News from Seattle's Office of Economic Development

The City of Seattle is announcing a program, EnviroStars, that will provide green business services from around the region under one tool. 

The amplified EnviroStars program will be a central hub for Washington businesses to receive assistance and recognition for saving energy and water, reducing waste and pollution, choosing safer products and cutting greenhouse gas emissions. 

EnviroStars businesses can track environmental performance online and see how their actions save operational costs and positively impact the environment. “ The EnviroStars program will help businesses use fewer resources, which means they can dedicate that saved money for other priorities,” said Mayor Tim Burgess. “ It’s exciting to see a growing number of businesses adopt an environmentally aware mentality.  Every city should have a no-cost, pro-business, pro-environment effort like this.”  This free program helps businesses see what programs are available to help them address negative externalities, and can help busy small business owners set out a plan to achieve their environmental goals. 

For 20 years, Seattle Public Utilities’ Green Business Program has helped businesses take actions to save money, conserve resources and contribute to a clean and healthy community. “ By joining forces with other agencies and streamlining services offered throughout our region, we are making it even easier for businesses to achieve their green business goals,” said Mami Hara, Director of Seattle Public Utilities. 

Over 17 agencies from around Western Washington have pooled resources to develop and launch the program, which includes a central web portal that allows businesses to find referrals for local sustainability services and incentives and start on a path to recognition.  The program will also help small businesses connect with one another so they can learn from and support their peers. 

Consumers can use the EnviroStars directory to find local businesses who share their environmental values—from restaurants and grocery stores, to hotels and auto body shops, and everything in between.  They can also look for the EnviroStars mark on storefronts of recognized businesses in Seattle, Kirkland, Bellevue, Redmond, Edmonds and other member cities starting this fall. 

“The program allows consumers to make empowered choices about where to take their business,” said Laurel Tomchick, creator of the original EnviroStars program at the Local Hazardous Waste Management Program in King County. “ Choosing local EnviroStars recognized businesses reinforces better business practices—which in turn creates healthier, safer communities and motivates more businesses to ‘work green.’” 

“It’s a Pacific Northwest tradition—connecting green-minded consumers with green businesses.  It’s an economic and environmental win.  We are committed to providing the clean energy that powers this vibrant community,” said Larry Weis, General Manager and CEO of Seattle City Light. 

Seattle’s first EnviroStars recognized business is Madres Kitchen, a full-service catering and events company based in Seattle, which also participated in the City’s past Green Business Program. 

Businesses that engage with EnviroStars will benefit by learning to operate more efficiently, strengthening their bottom line, improving employee health and gaining recognition for environmental leadership. 

“The new EnviroStars program will provide a one-stop shop for businesses to access information about building sustainability into their ongoing business plan,” said Sara Nelson, Co-owner of Fremont Brewing. “ We are excited to be part of a program that will help share our environmental accomplishments with our customers and work towards addressing climate change.” 

The City of Seattle Office of Sustainability & Environment is strengthening equal access to local and healthy foods with the Fresh Bucks pilot program.  The program, a partnership with the Neighborhood Farmers Market Alliance (NFMA), will double the value of purchases made with SNAP electronic benefit transfer (EBT) cards at select Farmers Markets starting Wednesday, August 1, 2012, through Monday, October 1, 2012.  All EBT cardholders will receive $10 in Fresh Bucks per day for the purchase of fruits and vegetables when they purchase a minimum of $10 with their EBT card.  The following Farmer’s Markets are participating in the program:

Funding for the Fresh Bucks pilot program is provided by JP Morgan Chase, the Seattle Foundation, and the WSDA Specialty Crop Block Grant Program. 

“Everyone in Seattle deserves access to healthy, fresh, affordable food,” said Seattle Deputy Mayor Darryl Smith. “ Fresh Bucks increases the purchasing power of low-income Seattle residents while introducing new customers to the small and mid-size farmers who sell at our farmers markets.” 

The cost of fruits and vegetables has been identified as a barrier to consuming recommended amounts of healthy food for low-income communities.  The Fresh Bucks program addresses this barrier as well as generates economic stimulus by keeping federal nutrition benefit funds within local and regional communities.  A study by Moody’s Economy showed that an increase of SNAP/Food Stamp benefits by $1 creates a “ripple effect through the economy,” resulting in $1.73 in economic stimulus. 

“Seattle residents have been able use their EBT at Neighborhood Farmers Market Alliance markets since 1995,” said Chris Curtis, executive director of the NFMA. “ Now, with the Fresh Bucks bonus program, people have a greater opportunity and incentive to use their benefits to purchase healthy produce.” 

Access to healthy, affordable food is vital to our community.  We’re working to increase access to healthy food for everyone in Seattle, not just those who can afford it.  It’s one of the most important things we can do as a community to live longer, lead healthier lives, promote equity, and help our environment. 

In order to create that agenda, I, together with City Councilmember Richard Conlin and the other members of our City Council, am bringing together stakeholders in the food community for a series of Our City, Our Food, Our Future listening sessions.  The priorities and opportunities that we hear about in these sessions will inform the City’s next steps for these issues. 

Almost every department at the City has been engaged and working together to create a city where all Seattleites have enough to eat and have access to affordable, local, healthy, culturally appropriate food.  We’re working to make sure it’s easy to grow food in our city, whether for personal use or for business purposes, and easy to sell local and healthy food in our neighborhoods.  We’re also educating people about the benefits of eating local and healthy food, and working to provide sustainable ways to deal with food waste. 

Some of these programs are long-standing, such as the P-Patch program, senior meals, and food waste recycling.  More recently, we’ve taken other steps aimed at increasing shared prosperity, health, and environmental sustainability.  For example, our Office of Economic Development has helped over 50 small business owners sell more healthy food in their stores, which helps support their businesses while at the same time increasing access to healthy food in areas of our city where it is hard to find. 

Our Human Services Department’s Farm to Table program has been helping childcare centers and senior meal facilities get more fresh, healthy food from local farmers onto kids’ and seniors’ plates.  Our Parks Community Centers host a teen top chef program, engaging teens in cooking and eating healthy meals, and providing them with leadership opportunities in the process.  Our Department of Planning and Development changed the zoning code to expand opportunities for Seattleites to grow food in the City.  And Seattle Public Utilities has helped food banks catch good food before it hits the waste stream and get it onto people’s plates. 

If you’re interested in being part of our effort to increase access to local, healthy, food in our community, contact sharon.lerman@seattle.gov.  We’ll share what we learn during the Our City, Our Food, Our Future listening sessions right here on our blog. 

The City Green Building team takes an exciting new step in 2012.  Beginning in January, part of the “green team” will join forces with the Office of Sustainability and Environment (OSE).  Staff focused on policy development will become part of OSE, and those focused on green codes and permitting will stay with the Department of Planning and Development (DPD), as part of the Operations Division.  As this next step unfolds, both DPD and OSE will continue to develop and implement innovative approaches to building sustainable neighborhoods. 

City Green Building’s mission — making green building standard practice — has held fast over ten plus years.  The City of Seattle’s legacy as a national leader has fostered local adoption of green building practices, moving beyond the early adopters to the mainstream market. “ Seattle’s green building growth has been exponential.  Given the current level of green building expertise and innovation in the private market and in regional organizations we need to continue to evolve our vision and approach,” said Sandra Mallory, Program Manager for City Green Building. “ If we are to achieve a climate neutral Seattle, then our green building policies and initiatives need to fit within a broader context.” 

The evolution of the green building program naturally led to greater coordination with the Office of Sustainability and Environment, the City’s primary office for urban sustainability policy development. “ Over the past years, the green team and OSE have worked closely together on numerous initiatives, including co-leading the Green Building Task Force which in turn led to programs like Community Power Works, Energy Benchmarking and Priority Green permitting.  Consolidating our efforts will better align work in overlapping areas and allow the City to expand our work on environmental priorities,” said Jill Simmons, Director of OSE. 

Within DPD the green team has worked to support both typical and advanced green building projects through education, incentives and program development. “ DPD has been a long-standing advocate for green building from within City government.  We have invested in our staff – teaching green building strategies so that our reviewers are ready to help applicants when they come in,” said Diane Sugimura, the Director of the Department of Planning and Development. “ We remain committed to removing barriers to green building and encouraging innovative sustainability practices.” 

In 2012 DPD will remain focused on growing green permitting, on supporting the Living Building Challenge pilot and on evaluating the International Green Construction Code (IgCC) for potential adoption in Seattle.  Planning staff will work closely with OSE to implement land use policies that advance green building.  Green building staff in OSE will be working on implementing the Sustainable Building and Sites policy, development of a city Resource Conservation Plan, and providing ongoing management and support of the energy benchmarking program and the 2030 District. 

For more information about these efforts, please visit the following websites. 

The key to a healthy business economy is the availability of reliable, low cost power.  The City of Seattle is fortunate to have some of most environmentally responsible, renewable, reliable, and lowest cost power in the country.  Yet with any system that is more than 100 years old, infrastructure investments are critical.  Seattle City Light is in the process of putting together a strategic plan that will look at the next six years of service and paving the way for long-term strategic investments.  They want to hear from businesses!  Coming up on June 8 is your opportunity to join the discussion. 

Co-hosts McKinstry Company and the Greater Seattle Chamber of Commerce invite you to join Seattle City Council member Bruce Harrell and Seattle City Light officials in a discussion about the utility’s six-year strategic plan and how to shape the utility’s future. 

As a service to the Seattle business community, the Office of Economic Development curates a daily business news blast, Daily Digest.  As a new trial feature on Bottom Line, we’ll be posting a handful of stories from the Daily Digest every day.  This sampling is demonstrative of the incredible breadth of business activity going on every day in Seattle and in the region. 

Find the stories informative or helpful?  Keep checking Bottom Line or sign up for Daily Digest to receive the full version in your inbox every day.  Subscribe to the Daily Digest by clicking here. 

Cantwell announces $11 million for smart grid workforce trainingOffice of Maria CantwellSen.  Maria Cantwell announced yesterday that $11 million in federal funds for workforce training will be heading to Washington.  Centralia College will receive $5 million for a project that will deliver smart grid training for utility workers in the Pacific Northwest, including through an online portal.  Seattle’s Office of Economic Development and Seattle City Light staffed this effort, with support from Seattle Jobs Initiative policy analysts. 

Local independent record shops find ways to compete in digital ageSeattle Times
Experts say indie-music stores benefit from a resurgence in vinyl sales and an increased reliance on the more profitable used-records trade.  Silver Platters, which sells music at two Seattle locations and another in Bellevue, now carries more used vinyl records, as well as CDs, owner Mike Batt said. 

Seattle ranked second best big city for people with asthmaHealth
In August 2008, after a 90-degree heat wave and light winds caused smog, ozone, and other pollutants to accumulate over the city, Seattle violated the Clean Air Act for the first time since the 1990s.  As a result, state and local officials were required to prepare a plan to improve air quality. 

A recent report from Seattle-based Prosperity Partnership, “Clean Tech Cluster Analysis Update for the Puget Sound Region,” examines the market potential of the rapidly growing clean tech cluster in the Puget Sound.  The report was commissioned to provide more accurate and timely information about the size and scope of the cluster, as well as the specific industries within the cluster and its strengths and potential for growth. 

The Prosperity Partnershiphopes that the report will serve as a platform from which the region can move into more comparative analysis, evaluation, and development of a strategy to maximize competitive advantage.  The report includes an analysis of the clean tech economy and venture capital investment trends and provides a brief overview of the policy environment and the region’s clean tech assets and opportunities. 

For more information on the Clean Tech Analysis Update for the Puget Sound Region, contact Joan Chen atjchen@psrc.org. 

In 2005, Seattle’s Markey Machinery applied for a paving permit to solve a troublesome street drainage problem near their manufacturing facility on 8th Ave S., near the Duwamish River in Georgetown.  Markey soon discovered that the Georgetown Community Council and the Duwamish River Cleanup Coalition had also been working on the same swath of road, with the intent of creating a family friendly path along part of 8th Ave S.

These three groups immediately saw an opportunity to collaborate and find a way to manage rain runoff along 8th Ave.  S. in a way that worked for business and the community.  But further complicating matters was the Markey facility’s proximity to the polluted Duwamish River.  To address environmental concerns, the Georgetown Group engaged graduate students and landscape engineers to develop a natural “bio-swale” rain water retention plan, rather than simply draining runoff into the sewer. 

“Bio-swale” design in hand, the Georgetown Group then solicited support from a number of City Departments—including Transportation, Public Utilities and Economic Development— asking each if there was a way for the bio-swale concept to be applied to an industrial setting so close to a Superfund targeted river. 

The Office of Economic Development’s Kris Effertz convened all of the involved parties to work through these issues, taking advantage of all possible resources and funding to enable a successful outcome for Markey and for the community.  The City found a way to match their drainage regulations with the 8th Ave S. proposed solution, utilizing both Neighborhood Street Funds and community volunteers.  On December 5, 2009, the Markey Machinery “natural drainage swales” were completed—an innovative and eco-friendly solution that satisfied the business community, local residents, and environmentalists.