Portland Business Alliance

B ids are urban areas where private organizations are given the power to do things normally relegated to the local government. E s ds were developed in the 19 seventies as a way to fight the economic stagnation that had settled on many us. To institute one in portland, interested parties form a business non profit and campaign to have the city's revenue division levy fees against property owners. Then unelected e s d overseers use the proceeds to higher security and police contract cleaning companies,. The district expanded to more than 500 blocks, and there has been talk of expanding it to include resident areas.