Burien Business Committee Meeting
Tuesday, October 17
7:30 am - 9:00 am
Cox Financial
112 SW 157th St, Burien

Stephen Clark, Director of Public Works, will be updating the Committee on the First Avenue South Construction Project.
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Networking Breakfast
Wednesday, October 18
7:00 am - 9:00 am
Seattle Marriott Hotel - SeaTac
3201 S 176th St., SeaTac
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Greetings Members and Friends ~ Fall has certainly arrived, the leaves are turning, the commute times are increasing, things are hopping, and business is booming! During September and October, several Chamber members celebrated milestones ~ The Tukwila McDonald’s held a ribbon cutting honoring the completion of the total interior remodel, Best Buy Southcenter celebrated the opening of the new business division at their store with a ribbon cutting, and the new UPS Store across from Westfield Southcenter next to Acme Bowling Billiards and Events opened for business. Groundbreaking celebrations were held for the Sound Transit station at the airport, and for the Burien Town Square project being done by the City of Burien, Urban Partners, King County Library System, King County Housing Authority and Westport Capital Partners LLC.

During September and early October, Dac Randall from Lawton Publishing was at the Chamber office contacting members about advertising in the 2007 edition of our Chamber directory and community profile. I am proud and excited to report the total ad sales this year are higher than they’ve been in many years. That tells me business is growing! Good job! The new directory will be mailed to members in mid-December.

In the coming few months, the Chamber will offer a new promotion for restaurants. We are in the process of putting together a restaurant brochure to be available at area businesses, city halls, libraries, and visitor center. Did you know there are over 200 restaurants in our Southwest King County boundary? The purpose of the brochure will be to encourage readers to try something new at lunchtime or when going out to dinner.

Another event the Chamber has added to it’s portfolio is the return of the Chamber’s Burien Business Committee. For now, the group will meet every other month with the first meeting on Tuesday, October 17 at 7:30 am at Cox Financial, 112 SW 157th Street. If you are a Burien business person or interested in learning more about the 1st Avenue South construction project, come to the meeting on Tuesday.

Thank you for your loyalty and support of the Chamber. Please let me know if there are any questions I can answer or topics I can discuss in future President’s Messages. Have a great month!

Nancy Damon
President/CEO

Put on your zoot suits and your flapper dresses, the Chamber’s Annual A•C•E Awards are taking you back to the Roaring 20’s for a speakeasy party on Thursday November 2nd. This year, 27 Chamber Businesses were nominated for their merit in the areas of Large Employer Business Excellence, Small Employer Business Excellence, Non-Profit/Humanitarian Service, and Beautification. For the first time, the results have been determined by member votes and the winners will be announced at the November 2nd awards ceremony, which will take place at the Hilton Seattle Airport & Conference Center at 4:00 pm.

Major sponsors of the A•C•E Awards include Baker Commodities, Cox Financial, Port of Seattle, Puget Sound Energy and Westfield Southcenter. Other sponsors are Burien Toyota, Burien Chevrolet, Master Builders Association, Photography by Stephen, BBC Dodge, Boeing Employees Credit Union, Sabey Corporation, Highline Medical Center, and Vickie L. Bergquist with State Farm Insurance, Bonney Watson, Bowman Investment Group, Cascade e-Commerce Solutions, Inc., Fast-Fix Jewelry and Watch Repair and Highline Community College. Sponsorships are still available for the following levels: Gold Sponsorship for $750, Silver Sponsorship for $500 and Table Sponsorship for $250 To learn more or to sponsor this event, please contact Andrea Desimone at the Chamber office at 206.575.7767.

The cost to attend the Speakeasy Awards Ceremony is $30 pre-paid and $35 at the door. Formal business attire is requested. Contact the Chamber office to make your reservations at 206.575.1633 or register online at www.swkcc.org and click on Chamber Calendar.

The password to enter the ceremony is ACE.

A major achievement for the region took place near Sea-Tac Airport on September 22nd. Sound Transit and the Port of Seattle broke ground on a project that will bring Link light rail and significant roadway improvements to the airport.

Joining the Port and Sound Transit was U.S. Senator Patty Murray; John Ladenburg, Pierce County Executive and Sound Transit Board Chair; Greg Nickels, Seattle Mayor and Sound Transit Boardmember; Bob Edwards, Port of Seattle Commissioner; State Representative Dave Upthegrove; Ralph Shape, Deputy Mayor of SeaTac; Mary-Alyce Burleigh, Kirkland Councilmember and Sound Transit Boardmember; and Claudia Thomas, Mayor of Lakewood and Sound Transit Boardmember.

When it is completed, the roadway construction project will make it easier to get to and from the airport and will prepare the way for Sound Transit’s Link light rail connection from downtown Seattle to Sea-Tac Airport. The improvements will also serve the City of SeaTac’s proposed City Center. Light rail trains running to a new SeaTac/Airport Station are scheduled to start in 2009.

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

Zev Siegl of the Small Business Development Center, for referring Northwest Prime Time Inc., who has now become a Chamber Member.

Jeff Gouge of Hilton Seattle Airport and Conference Center, for referring SeaTac Flowers, who has now become a Chamber Member.

Camille Patha of the Patha Inc., for referring Normandy House Hair Productions, who has now become a Chamber Member.

Local jurisdictions and community members are invited on Veterans Day, Saturday, November 11, to an event celebrating a local historic road and the World War I veterans it honors. The event, to be held at Sunnydale School Auditorium, located at 15631 8th Avenue South in Burien, will highlight the history of Des Moines Memorial Drive.

Des Moines Memorial Drive is an eight-mile stretch of road, which winds through four local jurisdictions – King County, SeaTac, Burien and Des Moines. In 1922 the project was completed with the planting of 1,100 American elm trees to line the roadway as a "living" memorial to those who lost their lives in World War I. Over time, the impacts of disease, radical pruning and utility installations have decimated most of the elms.

Held on the day formerly known as Armistice Day, the event will mark the beginning of a process to seek designation of the road as a Federal Scenic Byway. Elected officials including County Executive Ron Sims and local mayors will celebrate the recent improvements to Des Moines Memorial Drive, including memorial markers and interpretive elements in a segment of the Drive maintained by King County between South 99th Street and South 128th Street.

An Advisory Committee was created in 2000 with representation from King County, local cities, other interested public agencies and concerned citizens to develop a coordinated vision for restoring and maintaining the living memorial. The resulting plan, which has been accepted by all the participating jurisdictions, outlines how the local cities can also incorporate similar memorial elements in their future road improvement projects along the Drive.

Des Moines Memorial Drive has national significance on several accounts: 1) it is the earliest planned “living road of remembrance”; 2) it is the only “living road of remembrance” that uses Elm trees; and 3) at 10 miles, it is the longest “living road of remembrance”.

In addition to the celebratory event, commemorative banners will be installed on a number of utility poles along the Drive, and interpretive displays prepared by Highline Historical Society will be available to the public. Local veterans and school groups are expected to take part in the event that will also recognize the ongoing cooperative efforts of the cities and county.

The event will begin at 2:30 pm at the Des Moines Memorial Drive Memorial Wall, located on the east side of historic Sunnydale School. The Memorial Wall was dedicated 43 years ago on November 11, 1963.



To learn more about Des Moines Memorial Drive, visit www.roadofremembrance.org.

The Chamber is now selling Seattle/Eastside Area and South Puget Sound Area Entertainment Books, full of dining, shopping and travel coupons for local and national businesses. The books cost $30 and will be available while supplies last. To order an Entertainment Book, please contact the Chamber at 206.575.1633.

The Washington Reading Corps

Throughout the year, the Washington Reading Corps (WRC) will be hosting Family Literacy Nights for the students attending Thorndyke, Tukwila, and Cascade View Elementary Schools. The first events will take place in late December/early January with hopes to partner with many of your businesses both now and throughout the year. Your food-related donations and financial contributions will be greatly appreciated and will make these literacy nights memorable experiences for everyone involved.

The Washington Reading Corps is a statewide literacy program created by former Governor Gary Locke and other government officials in 1998 after tests found that more than half of Washington’s Fourth-graders were unable to read at grade-level. The WRC’s objective is to improve literacy in K-6 students across the state and this goal is achieved through research-based tutoring, the collaboration and the cooperation between local civic organizations, businesses, and schools. Their commitment to this mission comes from the conviction that literacy is fundamental to social progress.

The mission of the Washington Reading Corps in South King County is particularly urgent. In Tukwila alone, over half of the school district’s elementary-aged students live at or below the poverty level. The hope is to create a “culture of literacy” by encouraging families to read together, by encouraging students to read on their own, and by stressing the importance of literacy in today’s world. This objective can be achieved through research-based tutoring and collaboration and cooperation between local civic organizations, businesses and schools. Commitment to this mission comes from the conviction that literacy is fundamental to social progress.

As leaders in this community your support and assistance in this venture is vital to create a lasting change. Please contact Christianna Zaremba with the WRC team for more information or if you would be able to work alongside them this year. Her phone number is 206.901.7661 and her email address is zarembac@tukwila.wednet.edu.

Jaspreet Kaur, a senior at Foster High School, is the October Business Student of the Month. Originally from India, she said it was hard to adjust to American life at first but as days went on she has learned to respect, learn and appreciate the environment around her. She is manager of the National Honors Society Tutoring Program, volunteers for ELL Computer Tutoring and is involved in the Multicultural Action Committee and Teens Against Tobacco Use. In her free time, Jaspreet enjoys badmitton and reading.

Last year she was chosen as one of the candidates for the Achiever’s Scholarship, which took her to Central Washington University for Achiever’s College Experience. Many of the 150 Washington students who were chosen for this scholarship attended, and Jaspreet said "it was a great three day experience, which led me to make new friends and learn the college life."

After graduation in June 2007, Jaspreet plans to attend Seattle Pacific University to study pre-med and then on to medical school, with the goal of becoming a physician.

Congratulations, Jaspreet. Your hard work and your involvement in your school and your community will certainly pave the way for a very bright future!

Town Square Groundbreaking – Nearly 200 citizens and elected officials turned out on October 10, a gorgeous sunny day, for the official groundbreaking ceremony for Burien Town Square. The crowd enjoyed music from the Highline High School jazz band, speeches from Sen. Patty Murray, Rep. Jim McDermott and state and local officials, and food and drinks donated by Burien restaurants. Elected officials used sledgehammers to begin the demolition of the former Puget Sound Educational School District building. Demolition work on the existing buildings in Town Square is expected to get fully underway this winter.

City Hall Moving - Burien City Hall will move to temporary quarters in December to make room for construction of Town Square. The current City Hall at 415 SW 150th Street is situated on the future site of Town Square. City Hall will move to a professional building at 15811 Ambaum Boulevard SW. City offices will occupy 11,636 square feet of office space in the multi-tenant building. All City departments in the current City Hall will move to the interim site. Public Works, which is in a separate building, will also move to the interim site.

North Highline Annexation – The City Council in September voted to concentrate on a single North Highline annexation scenario -- full annexation -- and will study it further before possibly declaring it a Potential Annexation Area (PAA) later this fall. Designation of all or part of North Highline as a PAA would be a required first step in the annexation process. Residents of the annexation area would then vote on the annexation, probably in 2007. If approved, the actual annexation would not take place until 2008 or 2009.

City Manager – The City Council in October conducted final interviews of six finalists for the position of City Manager and is expected to select the new City Manager by the end of October. Waldron and Co. conducted the City Manager search process.

New Neighborhood Park – The City of Burien on Sept. 15 celebrated the opening of Mathison Park, a new neighborhood park at 533 S. 146th St. that serves neighborhoods east of 1st Avenue South. The park is named after the family that donated the land for the public to enjoy.

Councilmember Terry Anderson received a Certificate of Municipal Leadership from the Association of Washington Cities (AWC) - She completed over 30 hours of training credits to earn this distinction. The training is designed to enhance elected officials’ knowledge and leadership skills in order to provide more effective local governance. AWC is a private, non-partisan corporation that represents Washington’s cities and towns before the state legislature, the state executive branch, and with regulatory agencies.

Port Road and Sound Transit Light Rail Construction Update - On September 13, crews placed traffic barriers to close the International Boulevard southbound HOV lane and sidewalk near the old Radisson site. The closure is necessary to reconstruct the northbound Airport Drives and construct the Light Rail extension to the Airport. Work along International Boulevard and the closure is anticipated to occur through spring 2007. Updates and details are available on the Port’s Web site.

Quarterly Business Outreach Meeting - The City conducted a quarterly Business Outreach meeting as part of an ongoing effort to keep SeaTac businesses informed about events which impact the community. This meeting also served as a networking tool for businesses and City staff members. The meeting, titled “The Present and Future of Development in the City of SeaTac” featured a development overview of current projects by Principal Planner Jack Dodge, a presentation on the future of economic development in the City by Economic Development Manager Todd Cutts, and an overview of the station area planning process by Senior Planner Mike Scarey.

Fine Art Exhibit - Visitors to City Hall in October will be able to view beautiful original artwork by regional artists in this year’s annual Fine Art Exhibit. Thirty-eight pieces are on display in the first and third floor lobbies of City Hall through October 27. Five pieces were chosen to be purchased by the City and they are located on the third floor. Purchase Award winners were presented with their check at the City Council meeting on October 10. With the purchase of these five new pieces it brings the City’s collection of art and photography to 88 pieces. Items in the City’s collection are hung throughout City facilities for many people to enjoy.

Fire Chief Receives Recertification - At the 2006 International Association of Fire Chiefs Convention in Dallas, Chief Bob Meyer was recertified as a Chief Fire Officer through the Center for Public Safety Excellence. The Center for Public Safety Excellence, supported by the International City Managers Association and the International Association of Fire Chiefs, sponsors this program. Currently there are only 500 Certified Chief Fire Officers. Chief Meyer was one of the original 243 certified three years ago.

Russian Police Visit City - On September 18, five Russian Police Colonels visited the SeaTac Police Department on an official exchange program administered by the Washington-Sakhalin Law Enforcement Partnership of Seattle. This program is funded by the U.S. State Department, as there are 25,000 U.S. citizens working in the oil industry on Sakhalin Island. The five Police Colonels included the Chief of Police for Yuzho-Sakhalinsk, (the main city of 198,000). SeaTac detectives and officers discussed law enforcement in the U.S. and answered questions for several hours. The visitors were provided a tour of the police station, a patrol car, and the holding cell area. This was an amazing opportunity for an exchange of information. The biggest surprise for both departments’ members was the similarities between police work in both countries.

Welcome Tukwila Trading Company - The Larry’s Market chain of grocery stores filed Chapter 11 bankruptcy this summer. Its six stores have now been sold and the City of Tukwila is pleased to welcome a wonderful grocery store, the Tukwila Trading Company, into that location. The Tukwila Trading Company is family-owned and the newest sister store to Summit Trading Company in Puyallup. The store is undergoing major changes and will offer a full range of groceries including a huge produce section, expanded meat section, and value pricing. They are even creating a community meeting room in the restaurant area!

Tukwila International Boulevard Neighborhood Update - The City is holding two public meetings to brief the City Council on the status of the neighborhood around Tukwila International Boulevard between S. 154th Street and S. 130th Street. The meetings are intended to cover a lot of information on “what’s happening” on TIB in areas such as redevelopment, crime, infrastructure, population demographics, etc. The Council will not take official action at the meetings. Members of the businesses and public are invited to attend. The meetings will be from 6:00 to 8:30 p.m. on Thursdays November 9 and 16, 2006 at Showalter Middle School cafeteria. For more information contact Derek Speck at dspeck@ci.tukwila.wa.us or 206-433-1832.

Julie Cruise
Hampton Inn

Best Buy
Matt Robertson
17364 Southcenter Parkway
Tukwila, WA 98188
206.574.4617
Fax: 206.574.3662
www.bestbuy.com
Retail/Department Store/Specialty

Burien Town Square, LLC
Marina Gomez
304 S. Broadway Ave #400
Los Angeles, CA 90013
213.437.0470
Fax: 213.437.0474
www.urbanpartners.net
Real Estate Developers & Investors

Downtown Harley - Buell
Terry Stallcop
13001 48th Ave S.
Tukwila, WA 98168
206.243.5000
Fax: 206.241.1134
www.downtownharley.com
Motorcycle Dealers

Freight Co. Logistics
Jesper Dahl
835 S. 192nd St. #100
SeaTac, WA 98148
206.244.9725
Fax: 206.824.3053
www.freightcologistics.com
Freight Forwarders/International Freight Forwarders

Jewel Catering Co.
Tracy Korbol
5300 34th Ave NW
Seattle, WA 98107
206.524.4918
Fax: 206.824.3053
www.jewelcatering.com
Caterers

Moose Radiator LLC
Hoa DeBusk
5113 Pacific Hwy E, Unit 3W
Fife, WA 98424
253.922.7667
Fax: 253.926.0892
Wholesale/Distributors

Northwest Prime Time, Inc.
Chris Mitchell
PO Box 13647
Seattle, WA 98198
206.824.8600
Fax: 206.824.8606
www.northwestprimetime.com
Newspapers

NW Senior Services
Ann Bjorgo
17786 Des Moines Memorial Dr.
Burien, WA 98148
206.281.4404
Fax: 206.285.2507
www.nwsenior.org
Senior Resources

SeaTac Flowers
Bruce Harris
19045 Pacific Hwy S.
SeaTac, WA 98188
206.244.9101
Fax: 206.244.5212
www.seatacflowers.com
Florist

State Farm Insurance – Charlene A. Schulz
Charlene A. Schulz
22206 7th Ave S.
Des Moines, WA 98198
206.878.2520
Fax: 206.878.2572
Insurance/Brokers

US Bank
Paul Long
3725 S. 144th St.
Tukwila, WA 98168
206.246.5203
Fax: 206.246.5456
www.usbank.com
Banks & Financial Institutions

1-5 Years
American Cancer Society
Bahama Breeze
Days Inn South Seattle
Don Franks Freelance Copywriting
Farmers Insurance & Financial Solutions – Riess Agency
Hanis Greaney – PPLC - Attorneys at Law
Hankyu International Transport USA Inc.
Kintetsu World Express (U.S.A.), Inc.
Little Nickel Classifieds
Lowe’s Home Improvement
Macy’s
Sal’s Deli
SeaPorts Restaurant & Lounge
Sonic Collision Center
Vadis
Vickie L. Bergquist, State Farm Insurance
Washington Park Florist
Wells Fargo Bank
Wells Fargo Home Mortgage
West Valley Dental
Wienerschnitzel
Windermere Real Estate / South Inc. – Robbie Howell

6-10 Years
BNI-NW
From Roots to Wings
Miller Paint Company
The Museum of Flight
Quality Business Systems, Inc.
Spencer’s for Steaks & Chops
Towne & Country Suites
TownPlace Suites by Marriott

11-15 Years
Airport Brokers Corporation
Pacific Rim Financial Group, Inc.
W.J. Byrnes & Company

16-20 Years
Douglas H. Moreland, Attorney at Law
Embassy Suites – Seattle-Tacoma Int’l Airport
SeaTac Disposal Company
Tukwila School District #406
Wayne’s Service Center

21-25 Years
Fedex Trade Networks
Sudden Printing

25 + Years
Alaska Airlines