The lunch-spot of choice today seemed to be the Riverhouse Conference Center, where Governor John Kitzhaber addressed a couple hundred local business leaders and community members as the keynote speaker at the Economic Development for Central Oregon annual luncheon.
“Oregon is open for business,” Governor Kitzhaber proclaimed, enthusiastically beginning his address to Central Oregon. In his first official visit to the region since being elected to a third term, Kitzhaber immediately went on to highlight Oregon’s recent positive economic accomplishments, including being named the 6th ranking state in Forbes magazine’s “Best States for Business”. His enthusiasms emanated his belief that the state leadership must “tell a better and different business story” than the story of economic difficulty that has been recently and frequently portrayed.
“The bottom line is that Oregon is a small business state,” said Kitzhaber, “We need a robust and balanced profile to ensure sustainable economic development.”
He went on to emphasize that business development alone is not enough to sustain Oregon’s economic future, and that major faults in the larger systems of public education and healthcare need to be addressed and changed in order to assist in economic stability and growth.
“The systems we rely on are based on assumptions that came out of last century, and are no longer valid today,” said Kitzhaber, whose administration faces the challenge of keeping Oregon afloat in the face of a projected $3.5-billion shortfall over the next two years.
Likening the situation to an obstacle course, he said, “We need to let go of this rope to grab the other one.”
The new rope we need to grab onto for education, according to Kitzhaber, includes ensuring early childhood success in education, lessening the achievement gap and poverty instability, and developing a social service system that is accountable to and integrated into public education. Kitzhaber’s new rope for the healthcare system would focus on preventative measures for costly high-risk patients instead of expensive treatment procedures.
In light of upcoming budget decisions, knowing that our economic difficulties are at their root based on out of date, ineffective systems, Kitzhaber said.
“We need to build partnerships and coalitions that move past the partisanship of the past. We can do better, but we have to do it together,” he said.
As for Central Oregon specifically, Kitzhaber re-emphasized the need for community leaders to set a tone that welcomes thoughtful economic development, encouraged well-managed growth in support of local land use planning, and specified that businesses should contract locally whenever possible.
This article appears in Mar 10-16, 2011.
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Let’s see, Under one party rule, gee, for how many years? And now according to the current retread governor we have to FIX all that’s gone wrong in the last 25 years. Vic Ateya was the last republican governor, way back before many who voted 3 term JK back into office were even born. Lets continue to lock up the forests, get more wilderness in Oregon, pass 66 & 67 so business will run to Oregon and all will be better. When the public unions of Oregon see a 3.6 billion deficit, they want to raise taxes. We have lots of real business folks running the state. Many with real business experience. And it really shows!
I second that!!!!!
When all of the left wingnut liberal democrats here in Oregon see through the facade which is the government employees, Kitzhaber and the rest of the PERS pension lined idiots that run this state, maybe then Oregon will be open for business! Until then, this state will sink deepr into red ink and hopefully will get the long overdue wake-up calll that Wisconsin just received!
Are you serious, voting a loser like Kitzhaber for a third term into our state capital, no wonder small to medium sized businesses are leaving for their own surviability. Wake up Oregon!