Exhibit B

MEMO

To:  Commissioner Sam Adams      cc: Warren Jimenez  

From:  Robert Mawson, President APNBA    cc: Nancy Chapin

Date:  January 26, 2005

Re:  Meeting Recap

Sam:

Again congratulations on your election victory. On behalf of APNBA, I thank you for taking time to meet with Nancy and I. You have always recognized the importance of our organization, the importance of neighborhood business districts and the role of neighborhood business associations.

I wanted to take a few moments to recap our conversation. We talked about several concepts all of which offered great potential in advancing our business districts:

1.  Grant Funds: We discuss expansion of the PDC/APNBA grant program, increasing the dollars allocated and expanding the projects for which the funds can be used. Historically the grant pool has been $25,000. The fund are allocated with a maximum of $5,000, all funds to be matched either in kind or dollar for dollar. Funding is generally limited to capital costs, such as banners or signs. This program has been an enormous asset in stimulating associations to take on projects and as a point of coalescing. However, the funding really limits us to 5-7 grants of the 35-40 districts. In addition, the concentration on hard costs means that areas that are most important, such as event planning, fund-raising or community organizing are excluded. By increasing the dollar amount and expanding the potential use of funds, we believe this would be an extremely valuable stimulus to organizational development.

2.  Facilitator: We discussed our intent to organize a business district association issues forum, likely in March. The intent was to bring the leadership of all the districts together to discuss their concerns. Select Commissioner and City staff would be invited to attend but not participate as our goal is to establish priorities – not necessarily debate the validity of concerns. You mentioned that you had the name of a facilitator who would be effective in this setting and could help us.

3.  Capacity Building Workshop: APNBA is planning a capacity building workshop for late fall, 2005. This program would follow programs that we’ve organized in past years. With seed funding from PDC, we hope to elevate the program and to draw in select expertise from outside Portland familiar with the challenges of urban neighborhood business districts. We discussed the importance that whatever format the program took, we were in agreement that the program should have lasting value and substance; neither of us wished to see a “flash-in-the-pan” sort of event. In this regard, APNBA is interested in two possibilities: First, we would like to list your office as endorsing the program. Second, we would like to enlist your participation on a session regarding the mechanics of successful lobbying at City Hall. We intend to explore both issues as program planning proceeds.

4.  Demonstration Project: It is our firm believe that a vibrant and successful neighborhood business district is a critical component to neighborhood livability and to economic development. As part of that vitality, we believe that a district association plays a defining role. Yet, district associations always are underfunded and typically face the chicken-or-egg syndrome in getting started. It is our desire to find funding for a demonstration project that illustrates the vital role of a business district and association. Such demonstration projects have existing in the past, such as Hawthorne, but to our knowledge, never has creating a viable self-sustaining funding stream been part of the plan. It has always relied either on continued city funding or on fund-raising. We believe that such a funding strategy can be created through a variety of tools, including but not limited to:

a.  City funding – not based on discretion – but on data that illustrates that it results in a substantial and net positive impact with our business taxes;

b.  Business Improvement Districts – not intended to be the backbone of an organization’s funding, but part of a funding package;

c.  Parking Meter Revenues – in select cases, where parking is a concern, the installation of meters as in part a funding mechanism for the local business district may make sense.

Obviously, the details of a demonstration program would need to be closely worked out. We have had discussions with PDC regarding such a project and they are supportive in concept.

In closing, we look forward to working with you in building our neighborhood business districts.