Building Economic Vitality and Inclusive Community

OldTownBeaverton.com was created by a group of small businesses who feel our district does not get the support, advocacy, or promotion it needs to facilitate sustainable health and growth.

Here’s an example. Today, the City of Beaverton announced the Canyon Road Pedestrian Safety Project. Slated to begin this month, the project details fail to note how installing a landscaped median will impact vehicular access to businesses there by 50%.

The project details can be found here:
https://www.oregon.gov/odot/Projects/pages/project-details.aspx?project=18758

Yes, we need better pedestrian crosswalks, especially for mobility challenged members of our community. But, how will future drivers from the west get to Tom’s Pancake House on the north side of Canyon? How will drivers from the east get to Donut King on the south side of Canyon? Who is advocating for these businesses, many of them staples of our community for decades?

Another example? The Beaverton Downtown Association today announced a Halloween Pub Crawl in Old Town for four businesses. It excludes other bars and taphouses in the district. The BDA’s mission, noted on their website, “is to promote the public use of Beaverton’s traditional downtown area and its historical preservation while supporting its physical environment, economic vitality, and inclusive community.”

BDA events tend to focus on businesses that participate in its Economic Vitality Committee. Respectfully, the conflict of interest in supporting those in its inner circle, while ignoring others does not promote economic vitality, nor demonstrate inclusive behavior.

We may not be able to change how others operate, but expressing our concern for actions that impact or exclude Old Town businesses is something we can do. Serving as an example of what local leadership could look like is another reason we do this.

To that point, our events calendar is open to all and does not exclude anyone. We even added the BDA’s Halloween event to it, because it’s the right thing to do. That’s what economic vitality means to us. That’s what creating an inclusive community means to us.

(Written by David Anderson, co-owner of Syndicate Wine Bar)