Greetings and welcome to Friday! It looks like a sunny weekend, so woo hoo!
This weekend is also that informal American holiday – the Super Bowl! Mix up your guacamole and settle down for several hours of the best, most expensive commercials ever, a potentially disappointing half-time show and also a gridiron battle between the Chiefs and the Eagles.
This week’s update is mostly the “Paul Show” – Sarah and Leslie are off today at the Accessible Travel Conference in Lincoln City, so they’ll catch us up on two weeks of updates next week.
Here’s a slightly-watered-down weekly update:
Blue Economy::
Earlier this week, Sarah and I reviewed and commented on a new “Regional Maritime Innovation Scorecard” that RAIN developed as part of their EDA grant reporting. I also attended an advisory committee update call on the Blue Economy sector survey – a first draft of that report will be complete next week. Mark Farley and I met with Don Gerhart of Challenger Biosciences. He’ll be doing a next-step market research project on coastal green methanol production for maritime, using some of our CDS funds. This is an awesome project with some real future potential, and I’m so glad that we get to help make it happen!
Broadband::
A few broadband updates this week. First, we met with Solarity (the consultants doing our regional broadband planning) to develop a survey instrument for our business community to deep dive into their usage cases and needs when it comes to broadband. Our Lane County partners are working with Linn, Lincoln and Benton counties to lead the process to evaluate and “challenge” the FCC’s new broadband map to make sure it paints an accurate picture. This morning, Solarity hosted a virtual “Broadband 101” event for county leaders and stakeholders (Lesley – thank’s for attending!). They provided an overview of their work, the upcoming funding and some steps Lincoln County can take to be prepared when the funding drops (anticipated early 2024).
Creative Economies::
Sarah and I set down on Monday to review the latest updates to the Word Press backend and how to start crafting the page and post templates for a revamped ART Toledo website. That work will start in earnest in the next few weeks.
Regional Development – CWEDD::
Yesterday was our quarterly Cascades West Economic Development District meeting. We got to head a great presentation from Onward Eugene’s new child care program coordinator. We also got a detailed update on the large $40+ million dollar mass timber project. We held officer elections, and I was again voted in as vice-chair of the economic development district (I wish I got a badge I could flash around!). We also heard from Wesley Cochran (or regional EDA liaison) that our district was the most successful in terms of individual EDA ARAP awards last year (across the whole state of Oregon).
Supporting and Connecting with Partners::
OCCC – On Monday, I took to a berm overlooking Alsea Bay and the bridge for Dave Price to shoot a video in support of their upcoming ballot initiative for the OCCC’s new building (and other campus improvements). You can see the growing set of videos here on their YouTube channel:
https://www.youtube.com/@occcsharks/videos
Representative Gomberg – I was contacted by Dave Gomberg for some guidance on coastal infrastructure projects that could use some funding. He’s working within a new committee and is looking to bring some funds to the coast. I was able to shoot him a half-dozen ideas that will hopefully give him something to build upon.
Newport Chamber – On Monday, the Newport Chamber board received the resignation letter from their relatively new Executive Director, Robbi Richter. She is leaving her post BEFORE Seafood & Wine. Needless to say, the board was not amused (to put it mildly). On Monday and Tuesday nights, we held Executive Committee and full board meetings to lay a path forward. Seafood & Wine is in great hands and will be going off as expected. In the meantime, former ED Judy Kuhl will step in (just a few days a week) as a transitional ED. I’m working on improving the job posting that should go live early next week, and already some great potential candidates are stepping forward. An unexpected but not fully unanticipated hiccup, but long-term, that organization should be moving to even stronger footing.
As a reminder – your Board of Directors resource page is here:
Remember, next Wednesday is Valentine’s Day – you have been warned!
Next week, I’ll be off on Friday and Monday (the 20th) – Susan and I will be taking the Amtrak north to Seattle to spend a long weekend with some dear friends from the U.P.
Thanks for ALL that you are doing out there! Please reach out to me if you need anything at all. Have a wonderful weekend!
Cheers,
-Paul 🙂