Image borrowed with great thanks from here.
We'll be posting updates this week chronicling the HIllsboro, Oregon trip. Here's a look at the list of local business people on the trip:
John D. Aspland, President
Adirondack Plastics & Recycling, Inc.
Peter L. Aust, President/CEO
The Chamber of Southern Saratoga County
Annina M. Carter, Assoc. Prof. of Chemistry
Adirondack Community College
Carl Cedrone, AAMS, Financial Advisor
Edward Jones Investments
Erin DeMuth, Business Writer
The Post-Star
George Ferone, Exe. Dir. of Administration
Tribune Media Services
Leonard Fosbrook, President
EDC Warren County
Matthew F. Fuller, Attorney
FitzGerald Morris Baker Firth, PC
Mark B. Galough, Executive Director
Washington County Local Development Corp.
Connie Gerarde, President
Keena Staffing
W. Sheldon Hurst, Interim Dean-Acad. Affairs
Adirondack Community College
Raymond McKinney, Branch Mgr.
Glens Falls National Bank & Trust
Michael McLaughlin, Dir. of Bus. Dev. & Mktg.
Bread Loaf Corporation
Merrilyn Pulver, Supervisor
Town of Fort Edward
Tori Riley, Program Manager
Adirondack Regional Chamber of Commerce
Todd L. Shimkus, CCE, President/CEO
Adirondack Regional Chamber of Commerce
Dr. John Stoothoff, Superintendent
Board of Cooperative Educational Services
Less than 48 hours into it, here are a few of the things the group has done:
Len Fosbrook and Connie Gerarde explored Portland via the light rail service that links Hillsboro with the City.
Carl Cedrone, Mark Miller and many others visited the Oregon Coast
Todd Shimkus and others spent five hours with Mayor Tom Hughes exploring the "lush green fields" of Hillsboro. During this time they learned:
* Oregon has no sales tax and they've capped property taxes for counties, cities and schools at a combined $15 per one thousand dollars in valuation. The state does have a relatively high personal income tax.
* In the 1960's, the City had 7,000 people and those who went on to high school started careers outside of the region because farms, schools and the service sector were the only games in town. Now, the City has more than 80,000 people and the average age is 29. Intel's summer internship program for college students is a great link providing them with a chance to see what careers are available if they come back after graduation.
* They built a regional water supply and distribution system with an 80 million gallons per day capacity when they only needed 3 million gallons per day. Now they are working as a region with the State to enlarge the dam to increase the output by 22 million gallons per day.
* They built a regional sewer system because the high technology companies require water, sewer and a strong workforce.
* Reverse "A World is Flat" - - A Japanese company recently located a call center in Hillsboro. In Japan, they were having a difficult time filling a 3rd shift for their call center. In Hillsboro, they were able to locate a workforce to staff the call center and taking advantage of the time difference can now fulfill their 3rd shift needs for less money.
* There are no partisan elections at the local or county level in Oregon. The people who run for school boards, county boards, Mayor and City Council run for office on their own because they want to serve.
* Not all is perfect - - gas prices are at $3.29 per gallon. In downtown, the business sector tends to close at night. The developers want the restaurants in downtown to stay open later. The restaurants want the developers to build more housing downtown.
* There are planned development neighborhoods everywhere here.
* Great Story - - Hillsboro was recently successful in attracting Genetec to its community from its location in San Francisco. The Governor of Oregon was helpful in this effort. He ran into Governor Schwarzenegger at a meeting of Governors. The Governator put his hands around the Governor of Oregon's neck and said: "Stop
stealing my companies."
* The City of Hillsboro has a professional city manager. The City also has an economic development director. The Mayor attributes a lot of the City's
economic success to the work of these individuals and their longevity in these positions. As he noted to Todd, "I'm just a retired teacher. What do I know about economic development?"
Todd shares: "That said, I can assure you that he knows quite a bit from his experience as Mayor, City Councillor, and a
member of the Planning Commission during the 15 years when the City underwent this technology transformation."
Stay tuned, today the group will conduct meetings with City economic development officials, cultural leaders, regional planners, environmental officials, and executives from many of the region's leading high technology companies including; Sun Microsystems, FEI Company, Intel Corporation and TriQuint Corporation. They'll conclude the day by
attending the community's 2020 Vision Town Hall meeting.
If you'd like us to forward any questions or fact finding requests to the group please email Amanda Magee or leave a comment on this post.
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