Published January 2004

Snohomish County:
poised to take flight

One hundred years of flight.

Just over 100 years ago, on Dec. 17, 1903, Orville Wright, an Ohio bicycle shop owner, piloted his propeller-driven aircraft for a 12-second, 120-foot flight into history. The flight plan for this first powered trip: take off and land on a hillside near Kitty Hawk, N.C.

“Aviation is the definitive technology of the 20th century,” writes Tom Crouch, author of “Wings: A History of Aviation, from Kites to the Space Age,” in the December issue of Smithsonian magazine. “Flight symbolized our deepest aspirations, like freedom and control of our destiny.”

One hundred years later, we at the Economic Development Council believe Snohomish County is on a similar voyage of discovery. Our goal is the same: to control our own economic destiny.

In the last few years, the people, governments, businesses, economic development and community organizations of Snohomish County have persevered through a long and difficult recession.

We have researched opportunities and targeted key industries we believe will strengthen and diversify our economic future. We have launched initiatives in education, work-force development and economic revival. We have competed squarely for the future of our manufacturing jobs. These steps and more have laid a broad and deep runway that leads directly to a more prosperous future.

Now we’re ready to take off.

In 2004, the EDC of Snohomish County’s goal is to introduce Snohomish County, its cities and communities, to the world. By that, we mean to reach out in 2004 to specific companies ready to expand or relocate, to acquaint key influencers with the benefits of doing business in Snohomish County and to devote more time and resources to telling our story nationwide.

The timing is right.

Economic analysts tell us the recession is finally ending. In the year ahead, companies will again be thinking about expanding or relocating operations. Because Snohomish County has done its homework during the years of the recession, we know which types of companies will prosper here. We know how to reach them, and we have initiatives in place to prepare an environment within which they can thrive.

One way to reach these companies is to work with national site selectors. During the competition for final assembly of the Boeing 7E7 program, we learned what valuable influencers these organizations can be. Companies turn to site selectors to help them make sure siting decisions are thoroughly researched, carefully considered and fully evaluated. Establishing relationships with national site selectors and fully briefing them on the benefits of Snohomish County increases our chances of being considered when a client company asks for siting advice.

In the last few years, the residents and leaders of Washington state have made our state a more competitive place in which to base businesses. We have demonstrated a welcome to companies who seek information about us, and we have worked hard to retain the jobs we currently have. Convincing national site selectors that we deserve to be on a company’s short list is an all-important next step.

The most effective way to do this is by working together. EDCs, chambers of commerce, municipalities and county governments throughout the Puget Sound have many goals in common: economies that offer residents living-wage jobs, well-educated work forces, economic expansion that blends seamlessly with a community’s vision for its future.

While some of our outreach will be Snohomish County-focused, sometimes it will be most powerful to combine efforts with our neighbors. A concept known as Innovation Corridor, which would showcase our entire Puget Sound region similarly to the successful Innovation Philadelphia now under way on the East Coast, is under consideration by business and economic development leaders in counties that stretch along the West Coast from the Canadian border to Oregon. Such an initiative would allow us a full voice on a national economic stage.

So while the last few years have been carefully invested in the groundwork required for the next era of economic innovation, 2004 is poised to become the year of Snohomish County.

We at the EDC are certain the flight will be long and straight, stretching across the country from the Puget Sound into the economic centers of Los Angeles, Boston, Chicago and New York. Even to Kitty Hawk.

Deborah Knutson is president of the Snohomish County Economic Development Council. She can be reached at 425-743-4567 or by e-mail to dknutson@snoedc.org.

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