On Tuesday, November 7, the city of Portland, Oregon, announced it would provide $6 million in public funding to break ground on the United States’ first high-rise structure built from wood in an effort to alleviate the city’s affordable housing predicament.  …“This proposed project has its priorities all wrong,” says Kevin Lawlor, spokesperson for Build with Strength, a coalition of the National Ready Mixed Concrete Association comprised of fire safety professionals, engineers, architects and industry experts committed to strengthening the nation’s building codes and communities. “We should all agree that safety should come first, for the crews that will work on the project, for the first responders who will respond in an emergency, for the community and for the residents of the building. Building quickly should not take a backseat to building safely.”