Bill Conroy
Seattle Mayor Seeks to Bolster Contract Opportunities for Women and Minority-Owned Firms
Efforts will be focused on improving outreach, assessment and feedback with an eye toward reaching contracting goals
Seattle Mayor Jenny Durkan this week signed an executive order designed to speed efforts to achieve contracting equity for the citys women and minority-owned business enterprises (WMBEs). It puts into effect several measures to better monitor and assess contracting outcomes and promote community feedback and contracting opportunities for WMBEs. The executive order calls for the…
Sea-Tac Ranked as the Spendiest Domestic Airport for Duty-Free Goods Purchases
Overall, though, U.S. airports are still a better bargain than the most expensive overseas duty-free shops, study finds
World travelers looking to pick up some duty-free goods on their journey should probably think twice about doing so in Seattle if they are seeking a bargain. A new study ranks Sea-Tac airport as the most expensive for purchases of duty-free goods of 14 domestic airports analyzed. Sea-Tac ranked as the most expensive airport for…
Hiring in Washington State Slows, Employment Report Shows
Unemployment in the greater Seattle area, however, continues to trend downward
Employers in Washington added a total of 2,300 jobs in August, retreating from a downwardly revised job gain of 5,900 jobs in July, according to preliminary estimates released by the Washington Employment Security Department. The states unemployment rate in August remained unchanged from July, at 4.6%, but has ticked up slightly since August 2018, when…
Washington Residents Are Among the Hardest Workers in the Nation, Study Shows
The longer hours lead to fatter paychecks, but also earn the state low marks in work-life balance
Washington ranks one spot above dead last among U.S. states in a study assessing work-life balance based on the amount of time residents spend working and commuting. Workers in the state spend an average of 40.1 hours a week working, another 4.65 hours weekly commuting and have an average of 123.25 hours of free time…
Washington Company Acquires Big Slice of Food Services of Americas Seattle Operations
Family-owned Harbor Wholesale Foods says the deal adds some 1,700 restaurant operators to its customer base
A portion of Food Services of Americas Seattle operations, including its 250,000-square-foot-distribution facility in Kent, have been acquired by Lacey, Washington-based Harbor Wholesale Foods, a deal affecting some 200 workers at the Kent warehouse. As part of the acquisition, Harbor will assume a portion of the customer base served by the Kent facility, including some…
Costco’s First Warehouse Store Was a Springboard to Global Growth
Seattle | 1983
This article appears in the September 2019 issue. Click here for a free subscription. The now-ubiquitous retailer Costco Wholesale opened its first discount warehouse on Sept. 15, 1983, at 4401 Fourth Ave. S. in Seattle. Before the year was over, Costco unveiled two more warehouse outlets, one in Spokane and the other in Portland, Oregon….
United Way of King County Will Enter the New Decade With a New Leader
After a national search, the nonprofit names a longtime social- and economic-equity advocate as its president and CEO
United Way of King County undertook a nationwide search to replace its longtime leader, Jon Fine, who retired earlier this year after 19 years at the helm of the nonprofit, and the nonprofit ended up finding his replacement in its own backyard. Gordon McHenry Jr., who currently leads Solid Ground, a nonprofit focused on reducing…
Transit services Transdev and First Transit Slashing Seattle-Area Jobs
Layoffs involving hundreds announced in federal WARN Act filings
Two global transit companies, Transdev Services Inc. and First Transit, are cutting a total of 426 jobs in the Seattle area effective the end of October as part of what federal filings indicate are permanent layoffs. Transdev will be laying off 340 people at its Kent location starting on Oct. 31, while First Transit is…
More International Flights Equals More Congestion, Delays at Sea-Tac
Sea-Tacs expanding international service has put it on the radar of congestion regulators
Singapore Airlines launch this week of nonstop service between Singapore Changi Airport and Seattle-Tacoma International Airport makes it the 11th international carrier to unveil service at Sea-Tac since 2016. Thats good news for business and leisure travelers, but it also adds to the capacity constraints at the airports existing international facilities, which have already earned…
Seattles Building Boom Confronts a Construction-Labor Drought
Contractors in Washington are coping with a costly worker shortage, recent industry survey shows
As a sign of Seattles economic dynamism, the city is tied with Los Angeles for the most cranes along its skyline. But the boom times also have a soft underbelly as 80% of surveyed contractors in Washington are having a harder time filling hourly labor jobs this year, compared with a year earlier, according to…
