LEAD: Eva - Cube Space Owner, and Policy Wonk Extraordinaire

Twitter: @evacatherder
Blog: http://catherder.wordpress.com


Advisory to City Council's Portland Development Commission
PDC is City economic development arm. Loans, grants. Up until recently purely a real estate redevelopment entity. 50% Done with Economic Recovery Plan in conjunction with 
Greenlight Greater Portland

Unfortunately, NO emphasis on small companies. SBA designations includes 50M and plan only mentioned the largest. 
Erin Flynn - new staff in PDC.
Software Development, and Open Source not mentioned, this was a huge oversight. But 
Eva has gotten attention for small business and open source in the next 70% draft.

There is an oversight in economic figures: Sole Proprietors are not counted in economic census, a large number of small companies are more robust economically than a few large ones.

Portland and Multnomah counties are relativity efficient but trapped for funds.


For VC funds and westside tech focus see Steve Morris - OTBC - Beaverton's startup program, also Economic Gardening.

Oregon Tax structure: No Sales tax, High Property tax, Constitutional limits on spending
Tax Changes in the works: Sole proprietorships seem to be protected from changes but 
Corporate kicker may be / should babolished. 

Oregon Investment Fund - NO working with small bootstraps. Hired CSFB to manage fund, a few direct investments. Has brought some attention to Oregon start-ups. In end, Oregon start-ups have to compete with ROI in California start-ups.

Oregon growth account - 1M/yr over 3 years in Oregon Angel fund, 250K investments in their model. Would be great if we could expand similar programs. 

New category of business B Corp - socially responsible C corp like entity. Another type is L3L - Low Profit Liability company to fill gaps in LLC type entities. Allows them to invest their corpus in responsible causes. Vermont is first to pass, 6-7 states have passed, currently in Oregon Legislature. 

====== What YOU can do: ======

   * Buy Local - promote your partnerships, this builds eco-system. 
   * Think of small businesses as we, work together.
   * Consider everything in business climate and find your passion - livability, transportation, taxation, etc. Cover the topic you care about. 
 
Make information about small business and government transparent. 
Comment on National Dialog [[http://www.thenationaldialogue.org/]]- Closes Tomorrow!! 

License problems: 1M bond to sell flowers downtown, 28 entities to get for a business. See Portland city website.

Dan Soltzman - wonk.
Randy Leonard - for the people
Amanada Fritz - neighborhood activist
 
Small business Fair has been postponed. Caludia Platza in charge but regrouping. 

Free Resources: SBDC, SCORE, OTBC

SCHEMATIC URL:[[http://catherder.wordpress.com/files/2009/05/small-business-ecosystem.doc|Small Business Ecosystem]]

Notes by: Mike @ Panometric.net