Spring ERA Show Blooms in Beautiful Portland The 2007 Electrical Rebuilder’s Association Trade Show will be held April 26—29 in Portland, Ore., the “Best Big City” in North America, according to Money magazine. If you haven’t marked your calendar yet, do so today because you don’t want to miss the unique oppor- tunity to better your business while enjoying the sights and sounds of the spectacular Pacific Northwest. The unmatched natural beauty— mountains, waterfalls, forests, rose gar- dens—combined with well-planned city conveniences, may just make this the show by which all others will be measured. Getting There and Getting Around Nonstop flights to Portland arrive from all the spots you’d probably expect: Chicago, Los Angeles, New York and Washington, D.C. They also originate from a few places that might surprise you: Tokyo, Frankfurt, Guadalajara. All in all, Portland offers nonstop service to 49 cities worldwide. Recent expansion projects have made Portland International Airport (PDX) both convenient and comfort- able. Travelers enjoy free wireless Internet service, a full-service confer- ence center (newly renovated) and great shopping (with no sales tax). PDX also boasts a light rail link —the nation’s first train-to-plane connec- tion—with a 37-minute ride to the Oregon Convention Center and down- town Portland’s hotel core. Downtown is also an easy 20 minutes by car. The MAX light rail system is part of a 44-mile network that extends both east and west from downtown Portland. Complementing MAX is Portland’s streetcar system. This sleek line links downtown to both the art gallery-filled Pearl District and the Northwest/Nob Hill neighborhood, known for _ its restaurants and shopping. Best of all, Portland’s mass transit— buses, light rail and streetcars—is free in a 330-square-block area known as “Fareless Square.” Happily for conven- tion attendees, this ride-for-free zone From the majesty of the mountains to the vast beauty of the seashore, Portland has it all. encompasses the downtown hotel core and extends to the Oregon Convention Center. (Light rail from the airport is under $2.) Green Appeal Portland is a city where more than 5,000 residents commute to work each day by bicycle; where city planners ripped out a busy, freeway to create a tranquil waterfront space; where park- ing meters are solar powered; and where the meticulous synchronization of traf- fic signals results in an annual savings of 1.1 million gallons of gasoline. Portland also boasts the most LEED- certified buildings per capita in the nation. Many of these structures are equipped with sustainable features like commercial ecoroofs, which provide natural cooling and help manage rain- water runoff. While such eco-awareness may seem astonishing to outsiders it’s second nature to Portlanders. In fact, residents and busi- nesses even see it as a bit of a competi- tion, going out of their way to one-up their neighbors to be the greenest. Craft breweries recycle spent grains into animal feed; restaurants participate in “Fork It Over,’ a campaign that reduces waste by routing surplus food to charities; Portland’s city government provides tech- nical expertise and money to grow green businesses; even Web sites are happily powered by renewable energy sources. Ringed by natural beauty—Mount Hood, the Oregon Coast, the Columbia River Gorge, and the Oregon wine country—Portland is obsessed with keeping that beauty unspoiled. Portland has a whole jewelry box of parks and gardens—more than 200 at