portland articles from April 1995

Business Journal-Portland archives from April 1995

PERS deal softens blow to retirees. (pension plan for public employees)
April 28, 1995... GOP compromise isolates Tiernan on PERS reform issue GOP lawmakers have overruled Rep. Bob Tiernan and agreed to provide a sweeter pension plan for new public employees than one pushed by Tiernan. But labor unions and their Democratic...

Creative Multimedia makes Blockbuster deal. (Blockbuster Video)
April 28, 1995... Portland firm going Hollywood with new CD-ROM movie guide Creative Multimedia is teaming with Blockbuster Video to launch a CD-ROM title for movie buffs that can be updated with new information from a special on-line service. Blockbuster...

Proposal tinkers with tax abatements. (Strategic Investment Program)
April 28, 1995... A high-profile property tax abatement program that has successfully lured new high tech development to the state is undergoing some subtle yet significant changes in the Oregon State Legislature. At issue is the Strategic Investment Program...

Bye-bye Bess: which hospital closing next? (Bess Kaiser Medical Center)
April 28, 1995... Who's next? That's the question hospital and labor officials are pondering in the wake of the announced 1997 closure of Bess Kaiser Medical Center. Bess Kaiser will be the sixth hospital in the greater metropolitan area to eliminate its...

Economic development budget gets pruned, but not hacked. (Oregon)
April 28, 1995... Worker training funds used to lure industries to Oregon are the main casualty of economic development cuts OK'd Tuesday by the Oregon House of Representatives. But economic development boosters were relieved lawmakers took a paring knife to...

Pacific Rock wants to roll gravel off site. (Pacific Rock Products Inc.)
April 28, 1995... Most people consult a gardener if they need landscaping work, but two Vancouver developers have called in a gravel mining company to spruce up the former Tektronix site. In January, Steven Madison and Jeffrey Gordon purchased the 250-acre...

Sandy Cutler: gymnastics coach flips business ed to new highs. (director, Oregon Small Business Development Centers)
April 28, 1995... Sandy Cutler's economic development savvy has helped bring 3,000 jobs to Oregon in the past year, but you'll never see his name in the headlines. He prefers to work quietly out of the public eye, like the statewide network of Small Business...

In the chips at Lydia's. (Oregon Lottery outlet at Lydia's Restaurant & Lounge)(Small Business Enterprise)
April 28, 1995... The Oregon Lottery has dealt a winning hand to Lydia's Restaurant & Lounge and others trying their luck at the gambling business. Mark Joseph, the owner of Lydia's, calls the restaurant and bar on 18330 E. Burnside "The Cheer's of Rockwood."...

Naturopaths talk to Pacific about merging schools. (Pacific University in Forest Grove, OR; National College of Naturopathic Medicine in Portland, OR)
April 21, 1995... Forest Grove's Pacific University and the National College of Naturopathic Medicine in outer Southeast Portland are airing a possible merger of the two institutions. A successful merger would bring together two non-profit academic ventures...

McAlear sues PayLess for $115 million. (former Thrifty Payless Inc. president and chief exceutive officer Tim McAlear)
April 21, 1995... Tim McAlear has slapped Thrifty Payless Inc. with a $115 million lawsuit that alleges the top executive was punished for opposing sexual discrimination at the company and was misled by the board of directors. McAlear, the former president and...

Rental firms seek break in tight times. (tax break for rental equipment industry)(Industry Overview)
April 21, 1995... Bill would exempt rented inventories While state COP leaders grope for spending cuts to boost school aid, a Senate committee has quietly OK'd a $1.1 million tax break for the rental equipment industry. Sen. Paul Phillips (R-Tigard),...

BPA asking if 'green' power is worth more. (Bonneville Power Administration; renewable energy sources)
April 21, 1995... The Bonneville Power Administration is asking the utilities it serves if they will spend more to buy energy generated by green resources such as wind and geothermal projects. "There are probably 20 or so public utilities that have either...

Health plan report cards moving to front of class. (Health Employer Data Information Set)(Industry Overview)
April 21, 1995... Area health plans are rolling out report cards in an effort to persuade large employers and others who buy medical coverage that they're getting their money's worth. Providence Good Health Plan and PacifiCare of Oregon recently joined the...

BPA allows customers to shop for some power elsewhere. (Bonneville Power Administration)
April 21, 1995... The Bonneville Power Administration has agreed to allow its industrial customers to buy a portion of their electric load from other sources. The agreement marks the first time in in the agency's half-century history that customers will have...

Bess Kaiser doctors worried by talk of closure. (Bess Kaiser Medical Center in North Portland, OR)
April 21, 1995... The potential closure of Bess Kaiser Medical Center in North Portland has fueled the anxieties of 550 physicians at Northwest Permanente who serve Kaiser patients and hospitals. "There's a certain amount of paranoia with any of us who don't...

Apogee sells three Portland radio stations to Entercom. (Apogee Communications Inc.; Portland, OR; KGON-FM, KFXX-AM and KMUZ-FM; Entertainment Communications Inc.)
April 21, 1995... Apogee Communications Inc. had no intention of selling its Portland-area radio stations, but Entertainment Communications Inc. of Philadelphia made an offer they couldn't refuse. Entercom paid $24.5 million for KGON-FM and KFXX-AM. The amount...

Boeing's 777 B will open door to international routes.
April 21, 1995... SEATTLE - Try flying one of the highly touted Boeing 777 A models from Chicago to Tokyo, and you might run short of fuel over the Pacific. That's where the 777 B comes in. Many industry observers believe that the longer-range version of...

Trail Blazers to hire more staff for PDX ad sales. (Portland Trail Blazers; Portland International Airport)
April 21, 1995... Faced with lackluster ad sales at Portland International Airport, the Trail Blazers are beefing up their sales staff. Airport advertisements have been one of many products Trail Blazer salespeople are pitching. With the new Rose Garden...

Consumer advocate scrutinizes utility deregulation. (interview with Bob Jenks of the Citizen's Utility Board)(Interview)
April 21, 1995... Deregulation is the magic word in utilities these days, and keeping up with the pace of change is a tough job for Bob Jenks, executive director of the Citizens Utility Board. A 1984 ballot initiative created CUB as an independent non-profit...

Several economic factors join to drive lumber prices down.(Industry Overview)
April 21, 1995... With the building season hitting full stride in the next few weeks, supply yards around the region are reporting unusually low prices for all types of lumber. That happy scenario is the result of a variety of trends in the timber and...

NACCO Industries Inc. (proxy report excerpts)(Company Profile)
April 21, 1995... NYSE: NC 5875 Landerbrook Drive, Mayfield Heights, Ohio 44124 NACCO Industries Inc. is a holding company that has four major operating subsidiaries. Hyster-Yale Materials Handling Inc. designs, manufactures and markets forklift trucks and...

Blue Bell may shutter plant, cut 250 jobs. (Blue Bell Snack Foods Inc.)
April 14, 1995... Blue Bell Snack Foods Inc. will sack 250 workers in Oregon and Washington unless someone buys the company within the next 60 days. Sam Singer, a spokesman for Blue Bell's corporate parent, said the 66-year-old Portland company will shut down...

Business taxes move to front burner.
April 14, 1995... [TABULAR DATA OMITTED] A state budget being cooked up by GOP lawmakers includes some tasty morsels for business. The budget provides $152.8 million in corporate "kicker" tax rebates to companies and an innovative capital gains deferral...

Lattice dials growth market; chips for phones proving profitable. (Lattice Semiconductor Corp.)
April 14, 1995... The proliferation of cellular phones and fiber-optic telecommunications networks is helping push production at Lattice Semiconductor Corp.'s Hillsboro headquarters to more than 1 million chips a week. Sales of Lattice's high-density...

AMR bid extends olive branches to ambulance rivals. (American Medical Response Inc.)
April 14, 1995... More curves ahead in ambulance chase American Medical Response-Northwest is building speed in its bumpy drive for the Multnomah County emergency ambulance contract and is offering to give Portland firefighters a piece of the action even if...

Oregon State Bar charges paralegal with practicing law. (Robin Smith)
April 14, 1995... An Oregon State Bar lawsuit against one of the state's highest-profile paralegals is scheduled for an April 20 hearing in Washington County Circuit Court. The suit alleges that paralegal Robin Smith has practiced law without a license and...

Firm builds its customers Japanese Web pages; Hawaii-based TK Associates moving to Portland in May. (Portland, Oregon)
April 14, 1995... A Honolulu-based company that has created a Japanese language Internet service designed to help U.S. companies boost direct sales to consumers in Japan is moving to Portland. The two-person company, TK Associates International, found its...

Magnolia Hi-Fi jumps back out of heated PC retail market.
April 14, 1995... Seattle - Consumer electronics retailer Magnolia Hi-Fi abruptly bailed out of the personal computer business this week, closing out a category it had spent millions to enter last September. Just six months ago, the Seattle-based chain...

Study forecasts high-tech worker shortage: recommends increased spending on local training.
April 14, 1995... Oregon and Southwest Washington within five years will need an additional 7,000 trained technicians, operators and engineers to feed the rapidly growing semiconductor industry here. That is the conclusion of a report just released by the...

Metro exec wins some new fans in business arena. (Mike Burton)(Profile)
April 14, 1995... It all seemed so simple in last fall's Metro executive race. Mike Burton was the bumbling liberal with the goofy billboards and padded resume, who pledged to fend off greedy developers and save the urban growth boundary. Bonnie Hays was...

Nordstrom Inc. (Proxy Report Excerpts)(Company Profile)
April 14, 1995... NASDAQ: NOBE 1501 Fifth Ave., Seattle, Wash. 98101 Nordstrom Inc. reported an 8.5 percent increase in sales and a 44.5 percent increase in profits over 1993. The upscale retailer employs more than 35,000 people. Nordstrom continues to...

How Metro's 2040 Plan will affect retail development. (Portland, Oregon)(Portland Metro Area Shopping Centers)
April 14, 1995... The Portland commercial real estate market has come of age. During the last boom investors learned the hard way that geographic and product type diversification are crucial to maintaining healthy real estate portfolios. Second tier cities...

Psychographics overview: the market segments defined.(Portland Metro Area Shopping Centers)
April 14, 1995... UPPER CRUST This urban segment has only 8% of its population located in rural areas. UPPER CRUST ranks first or second in all age ranges between 40 and 64. It is second in overall median age. There is an above average number of married...

Care's role gets slashed in city's ambulance bid. (Care Ambulance agrees not to compete against partner Portland Fire Bureau for Multnomah County emergency transport contract)
April 7, 1995... In a surprise move April 5, the Portland Fire Bureau dealt a blow to its private partner in the bid for the Multnomah County emergency transport contract. Earlier the Fire Bureau said it intended to contract with Care Ambulance for at least...

Eastport Plaza being razed. (Portland, Oregon shopping mall rebuilt)
April 7, 1995... Big boxes blow away 'tumbleweed mall' Eastport Plaza's owner has concocted a new strategy to revive the sickly eastside Portland mall - knock it down and start anew. Los Angeles developer Phillip Lyon recently submitted tentative plans to...

Housing fund seeks more investors. (Oregon Equity Fund)
April 7, 1995... Deborah Saweuyer-Park leads Oregon Equity Fund In 1993, when Deborah Saweuyer-Park secured a $1 million investment from a top executive at Standard Insurance after a brief conversation, she was pleased. But she wasn't satisfied. "I...

Leupold & Stevens has expansion in its sights.
April 7, 1995... Gun control has business going both barrels at optics maker Leupold & Stevens Inc. The Portland manufacturer is doing a 30,000-square-foot expansion of its Sunset Corridor manufacturing plant to keep up with the burgeoning demand for its...

Developers clash over River District tax credits; private landowners seek precedence over PDC project. (Portland, Oregon's River District; Portland Development Commission)
April 7, 1995... A battle is shaping up in the River District between high-powered landowners vying for scarce public capital. Homer Williams and Pat Prendergast, private developers jointly planning 2,700 units of housing in Northwest Portland, are trying to...

Port narrows its search for contractor to three U.S. firms. (Port of Portland to select contractor for shipyard)
April 7, 1995... So much for global reach. After a good deal of hoopla and countless overseas faxes and mailings to ship repair companies around the world, the Port of Portland will pick a sole contractor for its shipyard from a pool of three U.S. companies...

Grocers raise objections to expanded bottle bill proposal. (Association of Oregon Food Industries)
April 7, 1995... Oregon grocery stores say a proposal to broaden the state's landmark bottle bill and hike the deposit on beverage containers isn't worth a dime. While the bottle bill has won praise from environmentalists, it has often drawn curses from...