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| PORTLAND: #1 IN SUSTAINABILITY |
15 Criteria
Add to this list of accolades the city's number one ranking in SustainLane's 2006 US City Rankings. The organization rated the 50 largest U.S. cities on the following 15 criteria (Portland's rank is in parentheses):
City Commuting (10)
Metro Public Transit (20)
Metro Congestion (23)
Air Quality (2)
Tap Water Quality (2)
Waste Diversion (5)
Planning/Land Use (4)
City Innovation (1)
Affordability (32)
Natural Disaster Risk (30)
Energy/Climate (1)
Local Food/Ag (5)
Green Economy (1)
Knowledge Base and Communications (1)
Green (LEED) Building (2)
Each factor was weighted and a final score produced for each city. Portland's score was 85.08, which handily bested #2 San Francisco (81.82) and #3 Seattle (79.64).
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It's Not Easy Being Green
 Though the sustainability ethos runs strong in Portland, there are always threats to what activists, progressive government and regular, conscientious citizens have built. Misleading verbiage in the ballot measure's description led to the passage of Measure 37 in 2004. Measure 37 sounded reasonable: if a property owner's property is diminished in value due to Oregon's land use laws then local governments must compensate the landowner or waive the law. The effect of the measure is to render the state's land use laws, which are highly regarded worldwide and have spared Portland and other Oregon cities the unsightly sprawl that defines most other U.S. cities, ineffective. With budget shortfalls bankrupting most local governments, the choice is typically to waive the law.
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The Future
Despite these threats to Portland's culture of sustainability, the future looks green. With more LEED Buildings (54 registered and 16 certified) than any other city in the country, and more, such as The Casey, a condo tower in the Pearl, which hopes to earn the nation's first "platinum" rating from the U.S. Green Building Council, being built every day, a booming green economy, and more commuters choosing their bikes over their cars, Portland is sure to retain its title as the Most Sustainable City in the U.S.
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| ANNOUNCEMENT |
"36 Hours in Portland, Ore"
www.nytimes.com
Portland | One of the top humane cities in the US when it comes to celebrating animals and confronting cruelty. Third, to be exact.
www.humaneindex.org
Farmers' Markets! | It's that time of year. Our Farmers' Markets section, listed under Food & Drink, offers a complete listing of markets in and around Portland.
More >>
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