BY SARAH ROSS
FOREST GROVE- State Senators Rick Metsger, D-Hood River, and Bruce Starr, R-Hillsboro, met at the Forest Grove City Hall Wednesday night to discuss business development in Oregon and what the state is doing to better the economy.
Both Metsger and Starr, leaders on the Senate Economic Development and Transportation Committee last session, stressed the importance of transportation on business development in Oregon.
“What government’s role in my view should be and what it can do and what it needs to do is provide those types of common infrastructures for businesses to grow and thrive. Things that businesses cannot do on their own and transportation is key to that,” said Metsger.
Metsger noted the importance of transportation for businesses for the purpose of transporting goods from manufacturers to the Portland International Airport and other transportation hubs. He added that his committee has pushed jobs and transportation bills through the legislature to create more jobs and ease transportation issues for businesses.
“The Jobs and Transportation Act and the Oregon Transportation and Investment Act 1, 2, and 3 are really just about the only thing that the state government has done that has created private sector jobs,” said Starr.
He added that those pieces of legislation pass on nearly every penny of gas taxes and vehicle registration fees to fund and create more jobs in Oregon’s communities to build that transportation infrastructure.
Tim McCabe, Director of Business Oregon, the state agency charged with supporting business in Oregon followed the two Senators’ talks on what the Legislature has done to create jobs with his presentation on what his agency does on a daily basis to bring in and support businesses.
As part of this, McCabe said his department sends representatives to go around and talk to businesses in Oregon’s communities to see what the state can do for them as well as provide loans and grants for businesses to grow and develop.
Additionally, Business Oregon is in charge of recruiting outside businesses to come into Oregon. McCabe noted some of those businesses that he has successfully recruited to include Facebook and Solar World.
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The state and federal governments really need to take over control of the Columbia River Crossing Project, and reduce the input of the input of Portland cityhall. Portland cityhall’s focus is on population growth and not the economy. It gets more federal subsidies if it grows population, and may actually reduce its share of subsidies if the economy grows faster.
The Interstate highway system is a federal system, and not the city of Portland’s highway.
Alternatively, the state and federal government might look at a west side bypass of the city of Portland. This would actually be better for spurring the Silicon Forest, and the west side economy.
When will politicians understand they do not create jobs. Private sector businesses create jobs all the government does is favor one business over another by taxing and spending or reducing regulations on select businesses. Government is an impediment to economic growth and job growth.
Yeah they may be helping the Portland Airport but they raised my transportation taxes to pay for it. The other transportation projects give little bang for the buck while taxing most citizens to pay a few contractors more. Look in the mirror boys, it’s called crony capitalism.
Ever notice the proponents of transportation infrastructure spending are not the users but ODOT and the construction companies that benefit from the spending. Trucking companies? No, we’re good. Motorists? No, we’re good too. It’s greasy politicians, the lunch buying lobbyists, and the government sector all screaming for higher taxes and more spending.
The lack of credibility in ODOT was exposed years ago when they sold us on crumbling bridges yet adjusted the number of bad bridges by a third after the vote. In the real world we call those people liars. They have done nothing to redeem themselves since.