The Case for GrowthThe Portland Regional Chamber of Commerce, along with our partners at the Portland Society for Architecture, the Muskie School for Public Service at the University of Southern Maine and Creative Portland has started the conversation on why the Portland region needs to grow, what that growth could look like and how to ensure a vision for Portland that includes everyone.
What is the Case for Growth?If the Portland Region wants to continue to be vibrant, successful and financially accessible, it will need to grow.
It will need more people. Those people will need more housing. More people means a smarter infrastructure plan. More infrastructure needs more tax revenue. More tax revenue means expanding the tax base. The schools need to be improved to attract the workers in order to expand the tax base. The Portland Regional Chamber of Commerce has embraced that challenge, and has been working with partners to begin crafting the Case for Growth. Eventually, the Chamber would like to reach out to different entities in the community to discuss growth and how it could positively affect Portland and the region. When the Chamber hosted its "Hearts and Minds" of Portland" campaign in 2015-16, two things became clear from members of the community who completed the survey: - People in Portland love their city and their neighborhoods - Growth is needed to happen if Portland was to remain the vibrant city it is today. |