economic growth & frontier industries
BUILD THE FUTURE HERE
A King County Frontier Industries Plan
King County has helped build two generations of transformative industries.
First, we built things: airplanes, ships and one of the world's great aerospace industries.
Then, we built software: becoming a global center for technology, cloud computing and AI.
Our next opportunity combines the two: space, fusion and advanced energy, robotics, autonomous systems, aerospace, maritime technology and advanced manufacturing.
These industries are already emerging here. King County has more than 400 aerospace companies and 45,000 aerospace workers, alongside world-class software talent, ports, airports, industrial infrastructure and research institutions.
We should make King County the best place in America to build the technologies that are difficult to build anywhere else.
01 - Make It Easier to Build Here
Create a Frontier Fast Track for qualifying advanced manufacturing projects, with one point of contact coordinating permitting, infrastructure and workforce needs.
Set measurable timelines, including a 90-day target for qualifying County permits where legally feasible.
Fast doesn't mean lowering safety or environmental standards. It means making government predictable, responsive and accountable.
02 - Know Where Companies Can Grow
Create a Frontier Sites Atlas mapping industrial sites by zoning, available space, power, water, freight, transit, port and airport access.
Build specialized clusters around existing strengths:
Kent/Tukwila: Space + aerospace + manufacturing
Boeing Field/SODO: Aerospace + robotics + autonomy
Eastside: Space systems + AI + software
Duwamish: Maritime + advanced industrial technology
And protect the industrial land necessary to actually manufacture things.
03 — Build the Infrastructure Before We Need It
Advanced manufacturing, fusion, AI and electrification require enormous amounts of infrastructure—particularly electricity.
Develop a 10-year infrastructure strategy with cities, utilities and the Port identifying where we need additional power, substations, water, wastewater, fiber and freight capacity to support industrial growth.
Instead of asking “Can we accommodate this company?” after it arrives, we should be able to say:
“Here's where you can build.”
04 - Train King County Workers for King County Jobs
Create a Frontier Workforce Guarantee: if companies create good jobs here, we'll help develop the workers they need.
Partner with employers, community colleges, universities, unions and apprenticeship programs to train machinists, welders, electricians, robotics technicians, aerospace workers and engineers.
Create high-school-to-industry apprenticeships so young people can enter family-wage technical careers without necessarily needing a four-year degree.
05 — Make King County a Proving Ground
King County operates transit, wastewater plants, roads, solid waste, airports, fleets and environmental systems.
Use that enormous footprint to test technology developed here.
Through King County Innovation Challenges, companies could compete for small paid pilots addressing real County problems.
Define the outcome beforehand.
If it works, scale it. If it doesn't, stop paying for it.
06 - Recruit Companies — Not Corporate Welfare
Don't build this around blank checks or tax giveaways.
Create a Frontier Concierge that gives companies one place to navigate:
Sites • Permits • Power • Workforce • State/Federal Incentives • Suppliers • Procurement
Then aggressively recruit companies and their suppliers to King County.
Government shouldn't pick which fusion technology or rocket company wins.
It should make King County the obvious place for the winners to build.
A Measurable Goal
Build a five-year strategy around ambitious, publicly reported targets for:
10,000 new frontier-industry jobs
25+ major company expansions or recruitments
$5 billion in new private investment
1,000 annual training/apprenticeship placements
90-day permitting target for qualifying projects
Final targets should be established against verified baselines and reported publicly every year.
BUILD THE FUTURE HERE
Seattle's first economic engine was building things. Its second was software and cloud computing.
Our third can combine them.
We already have the engineers, skilled trades, manufacturing expertise, technology talent, ports, airports and industrial base.
Our job isn't to invent the next great industry.
It's to make sure the next great industry is built here.
A DIFFERENT STANDARD FOR KING COUNTY
Practical. Compassionate. Accountable
If you believe government should be ambitious about helping people and equally serious about measuring results, join the campaign.