What would you like to see happen at Portland's Rose Quarter? With two stadiums, a transit center, parking structures and a large swath of vacant riverfront property, there's a lot of potential there. Would you like to see a sports-themed entertainment district? How about a museum...a water slide?  Friday marks the final deadline for public proposals to remodel this vast regional destination that hosts the state's only major-league team, the Portland Trail Blazers, and the aging (and controversial) Memorial Coliseum.

After nearly two months of sifting through concept applications ranging from a roller coaster to a concert hall to the Portland Trail Blazers' own JumpTown vision of repurposing Memorial Coliseum, the city of Portland's Rose Quarter Stakeholder Advisory Committee will close the gate on new ideas and begin to determine how to move forward.

After the Jan. 8 deadline, the SAC will analyze the concepts based on the evaluation of nine standards:  Finances, Architect, Veteran’s Memorial, Sustainability, Flexibility, Connectivity, Existing Rose Quarter and Surrounding Uses, and, lastly, Cultural Heritage.

With criteria in place and all eyes on Friday, two groups are busy fine-tuning their proposals, while the JumpTown group — the apparent frontrunner in the future of the Rose Quarter and Memorial Coliseum — finds itself having to defend the JumpTown development company, Cordish, which has recently taken some heat.

Earlier this week, the VMAAC Development Group launched their effort for a “Veterans Memorial Arts and Athletic Center.”

In their plan, the Memorial Coliseum would undergo a name change (VMAAC) and feature a war memorial and an educational and multimedia facility, among other facets.

“Not only would this allow local nonprofits and volunteer groups access to marketing tools and advertising, its real purpose would be to educate the public and enrich everyone by showcasing the activities taking place inside the VMAAC,” Matthew Miller, VDG director and co-designer, said in a press release (for more information, visit www.vmaac.com, which will launch on Friday, Jan. 8).

Another community-centered proposal is also making a strong push with their submission.

Vision Into Action — a community-led melting pot of organizations, businesses, neighborhoods, government and individuals — is partnering with the Center for Intercultural Organizing on a proposal push that calls for a Cultural Center, housing, retail, and a hotel. Yet, despite working against a tight deadline with their concept, VIA ultimately hopes to bring community back to the Coliseum.

“We applaud the [Portland Development Commission] for asking for concepts; however, their initial timeline and efforts were not adequate for getting to those that will ultimately be affected by the redevelopment,” wrote Chris Nestlerode, a spokesman for VIA, in an email to the Sentinel. 

“This development needs to be of the people or it has no value to Portland. Bringing in an out-of-state company (Cordish) to play the role as developer for an area that holds value to many Portlanders is the exact opposite of what Portland is about. JumpTown may say that they are controlling what happens when they team with Cordish, but in the end it is not their money.”

It’s the second time this week that Cordish, in conjunction with JumpTown, has taken a hit.

This past Monday, the Portland Observer conducted an interview with Lonnie Scott, the president and CEO of the Kansas City-based Mid-America Minority Business Development Council, who questioned Cordish and their treatment of minorities in Kansas City’s Power & Light District, a similar development built by Cordish.

According to Scott, “Cordish has done nothing for minorities.”

The Trail Blazers, however, state they are committed to ensuring that Rose Quarter development construction provides economic opportunity and jobs for local minority contractors.

During construction of the $267 million Rose Garden and campus, the team pledged to provide contracting opportunities for MBE and WBE firms, and, in fact, exceeded the city’s goals.  By the numbers: The Trail Blazers achieved a 40 percent greater minority-owned business participation and 100 percent greater women-owned business participation than the city of Portland’s goals at the time.  This is a strong record of ensuring that large projects don’t just benefit a handful of large firms.  The operation of the Rose Quarter has also benefited the North and Northeast Portland communities:  29 percent of Rose Quarter operations contracts by total expenditure are with minority-owned enterprises and 35 percent of all Rose Quarter employees are residents of North and Northeast Portland.

Once qualified concepts are narrowed down, a public presentation will take place on Jan. 26 at the Memorial Coliseum, with “in-depth financial information” the focus of the next concept phase.

[Image above provided by Vision Into Action:Vision Into Action's plan for a revitalized Rose Quarter includes a courtyard hosting a multicultural, World Village Market.]