BY JACOB SZETO

PORTLAND- In his 2010 State of the City Address on Friday, Portland Mayor Sam Adams focused on jobs and sustainability as both his short- and long-term goals for Portland.

“This year, of all my many years of public service, has been unique for its singularity; for the first time, almost everyone shares the primary concerns about jobs,” said Adams.

Adams’s plan centers on fashioning Portland as a “sustainability hub” to create jobs, with initiatives such as the Clean Energy Work program that will weatherize homes (creating an estimated 10,000 jobs) and the streetcar expansion (creating an anticipated 1,300 jobs). The streetcar will use a Federal Transportation Agency grant of $75 million for the expansion to the east side. Adams said, “Portland was once a streetcar city, and it shall return to a streetcar city.”

Adams also announced a pair of city loan and investment programs. A $33 million Sustainable Development Fund, using federal stimulus dollars, will offer financing for “clean tech.” And the Portland Small Business Seed Fund will invest in startups in which private capital is unwilling to invest. Adams challenged banks to match the $500,000 that the city has made available for this purpose.

He stressed the need for Portland to reduce its dependence on fossil fuels and acknowledged the higher costs of relying on other energy sources. “The so-called right thing to do tends to resonate with those who have the luxury to afford the alternative, that tends to be more expensive,” he said. Adams then outlined “On-the-go Financing,” a plan that would allow Portlanders to take out loans for home energy efficiency projects and pay them back with the savings on their utility bills.

Continuing his focus on sustainability, Adams took the opportunity to tout the Oregon Sustainability Center, a $120-million-dollar publicly financed building planned for the Portland State University. This plan has yet to be fully financed, even after the Mayor’s two trips to Washington, D.C. in search of federal funds.

At the end of the speech Mayor Adams took questions. The first question was asked by John Horvick, second vice president and chair of the research board for Portland City Club. Horvick asked about the City of Portland’s pension contribution rates to the Public Employee Retirement System (PERS) going up by three to six percent and what Portland is going to do about it. Adams answered that more upfront investment should be made, not enough is invested in public employees, and healthcare savings should be channeled into the PERS.

Mary Volm, a former transportation bureau spokeswoman, supporter of the first recall effort of Adams, and now candidate for Dan Saltzman’s city council seat, asked how the city’s Major League Soccer plan to tear down PGE Park is sustainable for the city and beneficial for families that enjoy baseball. Adams answered the question by stating that the city is recycling the PGE Park, not tearing it down.

He went on to say that the financing of the MLS deal protects the city’s general fund, a statement that has been made repeatedly by the city council. However, according to Jack Bogdanski’s blog, this is simply not true. The interim financing for the deal uses a line of credit that “pledges available general funds” for backing the credit, which could remain outstanding for five years before it is replaced with bonds.

Adams’s final tough question was about his sex scandal with a teenager, and if he would support the recall effort to give voters a chance to choose if he should remain mayor. Adams seemed prepared for this question and said that the scandal has not affected his focus on his job. He then thanked his staff for all their hard work on policy issues and invited applause for them.