Portland Metro Chamber honors Realtors, Brim-Edwards

Published 12:30 pm Thursday, November 9, 2023

The Portland Metro Chamber broke with tradition and honored one of its political allies during its 2023 Business Leadership Evening on Wednesday, Nov. 8.

The chamber, formerly known as the Portland Business Alliance, traditionally presents its William S. Naito Outstanding Service Award at its annual dinner. This year it went to Multnomah County Commissioner and Portland Public Schools Board Member Julia Brim-Edwards for her extensive involvement in community affairs.

But the chamber also presented a second Presidents Award to the Portland Metropolitan Association of Realtors in recognition of the organization’s work to defeat the Multnomah County capital gains tax that would have funded legal and other services for renters facing eviction. Ballot Measure 26-338 was defeated 83% to 17% at the May 16, 2023 election. The association was an early supporter of the campaign to defeat it.

“The Multnomah County capital gains tax was the first new tax defeated since 2011,” Portland Metro President and CEO Andrew Hoan said when presenting the award to the association.

The chamber has long argued that the proliferation of Portland and Multnomah County income taxes on higher earning individuals and families are driving them out of the region. Portland alone lost more than 18,200 residents between the beginning of the pandemic and the last summer, according to U.S. Census Bureau estimates released earlier this year.

Michael Wilkerson, a partner and director of analytics with the ECONorthwest consulting firm, linked the taxes to the population decline in a recent study, titled “Portland’s Industrial Economy: Today and Tomorrow.” The study found Portland now has one of the highest combined state and local income tax burdens in the country — and the highest marginal income tax rate for higher income people. It noted the only county in the greater Portland region that is growing is Clark County, Wash., which does not have an individual income tax.

Altogether, Multnomah County alone lost roughly $1 billion in taxable income to other places in 2021, the study found. The average income of those moving out of Multnomah County soared from around $50,000 in 2012 to just under $90,000 in 2021.

The William S. Naito Outstanding Service Award is named after the late Old Town business later who helped lead an early revival of Portland’s downtown and surrounding neighborhoods.

“We all have a role to play in the revitalization of the Central City,” said Alando Simpson, chair of the chamber board of directors, in announcing the presentation. Simpson is CEO of COR Disposal and Recycling, which recently brought the first all-electric garbage truck to Portland.

Julia Brim-Edwards grew up on Mount Tabor in Southeast Portland, attended Glencoe Elementary and graduated from Washington-Monroe High School. She and her husband Randall Edwards have three children. During her work as a Nike executive, she was responsible for ensuring its Oregon headquarters expansion.

From 1998–2016, Brim-Edwards participated fully in her children’s Portland Public Schools communities.

In 2005, she started the “10 Great Fields” project, which successfully installed a new synthetic turf field and premium track at every PPS high school. She has served on the PPS board since 2017 and has represented Multnomah County Commission District 3 since June 2023.

Brim-Edwards began her acceptance comments by acknowledging the PPS teachers strike that began on Nov. 1. She assured the audience — especially parents — that the school district is “working really hard to reach a fair settlement within our resources with our teachers.”

Brim-Edwards also said she ran for the county commission because it “has some of the biggest levers to create the changes we need in our city, neighborhoods and business districts.”

The Portland Metro Chamber represents businesses and nonprofit organizations in the greater Portland region. It has approximately 2,200 members. The event was held at the Portland Art Museum.