Portland in Three Centuries: The Place and the People

Chapter 8: Portland Looks Forward

157 Chapter 8 Portland Looks Forward Portlanders enthusiastically adopted two civic icons in the mid-1980s. In 1985, the city installed Portlandia in her niche over the entrance to the newly completed Portland Building. This huge copper statue of a kneeling woman clutching a trident in one hand and reaching out to pedestrians on the Fifth Avenue Transit Mall with the other was based on the figure of “Lady Commerce” on the city seal. On the drizzly autumn morning of October 6, the completed statue was transported by barge up the Willamette from its assembly point in the Northwest Industrial District like a reddish-orange Cleopatra. Thousands of Portlanders turned out in a spontaneous civic celebration . They lined the waterfront, joined Mayor Bud Clark in their canoes and boats, or crowded downtown to see it hoisted into place. Parents lifted their children to touch the outstretched finger as they passed it in the street. Although reviews of Michael Graves’s Portland Building were decidedly mixed, sculptor Raymond Kaskey’s creation inspires nearly universal affection . It weighs 6.5 tons and stretches nearly 35 feet high (if Portlandia got to stand up, she would stand 50 feet tall). Kaskey spent three years hammering copper sheeting the thickness of a dime around complex steel frames. The result is the largest work of its kind with the exception of that other copper goddess, New York’s Statue of Liberty. A year later, Portland turned to a very different but complementary symbol in designating the great blue heron as the city’s official bird. Mayor Bud Clark, who enjoyed canoeing on the Willamette before the start of a day in City Hall, made frequent references to herons in a welcoming speech to a convention of wildlife managers. Mike Houck, of the Portland Audubon Society, picked up on Clark’s interest and suggested giving the bird official status. Everyone on the city council was enthusiastic, and the formal proclamation came in December 1986. 158 portland in three centuries If Portlandia represents the strength of the city center and civic involvement , the blue heron reflects the deep affection that Portlanders hold for their natural surroundings. A bird of rivers and marshes, the blue heron connects contemporary Portland to its origins as a straggling riverfront settlement. It also speaks to the city’s ongoing commitment to building a thriving metropolitan region without destroying its natural setting. By the mid-1990s, urban experts in other parts of the United States thought that Portlanders were carrying through on their commitment. Indeed, the city’s press clippings could sometimes be so glowing that residents might wonder if they could measure up to their reputation. To many observers, Portland has been one of the few large metropolitan areas “where it works,” to quote a 1990 headline in the Economist. An informal poll of planning experts in 1988 rated Portland’s efforts to deal with urban design issues among the best in the United States. Overall, many experts believe that the Portland area is among the nation’s most successful in balancing economic growth and environmental protection. Inspection junkets have become a steady contributor to the Portland tourist economy as journalists try to discover “how Portland does it” and civic leaders make the rounds in search of lessons for their own city—prompting Portland Portlandia in Motion. Portlanders staged an impromptu celebration on October 6, 1985, when the 34-foot10 -inch statue of Portlandia was barged from its assembly point in the industrial district to be hauled into place on the Portland Building. (Photo by Hugh Ackroyd, courtesy Thomas Robinson) Portland Looks Forward 159 State University’s Institute for Metropolitan Studies to create a First Stop Portland program just to manage requests from visiting delegations. The most common question is how a city can prosper without destroying its natural setting through sprawl. The most frequent answer, as summarized in a federal government report on “America’s New Economy and the Challenge of the Cities” (1996), is that metropolitan Portland prospers because it is compact and efficient. As HUD Secretary Henry Cisneros noted, “Communities that emphasize cooperation over competition within their region have succeeded in expanding economic prosperity and creating jobs in the New Economy.” In the contemporary media world, “best city” lists have proliferated in magazines and on websites—to the delight of local boosters. Over the past twenty years, Portland has frequently appeared near the top of urban livability...