The Better Communities Podcast
The Better Communities Podcast creates a space for conversations about how we use land for urban, commercial, and rural development. Each episodes puts a spotlight on a unique issue or challenge in land use planning and development - bringing together different voices who share their stories and create a dialogue about how we can build better communities.
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The Politics of Stadiums
08/07/2025
The Politics of Stadiums
While the final decision remains in the hands of Major League Baseball, there is notable political momentum building signaling Portland is serious about securing a baseball team. If baseball returns to Portland, it will be to the credit of a small group of political and business leaders who stuck to their vision – and a belief this will fundamentally transform downtown, the waterfront district, and our regional sports economy. Building a new stadium is enormously complicated for any major metro region. It’s certainly more complicated in a hyper-inclusive political ecosystem like Portland. The process of siting, designing, approving, and building stadiums is arduous. It involves input and buy-in from a chaotic network of public and private decisionmakers. In this episode, we unpack how Portland has navigated these roadblocks. And how the city is sending a clear signal to stakeholders that we are ready to play ball to make it happen. Listen as we talk with the political and business leaders working to promote Portland as a sports destination, site and build a new stadium, and sell a bold new vision of the South Waterfront district to voters and community groups. Featured throughout are conversations with Portland Mayor Keith Wilson, Andrew Hoan, President and CEO, , Jim Etzel, CEO, , Monique Claiborne, President and CEO, ., and Demi Lawrence, Sports Business Reporter, .
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The War on Renewable Energy
06/13/2024
The War on Renewable Energy
The Pacific Northwest is in the middle of a renewable energy boom. State legislatures, policy leaders, and voters have aggressively set carbon reduction targets over the last decade – paving the way for a new wave of federal dollars to drive the development and construction of wind, solar, and battery storage facilities across the region. New developments have always generated an element of local resistance. But none have proven to be as divisive as renewable energy. And despite the anti-woke, post-truth messaging from one unusually loud climate denier (see ), these divisions don't necessarily follow predictable ideological fault lines. Increasingly, fossil fuel interests and die-hard environmentalists have found a convenient allyship in this war against renewable development. Together, they are injecting a new kind of collective opposition that has created a strange new coalition that is part land-use watch dog, part liberal NIMBYist, and part climate change skeptic. The challenge to developers, energy leaders, and policymakers isn’t just local opposition to change. It’s that many of these communities are now drowning in a sea of misinformation about questionable claims about renewable energy’s impact on everything from water quality to public safety to their reliability. In the latest episode of the Better Communities Podcast, our team explores the misinformation war on renewable energy in the Pacific Northwest. Listen in as we talk about the social, economic, and environmental consequences of this misinformation war with Ruchi Sadhir from the , Jillian Farmer of , Nicole Hughes from , Jake Melder from , Commissioner Derrick DeGroot of , and labor and construction trade advocate Willy Myers.
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Do Downtowns Still Matter?
11/30/2023
Do Downtowns Still Matter?
America’s downtowns are at a crossroads. Many urban economic centers are struggling to get back to pre-pandemic norms. In addition to an increasingly hybrid workforce, many downtowns are confronting a lack of affordable housing, rising crime, and recent policy reforms that have made it difficult to combat a deepening drug crisis on their streets. Seattle is not alone in this struggle. But it has a history of overcoming the odds of previous boom-and-bust economic cycles. But how are we measuring success with downtown Seattle’s recovery? What does the future of downtown look like? And what solutions are business and policy leaders focused on as Seattle wrestles with the role of downtown in our daily lives? Listen in as the Seattle team at explores the evolution of downtown Seattle’s economic, social and cultural recovery. In this episode, we talk with some of Seattle’s most influential business and policy leaders about the road ahead, including , President & CEO of the Downtown Seattle Association, , CEO of Urban Renaissance Group, , urban studies expert and author of The New Urban Crisis, City Councilor , and , Director of Economic Development at the City of Seattle. Join us as we dive into the challenges reshaping the economic trajectory of Seattle – and the potential for yet another comeback.
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Bridging the Divide
05/15/2023
Bridging the Divide
It often feels like the Portland-Vancouver metro region has become bogged down in a culture of political stagnation. We have big ideas. We seek to solve big problems like climate change and social justice. But we have lost our ability to work across our divisions to make big things happen. The I-5 bridge between Oregon and Washington was built more than a century ago. Today, it stands as a symbol of our inability to bridge our own political disagreements to get something done that is vital to the regional economy. After failing to garner support in 2013, there is a new team of community and political leaders working to try again. And it’s possible this time it will actually happen. In this episode, we talk with: DEMI LAWRENCE, reporter, Portland Business Journal LYNN PETERSON, president, Metro GREG JOHNSON, program administrator, Interstate Bridge Replacement Program Vancouver Mayor ANNE MCENERY-OGLE JOHNELL BELL, principal equity officer, Interstate Bridge Replacement Program Listen to learn what failed in previous attempts, how they are rethinking the steps needed to get back to fixing big problems, and how they hope to deliver the kind of progress our regional economy needs to keep working for everyone.
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The Roots of Oregon's Housing Crisis
05/10/2022
The Roots of Oregon's Housing Crisis
Change is hard. In 1973, Oregon Governor Tom McCall created a pioneering land use policy focused on preserving farmland, reducing pollution and preventing urban sprawl. At the time, it was a visionary move that took bold political leadership. But what seemed visionary 50 years ago has played a pivotal role in creating Oregon’s modern day housing crisis. Today, our rural towns are struggling to address population growth as people seek a new hybrid work, lifestyle in these idyllic communities. Increasingly, rural areas of Oregon once thought to be affordable are now out of reach for most home buyers as housing supply has lagged behind demand for decades. And just building more housing isn’t as easy as it sounds. In this episode, we explore the challenges at the heart of Oregon’s housing crisis, what “affordable housing” really means, and why a new era of bold political leadership is required to solve this problem. Listen as , Senior Director of Marketing and Customer experience at Pahlisch Homes, Deputy City Manager with the City of Redmond, , CEO and President of the Bend Chamber of Commerce, Associate Professor School of Planning, Public Policy and Management University of Oregon, and , Manager of Public Policy at Hubbell talk about McCall’s legacy, the housing crisis, and the prospect of modernizing Oregon’s land use policies.
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Activism Beyond the #Hashtag
10/03/2021
Activism Beyond the #Hashtag
The rise in “hashtag activism” may feel empowering. But is it distracting from needed policy changes across the racial justice, women’s rights, LGTBQ+, and climate change movements?
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Is the Polling Industry Broken?
04/21/2021
Is the Polling Industry Broken?
2020 was a tough year. And a global pandemic, a shuttered economy, and the social justice movement made it a uniquely tough election year for opinion pollsters. Election night seemed like a repeat of 2016. The polls simply got it wrong. Again. The predictions of a “blue wave” never materialized. Pollsters had to admit there was something wrong with the models their industry has relied on for decades. So why do the polls keep getting it wrong? The $19 billion opinion research business is now searching for answers. In this episode, we explore how the polling industry is rethinking how behavioral and demographic shifts are disrupting long-standing opinion research methods. Listen as of , of , and of share their perspectives on the forces changing the polling business – and how research firms are adapting to a real-time information world.
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Division and the Discomfort of ‘Otherness’
02/23/2021
Division and the Discomfort of ‘Otherness’
We are often told society today is more divided than ever. But what is driving this division? A number of factors are fueling this narrative of “us versus them” in our communities. Ideology, race, gender, class, and geography have come to define who we listen to – and who we distrust. Add in an increasingly complex media ecosystem designed to connect us but which has, in fact, divided us further. Much of this stems from our willingness to make assumptions about others – and to misunderstand other people’s core values, beliefs, and intentions. But are we really that divided? In this episode, we explore issues of bias, stereotypes, and discrimination through a unique lens. Listen as we take a journey into a group commonly misunderstood: hunters. Join us as host Bryan Dorn goes on his first hunting trip and meets up with Jimmy Flatt of to talk about why hunting is seen as a “white man’s sport”; with about her mission to bend gender stereotypes in the community; with about her journey from being a vegan animal rights activist to a proponent of ethical hunting practices; with Evan Charpentier on his experience as both a hunter and soccer Dad in Lake Oswego; and Ian Isaacson of about why the hunting community needs to do more to tell its story better.
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Why We Distrust the Media
10/15/2020
Why We Distrust the Media
What role does social media play in our understanding of truth? How can journalists utilize the digital age to build civic engagement? And what role does the consumer play in sustaining a trustworthy information ecosystem?
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