[CPEO-BIF] Portland (Oregon) Tribune: "Clean up brownfields for right reasons"

[Lenny Siegel <lsiegel@cpeo.org>]

Our Opinion: Clean up brownfields for right reasons


by Editorial Board 
Portland Tribune (OR)
September 4, 2014

Portland’s leaders are placing a lot of hope - and potentially a pile of money - on the possibility of turning abandoned properties into thriving commercial or industrial endeavors.

It’s good that the city is trying to address its brownfield problem - all 910 acres of it. Despite Portland’s lush greenery and its reputation as an environmentally clean city, it has more than its share of unsightly parcels of land. Abandoned gas stations, old industrial properties, and defunct dry cleaning businesses are examples of sites that likely are polluted and therefore classified as brownfields.

Many of these sites hold immense promise for improving their surrounding neighborhoods, first by removing an eyesore, and then by injecting new life in the form of mixed-use or other types of developments. That's why we wholeheartedly agree with the city’s current push to identify the sites and work with various partners to turn them into something more appealing.

…

For the entire editorial, see
http://portlandtribune.com/pt/10-opinion/232143-96135-our-opinion-clean-up-brownfields-for-right-reasons

--

Lenny Siegel
Executive Director, Center for Public Environmental Oversight
a project of the Pacific Studies Center
278-A Hope Street
Mountain View, CA 94041
Voice: 650-961-8918 or 650-969-1545
Fax: 650-961-8918
LSiegel@cpeo.org
http://www.cpeo.org




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