Although it may be too early to determine how hard small businesses will be hit by lenders' credit woes, last month, a U.S. Federal Reserve report found a third of banks in the United States had tightened lending standards for small business, making it harder to get the credit necessary to expand or, in some cases, stay afloat.
Soundings of business owners are mixed because credit availability is not uniform across the country: More than half of respondents to the U.S. National Small Business Association's recent online poll said their business had "been impacted by the credit crunch in recent months." But the National Federation of Independent Business, said more than a third of its members responding to a February survey said they were borrowing normally; only 4% reported difficulty getting a loan.
Advocates argue small businesses are a mainstay of employment, even in economic downturns. "Microenterprises continued to create new jobs even during the 2001 recession," said Amy McKenna Luz, president of the U.S. Association for Enterprise Opportunity. When the auto, telecommunications and other major industries were laying off people, microenterprises (with five or fewer employees) continued to add jobs --about 4.5 million from 2000 to 2005.
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Gresham mayor issues 'Green Power' challenge
Will people in fiscally conservative Gresham pay more for electricity to help save the environment?
City Hall hopes so.
On Monday, Mayor Shane Bemis issued a "Green Power" challenge: He's asking at least 300 local Portland General Electric customers to switch to one of PGE's renewable power options between April 1 and June 30.
The alternate energy sources come from wind power or biomass -- energy derived from the breakdown of organic matter.
The city demonstrated its own commitment this year by increasing its green-power purchase from 852,000 kilowatt-hours of energy to 1.8 million kilowatts of wind power for city operations. That's almost 13 percent of Gresham's annual electricity usage for municipal facilities, including city hall, the operations shop, and fire stations. It's also enough to reduce yearly carbon dioxide emissions -- a major contributor to global warming -- by about 1.6 million pounds. The positive impact equals not driving 1.8 million miles.
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INNOTECH CONFERENCE SPEAKERS FOCUS ON THE FUTURE
InnoTech Oregon, the regional business and technology conference held April 16-17 at the Oregon Convention Center, is bigger than ever in its fifth year. Speakers and panel topics include clean-tech and innovation-focused panels, including the keynote speaker, Don Tapscott, author of Wikinomics: How Mass Collaboration Changes Everything and CEO of New Paradigm.
Keynote Speaker:
Tapscott guides his audience through one of the most profound cultural and economic changes of recent history by showing how unprecedented masses of people can participate in the economy by using technology and open-source systems. He explains his view of the economy of collaboration that is astronomically changing business in a very real way.
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Rural Development: Rural Oregon besieged by state cutbacks
When Ted Ferrioli (R-John Day) resigned in protest from Federal Forest and County Services Taskforce Thursday, it was in response to what many rural officials see as a serious problem: rural Oregon is getting hammered economically, they say, and the state government is making the situation worse.
“Within the past 60 days, including the Legislative Supplemental Session, we have witnessed elimination of the Office of Rural Policy, the defunding of Rural Development Initiatives and the release of a report from the state economist marginalizing chronic unemployment in rural areas of the state,” Ferrioli said in his letter.
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Green lobbyists seek grass-roots love
With the Senate set to tackle two complicated pieces of global warming legislation after its spring break, green-energy lobbyists used the recess to ramp up grass-roots support in key congressional districts.
Interest groups aiming to weigh in on the cap-and-trade bill and the renewable energy tax credits filled congressional district offices with volunteers and flooded local airwaves with commercials.
Both bills would provide tremendous growth opportunities for solar and wind power, make carbon emissions more expensive for polluters and increase the country’s energy independence. And both bills would rely keenly on Republican swing votes to get the job done.
The House recently sent the Senate a bill that would reroute $18 billion in oil industry tax credits to develop wind and solar power, a move decried by much of business and industry. The Senate is also considering a global climate bill sponsored by Sens. Joseph I. Lieberman (I-Conn.) and John Warner (R-Va.) that could slash carbon emissions by 70 percent by 2050 through a cap-and-trade program.
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Energy: PGE to Buy Turbines for Biglow Canyon Wind Project Expansion
Portland General Electric Company (PGE) (NYSE:POR) and Siemens Power Generation, Inc., part of the global Siemens Energy Sector, today announced they have executed agreements for PGE to buy 141 turbines to complete construction of its 25,000-acre Biglow Canyon Wind Farm in Sherman County, Ore.
“Biglow Canyon Wind Farm is a major investment in renewable energy and resource diversity for PGE customers,” said Jim Lobdell, PGE’s vice president for power operations and resource strategy. “Siemens has the right product and know-how to help ensure the project will be completed efficiently and perform as promised.”
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New Website Creates Community, Opportunity for Small Business
The free online site Briz.com provides exposure and networking opportunities. It also empowers small business to stay in contact with customers.
Small businesses now have a new powerful ally on the Internet with the launch of Briz.com, the first Web site that creates local communities and opportunities for small business owners. And it's free.
Briz.com allows small business owners to create a thorough business profile to enhance business relationships, share information, and stay in contact with their clients, customers, and/or suppliers. Briz offers small businesses free exposure to their current market as well as new markets.
"Social networking for businesses is what Briz.com is all about," says Michael Librizzi, founder of Briz.com. The site was designed to make it as easy as point-and-click for small business owners; no computer knowledge is needed to get started.
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Rural Development: Investment is effective, say rural leaders
For 20 years, the State of Oregon funneled part of its lottery revenue to a regional and rural investment program. In the 2005-2007 biennium, each dollar of the state’s contribution was leveraged to bring in more than $26 in federal and private funding for economic development projects.
Despite this record of success, and support from Gov. Ted Kulongoski to increase the budget for the program, the Ways and Means Committee at the Oregon State Legislature, under Cochairs Sen. Kurt Schrader (D-Canby) and Rep. Mary Nolan (D-Portland) cut the funding to a bare-bones minimum. A budget note from Sen. Schrader mandated half the funding be used to develope a six-year prioritized list of needs and issues and a list of infrastructure development needs for each region.
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