HR Articles

Jobs in Seattle Created by Retrofit Projects

A focus on going green is creating hundreds of jobs in Seattle.

The City of Seattle has made a $5 million down payment on its commitment to invest $40 million in energy efficiency retrofit projects in large commercial, hospital, and municipal buildings. That investment, which is part of the Seattle Jobs Plan, is expected to create and save a total of 400 jobs.

"The investments we're announcing today are part of the Seattle Jobs Plan - to get Seattle working again," Mayor Mike McGinn said. "I have made job creation a core priority - we are doing all we can to expand quality employment opportunities. The Seattle Jobs Plan calls for rapidly increasing building retrofits."

That $5 million down payment will be used as follows:

• Harborview Medical Center will receive $2.25 million to replace ventilation fans throughout the hospital.
• The city will invest $1.4 million to replace a boiler at the Charles Street Maintenance Facility.
• Group Health Cooperative, Harborview Medical Center, Swedish Medical Center, and Virginia Mason Hospital & Medical Center will receive a total of $300,000 in grants to create baseline energy studies and $1 million in carbon reduction incentives.

The Seattle Jobs Plan is aimed at making critical investments in workforce development and training for local residents, entrepreneurial activity, key sectors of the economy, and new infrastructure.

As part of the plan, Community Power Works has partnered with Emerald Cities Seattle to develop agreements between labor, contractors, training providers, and community groups to make sure the new jobs created by the plan meet quality and social standards.

Seattle Jobs Impacted by NOAA Decision

Several local officials are doing their part to save some Seattle jobs. Visit http://seattle.jobing.com to learn more.

After residing in Seattle for 50 years, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration announced that it would move the organization's homeport to Newport, Oreg. However, a report from the Department of Commerce Inspector General found the group violated its own rules by not considering existing federal facilities.

A slew of elected officials and community leaders are now using that report to try to keep the NOAA in Seattle. Mayor Mike McGinn, Congressman Jim McDermott, and City Councilmember Jean Godden are among those who signed a join letter to convince U.S. Commerce Secretary Gary Locke to intervene.

"We urge Secretary of Commerce Locke to take a look again at NOAA's process and consider existing federal facilities for the Marine Operations Center-Pacific homeport," McGinn said. "We believe this action will save taxpayers millions of dollars. I thank Senator Cantwell and Congressman McDermott for their leadership in holding the federal government accountable for this deeply flawed process."

If the marine center were to remain in Seattle, it would preserve about 1,450 well-paid direct and indirect jobs and create $180 million of economic activity in the area.

In August 2009, NOAA announced that it would move from Seattle and award a 20-year lease to Newport. That decision was appealed to the Government Accountability Office and sustained, because NOAA violated its own solicitation rules by proposing a facility in a floodplain.

Earlier this year, Seattle officials proposed that the Department of Commerce and NOAA consider the Western Regional Center at Sand Point and Federal Center South among the organization's potential sites.