When I went to the Key Leaders Breakfast on May 29th at the Tualatin Country Club it was a dark and gloomy morning. When the State of Oregon’s outstanding and well-spoken State economist, Carl Riccadonna, began to speak the rain was coming down as he was describing the state of our economy, both past, current, as well as future predictions. He was very good at taking a dry topic and making it easy to listen to and had very interesting points from the State’s perspective.
One point he made very clear was that there is currently an exodus of Oregonians to other States, particularly the highest demographic sector, possibly to find State’s with less or no State taxation, like Washington, Nevada, Florida, Texas, or others as boomers are retiring and taking their wealth with them.
Also notable was his commentary about our declining population, and that in 2026 Oregon is expecting more deaths (19,000) than births (18,000) for the first time in recent memory.
He brought up the slowdown in manufacturing statewide, and that Oregon’s unemployment is fairly flat as are wages compared to the rest of the Country. Overall, while his demeanor was perky and uplifting, his message was clearly more cautious than positive.
However, when Mayor Frank Bubenik confidently strolled to the podium to give a more local report, the rain suddenly stopped, the sky grew brighter, and his words were comforting and powerful as to the position Tualatin is in and the growth he expects to see in the foreseeable future.
He introduced Sidaro (Sid) Sin, Tualatin’s new Urban Renewal & Economic Development Manager, who has spent the last 25 years beautifying the City of Lake Oswego and now brings his talents and visions to us. I had an opportunity to speak with him after the event and have utter faith in his abilities. One of his missions is to create the downtown Tualatin’s been lacking. If he can do for Tualatin what he did for Lake Oswego, we’re in very good hands.
The Mayor touched on the growth of Tualatin’s population, diversity, household income, land use permits, building permits, and while the employment numbers didn’t grow, they didn’t shrink as they have done nationally, so that’s a victory as well.
He went into detail about the tremendous growth of LAM Research, QPO and Zero Touch Metrology, companies that are truly innovative, cutting edge, and based right here in Tualatin.
He talked about the annexation of 55 acres of land and expected growth in commercial/industrial flex space in the Basalt Creek Area at Grahams Ferry and Basalt Parkway and also explained some of the visions of our future downtown revitalization as well.
While I must admit feeling a bit discouraged after the State Economist spoke, I was highly encouraged after hearing from Mayor Bubenik. There’s a lot of negative news about our nation’s economy, and much of it might be true, but Tualatin appears to be bucking the trend on so many levels. The sun was shining as I left.
