Ambassador Committee
Tuesday, June 13
8:30 am at the Chamber office

Highway 99 Action Committee
Tuesday, June 13
7:00pm at the Tukwila Community Center, Tukwila
12424 42nd Avenue South

Join us for a no-host dinner at China Pavilion
14855 Pacific Highway South at 5:30 pm.

If you would like to attend either of these events,
please click here to RSVP.

Since our very first day, we have communicated with those around us. As babies we fussed when we were hungry, we smiled when we wanted to be noticed. As we grew, we learned to finesse our communication talents to achieve what we wanted - maybe an ice cream cone - a date with a favorite someone - a new job - a promotion. Through our communication, we have succeeded in our careers and have added a network to help us gain even greater heights.

As a Chamber member, I hope you have had a chance to get to know other Chamber members by attending meetings, visiting the Chamber web site or reading through the various directories, newsletters and maps the Chamber publishes. The Chamber is an excellent communication tool for you to use in expanding your business horizons. Those who attend Chamber functions can personally get to know other business people with business success and networking in mind. For those unable to attend meetings, you can rely on the Chamber to communicate for you. Your business information can be found in our annual directory and on our website. If you choose, you can also have a link from our website to yours. Other ways the Chamber will communicate for you include:

• Putting your brochure in our rack at the Chamber office and in relocation packets when applicable. No additional cost to you.
• Including your promotional items in our Operation Thank You bags to new and renewing members. No additional cost to you.
• Featuring your business in our Member Spotlight section of the Business Advocate. No additional cost to you.
• Displaying the Chamber membership decal at your place of business. No additional cost to you. Being an advertiser in one of the Chamber’s publications or events. There are many venues that may interest you. Venues include sponsorship of a Membership Luncheon, Networking Breakfast, A·C·E Awards, Golf Tournament, Business Directory, Map. Hundreds of people attend our functions and read our materials every year, and a sponsorship will put your logo in front of business people you want to reach. Cost varies per advertising opportunity.

I guess what I’m saying is don’t forget what an excellent communicator the Chamber is for you. Your membership works 24/7 to promote business health and vitality in Southwest King County.

Paul Barden
Chairman

The Chamber’s July Membership Luncheon promises to be full of networking, fun and food that will make your mouth water. You’ll definitely want to join us as we head over to the Outback Steakhouse for a taste of Australia.

The Outback is famous for its fresh food made from scratch daily such as their Bloomin’ Onion and delicious steaks, and for its friendly service. If you missed this luncheon last year, you won’t want to make that same mistake twice!

There is not a formal program set for the luncheon, but we may surprise you with a few laughs - you just have to wait and see what’s in store! Celebrate the summer with your Chamber friends at the Outback, mate, located at 16510 Southcenter Parkway, on Friday, July 14, from 11:30 am to 1:30 pm.

The cost is $25 at the door or $20 if you pre-pay before 5:00 pm on July 13.

Call the Chamber office to make reservations 206.575.1633.

On Thursday, June 29, SeaTac Police Chief Gregory Dymerski and SeaTac Crime Prevention Officer Doug Reynolds will present a Crime Prevention Workshop from 7:30-9:30 am at SeaTac City Hall, 4800 South 188th Street, SeaTac.

Members of the SeaTac business community are encouraged to attend the workshop to find out ways to protect the work location against burglaries and crime. A continental breakfast will be served.

This program is sponsored by and presented in conjunction with the SeaTac Business Outreach Program. There is no cost to attend. Register here.

Friday, August 4
Get-Away Golf Tournament, Glen Acres Golf and Country Club, 12:30 pm shotgun start with reception and silent auction following at 5:00 pm. Cost: $100/golfer, $25/person reception only. (Register here)

Wednesday, August 16
The Boeing Company: Up Close and Personal A Special Business After Hours Event from 5:00–7:00pm at the Spirit of Washington Events Center, 233 Burnett Avenue South, Renton, WA 98055 Cost: $5 pre-paid, $7 at the door, $10 non-Chamber member. Click here to register.

Tuesday, September 26
The South County Economic Engine 2006 luncheon at Emerald Downs. 11:30 am-1:30 pm. More information will follow when available.

Thursday, November 2
A•C•E Awards Celebration has a new date and time. The celebration will be held on Thursday, November 2, from 4:00-5:30 pm at the Hilton Seattle Airport & Conference Center. The celebration will include the presentation of A•C•E Awards, business recognition, hors d’oeuvres and a no-host beverage station. More information will follow when available.

It’s that time again to dust off your clubs and head out to Glen Acres Golf and Country Club for a fun day of Chamber golf. The 2006 Get-Away Golf Tournament is on Friday, August 4. The Shotgun start is at 12:30 pm. Start practicing your swing!

2006 Get-Away sponsorship opportunities are still available. Please click here to see what is available.

If a relaxing day of golf is not enough, gather in the dining room at Glen Acres for an hors d’oeuvres reception and silent auction.

There will be plenty of opportunity to buy great auction items. Silent Auction donations are still welcome. If you have an item to contribute, please contact the Chamber staff at 206.575.1633 or click here.

Non-golfing Chamber members are welcome to attend the reception and silent auction beginning at 5:00 pm. Cost is $25.

To sign up for the tournament, reception or to inquire about sponsorship, please click here or call 206.575.1633.

At its May meeting, the Board of Directors approved the A•C•E Awards Committee’s request to move the event to an afternoon affair. The award celebration will be held Thursday, November 2 from 4:00-5:30 pm at the Seattle Hilton Airport & Conference Center. There will be an hors d’oeuvre and no-host beverage reception.

This is the time to nominate a Chamber member for one of the awards. Award categories are: Large Employer Business Excellence, Small Employer Business Excellence, Non-Profit/Humanitarian Service, Beautification, People’s Choice Award. Click here for the nomination form.

Sponsorships for this annual celebration are still available. Click here to select the sponsorship option just right for your company.

Strategically situated at the junction of I-5 and I-405, Westfield Southcenter is the most convenient and accessible shopping center in the Puget Sound region. By offering thoughtful amenities like preferred parking for expectant mothers, free kiddie kruzzer strollers, complimentary signature gift boxes, package carry-out, and free balloons Westfield Southcenter caters to shoppers. Anchored by the northwest’s best department stores including Nordstrom, Macy’s, JCPenney, Sears, and Mervyn’s, the center also offers over 160 popular retailers including Ann Taylor Loft, Apple, Gene Juarez Spa & Salon, Talbot’s, Guess? and Victoria’s Secret. Westfield Southcenter is also home to the only Rainforest Café and Bahama Breeze restaurants in Washington State.

Taking advantage of south King County’s sky-rocketing economy and population growth, Westfield Southcenter is adding 400,000 square feet for a total of 1.7 million square feet of upscale retail space, making Westfield Southcenter the largest shopping center in the Pacific Northwest.

A dramatic renovation is underway. We are re-inventing Westfield Southcenter:

• Additional 400,000 square feet of upscale retail, dining   and entertainment for a total of 1.7 million square feet of   retail space.
• Luxurious dining terrace with plush fireside seating.
  75 new specialty stores.
• 6 new signature restaurants with indoor and outdoor   seating.
• Grand, 90-foot glass façade with views of Mount Rainier.
• 16-screen state-of-the-art AMC theatre.
• 2 attached multi-level parking structures.
• Pedestrian-friendly walkways, lush landscaping and   promenades.
• New family lounge featuring private family-style   restrooms, mothers’ nursing area and plasma screen   televisions with child-friendly programming.
• New valet parking services.
• New Westfield children’s playtown.

Westfield Southcenter is undergoing an extraordinary transformation. In addition to improving the quality and variety of the retail mix, Westfield Southcenter is building a brilliant, three-story sunlit atrium dominated by a 90-foot south-facing glass façade with expansive views of Mount Rainier. When complete, the new Westfield Southcenter will be a highly visible landmark, inviting visitors of every generation to experience the newest destination for shopping, dining and entertainment. Transformation will be complete by fall 2008.

The Chamber thanks the Port of Seattle for being the sponsor of our May 17 Membership Luncheon held at the Spirit of Washington Event Center. The Port, whose name was inadvertently omitted from the table signs, was especially interested in sponsoring the May lunch because the program dealt with economic development with the airport’s closest neighbors SeaTac, Burien, and Tukwila. The lunch provided valuable information provided by the mayors of Burien, SeaTac and Tukwila.

The Port of Seattle provides transportation facilities and services that promote international trade, commerce, and jobs for the region. In addition to running the airport, the Port of Seattle operates the Fisherman’s Terminal, Shilshole Bay Marina, Bell Harbor International Conference Center, two cruise ship terminals, and the World Trade Center on Seattle’s waterfront.

The Port has been a partner and supporter of the Southwest King County Chamber for many years.

Again, the Southwest King County Chamber thanks the Port for its May luncheon sponsorship and continued support.

The Southwest King County Chamber congratulates the “Students of the Year” scholarship winners, Ajla Aljic and Kelly Youngberg both of Highline High School. Youngberg was previously honored as the Chamber’s November Student of the Month and Aljic received the award as Student of the Month in March.

Each of these students received a $1,000 scholarship to be used toward furthering their education. They were recognized at the Chamber’s June 9 Education Luncheon.

Youngberg plans to pursue a career in International Business and Aljic’s goal is to double major in International Business and German.

These two students have shown tremendous achievement in their academics and great leadership toward their community. The Chamber wishes them the best of luck in future.

Congratulations!

Sound Transit is making tracks to SeaTac. Those are light rail tracks, and they’ll bring new options for thousands of commuters and travelers beginning in just three years.

As you’ve probably noticed as you drive along SR-518, construction is underway on 15.6 miles of light rail track from downtown Seattle to Sea-Tac Airport. The $2.68 billion Central Link light rail line is scheduled to open in 2009, in time for the swarm of visitors expected for the 2010 Winter Olympics in nearby Vancouver, B.C. Even without those visiting tourists, area residents are expected to welcome the light rail option over Seattle’s overburdened freeway system.

Sound Transit light rail is already very successful in Tacoma, where a 1.6-mile line runs between the Tacoma Dome and downtown Tacoma. Tacoma Link – serving the University of Washington’s Tacoma campus, museums, the convention center, the downtown business and retail core, and the theatre district -- opened in August 2003 and has carried more than 2 million riders.

In Seattle, the Central Link light rail line will be nearly ten times longer. Trains will run every six minutes during rush hours and every 10-15 minutes during the mid-day and evening hours, serving 13 stations from Sea-Tac Airport through Tukwila and past Boeing Field, through the Rainier Valley and into the SODO industrial area, past the stadiums to the downtown retail and financial districts to Westlake Center. By 2020, some 45,000 riders are expected to hop aboard every day.

Central Link construction is more than 40% complete and the project is currently tracking under budget. In Seattle, a tunnel boring machine nearly the length of a football field was launched in January to bore mile- long twin rail tunnels through Beacon Hill to a rail station 160 feet below ground. Nearby, several miles of at-grade track are being laid along Martin Luther King, Jr. Way in the Rainier Valley. The project brings construction and ancillary jobs, and is spurring new housing and transit-oriented development, especially near future station locations.

As the rail line continues south, a 4.2-mile section of aerial trackway is being constructed alongside SR- 518; a gantry crane system sits atop concrete pier support columns, hoisting pre-cast concrete segments into place one at a time, then “walking” to the next pier and repeating the process. Two hundred concrete spans will be needed in all, with one or two completed weekly.

The initial 13.9-mile segment from Westlake Center to Tukwila is expected to begin service in mid-2009. For a short time, travelers to Sea-Tac Airport will be greeted by a free shuttle service from a station at Tukwila International Boulevard to the airport.

Thanks to a strong partnership with the Port of Seattle, construction will begin this summer on the final 1.7-mile extension that will complete the light rail line to Sea-Tac Airport. At the same time construction crews are building the light rail extension, they will also build major roadway enhancements to improve airport vehicle access.

By the end of 2009, light rail service will continue to a new station connected to the fourth level of the airport parking garage, a four-minute walk from the terminal. A pedestrian bridge across International Boulevard will connect the station to the City of SeaTac’s planned City Center development.

Once complete, passengers will be able to rely on a 36-minute ride from Sea-Tac Airport to downtown Seattle, free of delays from congestion and bad weather, and from the costs of gas and parking. That’s just one of the ways Sound Transit is providing options for commuters and visitors. Others include Sounder commuter rail from Tacoma to Seattle and Everett to Seattle, and ST Express regional bus routes between major destinations in Central Puget Sound.

What’s next? Well, now that nearly all of the projects and services approved by voters in 1996 are either in service or in the works, Sound Transit is looking to the future. One option is extending the light rail system, perhaps south to Kent-Des Moines Road, north to Northgate and east to Bellevue and the Eastside. These and other proposals are being reviewed by the Sound Transit Board for inclusion in Sound Transit 2, the next round of regional transit investments. A public comment period this summer will ask for your priorities and comments on proposed regional transit investments.

At the same time, leadership teams from Sound Transit and the state highways program are working together to ensure that future roads and transit proposals work together to provide the most bang for the public buck. Joint ballot measures to fund new regional transit and roads projects will be placed before voters in November 2007.

Sound Transit plans, builds and operates regional transit systems and services to improve mobility for Central Puget Sound. For more information about specific projects or to comment on projects and priorities, please visit the Sound Transit website at http://www.soundtransit.org.

Vahne Dierking
West Valley Dental

A great big “Thank You” to the following Chamber member for referring a new member to the Chamber:

Sue Ireland of Ireland Insurance for referring Savvy Salon, who has now become a Chamber member.

Group from Japan Visits White Center Heights
Tour Emphasizes Innovative Public Buildings

Cornerstone Architectural Group, the firm who designed the new White Center Heights Elementary School, recently played host to some visitors from Japan. The group of 15 architects, structural engineers, and university professors of architecture were on a trade association mission to see the best the West Coast has to offer in new design. Cornerstone chose to showcase White Center Heights Elementary School as an example of an innovative educational facility using engineered wood products and wood/hybrid construction methods.

The group was particularly interested in how U.S. architects have designed innovative, warm, welcoming, and creative environments and how they have addressed issues related to “green building” and sustainability in their projects. According to the mission organizer, “The Japanese delegates found the facility fascinating - especially so given their country’s long history of a love for wood and wood construction.”

Cornerstone’s Pete Andersen, principal in charge of the White Center Heights architectural development, along with Principal Greta Salmi, led the tour. Andersen commented, “This group was made up of some of Japan’s leading architects who have designed public buildings using wood. Their projects include structures built to house Winter Olympic events, World Expo Pavilions, and even a suspended wooden bridge. It’s quite an honor for them to show such interest in our public school buildings.”

Small Schools Students Go to Washington
Opportunity of a Lifetime

Four students from Highline’s A.C.E., Global Connections, and Odyssey High Schools traveled to Washington, D.C., to attend Congressman Adam Smith’s annual 9th District Day on May 17. Superintendent Welch extended this special opportunity to the students of the Tyee complex for their perseverance during this year’s transition to small schools. Representing Congressman Smith’s alma mater are: Janay J. – Global, Matt K. – Global, Betty F. – Odyssey, and Michael S. – A.C.E.

Alan Spiciatti, executive director of secondary education, commented on the agenda, “There is an amazing list of speakers for the event. What a great opportunity for these students to see the business of our government in action!”

This year's speakers include:

• The Honorable Patty Murray, Washington State's Senior Senator
• The Honorable Maria Cantwell, Washington State Senator
• The Honorable John Boehner, US Congressman, House Majority Leader
• The Honorable Jane Harman, US Congresswoman, House Intelligence Committee, Ranking Member
• The Honorable Mike Johanns, U.S. Secretary of Agriculture
• The Honorable Rob Portman, U.S. Trade Representative
• Chuck Todd, Hotline editor-in-chief
• Peter Bergen, CNN's terrorism analyst and author of Holy War, Inc.: Inside the Secret World of Osama bin Laden
• Charlie Cook, editor and publisher of Cook's Political Report
• Simon Rosenberg, president, New Democrat Network