Stoel Rives Partner Michelle Rudd was quoted in a story by Oregonian columnist Anna Griffin. about plans for new uses of the Willamette River, which bisects Portland.
Rudd , a land-use lawyer, is also vice chair of Portland's Planning and Sustainability Commission, working with planners and other civic leaders to draft a 20-year vision for the city, the Central City 2035 plan.
Griffin reports that planners are expanding on Portland's well-known smart-growth and painting a future in which more people live and work in walkable downtown neighborhoods, with the river becoming more accessible.
"It's not going to be something to just look at anymore," said Rudd, and pointed to the roles rivers play in other cities.
If you go, say, to Chicago, you see a lot of people from a lot of different backgrounds going to the water for fun," Rudd said. "The water is wet no matter how much money you make, so it becomes this great equalizer."
Read the column here.
"Now that it's clean, city leaders work to turn the Willamette River back into Portland's front yard," was published in The Oregonian on October 22, 2012, as part of a three-part series on city planning.