The good news for poor people is that Erik Sten will pay them to live here. For the rest of us…there are higher prices. Dan Saltzman shows up at a meeting in Chicago (why not, he doesn’t seem to be making many in Portland) and announces that Portland housing prices will again grow. His timing is interesting isn’t it? Aren’t we having a bit of a housing credit crunch at the moment?
Once again, however, members of Portland’s Rainbow City Council turn a deaf ear to sustainability when it involves our pocket books and announce a carbon tax plan for developers (i.e. buyers). Oh, and once again, taxpayers–that means you–you’re on a ‘need to know’ basis only.

In a bold move to curb the growth of greenhouse gas emissions from the Portland area, city officials plan to charge builders hundreds of dollars for each new home that is not extremely energy efficient. [extreme is right] And it would require, as part of every existing home sale, that an energy efficiency report be done by home inspectors.
[oh, look, new jobs for city friends! or are these going to be city jobs?] Believed to be the first of its kind in the nation, the carbon fee and inspection requirement would levy taxes upon builders who merely comply with the energy efficiency requirements of the Oregon building code, already one of the most stringent in the nation. It would then pay cash rewards to developers who make buildings that save at least 45 percent more energy than the code requires.

Read the rest here. Mayor Moonbeam (who was with Saltzman–ah, the reflected glory) and the rest of the Rainbow City Council LOVE the encomiums from the Zero about it being a “bold move” and the “first of its kind in the nation.” Aspen Institute junket, here they come!