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In the history books, 2008 will be remembered as a year filled with uncertainty over the national economy. Seattle is well positioned to weather the financial storm, but our region has also seen layoffs and the effects of turmoil in the nation’s financial and housing markets. The City has protected direct services to the public, assisting people in need during these difficult times. The following provide a snapshot of our progress in 2008.

  Create Jobs & Opportunity for All

• Connecting workers with good paying jobs. The Seattle Jobs Initiative placed more than 315 low-income individuals in full-time permanent jobs, the majority with benefits and with an average starting wage of $11.89/hour. With many of its workers approaching retirement age, Seattle City Light has been working to recruit new employees and grow its own skilled trades workers through its apprenticeship program. The utility hired 17 new apprentices in 2008, bringing its total to 95 apprentices in seven programs that last from 18 months to four years.
• Neighborhood revitalization. The City committed a total of $9 million in funding for the Bush Hotel project in the International District; the Alpha Cine project in Southeast Seattle; and the Chubby and Tubby project in Southeast Seattle, supporting a total of 83 jobs, 68 work force housing units, 59,000 square feet of commercial space, and leveraging $20 million in other investments.
• Small business assistance. The Small Business Advocate assisted 80 businesses with City permitting and regulatory processes and also began work on City permit processing reforms. The City partnered with Community Capital Development (CCD) and SCORE (Service Corps of Retired Executives) and provided technical assistance to more than 700 Seattle businesses, and made loans totaling nearly $1 million to 21 start-up and small business entrepreneurs.
• Small contractor support. During 2008, the Contractors’ Development and Competitiveness Center helped several small and disadvantaged businesses win contracts worth $24.8 million. Past contracts were $9.7 million in 2004, $10.1 million in 2005, $11.8 million in 2006 and $10 million in 2007. In 2008, the awards were $2.8 million for City of Seattle projects and $22 million for non-City of Seattle projects.
• Neighborhood business district support. Eighteen business organizations received more than $157,000 in Neighborhood Business District Funding Awards. During 2008, the City assisted property/business owners in Columbia City and Lake City and on Jackson Street in the Central Area in developing proposals to create Business Improvement Areas, and addressed permitting and fees for farmers markets in our communities. Work on the Broadway Action Agenda continued, with the City investing more than $175,000 in 2008 for efforts including community clean-up campaigns and an agreement with Sound Transit for mitigating disruption to businesses during light rail construction. The Capitol Hill Chamber of Commerce now has 160 dues-paying members and is marketing the neighborhood during the construction of the light rail station.
• Focusing on Southeast Seattle. More than $15 million has been disbursed to assist 178 businesses impacted by light rail development along the light rail alignment. Since 2006, the Rainier Valley Community Development Fund (RVCDF) has invested more than $900,000 in business loans and grants for small business expansion; invested $5.8 million in real estate revitalization projects, ranging from affordable housing to community facilities; and since 2005, the RVCDF has placed 167 Rainier Valley residents in livable wage union apprenticeships or other construction jobs averaging about $16.40 per hour.
• Industry and business outreach. Partnering with Seattle First and enterpriseSeattle, the City conducted on-site visits and provided assistance to more than 400 Seattle businesses in 2008, including: Alpha Cine, McKinstry, Ballard Brass, New Earth Renewable Energy, Darigold, and Ocean Beauty Seafood. Assistance included help with permitting, site selection, and identifying funding sources.
• Film industry promotion. A total of 365 film productions were permitted to shoot in Seattle in 2008, up 36 percent from 2007. On average, at least one film crew was shooting every day of the year. Additionally, 15 feature films were shot in Seattle in 2008, four of which were major incentive-qualifying productions that contributed an estimated $16 million to our city’s economy and provided approximately 400 local cast/crew jobs at union wages.
• Music industry promotion. The Seattle City of Music Initiative was launched in 2008. The initiative includes increasing music education for kids, increasing live music performance, and supporting innovative and independent music businesses. The City released a new economic impact study showing that in 2008, the music industry created 11,155 jobs, with 2,618 businesses generating $1.2 billion in annual sales and $487 million in earnings. The study estimates that the industry in Seattle generates $90 million annually in state and local sales and business and occupation taxes. The economic impacts of Seattle’s music industry have steadily grown since the last study in 2004, with sales increasing by 17 percent, labor income by 72 percent, and earnings per worker by 75 percent to $43,691 annually.
• Seattle’s creative community.
  In 2008, the City invested in 264 artists and arts and cultural organizations, supporting nearly 5,000 events, classes and community festivals featuring 13,961 artists and serving an audience of more than 900,000, including almost 188,000 students and youth.

  Transportation - Get Seattle Moving

• Fixing potholes & maintaining streets. In 2008, the City paved 41 lane miles of arterial streets and chip-sealed 39 lane miles of residential streets, up from 27 lane miles of arterial streets and 33 chip-sealed lane miles of residential streets the previous year. Crews repaired 94 percent of potholes within two business days after they were reported.
• Commuter assistance. The City installed 14 new traffic signals, upgraded left turns at six traffic lights and replaced 20 traffic control cabinets in 2008. Crews also performed maintenance on 1,012 signals and optimized the signal timing at 393 locations, including 258 downtown intersections. City crews also replaced 9,424 regulatory signs and street name signs at 1,076 intersections in 2008.
• Pedestrian safety. Pedestrian safety improvements were made in 2008, including installing pedestrian countdown signals at 27 intersections, remarking 1,077 crosswalks, improving signage for 76 school zones, building 15 blocks of new sidewalks and repairing 22 blocks of existing sidewalks. City engineers also installed five new traffic signals along Alaskan Way to improve pedestrian access.
• Alternate means of travel. The Seattle Streetcar’s South Lake Union line completed a successful first year of operation by serving more than 507,000 riders. The City acquired 45,000 additional hours of bus service, to be phased in from 2008-2010, allowing increased service on 19 routes and, in some cases, extended hours of operation. For walkers and cyclists, phase I of the Cheshiahud Lake Union Loop Trail – a six-mile loop around Lake Union for pedestrians and cyclists – was officially opened. Phase I improvements included new signage, multiuse trails along Westlake Avenue, and a new pathway connecting the Burke Gilman trail to Peace Park and the University Bridge.
• Bicycling.
  The City moved forward on its Bicycle Master Plan and its goal of tripling bike usage in Seattle over 10 years. In support of this, three new trail segments were completed: the South Park Connector, Detroit Street Connector and the final piece of the Duwamish Trail. The City marked 36 lane miles of streets with bike lanes or shared-use road markings (“sharrows”) in 2008. In addition, the City installed approximately 10 miles of bike route signs, created green bike lanes at 16 locations, installed three new bike signals and 300 new bike racks. We also launched Bike Smart Seattle, a campaign of special bike-oriented events to encourage people to cycle more often.
• Infrastructure. The City began repairs on the historic King Street Station, which will serve as a multimodal transportation hub. Engineers finalized plans for major capital improvement projects, including widening the Spokane Street Viaduct and enhancing the Mercer Street Corridor. We also substantially completed landslide repair for Golden Gardens Drive Northwest.
• Bridge maintenance. Mechanical and electrical upgrades to the Fremont Bridge were completed in 2008, along with the restoration of its historic towers. We also concluded design and environmental work for the rehabilitation of the East Duwamish Waterway Bridge, with repair work starting in 2009.
• Pedestrian space development. We streamlined our permit process for sidewalk cafés. The new system consolidates all review within the Seattle Department of Transportation, reduces a multiple-month review process to 10 days and cuts the average permit’s cost by $1,700.
• Clean & green transportation investment. The City’s fleet now includes 681 advanced technology and alternative fuel vehicles. Thirty-one of these vehicles are all-electric drive and used at Seattle Center, in City parks, and for Seattle Public Utilities’ (SPU) meter reading and parking enforcement. In 2008, our fleet used 243,678 gallons of B20, a blend of 20 percent biodiesel and 80 percent ultra low sulfur diesel (ULSD). The City also used 635,413 gallons of B40 (40 percent biodiesel and 80 percent ULSD), which is now the primary biodiesel blend used in the City. B40/B20 combined for 84 percent of all diesel purchases in 2008.

  Keep Our Neighborhoods Safe

• Neighborhood Policing.
  Under the neighborhood policing plan unveiled in 2007, we added money for 21 new patrol officers in 2008. Patrol beats and sector boundaries have been revised to allow for more balanced, flexible and effective deployment of patrol officers to enhance their sense of responsibility for the neighborhoods they serve.
• Center City park security. In June we introduced Park Rangers to our Center City parks. They provided information about the parks, basic first aid and CPR, information about park regulations and laws – such as leash laws, and more. In 2008 they logged more than 1,400 positive contacts with park users.
• A safer Seattle. Seattle continues to be one of the safest cities of its size in the nation. Major crimes – including both violent crimes and property crimes – are down 4 percent compared to the same period in 2007.  
• Crimes. In partnership with the U.S. Marshals Service, police organized arrests of multiple fugitives; dismantled the largest drug trafficking organizations responsible for the annual distribution of 5,000 pounds of cocaine and methamphetamine in the Seattle area; seized more than $265,000 of illegal drugs, and 83 weapons; and identified 23 victims of human trafficking and referred them to appropriate agencies. We formed a multi-jurisdictional work group to address gang-related issues affecting Seattle and the region.

Photo by Michael Burns

• Fire facilities improvements. Seattle now has a new, fully operational Fire Station 10, Emergency Operations Center and Fire Alarm Center in south downtown. Ground was broken for the first neighborhood fire station projects in the Rainier Valley (Fire Station 28) and Northgate (Fire Station 31). Temporary fire stations were completed in Northgate and the University District.
• Emergency preparedness. The Seattle Neighborhoods Actively Prepare (SNAP) program, launched in 2006 to help Seattle residents and neighborhoods become better prepared for a major emergency, continued making neighborhood presentations. More than 6,700 residents received emergency preparedness information through more than 300 public education programs. Vital information on preparedness was translated into different languages and made available to communities with special needs.
• Electrical service reliability. In 2008, City Light crews cleared vegetation from about 240 miles of power lines.
• Storm drain adoption. Now in its second year, Seattle’s “Adopt-a-Drain” program continues to grow — with 200 volunteers helping to maintain storm drains in their neighborhoods around Seattle.

  Build Strong Families & Healthy Communities

• Work force housing opportunities.
  We expanded the Homes Within Reach tax incentive from 17 to 39 neighborhoods. Under this program, developers receive a tax exemption for the residential portion of their multifamily developments if they set aside 20 percent of the units for low- to moderate-wage workers. In the six months since the expansion, 719 new units were being built, many within communities that previously did not qualify for the program, such as Roosevelt. Of those units, 576 will be set aside for families earning about $50,000 a year, with the majority for households earning less than $40,000 a year. The City also provided affordable housing opportunities in Seattle through a citywide expansion of the Workforce Housing Incentive Program. Under this program, developers who receive height or density increases will set aside between 15 and 17.5 percent of the additional square footage for housing that is affordable to low- to moderate-wage workers.
• Ending homelessness and expanding the supply of affordable housing. In 2008, five new housing developments were completed and now provide new homes to 160 households, 51 of which are formerly homeless individuals and families with children. In 2008 we also awarded funding to help create and preserve 275 affordable housing units. Of those, 140 apartments will provide housing with on-site services for homeless individuals and families with children. We provided funding to repair significant water damage at an existing development in our portfolio that serves survivors of domestic violence and their children. By the end of 2008, approximately 280 Housing First units had been put into service.
• Building sustainable affordable housing. Seattle saw the completion of six sustainable affordable housing developments in 2008, with one achieving LEED Platinum certification. Since 2002, the SeaGreen Initiative has produced 42 sustainably built affordable housing projects.
• First home buyer program. We helped 82 families purchase their first homes through low-interest loans. Approximately 38 percent of these loans went to families of color. In Seattle there have been only two foreclosures out of the more than 450 first-time homebuyer loans made since 2003 through this program. The City requires participating homebuyers using the program to participate in financial counseling to ensure they use good loan products and don’t buy more than they can afford.
• Keeping families in their homes. Under our Foreclosure Prevention pilot program, in June 2008 the Urban League of Metropolitan Seattle and Solid Ground began making stabilization loans to families facing foreclosure or default. Since then, nine families have received stabilization loans and approximately 25 percent of the funds have been used. In addition, more than 100 other families have received financial counseling and other services through this program.
• Rehabilitating low-income homes. The HomeWise Home Rehabilitation Program assisted 36 low-income Seattle homeowners in substantially improving their homes.
• Domestic violence victims and shelter. Seattle launched the Day One program connecting callers – with one phone call – to a domestic violence shelter or transitional housing program with available beds/units. The new Web-based real-time housing inventory program is in use by 13 agencies in three counties.
• Limited-English-speaking domestic violence victims. The new “Peace in the Home” Helpline connects callers who speak little or no English – with one phone call – to one of seven local domestic violence agencies that offer services in the caller’s native language.
• People and services. The City’s PeoplePoint program helped 5,600 people access benefits, including food assistance, child care, preschool, energy/utility assistance and health insurance. The total value of these benefits is estimated at more than $8.2 million.
• Affordable financial services. The City launched “Bank on Seattle-King County” to help our area’s 52,000 households who don’t have bank accounts. Twenty-two banks and credit unions are offering free or low-cost checking and savings accounts and have removed barriers so that everyone can open an account
• Neighborhood clean up. “Clean and Green Seattle” has brought City workers and more than 14,000 volunteers together to clean up parks and streets. By the end of 2008, there had been 93 community clean-up events where volunteers collected more than 450,000 pounds of litter and debris, and recycled more than 19,000 pounds of recyclable materials.
• Immigrants & refugees. The City translated unsafe building notices into 13 languages; translated enforcement information and instructions for commenting on proposed development projects into six languages; and updated translations of landlord/tenant information in nine languages.
• Northgate. The City completed construction of the Thornton Creek Water Quality Channel, as well as schematic design of the Northgate Urban Center Park, which will convert an existing 3.73 acre park and ride facility to a new urban park.
• South Lake Union. Phase I of the 12-acre Lake Union Park – which included new bulkhead walls, a boardwalk, terraces, and landscaping – was completed and work began on Phase II. Phase II will complete the building out of the park, adding a new entrance and completing the edges along the major roadways.
• South Park. The Cesar Chavez Park was installed and opened in April, improvements were made to the South Park Transfer Station, new pavement and asphalt and new sidewalks were constructed along 14th Avenue South and the Mercado en Ruedas (Market on Wheels) program was given $15,000 to study and promote the viability of a South Park farmers market.
• Youth violence prevention. While Seattle’s overall crime rate has dropped to its lowest point since 1968, the number of juvenile violent crime incidents has remained constant at about 800 a year. A multimillion dollar initiative was launched to change how the city deals with youth violence and $8 million was secured to implement the initiative in 2009. It will focus on about 800 children a year who are at highest risk of perpetuating violence or becoming victims.
• At-risk students and college. The City’s Upward Bound program helps low-income students prepare for college. In 2008, all 10 Upward Bound seniors graduated from high school and all are now attending post-secondary institutions.
• Families & Education Levy. The Families and Education Levy’s annual report for the 2007-08 school year reported that: 358 preschool children entered kindergarten ready to succeed; 909 Seattle Public School students, who had failed the last time they were tested, met grade-level standards; and 5,612 students met immunization requirements. Most Levy programs met or exceeded second year goals. Because of limited academic achievement results from the Levy’s program for high-risk youth, a new program is under way for entering high school freshman who are at-risk of dropping out of school.
• Youth and work preparation.
  The Seattle Youth Employment Program provided work-readiness training, personal guidance, educational support, leadership development, and post-secondary education assistance to 223 youth from low-income families and diverse ethnic backgrounds. The program placed 58 of these youth in work-readiness internships. Of 75 youth eligible for graduation, 66 graduated, of whom 37 percent are enrolled in post-secondary education and 68 percent are employed. During the summer program, 492 youth participated in youth internships and group projects.
• Helping neighborhoods. The Neighborhood Matching Fund awarded more than $2.5 million to 208 community-based projects all over Seattle. Neighborhood groups have matched this with more than $2.7 million in donated goods, funds, and volunteer labor.
• Achievement gap and the arts. The City’s Arts Education Partnership Initiative with Seattle Public Schools promotes the development of arts education for all students. In 2008, the district matched the City’s $100,000 investment to continue building its districtwide team of arts specialists and leveraged the City’s investment to secure a state grant, as well as a $1 million grant from the federal Department of Education to fund training for arts educators. As a result of the partnership, the Seattle Public Schools superintendent has identified the next operations and maintenance levy in 2011 as a potential dedicated funding source for arts education.
• Seniors’ needs. In 2008 in Seattle and King County, the City provided services to approximately 10,500 older adults and adults with disabilities to help them remain in their own homes, and helped 450 older job seekers enter employment, at an average wage of $13.14 per hour.
• “Libraries for All” in every neighborhood. The reopening of the renovated Madrona-Sally Goldmark and Magnolia branches marked the end of a 10-year program to rebuild and renew Seattle’s public library system. The Libraries for All program produced the new Central Library and 26 new or renovated branches uniquely tailored to their communities. Nearly 50,000 residents took part in a citywide Library Passport project celebrating the success of the $290.7 million program. The passports featured pictures and information about every project. Residents were invited to explore each building to get their Library Passports stamped. Annual circulation of books and materials is up 94 percent; library visitation is up 158 percent; annual program attendance is up 62 percent and library card registration is up 53 percent.
• Seattle Aquarium expansion. In its first full year of operation after opening its expanded facility, the Aquarium experienced its highest attendance in its history with total attendance exceeding 820,000 visitors in 2008.
• Graffiti. We removed 75,761 illegal “tags” from City-owned property. On private property, SPU workers responded to more than 2,500 complaints. SPU also launched a Graffiti Education and Outreach Red Wagon Program, recruiting 445 volunteers who worked 2,445 hours and removed 13,929 square feet of graffiti.
• Drinking water safety. Seattle is replacing its open reservoirs with underground structures that will improve the quality and security of our water supply and provide 76 acres of new open space. Myrtle Reservoir in West Seattle has been replaced and went back in service in 2008.
• Anti-discrimination law enforcement. The Seattle Office for Civil Rights (SOCR) negotiated settlements totaling nearly $90,000 on behalf of people filing charges of illegal discrimination.
• Digital access. A total of $175,000 in Technology Matching Fund grants were awarded to 15 organizations to provide more than 1,565 residents with digital learning opportunities. These projects reached at-risk youth, immigrants and refugees, seniors and people with disabilities, providing employment and language training, promoting civic engagement, encouraging personal expression and storytelling through various multimedia channels, capturing oral histories, and enabling access to vital online services.

Seattle Climate Action Now

To date, more than 900 mayors have signed the U.S. Mayors Climate Protection Agreement, representing more than 81 million Americans in 50 states, the District of Columbia and Puerto Rico. The agreement is a pledge by mayors to meet or beat the Kyoto target of reducing greenhouse gas emissions by 7 percent below 1990 levels by 2012.

In 2007 the City launched Seattle Climate Action Now, a grassroots effort to encourage residents, businesses and neighborhood groups to take steps to reduce climate pollution at home, at work and on the road. The Web site, seattleCAN.org, serves as a clearinghouse of information and hosts a Seattle-specific carbon calculator and action planner. The Seattle Climate Partnership, a City-organized pledge among employers to reduce their own greenhouse gas emissions, continues to grow, with 115 partners joining by the end of 2008.

In 2008 City Light released a five-year plan to double the current level of electricity savings in the communities it serves. When all of the programs are in place, the conservation measures will save customers $310 million in energy costs, create 1,000 green jobs, and avoid about 1 million tons of carbon dioxide emissions. Here are Seattle Climate Action Now highlights for 2008:

• Reducing carbon emissions. City Light fully offset all its greenhouse gas emissions, making it the only electric utility in the nation to achieve carbon-neutral operations. The amount of City Light’s reduction in carbon emissions in 2008 was equal to removing 41,000 cars from our roads.
• Launching Seattle reLeaf. In 2008, we launched Seattle reLeaf, a program about the city’s urban forest. The new Web site provides an easy to use, one-stop resource for learning about trees and how to plant and care for them.
• Saving energy & cutting emissions. The Seattle HomeWise Weatherization Program committed $2.7 million to weatherize 877 Seattle low-income homes. The program also distributed 30,000 compact fluorescent light bulbs, saving 2.32 million kilowatt-hours of electricity – enough to power 232 typical Seattle households – and reducing the city’s carbon emissions by an estimated 1,393 metric tons for 2008 – equivalent to taking 255 cars off the road.
• Energy conservation. In 2008, Seattle City Light helped residents and businesses save 10.1 average megawatts – or 88,500 megawatt-hours – of electricity. It also avoided the production of about 52,800 metric tons of CO2 – equivalent to taking 9,670 passenger cars off the road for a year.
• Watershed climate action grants. In 2008, the City awarded $150,000 in grants to community volunteer groups to remove invasive plants and plant trees near urban waterways. The trees and plants filter pollution and slow down stormwater runoff.
• Climate Action Now Fund. The Climate Action Now Fund for small and simple projects awarded nearly $84,000 to eight neighborhood projects, including Southwest Community Harvest, Fuel Free Routes to School, West Duwamish Greenbelt Restoration, and Interbay Sustainability. The communities matched with more than $105,000 in donated goods, volunteer hours and services.
• Climate-change science. In 2008, SPU was the only North American utility asked to participate in a large international climate change research project, submitted to the European Union (EU) for funding.
• Low-flow showerheads. As part of Seattle’s Climate Action Plan, more than 8,000 water- and energy-efficient showerheads were distributed to regional households in 2008, saving 1.5 million kilowatt hours of electricity and 2.8 million pounds of greenhouses gases.
• Electric mowers rebate program. Some 145 Seattle residents recycled their gas-powered lawnmowers in 2008 as part of our Mower Rebate Program, saving approximately 11,600 pounds of carbon dioxide a year.
• Plug-in hybrid electric vehicles. The City is participating in the country’s largest plug-in hybrid electric vehicle program. Four of 13 cars in the Puget Sound region are being tested in Seattle’s fleet – City Light has three and and the general City fleet has one. The other partners are King County, the Port of Seattle and the Puget Sound Clean Air Agency. The project is testing technology used to convert existing Priuses to 100-miles-per-gallon vehicles.
• Greening Seattle. More than 2,000 trees were planted by City departments and more than 425 by residents through the Department of Neighborhoods Tree Fund. In addition, more than 115 new acres of forested parkland were restored through the Green Seattle Partnership with the support of 70,000 volunteer hours. As part of this restoration work, more than 17,000 trees were planted.
• Climate Action Now. Seattle Climate Action Now has more than 5,000 residents signed on, 60 community organization partners and 115 business partners. The program distributed 10,000 home energy efficiency kits to Seattle residents, more than 35,000 reusable bags, and, in partnership with Seattle City Light’s “Twist & Save” program, distributed more than 1 million compact fluorescent light bulbs. To encourage residents to “give their car the summer off,” we provided opportunities and incentives for biking, walking, taking transit, and carpooling.