• Southwest Washington Tour Yields Insight into Energy Policy and More
• D Street Overpass Opens to the Public!
• Puget Sound Trends: Strong Employment Growth 2006-2007
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The Prosperity Partnership brought more than 40 government, nonprofit, education and business leaders from the Puget Sound, Spokane and Ellensburg regions together in Southwest Washington in June. The trip highlighted the area's brightest economic achievements including the International Air and Hospitality Academy, Washington State University's Vancouver campus, and the City of Vancouver's waterfront redevelopment. The tour was part of Prosperity Partnership's ongoing efforts to build relationships with other regions in the state to identify ways to help each other move forward with shared economic development priorities. Vancouver Mayor Royce Pollard welcomed the group and presented his vision for the City of Vancouver as "a regional center for commerce, culture and urban living." The city has crafted an

Representative Deb Wallace, Chair of the House Committee on Higher Education, thanked the Prosperity Partnership for its successful support of Washington's higher education system and encouraged advocacy for the upcoming legislative session.

Energy policy proved to be an appropriate topic for a visit to Southwest Washington. Joined by the Columbia River Economic Development Council, the group heard from Bonneville Power Administration (BPA) Deputy Administrator Steven Hickok. Hickok spoke about the four quadrants of power production - conservation, renewables, fossil and nuclear - and the pros and cons of each and efforts to meet growing demand. The BPA produces 40 percent of the electricity consumed in the Northwest.

A panel of energy policy experts from Puget Sound Energy, McKinstry, and the Northwest Power Planning Council touched on current efforts to generate a greater supply of energy through alternative means like solar and wind production. It also explored conservation, efficiency and clean technology as contributors to meeting increased demand on the grid.

Supplier diversity was another important topic of discussion. Programs are designed to increase flexibility in the supply chain by attracting more minority and women owned businesses, one of the fastest growing types of small business.

Portia Odette shared Nike's supplier diversity program's best practices citing how the company has significantly increased its contracting with diverse businesses.

Discussion revolved around ways to better include diverse businesses in the Washington state economy. Increasing access to contracts and capital is a primary focus of the Prosperity Partnership's minority entrepreneurship efforts. The Minority Economic Development Working Group has just finalized its strategy to improve the climate for diverse businesses in our region.

Portland's Pearl District was the perfect setting for a discussion on tax increment financing (TIF). This trend setting neighborhood is a product of excellent land use, transportation and economic development planning, funded in part through TIF. Tax increment financing captures part of the incremental growth of an area's property tax value as a funding source to bond against to pay for development.

In 2006, Washington launched a pilot program to use a similar Local Infrastructure Financing Tool (LIFT). Six revitalization efforts are underway with this program, including the City of Vancouver's Riverwest redevelopment a 3.75 acre, $165 million dollar public private partnership that will house the new Fort Vancouver Library while providing 200 residential units, 120,00 square feet of office space, 18,500 square feet of retail, parking, a boutique hotel, and a public plaza. The Prosperity Partnership is currently reviewing a proposal from the City of Seattle called the Housing Everyone Financing Tool (HEFT), which uses a TIF-like model to capture sales tax revenues specifically to fund workforce housing in high-growth, high-cost areas.

"Not only did we forge new friendships on this excursion," said Bob Drewel, Executive Director of PSRC, "we learned about several pioneering solutions that we can take back to our region to grow more effectively."

For more information about the tour, please contact Chris Strow at 206-971-3051 or cstrow@psrc.org.

Table 3 lists cities with high job levels and rates to show how employment change was distributed within the region. For comprehensive summary tables with employment data by jurisdiction or census tract go to psrc.org and search for "employment estimates". For more information, contact Michael Jensen at 206-464-7538 or mjensen@psrc.org.

Figure 1. Job Change Rate, 2000-2007

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