Reporter’s Notebook

THE POWER OF PARTNERS

Economic development can’t exist in a vacuum. It won’t be effective in the long-term by focusing on one sector of industry and it can’t be spurred by one person or organization alone.

Bob Drewel, executive director of the Puget Sound Regional Council, was on the Washington State University Vancouver campus Friday to drive the message home.
It sounds like the PSRC has had great success bringing central Puget Sound counties – King, Pierce, Snohomish and Kitsap – cities, ports, tribes, transit agencies and state representatives together to develop policies and make decisions about key regional issues.

Recently, it played a hand in the formation of two industry alliances, the Aerospace Futures Alliance and the Washington Clean Technology Alliance – the first state-wide clean energy alliance that’s made up of green builders and alternate energy representatives.

Since moving to the region, it has seemed to me that Southwest Washington is pretty big on partnerships and cooperation because they are how a good community gets to be a thriving one.

-Megan Patric-Vaughn mpatrick@vbjusa.com