Last Friday, July 14th, we joined Inta Vintage in Sumner to celebrate the grand re-opening of all three floors of their retail store! This local business is the place to look for all your vintage goods, from furniture to clothing to music! We were honored to help this Chamber member celebrate this important business milestone with a ribbon-cutting. Thank you to everyone who joined us at this exciting community event!
View a photo recap below!
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This past Thursday, July 13th, we held our monthly Chamber After Hours at El Gaucho in Downtown Tacoma. This was an engaging night of networking full of familiar faces, delicious food, and new connections! Thank you to El Gaucho for hosting our Chamber and providing such great food, drinks, and giveaway prizes!
View photos from the event below! On Thursday, July 6th, our Chamber joined with community partners to celebrate the groundbreaking of a new major road for East Pierce County. The New Rhodes Lake Road East will connect Orting, Puyallup, and Sumner to Bonney Lake and Buckley by providing an arterial connection between the Bonney Lake Plateau and the Orting Valley. This project will result in new critical infrastructure for the transportation of Pierce County residents, materials, and services, as well as opening up new opportunities for recreation. This in turn will lay the foundation for increased economic growth in East Pierce County.
Tacoma-Pierce County Chamber President/CEO Andrea Reay attended the groundbreaking ceremony in the Tehaleh community near Bonney Lake alongside community leaders from Pierce County, Brookfield Properties, and other partners. Elected officials in attendance included Pierce County Executive Bruce Dammeier and Pierce County Council members Dave Morrell and Paul Herrera. Pierce County Executive Bruce Dammeier stated at the event “New Rhodes Lake Road East will be a significant transportation improvement for East Pierce County. The corridor provides infrastructure needed to improve quality of life, create business opportunities and enhance community safety.” "New Rhodes Lake Road is the last critical piece of infrastructure needed to efficiently move goods, services and employees between East Pierce County, the Port of Tacoma and the I-5 corridor,” said Dave Morrell, Pierce County Councilmember for District 1. According to Scott Jones, senior vice president at Brookfield Properties, the construction of this new road is already generating interest from businesses looking to relocate near Telahleh. The plan for this $150 million project was established in 2008 by Pierce County Ordinance 2008-28s and the funding for the new road’s construction comes from Tehaleh traffic mitigation funds. The road is anticipated to be completed and open for traffic by the spring of 2027. View photos from the groundbreaking event below! The Tacoma-Pierce County Chamber and Pierce County Economic Development recently celebrated the graduation of Cohorts 12 and 13 of the Pierce County Business Accelerator! Over the past 6 weeks, these cohorts of local entrepreneurs and business owners have been hard at work engaging in trainings, coaching, technical support, and networking to accelerate their businesses. Our Chamber is honored to have played a role in the Pierce County Business Accelerator from the beginning as the program administrator, in partnership with Pierce County. The Pierce County Business Accelerator serves entrepreneurs and business owners throughout Pierce County with a focus on BIPOC, veteran, and women-owned businesses to help foster innovation and create wealth-building opportunities. Congratulations to these amazing groups of graduates! View photos from the Cohort 12 & 13 graduations below, and learn more about the Pierce County Business Accelerator at www.pcba.biz! Cohort 12 Cohort 13
When you joined your Tacoma-Pierce County Chamber of Commerce, it was likely for a reason. Whether you were looking to make new connections in the local business sector, access knowledge and resources to take your business to the next level, or take part in a greater cause in your community, there was something at the Chamber that you couldn't find anywhere else. Our Tacoma-Pierce County Chamber strives to remain relevant, engaging, and unique for our community of over 1,400 businesses and organizations. We recognize that no two businesses are exactly alike, and each has its own specific challenges, needs, and pathways to success. We hope that every business can find something to value in our Chamber's host of offerings centered on advocacy, leadership, and relationships. We recently surveyed a sample of representatives in our Chamber community to hear from you, our members, about how the Chamber matters to your business. We believe the results capture an accurate snapshot of our membership's current views and values. Our members want to connect Connecting with the business community was the number one reason survey respondents said they belong to the Chamber. We're not surprised by this! Following years of working from home and virtual events, the Tacoma-Pierce County business community has shown an impressive eagerness to get back to in-person networking. Because of this, we are focused on making our networking events the biggest and best they've ever been. Since our monthly Chamber After Hours returned in April 2022, we have seen an attendance of 100 or more members of our business community at every event. This month, Happy Hour Business Expo— our biggest annual networking event— broke attendance records with over 470 guests and more member businesses on display than ever before. South Sound Business Round Table, a bi-monthly networking and problem-solving session open to all members, is also seeing some of its highest attendance yet with new faces joining every week. Our quarterly Military Affairs Forum remains a popular way for businesses and organizations to connect to the largest employer in Pierce County: JointBase Lewis-McChord. Additionally, signature events throughout the year like Public Officials Holiday Reception and Horizons Economic Forecast convene business leaders across the South Sound. Our members want to stand out The second most popular reason people join our Chamber is to gain exposure and leads for their businesses. There are thousands of businesses in Pierce County, and making yours stand out among the rest can be a daunting challenge. Luckily, the Tacoma-Pierce County Chamber has numerous ways to put your business front and center for your customers. In 2022, we launched two new programs focused on highlighting and celebrating our member businesses. Our Chamber podcast, Making It in the South Sound, gives businesses the opportunity to share their experiences, expertise, and business journeys in their own voice. Additionally, our Member Stories series on our Chamber blog puts the spotlight on an amazing member business in every new post. We are always happy to celebrate a business milestone with you by hosting a ribbon-cutting event, which comes with both in-person and digital exposure! We also recently re-imagined our paid advertising opportunities with the Chamber with a whole new media kit that members can use to market directly to other businesses in our Chamber community. Our members want to make a difference
At the Tacoma-Pierce County Chamber, we don't just want to see your business succeed— we want to see all of Pierce County succeed. Our vision is to make Pierce County the most equitable, inclusive, and thriving place to do business in Washington State. It appears that our members feel the same way, as wanting to make a difference was the third main reason surveyed members said they joined our Chamber. There is no shortage of ways to engage in advocacy with our Chamber. Members have the opportunity every year to get involved in person through our Legislative Advocacy Day at the Washington State Capitol. For even more of an adventure, members can join us on our annual Washington-to-Washington, D.C. Conference to meet with federal legislators and policy-makers. Members comprise our Government Affairs Committee which meets on a regular basis to discuss the Chamber's legislative agenda and guide our actions in supporting business-friendly policies for the South Sound. Our Chamber also leads the Regional Access Mobility Partnership (RAMP), which prioritizes an effective, efficient transportation system to sustain our economy, and the Manufacturing Industrial Council for the South Sound (MIC), which works to promote and enhance a positive business climate for manufacturing and related industries. Whatever matters most to your business, the Tacoma-Pierce County Chamber is here to help. Thank you for your continuous engagement, feedback, and support. We look forward to continuing to improve our programs and develop new ideas to best support the needs of the South Sound business community. Last Wednesday, June 14th, the Tacoma-Pierce County Chamber hosted a town hall event in partnership with the Association of Washington Business and Washington Roundtable. This town hall was part of Washington In the Making 2040, an initiative to create a compelling vision for the future of our state’s economy.
Around 50 participants from various sectors of our Pierce County economy attended this interactive conversation, including small businesses, large businesses, elected officials, employers, and employees. Tacoma-Pierce County Chamber CEO/President Andrea Reay kicked off the event. Attendees participated in discussions centered on views of the economy, organizational and community needs, current and future trends, and critical issues at play. The goal of these conversations was to engage businesses and residents from the South Sound in the development of a shared vision of what the future of Washington's economy should look like. If you would like to help shape the future of our State's economy and be part of this initiative, you can take the Washington in the Making 2040 survey here. Whether you missed the event or simply have more you would like to share, make your voice heard! Last Thursday, June 15th, we hosted our annual Happy Hour Business Expo! It was an amazing evening! This year's expo had many new exciting features in store for guests including a Professional Prep Zone featuring services to get you business-ready, more exhibitors than ever, and an extra hour of time to enjoy the event! This was our highest-attended Happy Hour Business Expo ever, with over 500 guests in attendance!
Thank you to all the exhibitors, sponsors, caterers, and guests who made this unforgettable event happen! View photos from the Expo below. The Tacoma-Pierce County Chamber and Pierce County Economic Development recently celebrated the graduation of Cohorts 10 and 11 of the Pierce County Business Accelerator! Over the past 6 weeks, these cohorts of local entrepreneurs and business owners have been hard at work engaging in trainings, coaching, technical support, and networking to accelerate their businesses. Our Chamber is honored to have played a role in the Pierce County Business Accelerator from the beginning as the program administrator, in partnership with Pierce County. The Pierce County Business Accelerator serves entrepreneurs and business owners throughout Pierce County with a focus on BIPOC, veteran, and women-owned businesses to help foster innovation and create wealth-building opportunities. Congratulations to these amazing groups of graduates! View photos from the Cohort 10 & 11 graduations below, and learn more about the Pierce County Business Accelerator at www.pcba.biz! Cohort 10 Cohort 11
Last Thursday, June 1st, we joined Go Philly Cheesesteaks & Wings to celebrate their grand opening with a ribbon-cutting. This business, which previously had a Tacoma location, is excited for its return to the City of Destiny — as are its many fans. Learn more in this article from the Tacoma News Tribune and view photos below!
Celebrating Carlile Transportation's New Water Treatment System at Tacoma Freight Terminal5/30/2023 Last Wednesday, May 24th, our Chamber joined Carlile Transportation at its Tacoma freight terminal for a ribbon-cutting to celebrate its new stormwater-treatment system. This state-of-the-art system is an eco-friendly advancement for Carlile and the Tacoma Tideflats area.
"We are committed to being good neighbors by doing our part to protect the environment by keeping surrounding communities safe and healthy,” says Carlile VP of Freight Operations John Armstrong. The new system will filter and clean runoff water on its way back to our local waterways. Thank you to our Chamber Ambassadors and business community for showing your support at this exciting event. And thank you to Carlile for its investment in the environmental health of our region! This past Saturday, May 20th, we helped the Coffee Oasis celebrate the grand opening of their new Tacoma café and youth center with a ribbon-cutting! Thank you to everyone who came out and supported this exciting member milestone!
Last Thursday evening, May 18th, the Tacoma Pierce County Association of Realtors hosted our monthly Chamber After Hours at the beautiful Merrill Gardens rooftop deck at Wright Park. The weather was perfect, the views were stunning, and the networking was lively! Nearly 200 members of our business community showed up to network and enjoy the sunshine, as well as delicious refreshments. Thank you to TPCAR for hosting this month's After Hours and to everyone who showed up and made this event so special!
View photos from the event below! Every week is different here at the Tacoma-Pierce County Chamber, especially for our CEO/President Andrea Reay! These three highlights from the past week are just a snapshot of the busy schedule of a Chamber CEO. Learn more below about the wide variety of ways our leadership works every day to support the business community.
Last Tuesday, Andrea led a panel of businesses before the Tacoma City Council’s Economic Development Committee. In talking with representatives from Umpqua Bank, WestRock, and Simon Properties, it became clear that issues around public safety continue to rise to the surface as a top priority for businesses. Despite these concerns, businesses said customer service and support from the City have been positive. View footage from the panel here starting at the 30:45 time stamp. Later in the week, Andrea joined the Chamber’s Government Affairs Committee in interviewing two incumbent Tacoma City Councilmembers running for re-election this fall – John Hines in District 1 (North & West Tacoma) and Kristina Walker in Position 8, an at-large position representing the entire City. The committee spent nearly an hour between the two interviews discussing safety, housing, transportation, taxes, and economic development. Register to attend the next Government Affairs Committee meeting here. Finally, Andrea met with Dr. Christina Theodoraki, a professor of entrepreneurship at TBS Education in France, who is leading a multi-year study of the entrepreneurship ecosystem in Tacoma & Pierce County to help us determine how we can best support entrepreneurs. One of the biggest opportunities is strengthening the connectivity between businesses and economic development agencies so that all businesses feel continually supported throughout their lifecycle. Learn more about Dr. Theodoraki's work here. Last Thursday, May 4th, over 300 members of our business community gathered to participate in our first-ever Pierce County Outlook luncheon and expo. This event brought together local leaders from all parts of our region's business ecosystem— from our county executive to local entrepreneurs— to discuss and engage with some of the most pressing issues Pierce County businesses face.
The morning kicked off with Pierce County Executive Bruce Dammeier giving his expert insights into where Pierce County is headed in the near future. He covered topics including construction, interest rates, and investment in our region. His personal outlook was one of optimism and opportunity for Pierce County. Local journalist Angela Poe Russell delivered the keynote address which was sure to inspire everyone in the room with a reminder of what makes the South Sound so incredible. Aaron Deer, chief financial officer for Columbia Bank, discussed the future of banking in the South Sound and helped put national banking issues and trends in perspective at a local level. Two panel discussions rounded out the afternoon and touched on topics at the top of the mind of many business leaders in our region. The Future of the South Sound panel covered issues that everyone who lives, works, and does business in Pierce County cares about. This included housing and homelessness, workforce development, economic development, and public safety. The South Sound Business Issues panel featured local business owners and entrepreneurs sharing their challenges, solutions, and lessons learned regarding many prevalent issues including cybersecurity, small business, eCommerce, marketing, and coworking. Attendees also had the chance to network and explore expo tables from businesses in our community. Thank you to everyone who attended, participated in, and helped sponsor this amazing event. Please share your feedback and suggestions for future Pierce County Outlook events through this attendee survey! This past month, our Chamber traveled with a delegation of local business leaders, elected officials, industry executives, and change-makers to our nation's capital of Washington, D.C. for our annual Washington-to-Washington Leadership Conference. Over 40 members of our South Sound community representing business, nonprofit, and government sectors traveled with us to take part in this opportunity. Our delegation met with elected officials and policy leaders, participated in panels on topics important to our region, and represented the unique interests of the South Sound. Panels covered topics including military and defense, banking, energy, ports, transportation, health care, and more.
View photos from the trip below! This past week was a busy one for our Chamber, especially our President/CEO Andrea Reay! It is our vision to make the South Sound the most equitable, inclusive, and thriving place to do business in Washington State, and that requires attending many events and meetings, traveling all over our region, and meeting with countless stakeholders and community members. Andrea kicked off the week by attending a welcome reception for a delegation from the Alaska Chamber of Commerce on their Pacific Northwest Outreach Trip. Our Chamber board was also in attendance for this welcome event held at the Museum of Glass in Tacoma. Our Chamber Executive Vice President David Schroedel later gave a tour of the Downtown Tacoma business district to the Alaskan delegation. The purpose of this trip was to strengthen relationships with organizations, individuals, and businesses that are closely linked to Alaska through our shared economies and trade. Then, on Thursday, April 27th, Andrea —alongside the City of Tacoma— met with international business representatives from 30 companies and 9 different countries. These guests were part of an international investment group taking part in SelectUSA, an economic development program hosted by Greater Seattle Partners. Nations represented included France, Canada, Korea, India, Taiwan, Poland, Japan, Ireland, and Spain. While in town, the group of senior-level executives toured the South Sound and heard from panels of local business leaders and entrepreneurs sharing why they chose Tacoma for their own business journeys. Last but far from least, our Chamber staff, including Andrea Reay, have been excited to begin work again administering the Pierce County Business Accelerator.
The Pierce County Business Accelerator (PCBA) is a program of Pierce County administered by the Tacoma-Pierce County Chamber that serves entrepreneurs and business owners throughout Pierce County with a focus on underserved communities to help foster innovation and create wealth-building opportunities. This past week, we kicked off Cohort 10 and 11 of PCBA. Cohort 10 is a Spanish-speaking cohort that will attend classes at Mi Centro in Tacoma. Cohort 11's classes will take place at the Chamber offices in Downtown Tacoma. Last Friday, April 28th, we held a ribbon-cutting for Glow Tea to celebrate the GRAND OPENING of their newest location at the Tacoma Mall! This is their third store location, and the first in Tacoma. The line was out the door to get a taste of this delicious new bubble tea shop! We enjoyed drinks, talking with the amazing owners and staff, and even got to meet their plushie mascot, Glowie! Thank you to Glow Tea for having us be part of your special day!
View photos from the grand opening event below. Last Thursday evening, April 20th, we hosted our monthly Chamber After Hours at Wane + Flitch in Tacoma! It was an exciting night of networking and our business community was given an inside look at how Wane + Flitch creates their beautiful custom live edge wood furniture pieces. Thank you to everyone who came out and made this such a fun night! We hope to see you at the next After Hours!
Where can you go to mail a package, find great happy hour deals, get a tattoo, rent office space, and experience a live DJ performance inside an old courtroom? In Tacoma, you can do all those things and more in just one building.
Court House Square is a hub of Downtown Tacoma, bringing people together for working, shopping, dining, and community events. But before it was this, it was built as Tacoma’s first federal building in 1910. In the time since, it has served many important functions to the citizens of Tacoma, most notably as a federal courthouse and post office.
Listen to Court House Square Director Jessica Johnston share her business journey and vision for the
historic space on the latest episode of Making It in the South Sound.
In 1990, the federal courts moved from the building to Union Station. For nearly 35 years, the top three floors of the building were completely sealed and unused. Throughout this transitory period, the post office remained active and open. In fact, this post office location has been connecting the Tacoma community to the rest of the world through the mail for the past 113 years. This may be why, to this day, many residents refer to the building as “The Old Post Office.” But these days, there is so much more than a post office that one can find in the historic structure now known as Court House Square.
The building was purchased by its current owners in 2012 with the idea to bring it back to life and make it once again a hub for the community. Since 2019, Jessica Johnston has served as the director for Court House Square and is leading the effort to bring this historic building back to life. Johnston’s relationship with Court House Square began as a tenant renting space for her bookkeeping and marketing business. Her background includes a mixture of property development, architecture, interior design, and restaurant and event management. Like many in the area, she visited the building to mail a letter and was surprised to see all the space had to offer in addition to being a post office location. When her predecessor left, she put her hat in the ring for the job of director and has been managing the day-to-day operations of Court House Square ever since.
Today, the 78,000-square-foot space boasts a wide variety of around 60 tenants. These include two restaurants, a coffee shop, three event centers, a coworking space, and, of course, the post office. Additional businesses and services include tattoo studios, therapy offices, accounting practices, writers, and branding consultants. On top of all this, Court House Square is frequently booked for both private and public events like weddings, graduations, birthday parties, and community markets.
One such event, created and led by Jessica Johnston, is “Businesswomen of Tacoma Table Talk,” a community event featuring female business leaders in Tacoma. These events are free and open to the public to gather, celebrate, and discuss women in business in Tacoma. Since the first of these table talks kicked off featuring Tacoma-Pierce County Chamber President/CEO Andrea Reay last summer, they have been a frequent and popular event for Court House Square.
Looking toward the future, Johnston says she is most excited to host more in-person events and gatherings in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic. She states that her favorite part of her job is seeing her tenants’ businesses thrive under the roof of Court House Square. All of this, she shares, is working towards the goal of making Court House Square once again a lively community space. “It’s very interesting how it was built to be a hub for the community for different reasons, but now we’re revitalizing it, reusing it in a different way, and repurposing it so we all can still come in and enjoy it. I think it’s a lasting landmark that we’ll always have,” says Johnston.
This Member Feature story is part of a series by the Tacoma-Pierce County Chamber to promote stronger connections and increased engagement between the Chamber, its members, and the local business community. Member stories are non-promotional opportunities to share members' business stories with the community. If you are a Chamber member interested in being featured for a story, please contact Digital Marketing Manager Audrey Widner at audreyw@tacomachamber.org
Washington State Legislative Session Update
The legislative session is now down to the final few weeks; lawmakers are turning their attention to the state budget, and we are watching closely. Neither proposal (House or Senate) includes a major tax increase, and both would slow the rate of budget growth. Middle Housing E2SHB 1110 was approved by the Senate Ways & Means Committee last week on a tight 13 to 11 vote. The amendment as passed by the committee would require cities with a population of at least 25,000 but less than 75,000 to allow the development of at least two units per lot on all lots zoned for single-family residential use. The previous version of the bill was 4 units per single-family lot for those cities. Most of these cities already allow 2 units per lot and the bill allows an accessory dwelling unit (ADU) to meet the requirement. The new bill also requires the development of at least 4 units per lot on all lots single-family zoned residential lots within one-quarter mile walking distance of a major transit stop; and the development of at least 4 units per lot on all single-family lots if at least one unit is affordable housing. HB 1110 is now on the Senate floor calendar awaiting to be put to a full vote of the Senate; the bill must advance out of the Senate by Wednesday. Middle housing is a priority for legislative Democrats and Governor Inslee so passage seems likely but has not been as easy as many had anticipated given the diverse impact on many cities. AWC participated in a press conference last week lending its support. Blake E2SSB 5536, concerning the State Supreme Court’s Blake decision and the possession of counterfeit drugs and controlled substances was approved by the House Appropriations Committee on a straight party-line vote. The House versions (both the Community Safety and Appropriations Committee striking amendments) of the bill classify the offense of possession of a controlled substance and possession of a counterfeit substance as misdemeanors, rather than gross misdemeanors as the bill that passed the Senate did. The House Appropriations Committee approved a new version of the bill that encourages prosecutors to divert applicable drug offenses for assessment, treatment, or other services through a recovery navigator program (RNP). E2SSB 5536 has been referred to the House Rules Committee and we understand a new version is being worked on. It is expected the House will consider this next version when it’s put to a full vote on the House so as to address the diversion issues. A main difference between where the Senate and where the House bill is heading is possession being a gross misdemeanor or misdemeanor. Police Vehicular Pursuits ESB 5352, permitting peace officers to engage in a vehicular pursuit only when there is reasonable suspicion to believe that a person in the vehicle has committed certain violent crimes received no action last week. The current law is “probable cause” for a lesser number of crimes. ESB 5352 remains in the House Rules Committee since March 29. One issue that seemingly has the bill high-centered is whether to include police pursuits for property crimes and, within that especially, auto theft. However, there seems to be enough opposition in the D caucus to this approach to make it tenuous for the Speaker to bring it to the floor for a full vote. Update: The proposed measure passed the House chamber with a 57-40 vote in the early morning hours Tuesday, April 11th. The bill will now return to the Senate. Last Friday morning, March 31st, we held our quarterly West Side Wakeup event at Boathouse 19 in Tacoma. Over 40 members of our West Side business community joined us at this breakfast event for lively networking and local updates. Speakers included Tacoma-Pierce County Chamber CEO/President Andrea Reay, Boathouse 19 general manager John Little, Tacoma-Pierce County Chamber West Side board member Misty Harris, American Cancer Society Sr. Development Manager Julia Auve, and City of University Place Business Outreach Liaison Becky Metcalf.
Thank you to everyone who woke up bright and early to join us for this event! It was a pleasure to convene and connect with the business leaders and neighbors who make our West Side so amazing. Join us for the next West Side Wakeup on May 26th, 2023, from 8:30-9:30am. Washington State Legislative Session
The legislative session is nearing the three-quarters mark and budget-writing is in full swing. We continue to watch budget proposals as they come out. The revenue forecast was released last Monday and will guide spending over the next two years. Revenues remain healthy but are forecast to decrease, which is why we’ll continue advocating for the state to build up its reserves.
Pierce County
City of Tacoma
Thank you, Andrea Reay President & CEO Tacoma-Pierce County Chamber Last Thursday, March 23rd, we attended an open house hosted by The Village Senior Living in Tacoma and helped them celebrate their Grand Reopening with a ribbon cutting! Everyone who attended was treated to live jazz music, and art demonstration, incredible food and beverages prepared by The Village's culinary team, and tours of the recently-remodeled facility. It was an honor to be a part of this incredible event!
View photos from the event below. Tacoma-Pierce County Chamber CEO and President Andrea Reay visited Olympia this past Friday to testify in support of Washington’s 2023 Middle Housing Bill (E2SHB 1110). This bill, if successful, will open the door for more housing options for hundreds of thousands of families in Washington State, including right here in the South Sound. The bill seeks to “increase middle housing in areas traditionally dedicated to single-family housing.” This would set the stage for more affordable, dynamic housing options that are much needed in our region.
In her testimony before the Senate on Friday, Andrea Reay stated “Housing is a cornerstone for building an equitable economic ecosystem and the lack of housing makes it harder to attract and retain talent as we are still very much in a workforce shortage. We all know that production has not kept up with demand and we need creative solutions to this complex problem now to ensure we are able to continue to build generational wealth in and for the South Sound and the state.” A representative from the Washington Department of Commerce also gave testimony in support of the bill. The legislation is also supported by the Association of Washington Business, the statewide chamber of commerce for Washington. The Washington Department of Commerce recently released its housing needs projections showing that Washington will need to add over a million new homes over the next 20 years to meet population demand. This is a critical issue at play for our business community. “37% of Washington State Employers report the lack of housing as a top priority,” Reay shared in her testimony, “Our state has the fewest number of housing units per household of any state in the county. Over the last 30 years, our population has grown by 60% but the number of housing units has increased by only 33%. We know we will need between 20,000 and 71,000 new housing units per year over the next 30 years to keep up with growth.” The bill accounts for various factors such as the population size of cities, proximity to public transit, and unit affordability in determining what types of middle housing developments should be allowed in different areas throughout the state. You can learn the specific details and view the most recent version of the bill here. From our CEO on behalf of the Tacoma-Pierce County Chamber, “The coalition of supporters is broad, the legislation is a step in the right direction, the time is now, and I strongly urge your support.” Our March Chamber After Hours was a blast! Thank you to Dancing Goats Coffee in Tacoma for hosting this fun event. Our members enjoyed a great night of networking and enjoying delicious food and beverages. Every Chamber After Hours is special, and this one was no different. We hope to see you at an upcoming event!
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TACOMA-PIERCE COUNTY CHAMBER
950 Pacific Ave. Suite 300
Tacoma, Washington 98402 Phone: (253) 627-2175 Fax: (253) 597-7305 info@tacomachamber.org |
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