Hayden Island jobs questioned


The Portland City Council voted to move forward on plans to develop West Hayden Island, with hopes that it will create jobs.

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The Portland City Council voted last week to move forward on plans to develop West Hayden Island, with hopes that it will create jobs, but environmentalists are still skeptical.

The Port of Portland said that the expansion would create 1,200 jobs.

But the city had yet to confirm the number of jobs the project will create—and the Port’s 1,200 job estimate raised skepticism during Thursday’s testimony. Business at the Port is down 20 percent since 2008, striking critics as a reason not to expand.

The Bureau of Planning and Sustainability will spend the next year conducting cost-benefit analyses and environmental impact studies, in preparation for a final council vote to proceed with development in December 2011.

Read more at the Portland Mercury.

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