When the voters decided in 2009 to change our form of government and directly elect a mayor, it was a strong statement that they expect leadership from City Hall. Nowhere is this more critical than the City’s economic future.

For too many years, our City has had a vision for economic development, but lacked the strategy to realize its goals. As the noted author and pilot Antoine de Saint-Exupéry so famously observed, “A goal without a plan is just a wish.”

Wishes are not good enough when it comes to building this community’s future. That’s why I introduced the Economic Development Strategy in early January. This 76-page document entitled “Some Assembly Required” outlines the city’s six goals and 30 objectives for economic development during the next two years.

The City’s economic development efforts shouldn’t be a black box that leaves residents and businesses wondering what’s happening inside there. The Strategy makes the City’s efforts transparent and available to all.

Major development goals include providing the next generation of jobs through reuse of the Weyerhaeuser Campus, attracting and retaining businesses to provide local jobs, aligning education opportunities with future job growth, encouraging entrepreneurship and creating a sustainable, diversified economy with a global focus.

Highlights of our objectives include:

• Recruiting a university branch campus to the downtown. The City is in conversation with several four-year institutions about a downtown campus that would enhance our city center, generate new jobs, and most importantly, increase educational and career opportunities for Federal Way and South King County residents.
• Bringing a major new employer (or employers) to fill the Weyerhaeuser Campus. The Weyerhaeuser Corporate Campus is a nationally unique campus that can draw a marquee Fortune 500 or 100 business to the city. We are working to leverage this opportunity and bring thousands of new jobs to Federal Way.
• Developing programs to improve access to capital and credit for local businesses. We’ve identified a number of opportunities – from a lender’s forum to the EQ-2 program – that would make additional capital and credit resources available to help Federal Way businesses grow.
• Creating the “IDE2A Zone” in the city core to bundle economic development incentives to retain and attract business involved in innovation, design, education, entrepreneurship and the arts.
• Other objectives also include the continued development of the Town Center project, organizing a business summit, and a conference for Women in Business.

Communicating and listening to our business community is another essential step outlined in the Economic Development Strategy. As a regulatory agency, a promoter of economic development, and the owner of much of the infrastructure supporting business, I feel it’s vital that the City actively listens to business owners and helps them solve problems. The Strategy introduces “Business Connection,” a series of meetings with businesses (and open to the public, of course) to foster dialogue to improve the business climate.

I am inviting the Chamber of Commerce to collaborate with the City in this effort. As the primary voice of business in the City, their presence will help inform the discussion and reach more of our businesspeople.

This need for partnership is woven throughout the Economic Development Strategy. Done right, Economic Development is a shared enterprise involving partnerships between government, business, the Chamber and other stakeholders.

We all have a vested interest in generating economic growth and the creation of jobs. We all want to see a Federal Way of the future with a growing, vibrant downtown, and a healthy local economy that supports families and provides revenues that support vital public services. The Strategy transforms that vision from a wish list to a check list.

The next steps are up to all of us. I am excited about the future that lies ahead for our community.

The entire 76-page report can be accessed online at www.cityoffederalway.com/EDS or by contacting Economic Development Director Tim Johnson at 253-835-2412.

Jim Ferrell is the mayor of Federal Way.