This past year has been a banner year for the Chamber and our members.
Across the region, we have seen positive progress and quality-of-life improvements in our communities – advocating for results in public safety, homelessness and affordability.
In the last year we helped pass legislation and investments to make it easier to hire officers – and alternatives to police; to help people suffering from the fentanyl crisis – and increase affordable housing; to combat organized crime – and revitalize downtown. We partnered with Sound Transit and the King County Regional Homelessness Authority to help these agencies get back on track. And we worked in coalition to pass the Keep Seattle Moving Transportation Levy – and defended against the repeal of the Climate Commitment Act.
Your Chamber has been a convener for action with senior business leaders and government and nonprofit partners. We put 250 leaders in one room at the Regional Leadership Conference and explored how we take initiative in solving our most-pressing issues. We set the table for work on the city of Seattle’s comprehensive plan and saw Seattle Mayor Bruce Harrell expand planned housing units. We worked with a coalition of organizations to achieve our priorities during Seattle’s budget cycle. This convening work is happening daily with large and small groups on a variety of priority issues.
This past year your Chamber worked hard to support small businesses, especially restaurants. The stakes are high in Seattle, with a minimum wage increase beginning Jan. 1. Some of our policy choices from a decade ago couldn’t conceive of the impacts of a global pandemic and the public safety costs that are burdening these businesses. We’ve surveyed restaurants and other small businesses to advocate on their behalf, held coffee chats with Seattle city councilmembers to inform them of the business climate, and met regularly with other elected officials who have the ability to impact the business environment.
We also won an international economic development award for our Community Business Connector program, providing support and guidance for small businesses throughout King County. This is the second award this program has received in just two years – we are so proud of this work!
And in Olympia, we beat back legislation at the state level that would have negatively impacted our hometown companies of all sizes.
Looking into 2025
Next year you will see the Chamber continue working in all these areas and more, and we will rally the business community to proactively join and prepare for FIFA World Cup 2026. With financial support from the Local Organizing Committee and King County (and a big thank you to the LOC team, King County Executive Dow Constantine, and the King County Council!), work is underway to provide tangible resources to businesses to help you adjust operations, staff up, navigate the influx of visitors and capitalize on this significant opportunity for our state. We are working to ensure no business is left behind.
In 2025 my role as Cheerleader in Chief for the city of Seattle and the Puget Sound region will kick up 10 notches. We will continue to fight for the reputation of our region, communicate more about the good stuff, and work to reimagine the civic narrative.
A little while back, I mentioned some of you – some of our regional superstars – in an opinion editorial for The Seattle Times where I made the case that, despite our challenges, the West Coast is the Best Coast. I grew up in Tulsa, Oklahoma, but I’ve been on the West Coast almost 25 years – over 20 of those here in the Puget Sound region, and I can’t imagine living anywhere else.
Everything about this region makes me excited and proud:
- The Aquarium’s Ocean Pavilion that just opened
- The Waterfront
- Light rail making its way through Snohomish County and on the Eastside
- The FIFA World Cup coming in 2026
- New leaders in top positions at Washington State University and the University of Washington
- Microsoft celebrating 50 years
- Amazon returning to office
- FareStart reopening
- And – fingers crossed – another professional basketball team coming soon
This next year will not be time to take a breather. We must move forward to set a proactive agenda regionally and at the state level. Around the office, we call ourselves “the relentless Chamber,” and we mean it – we have to be, and will continue to be, relentless in our pursuit of progress.
Cheers to 2025!
Rachel
Rachel Smith
President and CEO