PORTLAND DRIZZLE

🐲Nice Saturday ahead — highs near 67, maybe 10% chance of rain, which basically means go outside. Turns out Portland leads the entire country in new manufacturing startups. Also: the GOP debated, the Interstate Bridge hid its homework. Bird Alliance of OR requests that people turn off their lights tonight to help the sweet migrating birds that we love.

While the debates over Portland's business climate rage on Nextdoor, the city has been doing something nobody really predicted: building more new manufacturing businesses than any other large metro in the country. New data from the Economic Innovation Group, analyzed by the Portland-based City Observatory, found that over the past five years Portland added 250 more manufacturing startups than it would have at the national average growth rate. The analysis ranks every U.S. labor market by new manufacturing firms per 10,000 residents — and metro Portland came out on top among large metros. Beyond Portland, all of Oregon is outperforming nationally on this measure, with Bend and Hood River posting manufacturing startup intensity more than three times the national average. The Portland Business Journal flagged the findings this week. Researchers say new manufacturing startups are among the most reliable leading indicators of long-term economic health. City Commentary

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Oregon's four leading GOP gubernatorial candidates debated in Hillsboro Thursday night, and if you wanted sharp elbows between them, you mostly went home disappointed. Christine Drazan, Chris Dudley, Danielle Bethell, and Ed Diehl spent most of the evening aiming at Democratic Gov. Tina Kotek — on education, the economy, and forest management — while mostly agreeing with each other. Dudley, the former Trail Blazer who nearly won the governorship in 2010, hammered his outsider-businessman pitch. "Salem's problems will not be solved by someone from Salem," he said. Drazan countered that she's already been toe-to-toe with Kotek and has the scars to prove it. Diehl said he was the only one who built a business from scratch. Bethell, sitting right next to him, looked over and noted she owns a plumbing company. The GOP hasn't won Oregon's governorship since the 1980s. OPB

The Interstate Bridge Replacement project — the $15 billion I-5 bridge rebuild connecting Portland and Vancouver — is delaying a key financial study that would show how much toll revenue the project can actually raise. The Investment Grade Analysis, which was supposed to be done in October 2025, has been pushed to June 2027. That's after state officials are expected to approve construction. Critics, including Portland urban economist Joe Cortright, argue the IBR is pulling the same playbook it used on cost estimates: promise the number later, get the commitment now. Project costs have already more than doubled, from an original estimate of $5-7.5 billion to $12-15 billion. Daily bridge traffic has also dropped to 127,000 vehicles — well below the 142,000 routinely cited in IBR materials. Toll rates haven't been set. City Commentary

On April 18, 1976, Klamath leader Edison Chiloquin lit a sacred fire in Chiloquin, Oregon, refusing federal money to reclaim his tribe's ancestral land. He held his ground for years.

Portland leads the nation in manufacturing startups. The doom loop would like to speak with your manager.

by Michael Simpson Contact: [email protected]