Diverse Projects Nominated for the 2006 VISION 2020 Awards The VISION 2020 Awards recognize inspiring projects, plans, and programs that increase the vitality of the central Puget Sound region and help implement VISION 2020, the region's growth, economic, and transportation strategy. PSRC received 33 nominations for this year's competition. All of the projects were extremely innovative, were excellent examples of efficient use of resources and relied on collaborative partnership to succeed.

The Awards will be presented at the Puget Sound Regional Council's General Assembly on March 30th at the Westin Hotel in Seattle. PSRC has previously honored regional leaders at the award ceremony, and last year honored Congressman Norm Dicks with a special VISION 2020 Award for his achievements in revitalizing downtown Tacoma and Bremerton, his ongoing work to protect the Hood Canal and his sustained leadership toward implementing the region's growth strategy.

Ambaum-Delridge Transit Service Implementation. King County Metro Transit redesigned service to the corridor to increase ridership by 8 percent without increasing the number of service hours.

Auburn Environmental Park. The City of Auburn's plans to conserve and improve a 100-acre wetland as a critical area, city recreational opportunity, and as a stormwater detention facility.

Brightwater Mitigation Program. Efforts to mitigate the impacts of this essential public facility include a 40-acre wetland, a community education center, an odor control system, and a distribution system of reclaimed water to agricultural areas.

Burien Town Square. Created by a public/private partnership, the new town square includes more than 300 housing units, over 40,000 square feet of retail space, City Hall, King County Library and a large public plaza.

Chief Sealth Trail. A 3.6-mile trail built as a method of recycling clean materials from Sound Transit's Link Light Rail construction in Rainier Valley.

City of Arlington Economic Development Plan. A detailed strategy for the city at large as well as four specific planning districts.

City of Lynnwood City Center Planning. A collaborative planning effort complete with simple and concise implementing regulations and a fully illustrated set of design standards and guidelines.

City of Redmond Transportation Master Plan. A detailed strategy with the goal of making all modes available and practical for local circulation as well as regional travel.

City of Seattle Transportation Strategic Plan Update. A detailed strategy that enables implementation of broad transportation goals via specific capital projects and programs that support the city's urban village land use strategy.

Downtown Seattle Transit Tunnel Closure Outreach and Mitigation Project. A successful partnership to minimize the impact of bringing 21 tunnel routes to the surface, impacting an additional 70 bus routes.

Freight Mobility Video. An outreach effort developed by the Freight Mobility Strategic Investment Board that clearly explains how ships, trains, planes and trucks connect us with the goods we purchase and how this drives our economy.

Garfield Street Activity Center. This community revitalization effort provides a pedestrian oriented commercial area adjacent to Pacific Lutheran University and the Parkland Transit Center.

Girl Scout TDR Partnership Project. Through King County's Transfer of Development Rights, the Girl Scouts have been able to use private funding to protect their 438 acre Girl Scout Camp.

Joint 2005 Legislative Agenda on Transportation. The joint agenda represents the first time that King County jurisdictions have achieved a unified position on transportation issues to present to the state Legislature.

Karlstrom Apartments/Compass Center. The Center successfully rebuilt their facility following an earthquake and refurbished their former historic location as the Karlstrom Apartments, which provides 23 permanent housing units to people using the Center's programs.

Kent Station. The transit hub for bus and commuter rail service includes a movie theater, a branch of the Green River Community College and has provided the impetus for $40 million of other investments in the downtown area.

King County Metro Transit Residential Transportation Projects. King County has created two pioneering programs to help reduce travel demand: Neighborhoods In Motion and Residential Transportation Coordinators.

Newberry Square. The first high-density, mixed-use development to be approved under new Snohomish County zoning laws to encourage center development.

North Marysville Regional Stormwater Pond and Conveyance System Project. The site handles stormwater at the regional level and also includes wildlife habitat and a salmon-bearing creek.

Pantages Apartments. A redeveloped historic structure in Seattle, the project provides affordable housing for families in a rapidly gentrifying urban center.

Port Orchard Intermodal Terminal. The new terminal was built using an innovative construction process to mitigate environmental impacts, especially on fish, and minimized service disruption.

Puget Sound Maritime Air Forum. A partnership led by the Port of Seattle to implement cost-effective, fact-based air pollution control strategies.

Rainier Vista Redevelopment Project. This project provides a combination of market rate, affordable, and public housing, as well as on site community services all within walking distance of the soon to be built central link light rail.

Salishan HOPE VI Redevelopment Project. The community features 1,200 new affordable homes, as well as facilities for education and health services and a protected wetland.

Salmon Habitat Plan. A targeted strategy for recovering the threatened Green/Duwamish River salmon population in concert with other community and growth management objectives.

School Transit Education Program. Community Transit established this program to teach students in grades K-12 about the benefits of public transportation.

Smart Connections. Community Transit launched this vanpool incentive program in 2004, resulting in 56 new vanpool groups, 254 new drivers and 592 new riders.

Sound Move. In addition to regional bus service, commuter rail, and light rail, Sound Transit has completed over 30 projects, ranging from park-and-ride lots, train stations, transit centers, track and signal improvements, and new HOV access lanes.

St. Charles Apartments. This project permanently preserved a historic Pioneer Square building damaged by an earthquake to house 65 formerly homeless individuals.

Sultan Visitor Information Center. The new center has provided a hub to Sultan's downtown and is attracting a steady stream of visitors.

Thea Foss Waterway Revitalization Project. This development included environmental restoration, access and infrastructure improvements, and working with partners to create housing, retail space, and museum space along the esplanade.

Vision for Skykomish. The town's strategy to help the local community and businesses benefit from and thrive during a major environmental clean up process being undertaken by Burlington Northern Santa Fe.

Winslow Tomorrow. An innovative planning process and visionary urban design plan that will sustain Winslow as the island center of community, culture and commerce while supporting growth and protecting the environment.

More information is available at psrc.org, or contact Michele Leslie at
206-587-4819 or mleslie@psrc.org.

In November 2005, employment in the central Puget Sound region reached 1.76 million wage and salary jobs, finally surpassing the December 2000 pre-recession high of 1.75 million wage and salary jobs, and completing a recovery from the January 2004 low point of 1.63 million jobs. Growth between January 2005 and December 2005 was particularly robust, as two-thirds of the 128,000 jobs added to the region during this recovery occurred during this period.

The most recent city-level estimates are for March 2004, a period where the region was trying to sustain an economic recovery. The region added about 7,500 jobs from March 2003 to March 2004, representing the first annual gain in employment since the 2001 recession. During this period, the two most significant sectors affecting regional employment were manufacturing and services. Growth in the services sector accounted for most of the jobs added between 2003 and 2004, with sector employment rising by 8,600 jobs. The manufacturing sector, which has been declining since the late 1990s, lost approximately the same amount of jobs as the region gained as a whole during this period.

Moderate employment growth was found in three of the four central Puget Sound counties. Kitsap, Pierce, and Snohomish collectively gained roughly 8,200 jobs. King County, on the other hand, was the only county to experience flat employment change, with a slight decline of nearly 700 jobs.

The cities showing the greatest job gains and job losses in the region are shown in Table 2. The cities with the greatest gains were Auburn, Redmond, and Shoreline. Auburn had the highest overall job increase, adding over 3,500 jobs. Similar to the region's trends, service job growth supported the increases seen in most cities. Likewise job losses in manufacturing were a driving force behind decreases seen in Everett and Renton, which continue to have a large number of Boeing's manufacturing employment. Despite the mixed performance of the regional economy, two-thirds of the cities showed positive employment growth.

For more information about this Trend, contact Peter Caballero at 206-587-4818, pcaballero@psrc.org. The full version of this Trend as well as detailed employment estimates for the central Puget Sound region are available at psrc.org.

Data Notes: The 2003 and 2004 employment data shown in this Trend come from PSRC's covered employment database, which allows for analysis at small geographies such as cities and census tracts. The employment numbers represent covered jobs during March of the given year (the data lags behind a year due to processing time by PSRC and the Employment Security Department). The 2005 data on the region's economic recovery is from the Current Employment Statistics (CES) Survey. The CES provides monthly industry data on nonagricultural establishments for metropolitan statistical areas.

Back Issues
January 2006 | December 2005 | November 2005 | October 2005 | September 2005 | August 2005 | July 2005 | June 2005 | May 2005 | April 2005 | March 2005 |