Port District Under the Microscope

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Port District Under the Microscope - at the Yakima Herald-Republic

Note: This article served as the main feature for a series of articles Dori wrote on forming a port district in Yakima. SPJ honored the package with two awards.

04/21/2002
1,269 words
Yakima Herald-Republic

Port District - Under the Microscope

By DORI HARRELL
YAKIMA HERALD-REPUBLIC

Next month, Yakima-area voters will be asked to create a port district.

Twice before, the idea has been overwhelmingly defeated. But unlikeefforts in 1965 and 1988, there's now deep and widespread concern over the area's economy, both present and future.

Yakima County routinely ranks among the state's highest for unemploymentand poverty. Thousands have either given up looking for work or have headed elsewhere. A series of high-profile store closures in the last two years has only served to heighten concerns.

Proponents say ports are an economic tool that increases competitiveness in attracting businesses. They say ports can aggressively assist in helping construct buildings and set up utilities for new businesses in ways that private enterprise and most government agencies often can't or won't do.

Others, however, say more taxes aren't the answer, that a port offers no guarantee of attracting business and that the taxes will only further hurt the economy.

This much is clear: Except for Spokane, Yakima is the only urban area in the state without a port district. There are 76 ports in 33 of 39 counties. They range from the giant Port of Seattle with 1,700 workers and vast facilities to support industry, to tiny ones such as the Port of Eglon in Kitsap County, which collects no taxes and undertakes no activities. Several ports in Grant County are the same.

Ports are not some newfangled economic scheme. They've been legal entities in Washington for 90 years.

In Moses Lake, a port district is credited with helping revitalize a town devastated when its major employer, the U.S. Air Force, closed its base in 1966. That port is now home to some 900 workers, with wages as high as high as $20 an hour.

Twenty years ago, the Port of Kalama in Cowlitz County had virtually no projects. But about 10 years ago it bought and developed land along the Columbia River, attracting BHP Steel, which invested more than $200 million in facilities.

Other ports, however, have not been as successful.

In Kittitas County, residents grew so dissatisfied with their 15-year-old port after a critical state audit that they voted in a slate of anti-port commissioners who disbanded the operation in 1973.

Some small ports collect taxes for years, but have seen only limited success.

Success depends on many things, including who runs the port and how aggressively its commissioners and the community pursue development.

"The difference in ports thriving is the caliber of people it's associated with," said Bill Woods, an economist with Central Washington University. "They dictate its success or failure."

Some point to the tiny Port of Woodland in southwest Washington and its manager, David Ripp, who is credited with recently attracting German manufacturer PERI Formwork Systems. PERI, one of the world's largest manufacturers of girders and scaffolding, is setting up its western U.S. base in that port, where it plans to employ about 100 workers.

In Yakima, proponents say a port could help revive the area's economy. Private enterprise, they said, has failed to build up the economy after a port proposal was struck down in 1988.

"The climate, I think, has changed enough. It has given people the feeling that we have to do something here," said state Sen. Alex Deccio, a Yakima Republican who is chairman of the Yakima Port District Committee.

Officials from other Central Washington ports make it clear that just because a port exists does not mean businesses will flock to it.

"We have to hustle, to look at business plans, and try to meet with the decision makers face to face," said Mark Urdahl, executive director of the Port of Chelan County. "And we don't get excited unless a business brings 10 jobs per acre it locates on."

And sometimes, he added, businesses leasing from the port are recruited away, close down or never get off the ground.

The Port of Chelan County's Industrial Park houses 14 businesses that employee 431 workers.

Port opponents in Yakima, however, have been especially critical of the Chelan port.

They say that despite the port pouring millions of taxpayer dollars into the region, the county has had "zero" economic growth and the port's flagship employer, Pacific Aerospace & Electronics, is on the verge of bankruptcy.

Pacific Aerospace employs 295 workers making high-tech parts for airplanes, medical equipment and other industries. Its stock plummeted last fall after the company grew quickly, and Port of Chelan County officials have worried that it will close.

"The poster children are not as good as they're cracked up to be," said Sandra Swanson, who heads STOP (So Tired of Paying), the group leading the no-port effort.

In fact, however, the Wenatchee region saw a job-growth rate of 1.3 percent from 1991 to 2001, said Don Meseck, a regional economist with the state Employment Security Department. While that's not a hefty amount, "it is positive growth," Meseck said.

Also, most of the increase has been in non-agricultural jobs.

"I'd prefer to see growth in both the ag and non-ag sectors, but the non-ag growth indicates some diversification in the economy, and this is good," Meseck said.

In response to its critics, Port of Chelan County officials note that Pacific Aerospace has not missed payroll and pays its lease on time.

"No one denies these are hard times," Urdahl said. "But one of the things we have to look at is what would it be like here without us? We employ 431, and those jobs would not be here without what we've done."

Port Commissioner Jim Knapp agreed. The port's job, he said, is to have land ready with roads, sewer, water and power.

The port built its business park 20 years ago on property no private businesses would develop, he said.

"We're aggressive, and we say we've got a lot to interest Mr. Businessman," Knapp said. "If Yakima has a parallel story to tell, maybe it doesn't need a port. But I don't know any private investor that will take 100 acres of land and bring water, sewer and streets to it" when there is no tenant waiting in the wings.

The opposition to a Yakima-area port is strong.

Historically, Yakima-area fruit packing houses contributed heavily to the anti-port campaigns and were largely blamed by proponents when the measures failed at the polls.

As of last week, though, out of more than $10,000 in contributions to STOP, none had come from fruit warehouses.

The majority of anti-port contributions have been from local businesses and individuals.

Port proponents say a port could attract businesses with high-wage jobs to help shift the Yakima-area economy away from agriculture, and help keep young adults from moving away for better employment opportunities.

Yakima resident Lisa Hall believes a port will bring these benefits. But she didn't think so in 1988, and voted against a port then. After the election, she saw the economy sour and wages stay low, and changed her mind. This year, she will cast a yes vote.

"People generally don't want a tax increase," Hall said recently, "but if they see a valid reason for it, and it makes sense, and they know the benefits, they will spring for it."

But in a crowded race, proponents face a challenge this time just distinguishing which candidates even support a port.

Four of 19 candidates vying for the three open port seats have said they will vote against a port district, and if elected will not tax at all, or very little.

Two of the candidates are endorsed by the STOP committee, which is sticking with what worked to defeat past port measures here: the cry of "no new taxes."

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