Indicators for a Sustainable Community
Sustainable Seattle
I n d i c a t o r s o f Sustainable Community
1 9 9 8
A status report on long-term cultural, economic, and environmental health for Seattle/King County Project Managers Aaron Best Hans Van Dusen Richard Conlin
Editor & Graphic Designer Kara Palmer
Research Interns Leif Brotem Mark Charette
Writers,Researchers & Analysts Mark Aalfs Jesse Arnold Donald Bollinger Sara Breslow Susan Cannon Nea Carroll Sheila Crofut Susan Ernsdorff Ute Gigler Christy Halvorson Lee Hatcher Diane Horn Julie Koehlinger Brad Liljequist Chris Maag Colleen Pacheco David Reynolds John Roberts Amy Snover Cathy Tuttle
Linoleum Block Art Paula Gill
Media & Publicity Emelie Peine Scott Walter
Board of Directors (2003) Kirvil Skinnarland, President Suzie Haberland, Vice-President Cynthia Figge, Secretary Ben Packard, Treasurer Mark Aalfs Mark Griffin Terry Kakida Rick Krochalis Lang Marsh Linda Maxson Terry Rustan Sean Schmidt Christy Halvorson Shelton
Sustainable Seattle 1109 First Avenue, Suite 400A Seattle, Washington USA 98101 Tel: (206) 622-3522 Fax: (206) 343-9819 [email protected] Reprinted March 2004 www.sustainableseattle.org Sustainable Seattle
Seattle, Washington Earth Day, 1998
Dear Reader,
We’re proud to present Sustainable Seattle’s 1998. In your hands you hold an international award-winning document that has inspired similar efforts in communities aroundIndicators the world. of Sustainable Community
This is our third indicators report since 1993, each produced by volunteer citizens of Seattle and King County. Our next report—due out in 2002—will be the first of the new millenium.*
We present these 40 indicators with the challenge of getting them all moving in a positive direction. Since all the indicators connect to each other, improving any of them will keep us moving toward sustainability.
We hope the information here will enhance your understanding of these crucial topics and inspire you to continue strengthening and sustaining our community. As always, Sustainable Seattle welcomes your participation in this effort.
Sincerely,
The Indicators Task Team
*As of the reprint date in early 2004, Sustainable Seattle has not produced a new Indicators report since this 1998 version. Indicators 1998 Summary
Situated in the northwest corner of the surcharges, and efficient system opera- Space, Local Farm Production, Impervi- United States where Microsoft has given tions have reduced total water consump- ous Surfaces, Distribution of Personal birth to hundreds of millionaires and tion 12% since 1990. Wild salmon runs Income, Housing Affordability, Emer- old growth forests are just an hour away, in the Cedar River watershed are gency Room Use, Community Reinvest- Seattle has the reputation of a prosper- showing signs of stabilizing, but at ment, High School Graduation, Volun- ous city that is “clean and green.” dangerously low levels. Though still teer Involvement in Schools, Youth Despite its image, Seattle struggles with high relative to other ethnic groups, the Involved in Community Service, Equity the same questions many communities proportion of African American and in Justice, Public Participation in the around the globe do: How do we balance Native American youth involved in the Arts, and Gardening Activity. Another concerns for social equity, ecological juvenile justice system has decreased. enhancement to the 1998 report is the integrity, and economic vitality? How de And 46% of Seattle’s youth volunteered inclusion of success stories profiling we create a livable community today in the community last year, putting the model programs in Seattle’s efforts to while ensuring a healthy and fulfilling region’s youngsters 14 percentage points become a more sustainable community. legacy for our children’s children? above the national average. Endnotes have also been incorporated with each indicator to make reference It was questions like these that spurred At the same time, five indicators have information more readily accessible. the creation of Sustainable Seattle—a changed in a negative direction since volunteer citizen’s network committed to 1995. Fuel consumption and vehicle While our methods for measuring improving our region’s long-term health. miles traveled per capita continue to progress are better, our application of Sustainable Seattle brought together increase, reflecting our dependence on the indicators as a tool for social change community members from all facets of the automobile. Though we are better at still needs to improve. The Indicators of city life to define and research Indicators recycling, we continue to generate Sustainable Seattle are intended to be of Sustainable Community to measure increasing amounts of solid waste. used by citizens and policymakers to our region’s real progress. Now six years While the diversity of our teaching staffs guide behavior changes that will steer later, following awards from the Puget in public schools matches the diversity of our community on a more sustainable Sound Regional Council and United our adult population, it has not kept course. The Indicators are a call to Nations Centre for Human Settlements, pace with student population. At the action—to spur critical thinking, to Sustainable Seattle is publishing its third same time, workers are facing growing inspire us to reconsider our priorities, report on indicators. pressures to work longer hours and earn and to leverage actions that will ensure more, meaning less time for family and our community’s long-term health. It is The 1998 edition of Indicators of Sustain- friends. time we do much more as individual able Community provides a timely review citizens, business people, and policy of sustainability trends for the Seattle/ The 1998 report examines the same 40 makers to create a truly Sustainable King County region. Selected and indicators as the 1995 report, with a few Seattle. Achieving this goal is the most researched by over 250 citizens, there are exceptions. Due to difficulties in important legacy we can leave for future 40 economic, environmental, and social measuring current wetland delineation generations. indicators that together paint vivid and defining biodiversity, the Wetlands picture of Seattle’s vision toward and Biodiversity indicators were sustainability. combined into one Ecological Health indicator. Sustainable Seattle will This year’s report shows both progress continue to search for ways to measure and problems. Of the 40 key long-term these important facets of sustainability. trends surveyed, there are 11 indicators New to the 1998 report, the Energy Use moving Seattle toward sustainability— per Dollar of Income indicator compares three more indicators than in the 1995 the total energy consumed in King report. Eight indicators are moving County with total personal income and Seattle away from sustainability, while 11 monitors energy consumption relative to indicators are neutral. Still, 10 indica- economic change. tors do not have sufficient data to reveal a trend (an indicator in itself). Nearly half of the indicator data sources or trend analyses are improved since the In total, 12 indicators have shifted in a 1995 edition. Amended indicators positive direction since the 1995 edition. include Ecological Health, Pedestrian- Strong conservation programs, summer and Bicycle-Friendly Streets, Open Indicators of Sustainable Community 1998 S U S T A I N A B I L I T Y T R E N D S
Declining Sustainability Trend Improving Sustainability Trend
Air Quality Solid Waste Generated and Recycled Water Consumption Local Farm Production Pollution Prevention Vehicle Miles Traveled and Fuel Consumption Energy Use per Dollar Income Renewable and Nonrenewable Energy Use Employment Concentration Distribution of Personal Income Unemployment Health Care Expenditures Volunteer Involvement in Schools Work Required for Basic Needs ÏEquity in Justice ChildrÐen Living in Poverty Voter Participation Public Participation in the Arts Gardening
Neutral Sustainability Trend Insufficient Data
Wild Salmon Ecological Health Soil Erosion Pedestrian- and Bicycle-Friendly Streets Population Open Space Emergency Room Use for Non-ER Purposes Impervious Surfaces Housing Affordability Community Reinvestment Ethnic Diversity of Teachers High School Graduation ÍJuvenileÎ Crime Adult Literacy Low Birthweight Infants A?rts Instruction Asthma Hospitalizations for Children Youth Involvement in Community Service Library and Community Center Use Neighborliness Perceived Quality of Life “The gross national product includes air pollution and advertising for cigarettes, and ambulances to clear our highways of carnage. It counts special locks for our doors, and jails for the people who break them.
The gross national product includes the destruction of the redwoods and the death of Lake Superior. It grows with the production of napalm and missiles with nuclear warheads....
And if the gross national product includes all this, there is much that it does not comprehend. It does not allow for the health of our families, the quality of their education, or the joy of their play. It is indifferent to the decency of our factories and the safety of streets alike. It does not include the beauty of our poetry or the strength of our marriages, the intelligence of our public debate or the integrity of our public officials....
The gross national product measures neither our wit nor our courage, neither our wisdom nor our learning, neither our compassion nor our devotion to country. It measures everything, in short, except that which makes life worthwhile; and it can tell us everything about America—except whether we are proud to be Americans.”
—Robert F. Kennedy Table of Contents Introduction...... 1 Environment Success Story: Green Places for People, Peregrines, and Potatoes...... 8 Sustainability Trends...... 9 Wild Salmon...... 10 Ecological Health...... 11 Soil Erosion...... 12 Air Quality...... 13 Pedestrian- and Bicycle-Friendly Streets...... 14 Open Space near Urban Villages...... 15 Impervious Surfaces...... 16 Population & Resources Success Story: Northwest Environmental Businesses Band Together...... 20 Sustainability Trends...... 21 Population...... 22 Water Consumption...... 23 Solid Waste Generated and Recycled...... 24 Pollution Prevention...... 25 Local Farm Production...... 26 Vehicle Miles Traveled and Fuel Consumption...... 27 Renewable and Nonrenewable Energy Use...... 28 Economy Success Story: Plymouth Helps the Homeless with More than Shelter...... 32 Sustainability Trends...... 33 Energy Use Per Dollar of Income...... 34 Employment Concentration...... 35 Unemployment...... 36 Distribution of Personal Income...... 37 Health Care Expenditures...... 38 Work Required for Basic Needs...... 39 Housing Affordability...... 40 Children Living in Poverty...... 41 Emergency Room Use for Non-ER Purposes...... 42 Community Reinvestment...... 43 Youth & Education Success Story: Rainier Beach High School’s Teaching Academy...... 46 Sustainability Trends...... 47 High School Graduation...... 48 Ethnic Diversity of Teachers...... 49 Arts Instruction...... 50 Volunteer Involvement in Schools...... 51 Juvenile Crime...... 52 Youth Involvement in Community Service...... 53 Equity in Justice...... 54 Adult Literacy...... 55 Health & Community Sustainability Trends...... 59 Low Birthweight Infants...... 60 Asthma Hospitalizations for Children...... 61 Voter Participation...... 62 Library and Community Center Usage...... 63 Public Participation in the Arts...... 64 Gardening Activity...... 65 Neighborliness...... 66 Perceived Quality of Life...... 67 Sustainable Seattle Indicators Story...... 69 Glossary, Anatomy of an Indicator, 1992 Civic Panel Members...... 71
Introduction
Overview and the general public accountable for “This is my textbook. the city’s well-being over time. The Indicators of Sustainable Community I think I will have been are the product of a creative community Locally, the Indicators have heightened successful if at the dialogue about our common future. policymakers’ awareness of sustainability end of the year, Hundreds of Seattle-area volunteers have and influenced both the City of Seattle invested thousands of hours to design and King County in developing their we’ve moved all and research this integrated “report own sets of indicators (which include these indicators up.” card” on long-term trends in our region. some from the Sustainable Seattle list). The initiative started over seven years In 1996, the Puget Sound Regional —King County Executive ago, when community leaders from all Council presented Sustainable Seattle Ron Sims facets of city life came together to discuss with a Vision 2020 award for leadership definitions of sustainability and how in integrating economic and environ- citizens might develop their own ways to mental goals. Internationally, Sustain- measure Seattle’s long-term health. able Seattle has been honored with an Excellence in Indicators award from the At the time, sustainability was a relatively United Nations Centre for Human new concept to most people. Interna- Settlements at the 1996 Habitat II tionally, the Brundtland Commission conference. report, Our Common Future, and its classic definition of sustainable develop- Taken together, the Indicators give us a ment: “meeting the needs of the present picture of our community’s without comprising the ability of future sustainability, which we define as “long- generations to meet their own needs,” term health and vitality—cultural, had put the notion of sustainability on economic, environmental and social.” the map. However, governments in the Studying these trends points us toward a United States had expressed little new way of thinking about how we live interest, thereby leaving a majority of and about what kinds of progress we citizens uninformed. need and want to make.
It was the challenge of integrating For the foreseeable future, we will economic, environmental, and social continue to face many difficult deci- goals and the opportunity to define new sions: How do we protect our environ- measurements of progress that moved ment, meet everyone’s basic needs, keep Seattle citizens to continue meeting and our economy dynamic, and maintain a give birth to the volunteer civic effort just society? How do we make difficult called Sustainable Seattle. Building from trade-offs and balanced judgments that the excitement and discussions of that take everyone’s interests into account, initial gathering, the group decided as its including those of our children and first task to define, research, and publish grandchildren? a set of “Indicators of Sustainable Community.” Focusing on how to The purpose of this report is to help us measure sustainability proved a tangible direct our course toward the future we project for developing a common want. The Indicators of Sustainable understanding of its meaning. More- Community are meant to inspire us to act, over, indicators would provide important as a community, in our own interests information to serve as a foundation for and on behalf of those who come after civic activism and future policy work. us. They provide important information to catalyze new behaviors and to renew Both the participatory process used to our sense of hope. define the indicators and the extraordi- nary volunteer energy devoted to research them are hallmarks of this citizen-led initiative to hold policymakers
Sustainable Seattle Indicators 1998 Introduction 1 community and its political process. We Understanding can continue to develop these indefinitely. “Sustainability” For all these reasons, sustainability is The term “sustainable” was first used in more a direction than a destination. It is talking about how people use resources. a process of continually improving the For example, if we catch more fish than way we live in order to respect the reality are reproduced every year, our fisheries of limits, whether those limits are will eventually decline, or even disappear imposed by nature or embraced voluntar- (as is already happening). Overfishing— ily by people living together in coopera- like overgrazing or excess logging—is not tion and democracy. sustainable, because we cannot continue doing it forever. A Brief History of Over the years, people have found many more applications for this concept. For Sustainability example, deficit spending is not sustain- During the late 1970s and early 1980s, a able, because you cannot keep spending number of independent scientists, money you do not have. Pollution is not activists, and policymakers were working sustainable, because toxins build up in on responses to the linked problems water, air, and soil faster than nature can concerning issues of environment (the break them down. When unsustainable health of nature) and development (the trends like these are accelerating, there is progress of humanity). They began to use cause for genuine alarm. the term “sustainability” to describe the goal of jointly addressing economic “Our vision is of a life sustain- In fact, many kinds of growth—such as development and ecological health ing Earth. We are committed human population, the number of cars concerns. on the road, the amount of garbage we to achievement of a dignified, produce, or the percentage of children In 1987, the United Nations’ “World peaceful, and equitable born into poverty—cannot possibly Commission on Environment and continue over the long-term. Eventually Development” released its report Our existence. A sustainable we will run out of money or space for Common Future, which brought the terms United States will have a roads, landfills for garbage, or the “sustainability” and “sustainable develop- resources and facilities to address the ment” into widespread use. Our Common growing economy that pro- social problems caused by inequity. Future (or the “Brundtland Report,” after vides equitable opportunities There are limits to growth. Though it the Commission’s Chair, Norwegian for satisfying livelihoods and a may be difficult to numerically define Prime Minister Grö Harlem Brundtland) these limits, we know it would be defined sustainable development as safe, healthy, high quality of physically impossible for this kind of “development which meets the needs of life for current and future growth to continue indefinitely. At a the present without endangering the certain point, the system would simply generations. Our nation will ability of future generations to meet their break down. own needs.” protect its environment, its natural resource base, and In addition to physical limits, there are This definition is the one used most moral limits to consider. How do we often throughout the world. Together the functions and viability of respond to increasing juvenile crime? with the principles the Commission natural systems on which all What should we do about rising levels of established, it incorporates five key poverty? Is it morally acceptable to allow concepts: life depends.” a species of salmon to go extinct? It is —President’s Council on imperative that we wrestle with such 1. The needs of the future must not be Sustainable Development questions, and hold ourselves to the sacrificed to the demands of the highest ethical standards achievable. present.
However, the concept of limits does not 2. Humanity’s economic future is linked apply to human creativity, or economic to the integrity of natural systems. ingenuity, or the overall vitality of a
2 Introduction Sustainable Seattle Indicators 1998 3. The present world system is not indicators, we seek more detailed informa- sustainable because it is not meeting tion or a diagnosis as well as identify the needs of many, especially the poor. coordinated actions. Engine gauges such as oil pressure, engine temperature, and 4. Protecting the environment is impos- battery charge are another metaphor. sible unless we improve the economic They tell us whether an engine is working prospects of the Earth’s poorest properly and give some initial direction as peoples. to where to look to fix problems. Likewise, sustainability indicators show us 5. We must act to preserve as many how our community “engine” is running. options as possible for future genera- They tell us which direction a critical tions, since they have the right to aspect of our community, economy, or determine their own needs for environment is going: forward or “If you cry ‘Forward!’ themselves. backward, increasing or decreasing, you must be sure to make improving or deteriorating, or staying the At the June, 1992 United Nations’ same. clear the direction in which Conference on Environment and to go. Don’t you see that if Development, commonly referred to as Like the dials of an aircraft’s instrument the “Earth Summit,” representatives panel, indicators can be useful tools. By you fail to do that and from nearly every nation on Earth designing them carefully, watching them simply call out the word to adopted these principles in the form of closely, and interpreting them wisely, we a monk and a revolutionary, international treaties and agreements. know the status of our flight and can At the same time, a “Global Forum” of make good decisions about where to go. they will go in precisely citizens’ groups from around the world Without indicators, we’re just “flying by opposite directions?” developed grass-roots initiatives designed the seat of our pants.” —Anton Chekov to monitor governments and push sustainability efforts beyond what Indicators reflect the vision of important traditional activities were able to do. values and can inspire changes in behavior. They can act as leverage points The Sustainable Seattle Indicators within systems. Their presence or Project was in part a local response to absence, accuracy or inaccuracy, use or these global efforts. It was envisioned as non-use can affect the behavior of an a first step in the process of assessing our entire system. For example, when a new progress toward (or away from) long-term U.S. law went into effect that required sustainability; identifying key steps we every large plant emitting toxic pollut- can take to improve our progress; and ants to list those pollutants publicly so making these changes real. that surrounding communities were aware, an indicator was inadvertently What Are created. Local newspapers began publishing the “top ten polluters.” Indicators? Companies responded quickly to get off New measurements of progress are being the list, and toxic emissions decreased heralded by government agencies, rapidly even though there was not a businesses, and civil society as key tools specific law against them. The presence for moving us along the sustainability of information was sufficient to change path. Indicators are bits of information behavior. that highlight what is happening in a larger system. They are small windows Similarly, when new Dutch houses were that together provide a glimpse of the built with electric meters in the front “big picture.” hall where they were easily visible, instead of down in the cellar where they Sustainability indicators provide were normally placed, household feedback on the overall health of our electricity use dramatically decreased by community in the same way that body one-third. Again, simply having the temperature and blood pressure tell us information available affected behavior. about our personal health. From these
Sustainable Seattle Indicators 1998 Introduction 3 • Leading. Indicators must give you Criteria for information while there is still time to act. Carbon emissions is an example Indicators of an indicator that provides informa- Indicators are as varied as the types of tion in advance. Global temperature systems they monitor. However, there change, “global warming,” is the are certain characteristics that effective concern, but because of lags in the “The indicators a society indicators have in common. response of the physical system and short-term fluctuations that mask chooses to report to itself • Relevant. They fit the purpose for long-term trends, temperature may about itself are surprisingly measuring, telling you something respond only after decades of about the system you need to know. atmospheric change. powerful. They reflect In the case of Sustainable Seattle, they collective values and inform illustrate something basic and • Policy-relevant. Does the indicator collective decisions. A fundamental to the long-term have relevance for policy decisions for cultural, economic, environmental, or all stakeholders in the system, nation that keeps a watch- social health of a community over including the least powerful ones? ful eye on its salmon runs or generations. Can anything be done to affect the the safety of its streets indicator? Should it be included • Reflect community values. The crucial anyway to suggest improved policy makes different choices role of indicators is communication. responsiveness? Perhaps more important than than does a nation that is providing data, indicators illustrate only paying attention to its community values and elicit reac- A Work In Progress GNP. The idea of citizens tions. Good indicators are expressed This report provides a timely review of in imaginable, not eye-glazing sustainability trends in the Seattle/King choosing their own indica- numbers, and resonate with the County region. The 40 indicators tors is something new intended audience. represented were selected from a list of 99 recommended by a “Civic Panel” of under the sun—something • Attractive to local media. The press 150 citizens convened in 1992. See the intensely democratic.” publicizes them and uses them to Indicators Story on page 69. Of the —Donella H. Meadows monitor and analyze community original set, several indicators have been trends. added or deleted in response to new information or valuable criticism. Still, • Statistically measurable. Data exist that the intent of the Civic Panel is reflected. are relevant to this geographic area, and preferably comparable to other The data we collected is our best effort at cities, counties or communities. If identifying and displaying relevant data are not readily available, a information, ranging from readily practical method of data collection or accessible public data, to new syntheses measurement exists or can be created. based on existing research, to public opinion polling and other subjective • Logically or scientifically defensible. information. The geographic scale of Understandable rationales exist for each indicator depends on the context and using the specific indicator and for accessibility of the data. Some indicators drawing general conclusions from it. refer to the Seattle city limits, others look at King County (our first choice, when • Reliable. You must be able to trust available), and still others place Seattle in a what the indicator shows. For statewide context. Each indicator has example, a gas gauge that shows it is been researched by a Sustainable Seattle half full when it is really empty may volunteer and reviewed by local experts. cause you to run out of gas in an When uncertainty exists about the inconvenient place. In addition, indicator, its data, or its interpretation, we indicators should be measured say so. But we include even some “flawed” consistently over time, so that you have indicators to bring attention to the comparable data. importance of the topic and the need for better ways to measure it.
4 Introduction Sustainable Seattle Indicators 1998 Each indicator measures an important leaks and spills of motor oil or radiator “What unites us is that we dimension of sustainability. It is significant fluid, some of which will find its way into to remember that just as “the map is not local streams where salmon live. Tracing are all citizens of this great the territory,” the indicators are not the linkages can help us understand the city, Seattle. We make it same things as the systems they attempt to decline of salmon in our streams and the great, and democratic, and measure. These numbers, charts, and poverty of children may be related in graphs represent, in very simple terms, a more ways than we have previously humane, by playing our much more complex reality. Reflected thought. parts in this web of relation- here are the individual lives of millions of people, animals, and other living things; a We encourage readers of this report to ships, and by building and complicated economic system; and many explore the concept of linkages on their strengthening the network of the conflicts and commonalities own. One suggestion is to consider an expressed in community and political life. individual action and the chain of effects that we call community. it might have. For example, what Government cannot make a The indicators, taken together, provide us indicators might be affected if you chose city good, nor compel with a snapshot of our community, but to walk to the store instead of driving? there is no abstract set of data or compre- You could (1) help improve air quality, people to act for the com- hensive theory that can take the place of (2) reduce the use of nonrenewable mon good. Government people’s direct experiences. This collection energy, (3) save money, leaving it in the is not intended to be a comprehensive list; bank as community capital, or (4) can punish negative acts, indeed, no scientifically-tested or refined potentially reduce the number of hours and can encourage, exhort, model of sustainability exists. In fact, you need to work. If you walked or educate, and inspire since the world is always changing, so will biked regularly, you could (5) improve the picture of a sustainable society. your health (and perhaps reduce health people. But then citizens care expenditures) and (6) become must choose to work for These Indicators will be updated and friendly with more of your neighbors. A improved on a regular basis. We number of these activities might (7) that good, and government continue to invite your feedback and improve your perceived quality of life. must welcome and facili- criticism. Throughout this report we have briefly tate that participation and Exploring Linkages noted key linkages to each individual partnership.” indicator. We do not presume to have —Seattle City Councilmember Indicators help us understand linkages— rigorously measured these linkages, but Richard Conlin the ways in which different parts of our believe that exploring and understand- social, economic, and environmental ing them is critical to building a systems affect each other. They help us sustainable society. By keeping the see the truth behind John Muir’s whole picture in mind, in all its com- dictum, that “everything is hitched to plexity, we can begin to address prob- everything else in the universe.” lems at their roots, and act with greater clarity and wisdom over time. For example, can we say our economy is sustainable if, despite its growth, we have growing numbers of children in poverty, or a dwindling supply of natural resources? Can we make good decisions about the future of our neighborhoods without thinking about trends in juvenile crime or the use of the automobile?
All of these systems are linked together in complex chains of cause-and-effect. Consider this scenario: when child poverty rates are high, more youth are likely to enter into a life of crime. High crime rates make parents less likely to let their children walk or bike to school, and more likely to drive them. Increased driving means more
Sustainable Seattle Indicators 1998 Introduction 5 ing the success of their efforts or Applications for designing their programs. Foundations These Indicators and philanthropic organizations can use the Indicators to help set their “Small actions and choices To be successful in their purpose, these funding priorities. Indicators must be used to guide change— can have major, although in what we pay attention to as a commu- • Personal Lifestyle. Indicators can unpredictable effects in nity, in our priorities, in our collective challenge us personally to explore determining what comes decision-making and policy development, how the way we live affects the world and in our individual and organizational and moves the indicators in a positive next. Among the possibili- behavior. We would like to see the or negative direction. They can help ties is that the thousands of Indicators influence elected officials, us better understand how each media, policymakers, businesses, social experiments and millions of individual makes a difference, and organizations, and the general public. guide us in taking actions as individu- choices to live more con- Below are suggestions for their applica- als and in our community. sciously will coalesce into a tion. new civilization that fosters • Local Media. To ensure a well-informed How You Can Use community, provides possi- citizenry, we would like to see local newspapers and broadcasters covering These Indicators bilities for meaning, and the long-term trends affecting our You can personally use these indicators to: sustains life for the planet.” region, how those trends link together, —Sarah Van Gelder, Editor and what we each can do to move • Educate yourself about important them toward sustainability. trends in our culture, economy, YES! A Journal of Positive environment, and social well-being Futures • Public Policy. We believe political that may influence movement toward debate needs to be informed by an or away from sustainability. increased concern for long-term sustainability, and by the integrated, • Examine your own choices and “whole-systems” perspective that the actions in terms of how they contrib- Indicators portray. ute to these trends, discuss these issues with your friends and col- • Business and Economic Development. leagues, and make conscious deci- The Indicators can help economic sions. decision-makers think more systemati- cally about how their decisions are • Assess the policies and activities of affecting a broader range of issues businesses, organizations, agencies, or than “the bottom line.” They can also institutions you are affiliated with in be used for market analysis, to spur terms of how they affect these trends, the development of products and or develop your own organization- services that will advance progress specific indicators. toward a more sustainable society. The central point is to identify an area • Education. These Indicators can be where you’d like to focus on making a used as teaching tools to educate positive difference—and just do it! students about sustainability and systems thinking. They can also serve as a model for additional research projects, such as devising a set of institutional indicators (as one area school Lakeside has begun to do).
• Civil Society. Local non-profits and volunteer groups can link their work to the broader cause of creating a more sustainable society, and use the Indicators as a benchmark for evaluat-
6 Introduction Sustainable Seattle Indicators 1998 Environment S U C C E S S S T O R I E S Green Places for People, Peregrines, and Potatoes Story by Christina Halvorson
ince 1990, Seattle has permanently protected more than respite from concrete and buildings. Parks, community gardens, S 500 acres of new public open space, including pocket parks, and natural areas give people places to relax, play, picnic, stroll, salmon streams, great blue heron nesting sites, and community and explore. Open spaces create areas for residents to meet gardens. These areas not only provide havens for wildlife but their neighbors and help foster a sense of community. For kids also for humans. these places provide adventures in the wild as well as educa- tional opportunities to use natural areas as outdoor classrooms. As one citizen noted, “For people living in areas where they’re surrounded by other people, cars, noise, filth, and pollution, it’s Though the Open Space Program has far exceeded its original important to be able to get to some place for dreaming.” The goals, acquisition has not always been easy. Often desirable projects range in size from the large West Duwamish Greenbelt, places were not for sale, so the city had to approach the property where more than 175 acres have been protected, to the tiny owners, and negotiations for some sites lasted years. Belltown P-Patch, a community garden occupying only one- tenth of an acre. Community members helped the program overcome many obstacles. Citizens interested in open space often helped the In 1989, voters in King County approved the Open Space and city locate sites, and neighborhood support aided the acquisi- Trails Bond to acquire neighborhood parks, greenbelts, creeks, tion process. Although 1989 bond funds are no longer available wildlife corridors, and community gardens in Seattle and for new acquisitions and a King County Conservation and around the county. The bond provided Seattle about $40 Recreation bond failed in 1996, opportunities exist for protect- million for purchasing open space and trails, but the Open ing, enhancing, and increasing open space in Seattle. Space Program obtained matching funds to raise the total to nearly $100 million. Open Space Program staff members stress the critical impor- tance of citizen involvement in restoration and maintenance of the new open spaces. Many sites need community stewards to “Public open spaces are places where the keep them in good condition, and other areas could use seeds of sustainable communities take volunteers to help clean and restore forests, creeks, and parks. root—where people become neighbors and The Adopt-A-Park program is a great way for citizens, busi- where cities become more livable.” nesses, and schools to get involved in the future of Seattle’s —Trust for Public Land’s Green Cities Initiative open spaces. In addition to safeguarding existing open spaces, interested citizens can advocate for more open space by getting involved in the neighborhood planning process, the disposition Seattle’s Open Space Program has been a local success story in of surplus school properties, and regional transit planning. the last seven years, far exceeding its original goal of 286 acres of new public open space. Through purchases, agreements, and Local neighborhood groups, such as the Thornton Creek donations, the program has preserved 382 acres of open space Alliance in north Seattle, as well as citywide organizations like in about 70 project areas, and government agencies have Open Space Advocates have played a key role in ensuring the transferred an additional 143 acres to the program. Before preservation of parks and natural areas throughout the city. completing its acquisition work this year, the program plans to add another 45 acres to the 525 acres already protected, nearly With adequate protection and community involvement, urban doubling its 1989 target. open spaces will continue to provide special places for people and wildlife both now and in years to come. As an open space Open space acquisitions provide habitat for native wildlife, supporter explained, “In the city, the population grows and protect wetlands, tidelands, river estuaries, stream corridors, grows. To have a place with beauty and with the greenbelt is and salmon-spawning sites. Urban trees and green space can ideal, not just for our generation, but for future generations.” improve both air and water quality. In addition, these places offer essential habitat for humans by providing urban dwellers a
8 Environment Sustainable Seattle Indicators 1998 Environment S U S T A I N A B I L I T Y T R E N D S
Wild Salmon Local wild salmon runs have dramatically ÍÎ declined since the 1980s, but have leveled off at dangerously low levels over the last six years.
Ecological Health Decreasing natural vegetative cover ? reflects the spread of human influence and a broader decline in ecological health countywide.
Soil Erosion Sampled turbidity levels have returned ÍÎ to previous levels, but the complexity of the erosion processes makes it difficult to determine human activity impacts.
Air Quality Seattle’s air quality continues to improve; Ï the number of “good” air quality days has increased to 89%.
Pedestrian- & Bicycle- Lack of data highlights the need to focus ? Friendly Streets on improving pedestrian and bicycle networks.
Open Space near Urban Currently 87% of Seattle’s residents ? Villages lives within about three blocks of the city’s open spaces.
Impervious Surfaces Nearly one third of drainage lands ? are now impervious to surface water.
Sustainable Seattle Indicators 1998 Environment 9 Wild Salmon
Sustainability trend Wild Salmon Returns Local wild salmon runs have 250 dramatically declined since ) 200 the 1980s but have leveled off at dangerously low levels over 150 the last six years. 100 50 Description Index (17-yr Avg. = 100 0 1 0 3 84 86 95 980 98 982 983 9 985 9 987 988 99 991 992 99 994 9 996 997 Wild Salmon are an important 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1989 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 economic resource and fundamental Cedar River Sockeye (actual count) Lake Washington Coho (fish-days) environmental indicator, as well as a Cedar River Chinook (actual count) cultural symbol to those living in the Northwest. Native Americans have long and Wildlife provided salmon return restoration efforts for Cedar River revered wild salmon as a link to the numbers and escapement estimates for salmon runs though implementation of earth and as a food resource. From the these drainages. 1 the Habitat Conservation Plan for the first immigrants to present day sport and Cedar River Watershed. commercial fishers, salmon have been a source of astonishment and Interpretation nourishment. The 1996 and 1997 returns of Lake Evaluation Washington Coho and Cedar River Recent wild salmon returns show a Unlike hatchery-raised salmon that Sockeye and Chinook produced some neutral sustainability trend. Still, the spend much of their lives in a higher fish counts relative to recent long-term decline in the health of local controlled, human-made environment, years, but overall these salmon runs have salmon runs marks a significant trend wild salmon are totally dependent on struggled with dangerously low returns. away from sustainability. Numerous the health of the freshwater The Cedar River Sockeye counts have local salmon runs have been extinct for environment for reproduction. They averaged 100,000 per year in the 1990s decades, and we are in danger of losing need clean water and a passable stream. (including 104,000 in 1997), down by many more if we do not take swift and Wild salmon have evolved to meet the 60% from the 1980s. Cedar River effective action to preserve the integrity specific natural characteristics of their Chinook counts are averaging only 440 of our local watersheds. local environment; for example, their per year in 1990s, down 50% in the eggs are adapted to specific gravel size from 1980s counts. In 1996, only 303 Linkages Chinook returned to spawn. The and water chemistry. Changes in bottom The health of salmon runs is linked to number of wild Coho salmon returning conditions, local plants and animals, the economy, tourism, recreation, and to three Lake Washington creeks has and water chemistry—such as those that food production, as well as to the also dropped. The average Coho returns accompany urban or suburban environment. Salmon are affected by to these streams during the 1990s development—usually result in a reduced runoff from streets carries oil-based dropped 75% from the mean 1980s number of fish surviving. Decreased pollutants. Drainage from lawns and level. genetic diversity caused by the loss of a farms carry pesticides, fertilizer, and silt. salmon stock in one stream can affect Construction can divert streams or The long-term (15-year) patterns of the viability of stocks in adjacent change hydrology. Poor forestry practices both runs have been clearly negative, habitats. The health of wild salmon increase silt loading, disrupt food reflecting the precipitous condition of populations is thus an indicator of chains, and change water temperatures most salmon runs in the region. In overall environmental health in a and runoff patterns. Dams make it 1994, twelve of the 71 salmon runs in watershed. difficult or impossible for salmon to the North Puget Sound were classified return upstream, and often lethal to as “depressed,” the Cedar River make the journey out to sea. Our Definition Sockeye and Lake Washington Coho demand for fish and the commercial Sockeye and Chinook salmon from the salmon among them. All of these runs fishing industry have the potential to Cedar River and Coho salmon from are currently being evaluated for more further decimate salmon stocks. three creeks in the Lake Washington stringent classification. The National basin were chosen as representative Marine Fisheries Services proposed a examples for surviving King County “threatened” listing to the Puget Sound salmon runs. Cedar River Sockeye were spring Chinook in 1998, requiring a actually introduced early in this century, dramatic escalation of salmon but are now considered wild. protection efforts by local agencies. Washington State Department of Fish The City of Seattle will be increasing
10 Environment Sustainable Seattle Indicators 1998 Ecological Health
? Sustainability trend Decreasing natural vegetative Health of Nine King County Streams (1995) cover reflects the spread of 50 human influence and a Very good 40 broader decline in ecological Good health countywide. 30 Fair 20 Poor
Benthic Index 10 Description Very poor A sustainable community preserves
of Biological Integrity 0 natural systems because they offer a RuralSuburban Urban richness that nurtures the human spirit Streams as well as protects air and water quality. Minimum Range Healthy landscapes are necessary to sustain the complex myriad of plant and suburban streams (Coal, Swamp, and show changes in the remaining animal species that share our habitat. North), and three rural streams (Big undeveloped space in King County. We are dependent on the surrounding Bear, Little Bear, and Rock). In landscapes for many resources such as addition, Puget Sound Regional food, water, and wood products; for Evaluation Council provided land use data for recreational opportunities and aesthetic Continued development and reductions 1984 and 1992 based on analysis of values; and for vital natural processes in vegetative cover will no doubt affect local satellite images.3 The land use such as water retention and recycling, ecological health. For example, more data document acres of vegetative and air cleansing, and nutrient cycling. For streams will become degraded like the urban land cover and provide an example, the City of Seattle requires an urban area streams cited in this study indication of pressures on the native intact, healthy watershed for the storage unless we manage growth to limit its landscapes but do not provide a direct and purification of our drinking water; negative effects. However, the results of measure of ecological health. this watershed service saves Seattle $400 the stream study also suggest that million in treatment equipment. By negative impacts may be minimized or measuring the health of local Interpretation prevented with careful development landscapes, we can evaluate our effects The invertebrate data demonstrate the activities. As a society, we can improve on natural systems in and around contrast in health between the three our understanding of the causes of Seattle. urban streams and the suburban and degradation and take concerted steps to rural streams. The rural streams are restore the health of landscapes and Definition mostly ranked “good” to “very good” streams. while the urban streams are “poor” or This indicator uses two measures of “very poor.” Suburban areas tend to be ecological health. The condition of Linkages more variable, indicating that we can local streams provides a glimpse of the Ecological health is linked to many develop suburban areas in ways that health of specific watersheds while the other indicators, including impervious maximize or minimize damage to nearby vegetative cover measure provides a surfaces, wild salmon, soil erosion, streams. The best rural stream, for snapshot of the county as a whole. population, water consumption and example, has four times as many Nine King County streams have been farm acreage. The latter is an invertebrate taxa (types) as the worst evaluated using a benthic index of interesting link because if farm acreage urban stream. Of course, we can not biological integrity (B-IBI) developed by goes up, it may mean that wetland, draw conclusions on the overall health Professor Jim Karr of the University of meadow, or forest landscapes are being of all Seattle area streams based on data Washington.2 The health of each sacrificed. Yet, declining farm acreage from these few streams. stream was evaluated based on the may mean that urbanization is diversity and characteristics of bottom- expanding and further degrading the The satellite data provide evidence of dwelling (benthic) invertebrates such as health of nearby landscapes. increasing pressure on streams and mayflies, stoneflies, worms, mussels, and other local landscapes from continued other groups of insects and animals loss of vegetation due to development in without backbones. Stream insects form King County. Between 1984 and 1992, the base of the food web on which fish, there were 16,525 acres of vegetated birds, amphibians, and other animals land cover converted to developed land rely. The nine local streams in the study cover. No prior baseline data is include three urban streams (Juanita, available, but future satellite images will Kelsey, and Thornton creeks), three
Sustainable Seattle Indicators 1998 Environment 11 Soil Erosion
Sustainability trend Sampled turbidity levels have Turbidity Levels returned to previous levels, Average of Five Selected Sites in King County but the complexity of the 5 erosion processes makes it 4 difficult to determine human activity impacts. 3
2
Description 1
Soil erosion occurs naturally due to Net Turbidity Units landslides, slumps, or other mass 0 wasting events or by the force of moving 1984 1985 1986 1987 1988 *1989 1990 1991 1992 1993 water and wind. Human activities can accelerate erosion through urban sediment reaching the stream. A more and data collection over a much longer development, construction activities, accurate indicator of erosion is to period of time. Further investigation of farming, and timber harvesting. evaluate the three parameters together other parameters such as bed load and Streams and rivers are the primary to account for seasonal and localized total suspended sediment is necessary to transport pathways of eroded soil, variability. accurately predict changes in erosion carrying the sediment to downstream related to human activities. areas. Accumulation of sediment can No comprehensive assessment of alter drainage patterns, damage erosion and sedimentation trends in Linkages King County has been conducted to structures, and degrade aquatic habitat Soil erosion is linked to indicators of date. In the interim, data were taken and water quality in streams, lakes, impervious surfaces, vehicle miles from water quality studies conducted wetlands, and floodplains. traveled, ecological health, and from 1984 through 1993 in which population. Soil erosion impacts the monthly turbidity readings at sites health and productivity of farms, Definition located on major streams and rivers forests, and water bodies in King The erosion, transport, and deposition within King County were collected.4 County. Erosion from agricultural of soil are complex processes involving highly variable natural and human lands can reduce the productivity of elements. The largest erosion events Interpretation farms and pastures. Loss of forest soils usually occur as a result of floods and Analysis of this selected data indicates and sediments from mass wasting and heavy precipitation, making them that turbidity increased at all stations on slope erosion in the Cascade mountains seasonally distributed and not the Cedar River, Duwamish River, and foothills can negatively effect forest necessarily predictable. Soil type, slope Green River, Sammamish River, and regeneration, thereby reducing the long- conditions, vegetation, conveyance the Lake Washington Ship Canal after term viability of the forest ecosystem pathway, water velocity, and 1987 but then returned to historical and the forest products industry. Soil downstream conditions all interact to averages by 1990. With the exception erosion degrades aquatic habitat and determine where erosion will occur or of the Green River, all the waterways water quality, reducing wild salmon and where eroded soil may deposit. included in the indicator returned to other water-dependent populations, as their approximate 1984 levels by 1993. well as altering the aesthetic and Monitoring sediment loads carried by recreational capacity of our waters. streams and rivers requires an Evaluation understanding of the relationship Due to the complexity of the seasonal between the bed load, total suspended nature and frequency of natural erosion solids, and turbidity. Bed load is the processes, it is difficult to determine sediment that is transported in a stream increases in erosion rates attributable to very close to the bed surface. Total human activities and the long-term suspended solids are the weight of relationship to sustainability. Most particles that are suspended in the nonpoint soil erosion results from stream flow. Turbidity is the amount of agriculture, logging, and construction. material suspended in the water, In addition, changes in dam measured by the amount of light that management on the Cedar River might penetrates the water column. Increases impact the sediment measurements to any one of these parameters can downstream. Analysis of trends signal an increase in the amount of requires baseline data for comparison 12 Environment Sustainable Seattle Indicators 1998 Air Quality
Sustainability trend Seattle’s air quality continues Seattle Air Quality Index to improve; the number of 400 “good” air quality days has increased to 89%. 300
Description 200 Air quality is fundamental to a healthy Days natural and human environment. 100 Outdoor air pollution in significant concentrations can raise aesthetic and nuisance issues such as impairment of 0 scenic visibility, unpleasant smoke, or 1980 1981 1982 1983 1984 1985 1986 1987 1988 1989 1990 1991 1992 1993 1994 1995 1996 1997 odors. Unless abated, it can also pose human health problems, especially for Good Moderate Unhealthful Very Unhealthful Hazardous more sensitive populations like children, asthma sufferers, and the five years and there have been no Linkages “hazardous” days (the most severe elderly. Motor vehicle operations, Air quality is strongly linked to category) recorded since 1986. industrial and commercial processing transportation and population patterns facilities, and wood and fossil fuel as well as other environmental, In Seattle proper, no carbon monoxide burning for heat or power are key economic, and social concerns. monitor has registered an exceedence contributing sources that affect local air Pedestrian-and bicycle-friendly streets, during the 1990s. The last monitored quality. accessibility to transit, and other urban particulate matter (PM10) exceedence design considerations can contribute to occurred in 1988 in Seattle’s Duwamish improved air quality. Clean air can Definition district. Cleaner motor vehicle promote economic growth as well as This indicator combines two related technology, PSAPCA’s woodsmoke attract more tourists or new residents measures of air quality. The first curtailment program, and industrial moving to Seattle. Poor air quality can measure is the number of days during source controls have contributed to impact ecological health and wild the calendar year that air quality was these improvements. salmon as sulfur dioxide emissions good, moderate, unhealthful, very unhealthful, or hazardous according to eventually make their way into land and the method of data analysis utilized by Evaluation water as acid rain and snow. the Puget Sound Air Control Agency The data indicate air quality has Unhealthful air conditions can increase (PSAPCA).5&6 The second measure is improved over time—a trend toward stress levels and inhibit outdoor activity the annual number of exceedences of sustainability. Nonetheless, our long- such as gardening or socializing with the National Ambient Air Quality term ability to maintain clean air neighbors. It can also increase health Standards (NAAQS) for carbon achievements will be challenged by a care expenditures, as it negatively affects monoxide and coarse particulate matter variety of social, economic, and the well-being of infants, older people, recorded in Seattle by the State unpredictable external factors. and persons with respiratory disease. Department of Ecology’s and PSAPCA’s Population and vehicle miles traveled automated air quality monitoring are growing at rates, which in the next network. five to ten years, may negate emission reductions derived from pollution control technology. Urban sprawl may Interpretation be diffusing a higher volume of Air quality has steadily improved in the pollutants over a broader area, resulting Seattle area since 1980, with some in superficially improved data that mask fluctuations (which can reflect weather an overall decline in air quality. In patterns). The number of “good” air addition, while the majority of the quality days has increased from 73 in citizenry may benefit from clean air 1980 (20% of the total days in the year) most of the time, neighborhood-level to 320 in 1997 (88%). We have gone nuisance problems or regional episodes from a 1981 high of 29 “unhealthful” of unhealthful air quality may persist. or “very unhealthful” days to having only one “unhealthful” day in the past
Sustainable Seattle Indicators 1998 Environment 13 Pedestrian- & Bicycle-Friendly Streets
? Sustainability trend Lack of data highlights need Striped Bicycle Lanes in Seattle to focus on improving 20 pedestrian and bicycle 16 networks. 15
8.5 Description 10 Miles Pedestrian- and bicycle-friendly streets 3.25 are vital public amenities, contributing 5 to community sustainability. Children playing outside, neighbors socializing, 0 and people walking can limited by the 1985 1990 1997 constant presence of moving cars. Pedestrian- and bicycle-friendly streets in 1990; and 469 injuries and 10 Linkages fatalities in 1995. promote social interaction and enable The environmental costs of motorized people to engage in physical exercise, vehicles to water and air quality are well According to Seattle Engineering which enhances personal well-being, documented. The economic cost of Department employees, there appears to while discouraging automobile usage building and maintaining roads and be a heightened awareness of pedestrian and its associated deleterious effects. parking lots is a drain on scarce city issues among neighborhood planning resources. Walking and bicycling activists as well as increased funding to promote neighborliness, improve Definition engineer pedestrian elements on streets. health, expand mobility, and enhance This indicator looks at several data sets: the percentage of streets within 1,000 public safety, especially for children, feet of urban villages, schools and social Evaluation people with disabilities, and the elderly. services that have sidewalks; the number Since there is little data available to Improved sidewalks, traffic signals, bike of striped bike lanes; and as an extreme measure pedestrian- and bicycle-friendly lanes, curb cuts and street furniture can measure of public safety, the number of streets, it is difficult to discern overall establish avenues for communities to pedestrian/vehicle injuries and trends either toward or away from function efficiently with little fatalities. The Seattle Office of sustainability. The first data set shows dependence on cars, encourage more Management and Planning provided the major urban centers have a relatively pedestrian traffic, and support a positive sidewalk data.7 The Seattle high degree of sidewalks, but it does not atmosphere for business. Transportation Department Bicycle and address other issues of pedestrian- Pedestrian Program supplied data on friendliness such as adjacent vehicle the number of striped bike lanes.8 The speed or aesthetic qualities such as trees, Seattle Engineering Department (now lighting, or wheelchair accessibility. the Seattle Transportation Department) From a safety perspective, the statistics furnished data on the number of of pedestrian/vehicle accidents describe pedestrian/vehicle accidents in the city.9 a relatively stable (though still unfortunately high) trend. The one indicator used to measure bicycle- Interpretation friendliness presents a positive trend. As of 1997, 80% of the streets near urban villages, 87% of the streets near While local policymakers have expressed social services such as hospitals, a commitment in the City of Seattle’s neighborhood service centers, Comprehensive Plan to provide safe community centers, and libraries, and pedestrian environments in all 78% of the streets near schools have neighborhoods, there needs to be sidewalks. The number of miles of intensified efforts to enhance and striped bike lanes on Seattle streets has expand networks. In addition, we need been steadily increasing from 3¼ in to improve methods to measure how 1985, to 8½ in 1990, to 16 in 1997. In well we are doing to support pedestrians 1985, there were 444 injuries and 13 and bicyclists. fatalities in pedestrian/vehicle accidents; 476 injuries and 14 fatalities
14 Environment Sustainable Seattle Indicators 1998 Open Space near Urban Villages
? Sustainability trend base. Since the 1989 Open Space bond Currently 87% of Seattle’s passed, the City of Seattle has added Proximity of Open Space residents lives within about 520 new acres through purchases, in Seattle three blocks of the city’s open agreements, easements, and transfers. spaces. Currently, 87% of the population lives within about 3 blocks of the city’s designated open spaces. Still, Description neighborhoods like Ballard and Open space gives city dwellers a place to Greenwood in Northwest Seattle as well breathe, relax, play, walk their dogs, as other pockets around the city contain have picnics, and hold community a large proportion of the residents gatherings. Open spaces provide urban without nearby access to open spaces. wildlife habitat and drainage for local The 1994 City of Seattle Office of streams. It would be hard to call any Management and Planning analysis city sustainable if it didn’t have concluded that only 29% of proposed sufficient open space to meet its urban villages met the city’s open space citizens’ needs. Providing sufficient criteria. Some urban villages are closer open space near “urban villages” is a key to meeting the guidelines than others. goal in Seattle’s Comprehensive Plan. Since the Plan proposes to increase Evaluation residential density in some urban The amount of designated open space villages, the need for public open space in the city has expanded slightly in will be especially important. recent years with new program
acquisitions. The available open space Definition provides close access for most of the With 1995 data from the Seattle Parks city’s population. However, the data Parks and Recreation Department, does not examine the quality of public Census Tracts more than 3 Sustainable Seattle mapped the open space. Furthermore, according to blocks from Open Space designated open spaces and examined the 1994 City of Seattle Seattle’s surrounding geographic population Comprehensive Plan, the current distribution to evaluate current access to amount of public open space is livable, and in turn help to achieve the public open spaces.10 The map provides insufficient for many proposed urban overall goal of the Comprehensive different shading for designated open villages. Neighborhood Plans being Plan—to create a more “Sustainable 1 spaces, for areas within /8 mile of open developed by 1999 should set targets for Seattle.” spaces (about 3 blocks), and for areas achieving public open space goals. 1 not within /8 mile of open spaces. Sustainable Seattle compared the map Linkages data with 1990 census tract data to Simply having some “breathing space” determine the share of the city residents within walking distance of your home is that are near public open spaces.11 The a benefit to mental health. Open space City Office of Management and can promote neighborliness and Planning (OMP) also conducted an improve public safety. Open space open space inventory in 1994, translates into less impervious surface, examining designated public open space which can help drainage control and near proposed urban villages. The improve water quality. Depending on inventory assessed if the proposed urban the type of open space, it can support villages met established open space urban wildlife habitat and enhance local guidelines, including the amount of ecological health. Trees and other area within 1/ mile of public open 8 living plants improve air quality, space. through release of oxygen and
absorption of pollutants like carbon Interpretation monoxide and dioxide. By providing Seattle has 6,200 acres designated as sufficient public open space in high public open space, equal to density residential and commercial approximately10% of the total land areas, urban villages will be more
Sustainable Seattle Indicators 1998 Environment 15 Impervious Surfaces
? Sustainability trend Land Coverage (by Watershed) Nearly one third of drainage lands are now impervious to Total (31%) surface water. Lake Sammamish (13%)
Description Sammamish River (22%) When we cover the earth with Lower Green River (34%) pavement, buildings, and other Lake Washington (37%) impenetrable barriers to water, we are creating impervious surfaces. Increased Puget Sound (37%) impervious surfaces send more rainwater into stormwater drains and Duwamish River (41%) can increase the risk of flooding, instead 0% 10% 20% 30% 40% 50% 60% 70% 80% 90% 100% of recharging aquifers. Stormwater Urban Rural Agriculture Parks/Forest runoff can increase erosion, causing siltation in streambeds and threatening salmon and other aquatic species analysis and will provide a useful For most watersheds in the western dependent on healthy streams. comparison when it becomes available. county detailed basin plans have been Stormwater runoff also carries pollution developed to manage stormwater runoff like gasoline or motor oil that collects Interpretation and reduce risk of flooding. Also on impervious surfaces, depositing them stewardship groups have been actively In 1992, King County watershed lands into streams. Finally, impervious working with public officials to were 30% more impervious than they surfaces increase local air temperatures, minimize urban impacts. New growth would be without any human impact. because solar energy becomes trapped in management requirements encourage Development in urban watersheds has pavement, roofs, and other heat- dense development and minimize reduced imperviousness of the land by absorbing surfaces (the “urban heat impact in drainages away from the city. 40%, leaving 60% of the effective area island” effect). For all these reasons, too available to absorb surface waters. In many impervious surfaces can negatively suburban watersheds an estimated 15% Linkages impact a community and its natural of the land is impervious. However, in Research at the University of systems. many of these areas, development is Washington has documented a strong
rapidly occurring, so the amount of connection between increased Definition impervious surfaces is increasing. impervious surfaces and decreased This indicator presents data for the six Drainage data are only available for biological health in creeks and wetlands, subwatersheds closest to Seattle, 1992, so no trends can be discerned. directly linking this impervious surface covering about one-fourth of King indicator with the ecological health County. The indicator has been Evaluation indicator. Impervious surfaces are also expanded since the 1995 report to use linked to indicators for wild salmon, Urban development has had a major Landsat data and to examine areas just soil erosion, vehicle miles traveled, impact on Greater Seattle drainages. outside Seattle where changes in pedestrian-friendly streets, perceived Impervious surfaces now cover much of impervious surfaces are happening quality of life, energy use, and air the land in and around the city. At this quickly. Data come from the King quality. point, historic data are not available to County Division of Water and Land evaluate trends in imperviousness of the Resources 1995 Regional Needs land. Based on conversations with King Assessment Atlas, which presents County Division of Water and Land summary land use patterns for each Resources staff, total impervious surface watershed including urban and area in the major urban areas of Seattle residential, rural, agricultural, parks, has not changed significantly in recent and forest using 1992 satellite imagery.12 years with little open space being Total impervious surface areas for the developed. The most significant changes watersheds were estimated by using are occurring in surrounding standard conversion factors for each incorporated cities where substantial type of land uses.13 Unfortunately, residential and commercial growth is detailed satellite data are not available reducing imperviousness of the land. under similar classification for previous years. A 1995 image is now under
16 Environment Sustainable Seattle Indicators 1998
Environment Notes
1 Ron Egan and Chuck Baranski, Washington State Fish and Wildlife Department, private communication, July 22,1997. 2 James Karr, University of Washington, private communication, August and December 1997. 3 Jay Clark, Puget Sound Regional Council, private communication, August 1997. 4 King County Water and Land Resources Division, Quality of Local Lakes and Streams. (Seattle, WA: 1994). 5 Puget Sound Air Pollution Control Agency, 1995 Air Quality Data Summary (Seattle, WA: December 1996). 6 Stella Neham, Puget Sound Air Pollution Control Agency, private communication, October 1997. 7 Seattle Office of Management and Planning, Sidewalks and Related Storm Drainage Improvements: SLI #49, (Seattle, WA: June 1997). 8 Peter Lagerway, Seattle Transportation Department, Bicycle Program, private communication, July 1997. 9 Seattle Transportation Department, Seattle Traffic Accidents Summary: 1996 (Seattle, WA: 1997). 10 Seattle Parks and Recreation Department, unpublished geographic data, 1995. 11 U.S. Bureau of the Census Web data: 1990 (http://www.census.gov/). 12 King County Water and Land Resources Division and Regional Needs Assessment, Atlas of the Watersheds of King County (Seattle, WA: July 1995). 13 Chris Pyle, King County Water and Land Resources Division, private communication, August 1997.
Sustainable Seattle Indicators 1998 Environment 17
P o p u l a t i o n & Resources S U C C E S S S T O R I E S Northwest Environmental Businesses Band Together Story by Aaron Best
he technological abilities, environmental ethic, and geo- Washington State, employing more than 27,000 people. Most of T graphical location of the Pacific Northwest make it a likely these companies are small and specialized; nearly a third have 10 laboratory for fostering sustainability. It’s no wonder that or fewer employees and more than half have fewer than 50 people are expecting Northwest businesses to lead the way to an employees. Altogether, the industry generates annual revenues economy that’s clean, green, and efficient. of at least $3 billion. Worldwide, the environmental-industry market is projected to top $600 billion by the year 2000, The Northwest Environmental Business Council (NEBC) is a compared to about $300 billion in 1993. This corresponds to newly formed regional trade group for businesses whose an annual growth rate of over 10%. business is the environment. Environmental businesses from Washington, Oregon, Idaho, Montana, and Alaska are eligible In 1997, the state-level industry associations elected to create to join NEBC. NEBC to leverage their resources and serve the Pacific North- west region as a whole. The Washington Environmental Member businesses receive professional support, marketing Industry Association (WEIA) is one of those organizations. The leads, discounted services, and advertising. NEBC committees WEIA web page lists 53 member businesses from the City of also work to encourage dialogue between industry and regula- Seattle and 164 from the state of Washington. WEIA will no tors and work on legislation affecting environmental businesses. longer exist as its own entity. Instead, it is moving its member- ship into NEBC. “NEBC members are mostly consulting and engineering firms,” said Mike McDowell, president of NEBC, “though there are an More information about WEIA can be found online at increasing number of environmental technology and pollution www.weia.org or by calling 206-528-3410. More information prevention firms.” about NEBC and member businesses can be found on its web page at www.nebc.org or by calling 503-227-6361. McDowell said that there is reluctance on the part of member companies to be out in the lead on environmental issues because companies don’t want to be seen as using the political process to raise revenues. However, regional business organiza- tions such as NEBC can take a more activist role, he said. NEBC is now working with the Asia Pacific Economic Coopera- tion Center for Sustainable Development and may offer joint business memberships with the Alternative Energy Association.
NEBC looks beyond the Pacific Northwest to help members market themselves internationally. Such marketing is growing increasingly important, as demand for environmental services within the U.S. levels off, and demand in overseas markets such as Asia grows dramatically. McDowell says that NEBC is working on developing foreign markets, especially in Asia. “We are trying to position ourselves as leaders in that area. It’s a difficult process because we don’t have many companies (short of the big international companies) that have a lot of interna- tional experience.”
According to a recent report by the Washington State Depart- ment of Community, Trade and Economic Development, nearly 500 environmental industry companies are located in
20 Population & Resources Sustainable Seattle Indicators 1998 Population & Resources S U S T A I N A B I L I T Y T R E N D S
Population King County’s population growth has ÍÎ slowed to 1% per year, but continues to put pressure on many social and environmental systems.
Water Consumption Strong conservation programs, summer Ï surcharges, and efficient system opera- tions have reduced total water consump- tion 12% since 1990.
Solid Waste Generated & Though we are better at recycling, we Ð continue to generate increasing Recycled amounts of solid waste.
Pollution Prevention Direct toxic releases and sewage heavy Ï metals have both decreased since 1987.
Local Farm Production Farmland in King County is rapidly Ð disappearing, though farmers markets and organic farming are on the rise.
Vehicle Miles Traveled & Fuel consumption and vehicle miles Ð traveled per capita continue to Fuel Consumption increase, reflecting our dependence on the automobile.
Renewable & Nonrenew- Pumping gasoline into automobiles Ð accounts for almost half of our growing able Energy Use nonrenewable energy use.
Sustainable Seattle Indicators 1998 Population & Resources 21 Population
Sustainability trend King County’s population Population of King County growth has slowed to 1% per 1,800 7.00% year but continues to put 1,600 6.00% pressure on many social and 1,400 5.00% environmental systems. 1,200 4.00% Description 1,000 3.00% 800 2.00% Rising population growth and associated high consumption lifestyles 600 1.00% Change Rate can pose a roadblock toward Population (1,000s) 400 0.00% sustainability. Rapid growth drives 200 -1.00% urban and suburban sprawl, and - -2.00% challenges our ability to manage traffic,
provide adequate education and health 1970 1972 1974 1976 1978 1980 1982 1984 1986 1988 1990 1992 1994 1996 care, maintain wilderness and open Population Annual Change Rate space, control crime rates, and handle many other economic, social and population grew 2.5% and the second Linkages between 1987 and 1992 where it grew environmental problems. Over time, a Even a slowly increasing population has 2.3%. Since 1992, the county’s growth population can exceed its carrying implications for a region’s economic, rate has been tapering off to its current capacity—that is, become too large for social, cultural and environmental level. The majority of recent population the local environment to sustain it. At systems. Population growth and human growth in King County has been the the same time, a shrinking population, behavior directly affect land-use result of natural increases (birth rates while often good for traffic congestion patterns, air quality, ecological health, surpassing death rates), with migration and environmental quality, can be an solid waste generated, water quality and playing a lesser role. indicator of a depressed or shrinking availability, energy use, and other economy. resource issues. Increasing numbers of Evaluation people tax the ability of the government Definition The recent slowing of King County’s and industry to meet the basic needs of The Forecasting Division of the population growth rate is encouraging. its citizens such as affordable housing, Washington State Office of Financial However, we must continue to explore jobs, medical care, potable water, arable Management (OFM) furnished King strategies for managing urban sprawl land for agriculture, and open space. County population data.1 In the and reducing our impact on the decades between official U.S. Census environment. What also remains data (taken in 1970, 1980, and 1990), difficult is pinpointing a sustainable OFM’s data are used as official level of human population for this population estimates. Rolling three-year region, especially as the population’s average growth rates illustrate variances lifestyle puts a disproportionate amount in the pace of growth since 1970. of stress on the area’s natural resources. Additional information was provided by According to Northwest Environment the King County Department of Public Watch, United States residents Health and a report from Northwest comprise 5% of the world’s population, Environment Watch entitled Misplaced yet we consume one-third or more of Blame: The Real Roots of Population the world’s paper, plastic, computers, Growth.2&3 and cars; use one-fourth of the world’s energy, copper and aluminum; and consume one-fifth of the world’s beef Interpretation and one-sixth of the world’s grain and In 1997, there were 1,646,200 people steel. The high consumption lifestyles living in King County—an increase of of the affluent threaten the very thing 17,400 (1%) from 1996 and an 18% that makes this region so attractive—its increase since 1987. During the past wealth of natural resources. two decades, the county has experienced two rapid growth spurts: one between 1977 to 1982 in which county
22 Population & Resources Sustainable Seattle Indicators 1998 Water Consumption
Sustainability trend Water Consumption in the Seattle Region Strong conservation 180 programs, summer surcharges, and efficient 160 system operations have reduced total water 140 consumption 12% since 1990.
120 Description Million Gallons Per Day A sustainable society uses its fresh water 100 supplies efficiently. The limits to our 1975 1977 1979 1981 1983 1985 1987 1989 1991 1993 1995 1997 supply of fresh water were dramatically demonstrated during the drought of Linkages 1992 when restrictions were placed on A number of factors contributed to this Water use is strongly linked to other household water use. Despite our damp recent reduction in water consumption. indicators, including population, climate, King County depends on A seasonal rate structure was introduced ecological health, impervious surfaces, Cascade Mountain snow packs for in 1989 with higher marginal rates in wild salmon and quality of life. Our summer water supplies—a renewable the summer peak season to more capacity to grow food, produce power, resource, but one subject to major accurately reflect the value of water at its preserve our wild salmon runs, fluctuations caused by annual changes time of use. During the early 1990s, an manufacture aluminum for the airplane in weather. This indicator measures the array of aggressive water conservation industry, and a host of other related total volume of water consumed per day programs was implemented. New state activities depend directly on responsible in King County. plumbing codes specifying efficiency stewardship of water resources. Global standards for water fixtures were warming—fed by global carbon adopted in 1993. SPU has undertaken Definition emissions, including those produced in concerted efforts to reduce non-revenue Seattle Public Utilities (SPU) supplies the Seattle area—may eventually affect water by lining leaky reservoirs, and water from the Cedar and South Fork water supplies. Though the exact reducing unnecessary reservoir Tolt Rivers to almost 75% of King nature of its impact in the region is overflowing and main flushing. The County’s population—about 1.26 open to debate, it is predicted that 1992 drought and a very cold, wet million customers. The rest of King warmer and drier summers will mean summer in 1993 also reduced demand, County, mostly to the south and east of less water available for drinking, but those effects were mostly temporary. SPU’s service area, is served by other, irrigation, hydropower, recreation, and Since the drought (1994 and after), primarily groundwater-based water even salmon. In turn, less water may consumption leveled off at about 148 systems or private wells. Water influence the make-up of our natural mgd where it remained in 1997. consumption data is reported on an resources and the quality of life for area annual average basis in millions of citizens. gallons per day (mgd) and reflects only Evaluation consumption within SPU’s service area.4 In recent years we have been moving closer to sustainability in our personal Interpretation water use, thanks to effective and visionary conservation efforts. Total Total water consumption has been water consumption, which grew to steady at just below150 millions of about 170 mgd by 1990, even as per gallons per day (mgd) since rebounding capita consumption tapered off, has from the 1992 drought. This represents dropped to just under 150 mgd and a 12% decline from peak consumption been maintained at that level from 1994 levels since 1989. Meanwhile, per through 1997. This drop of 20 mgd or capita consumption continues to 12% from pre-1992 drought levels of decline. Historic total annual water consumption is attributed to all of the consumption trended upwards between factors described above: higher marginal 1970 and 1990 but did not grow as fast water rates, conservation programs, new as the region’s population. plumbing codes, and more efficient use Consumption reached a maximum of of water by SPU in operating the 171 mgd in 1989 before dropping system. sharply after 1990.
Sustainable Seattle Indicators 1998 Population & Resources 23 Solid Waste Generated & Recycled
Sustainability trend Solid Waste Flows in King County Though we are better at recycling, we continue to 10 generate increasing amounts of solid waste. 8
Description 6 A sustainable society minimizes the 4 per Capita amount of waste it generates. It uses Pounds Daily materials efficiently—investing in 2 products and services that can be used over and over again instead of being 0 used up. Recycling can limit the
amount that gets buried in landfills or 1981 1982 1983 1984 1985 1986 1987 1988 1989 1990 1991 1992 1993 1994 1995 1996 1997 incinerated. Pounds Recycled Pounds Disposed Pounds Generated Definition King County defines “municipal solid local recycling programs. Waste landfills can be a source of waste generated” as the total solid waste recycled has nearly tripled since 1981, contamination to soil and groundwater, stream produced by residences, stores, with the regional recycling rate rising which can negatively impact human offices and other generators. It excludes from less than 20% of waste generated health and wildlife habitat. In some waste from industrial, agricultural, or to almost 50% in 1997. Over the last 5 instances, landfills produce methane demolition sources (these may also years, recycling per capita has increased gas—which when burned, contributes to represent significant problems) as well by 35% but disposal has only been air pollution and carbon emissions; and as special wastes such as asbestos, reduced by 6%, leading to a 10% when vented, contributes directly to medical waste, contaminated soils, increase in waste generation per capita global warming. wood waste, and construction debris. King County Solid Waste Division is Evaluation While recycling should continue to increase, efforts should also be made to responsible for solid waste planning and Total solid waste generated per capita reduce consumption of disposable provision of transfer and disposal has increased every year since 1983, materials and the subsequent waste that services and recycling programs for all despite growth in recycling and “turning is generated. Producers can minimize areas in King County outside of Seattle. the corner” toward reductions in both the manufacture of non-reusable or The City of Seattle Solid Waste Utility total and per capita waste disposed non-recyclable products, packaging and handles collection and data within city during the early 1990s. However, in waste by-products. Consumers can limits. This indicator combines data 1997, we increased our waste disposed avoid their use of such products and from both the City of Seattle and King per capita for the first time since 1990. 5&6 abstain from unnecessary consumption. County. Solid waste generated is Trends such as housing construction, Government agencies can encourage broken into two categories: waste commercial development, increases in businesses and individuals to reduce, disposed at landfills and other consumer spending, and greater reuse and recycle (and lead by example). processing/disposal facilities and waste demand for convenience and time- materials that are collected and saving products such as disposables and recycled—typically paper, metal, glass, highly packaged food items are plastics or yard waste. contributing to the increase in total solid waste generated. Interpretation Increases in the amount of waste Linkages produced per person, along with Solid waste generation is linked to other population and economic growth, have social and economic indicators, such as nearly doubled total solid waste energy use, air quality, ecological health, generation since 1981. Waste asthma in children and high school generation per capita increased by 50% graduation. Increases in waste since 1981. However, waste disposed generation per capita coupled with per capita is now less than in 1981, population growth will result in larger largely due to the tremendous success of mountains of garbage. Waste in
24 Population & Resources Sustainable Seattle Indicators 1998 Pollution Prevention
Sustainability trend Direct toxic releases and Toxic Releases and Sewage Heavy Metals sewage heavy metals have in King County both decreased since 1987. 500 35,000 450 30,000 Description 400 350 25,000 A sustainable society operates without harming its environment. Industrial 300 20,000 and manufacturing processes would be 250 15,000 designed to minimize emissions of toxic 200
chemicals to the land, air and water. 150 (pounds/day) (pounds/day) 10,000 Residents and businesses alike would 100 choose clean products and processes to 5,000 Direct Toxic Releases
Heavy Metals in Sewage 50 reduce inputs of deleterious chemicals 0 - to the waste stream.
1987 1988 1989 1990 1991 1992 1993 1994 1995 Definition Heavy Metals Toxic Releases Two indicators were selected to measure regional progress in pollution Interpretation Linkages prevention: direct toxic releases into Toxic releases have declined by 69% in Preventing various types of pollution is the environment by local manufacturing King County since the EPA began likely to improve air quality and facilities, and heavy metal loading into collecting data in 1987. The decline ecological health, reduce asthma the sewage waste stream. may be attributed to better control hospitalization, lower health care technology, improved production expenditures, and improve the quality The first set of data come from the processes, recycling or energy recovery. of life in our region. Pollution can be Environmental Protection Agency’s On the other hand, toxic releases in prevented through improving fuel 7 Toxic Release Inventory (TRI), which King County may have declined due to efficiency, and reducing energy use, as tallies routine and accidental releases of increased transfer of the toxic chemicals well as using cleaner, healthier toxic chemicals to the environment. for release or disposal to other regions, technologies to provide for human Self-administered reports document benefiting the local environment at needs and wants. emissions of more than 600 toxic others’ expense. The EPA data show chemicals in 28 categories. All federal that, from 1987 to 1995, total transfers facilities are required to report, as are of toxics out of the county increased by manufacturing facilities with 10 or more 171%. full-time employees and businesses that manufacture or process 25,000 pounds, Heavy metals loadings in sewage or otherwise use 10,000 pounds, of treatment plants also decreased in the toxic chemicals. It does not include 1980s but have stabilized in the 1990s. releases of toxic chemicals from non- Trends of specific metals include manufacturing facilities, such as dry decreases in chromium and zinc cleaners or gas stations. content, while influx concentrations of both lead and nickel have increased. The second set of data details heavy metals found in sewage treatment plant influx, for the West Point and Renton Evaluation treatment plants. This data was made The data suggest that the region is available by the King County Industrial moving toward sustainability in Waste Section of the Water and Land pollution prevention. Toxic releases Resources Division.8 It includes heavy from manufacturing facilities have metals of concern to ecosystem health: declined steadily over the eight years on arsenic, copper, chromium, cobalt, record, although transfers to other mercury, nickel, lead, silver and zinc. regions have increased. The heavy metals content of sewage arriving at area treatment plants has also decreased.
Sustainable Seattle Indicators 1998 Population & Resources 25 Local Farm Production
Sustainability trend Acres in King County with Agricultural Zoning Farmland in King County is rapidly decreasing, though 80,000 59,813 54,172 farmers markets and organic 60,000 42,290 41,000 farming are on the rise. 40,000
Acres 20,000
Description 0 A truly sustainable society has the ability 1982 1987 1992 1995 to produce enough food to support its local population in a way that does not reduce the fertility of the land. Local Certified Organic Farms in King County food production is preferred since the 150 transportation to import food consumes 125 tremendous amounts of energy and 100 75 generates pollution. When food is 50 Farms 25 imported from far-away places, nutrient Number of 0 value is reduced during the transport 1995 1996 1997 time. Also, consumers don’t always know the conditions under which non- Num ber of Farm s Num ber of Acres local food is produced, so they may be unconsciously supporting labor million bond issue that purchased Evaluation exploitation, poor land practices, or development rights of significant The data show two opposing trends. toxic chemicals use and be ingesting farmlands. Reflecting the decline in On the large scale, the amount of zoned unknown quantities of residual toxins. farm acreage, there is a decreasing trend farm acreage and the number of farms Local farming is part of a self-reliant and in the number of King County farms. in King County continue to decrease. diverse economy, making a region less However, the organic certification of While the Farmland Preservation vulnerable to market crises. More local farms in the county, though small, is Program may be limiting the farmland means less developed land, growing. development of additional acres, it is fewer impervious surfaces, and thus a not clear how much of that is actually greater presence of the natural A direct indicator for local food being used for farming purposes. ecosystem’s features and functions. production is the increasing number of Demands for housing are creating farmers markets selling fresh local pressures to convert farmlands to produce during the growing season. As Definition residential developments. On the of 1990, there were only three member This indicator was expanded since the positive side, there is a small but markets operating in King County: the 1995 report to include four measures. growing interest in more sustainable Issaquah Farmers Market (started in King County Office of Open Space and practices: organic farming and farmers 1990), the Kent Market (1975), and the Resource Lands furnished data on the markets, which include most of the Seattle Pike Place Market (1907). Since acreage of in-county zoned farmland local organic growers. 1990, six more markets have joined: and the total number of farms in King Auburn (1993), Enumclaw (1997), County. The Organic Farm Program in Fremont (1996), Seattle University the Washington Department of Linkages District (1993), Vashon (1995), and Agriculture provided the number of Farm acreage and sustainable Woodinville (1994). The average total farms and farm acres certified as agriculture affect environmental number of vendors selling at these organic.9 The Washington State indicators such as ecological health, soil markets is currently 276 (not including Farmers Market Association supplied erosion, water consumption, and Enumclaw, which is brand new, and data on the number of in-county pollution levels. Energy use and vehicle Issaquah, which is starting in a new farmers’ markets and average number of miles traveled are also lessened by local, space this year). In addition to those vendors. sustainable agriculture. Organic listed above, there are small roadside vegetables contribute to human health, stands, as well as a few markets that are resulting in a possible reduction in Interpretation not members of the Association. health care expenditures. The number of acres of zoned agricultural land continues to decrease. This loss has occurred despite the approval by voters in 1979 of a $50
26 Population & Resources Sustainable Seattle Indicators 1998 Vehicle Miles & Fuel Consumption
Sustainability trend Fuel consumption and King County Travel and Fuel Consumption vehicle miles traveled per 10,000 560 capita continue to 9,500 540 increase, reflecting our 9,000 520 dependence on the 8,500 automobile. 8,000 500 7,500 480 7,000 460 Capita Description per Capita Annual Miles 6,500 The more we drive, the further we move 440 6,000 away from sustainability. An increase in 5,500 420 the number of miles traveled by King Annual Gallons of Gas per County drivers reflects growing 5,000 400 dependence upon non-renewable 1970 1973 1976 1979 1982 1985 1988 1991 1994 1997 natural resources, an increased amount of time allocated to a stressful activity, Annual Travel Annual Fuel Consumption and a declining ability to work, live and participate in a neighborhood or capita VMT rose by 615 miles per year Linkages (7%). community. Gasoline-fueled vehicle use Vehicle use and gasoline consumption creates air and water pollution as well as are linked to excessive use of Fuel consumption per capita has risen traffic congestion. Roads take up nonrenewable resources, pollution, loss more slowly over the last two decades, valuable land, reduce wildlife habitat of open space and wildlife habitat, rising from 440 gallons per capita in and deprive the human community of decreased social health as a result of 1970 to 520 gallons in 1980 and to 530 open space. Most of us live in dwellings stress and pollution, and a declining gallons in 1997, with two periods of where a small child cannot go more sense of community. Specifically, reduced fuel consumption in the early than a few yards from the front door gasoline consumption contributes to 1980s and 1990s. Over the last four without a potential brush with death. A increased greenhouse gas production years per capita consumption has decrease in vehicle miles traveled would and global warming. Many of these can increased by 33 gallons per year (7%). reflect reduced travel distances, more be improved by switching In addition, Metro bus ridership has walking and biking, and wider use of transportation modes toward mass tapered off since the early 1980s, falling public transportation and carpools. transit, walking and bicycling, as well as from an all time high of 52 annual rides integrating commerce and residence in per capita in 1980 to 47 in 1996. neighborhoods and business districts. Definition The Washington State Department of Increasing the efficiency on all cars by Transportation calculates data on miles Evaluation 10 miles per gallon could reduce U.S. traveled per capita using the Recent trends, with the notable carbon dioxide emissions by 20%. A Department’s High Performance exception of the 1996 funding an stable population would also reduce Monitoring System and estimates expanded regional rapid transit system, sprawl and discourage vehicle use. annual fuel consumption based on indicate a continued dependence on car revenues from motor fuel taxes.10 The travel. In the last four years, fuel King County Department of consumption and vehicle miles traveled Transportation supplied Metro have both increased by 7%. Alarmingly, ridership data.11 after decades of increasing efficiency our vehicles have stopped becoming more fuel-efficient. In the long run, major Interpretation changes in land use, vehicle technology, Vehicle miles traveled (VMT) per capita employment patterns, vehicle efficiency, have steadily increased over the last two and the quality and accessibility of decades, rising from 5,800 miles per public transportation will be necessary year in 1970 to 7,300 miles in 1980 and to achieve sustainability. to 9,200 miles in 1990. The methodology to calculate VMT changed in 1992, making it difficult to compare prior data. From 1993 to 1997, per
Sustainable Seattle Indicators 1998 Population & Resources 27 Renewable & Nonrenewable Energy Use
Sustainability trend Renewable and Nonrenewable Energy Use Pumping gasoline into automobiles accounts for in King County almost half of our growing 250 nonrenewable energy use. 200
Description 150 Energy is integral to our daily lives. By 100 Trillion BTU definition, the use of nonrenewable 50 energy resources such as oil, natural gas, and coal is not viable in the long term 0 because supplies are finite. Improper use of renewables such as hydropower 1975 1980 1981 1982 1983 1984 1985 1986 1987 1988 1989 1990 1991 1992 1993 1994 1995 may negatively impact salmon runs or Gasoline Natural Gas forest and aquatic ecosystems. Our Renewable Electricity Non-renewable electricity Total movement toward sustainability is dependent on the extent to which we are able to decrease our reliance on natural gas increased by 28%. Of the A new energy future may be in the nonrenewable energy resources, shift total 1995 energy use in King County, making. The Pacific Northwest is our use of fossil fuels toward essential 43% was used in fueling vehicles, already home to the nation’s biggest uses and transitional needs, and develop natural gas use accounted for 25%, solar-cell producer and the world leader renewables in an environmentally and while electricity use accounted for the in fuel-cell technology. economically responsible manner. remaining 31% of the total. Linkages Definition Evaluation Nonrenewable energy use directly This indicator tracks consumption of A review of King County energy use contributes to increased greenhouse gas gasoline, electricity, and natural gas, suggests that we are moving away from production and resultant global with data provided by the King County sustainability. Continued dependence warming. Energy use is linked to most Office of Budget and Strategic Planning, on motor fuels, almost half of our facets of our social, economic, and Washington State Department of current energy use, poses a critical cultural fabric. We heat our homes Transportation,12 Washington challenge for changing our energy with gas, electricity, and oil. Department of Community and consumption patterns. Population Automobiles, still our primary means of Economic Development, Seattle City growth is another significant factor transportation, consume vast quantities Light,13 Puget Sound Energy Services,14 contributing to our region’s high energy of gasoline and are a major contributor and the Puget Sound Air Pollution use. As population increases, most new to air pollution. Urban design and land- Control Agency. Adequate data for single-family homes are heated by use policies have been greatly influenced heating oil, wood energy, and other natural gas, increasing our use of by the automobile. In producing food, lesser-used resources were not available. nonrenewables. significantly more energy is required to provide meat products than grains. Over the next several decades, we must Energy use has serious impacts on Interpretation make the transition to a sustainable critical natural systems: coal-fired power From 1986 to 1995 our total energy use energy future. It is imperative that we plants diminish air quality, and in King County increased by 22% from reduce per capita energy consumption. hydropower affects streams, rivers, and 172 trillion British thermal units (TBtu) The current restructuring of the utility fish. to 209 TBtu. However, per capita industry, while offering opportunities, energy use increased by about 3.6% over also poses significant challenges. Can we the same period, as King County restructure in such a way that the short- population increased by 17%.15 term focus of competitive markets will Nonrenewable energy use increased not eclipse our long-term social, from 73% to 77% of total energy use, economic, and environmental goals? and our use of electricity generated Can we design an energy marketplace from nonrenewable resources increased that will support conservation, from 18% to 26% of total electricity renewable energy resources, restoration use. Our use of gasoline and diesel fuel and preservation of fish and wildlife, increased by 21%, and our use of affordability, and public accountability?
28 Population & Resources Sustainable Seattle Indicators 1998
Population & Resources Notes
1 Washington State Office of Financial Management, 1997 Population Trends, Table 3. Components of Population Change by County, 1990-97. (Olympia, WA: September 1997). 2 Seattle-King County Department of Public Health, 1995 Survey on Teen Pregnancy (Seattle, WA: November 1997). 3 Alan T. Durning and Christopher D. Crowther, Misplaced Blame: The Real Roots of Population Growth (Seattle, WA: Northwest Environmental Watch, July 1997). 4 Bruce Florey, Seattle Public Utilities, private communication, July and December 1997. 5 Bill Reed, King County Solid Waste Division, private communication, July 1997. 6 Lisa Perrin, Seattle Public Utilities, private communication, July 1997. 7 Environmental Protection Agency, United States Toxics Release Inventory, 1987-1995. Online at http://www.epa.gov/opptintr/tri/. 8 Heavy metal content of influx provided by the King County Industrial waste section of the Water and Land Resources Division. 9 Miles McAvoy, Organic Farm Program, Washington Department of Agriculture, private communication, May 1997. 10 Dan Falter, Washington State Department of Transportation, private communication, July and November 1997. 11 Teddi Reynolds, King County Department of Transportation, private communication, August 1997. 12 Washington State Department of Transportation, Gasoline use in 1997 – special tabulation, contact Dan Falter. 13 Seattle City Light, Electricity use - special tabulation, contact Labh Sachdev. 14 Puget Energy Services. Annual Reports (1983 to 1996), contact Karen Burrows. The percentage of renewable and non-renewable for years 1994 and 1995 was not available as of August 4, 1997. Placeholder values of .55 for renewable, .45 for non-renewable were used as approximations. This value is the average of the percentage splits for years 1988-1993. 15 Washington State Office of Financial Management, 1997 Population Trends, Table 3. Components of Population Change by County, 1990-97 (Olympia, WA: September 1997).
Sustainable Seattle Indicators 1998 Population & Resources 29
Economy S U C C E S S S T O R I E S Plymouth Helps the Homeless with More than Shelter Story by Susan Cannon
ina Hughes, a severely depressed diabetic, once found herself PHG funds its work largely through earnings from property N among the nearly 4,500 homeless in Seattle. Like many of development, rentals, and commercial management. Private the nation’s homeless, health problems disrupted her attempts to live donations and federal Housing & Urban Development (HUD) an independent life. Nina found help with Plymouth Housing grants supplement the budget. Monthly rents from the nine Group (PHG), a local nonprofit striving to eliminate PHG properties range from the $150 to $465. Rent paid by homelessness by stabilizing homeless and very-low-income people tenants accounts for 36% of PHG funding, while subsidies in safe, decent housing and providing them opportunities to cover 28%. Some properties include street level retail. improve their lives. PHG models sustainable practices by generating much of its own operating income through preserving, PHG’s achievements illustrate how its approach contributes to developing and operating affordable housing, and committing overall community sustainability. Last year, for clients with at resources to social problems that keep many from a permanent least one year in the Shelter Plus Care program, mental health home. hospitalizations dropped 70%, and incidents of incarceration declined 84%. By focusing on housing for single-adults in “When someone is homeless, a lot of downtown Seattle, PHG provides affordable living for the low- energy is devoted to basic survival— wage workforce. While this helps preserve the diversity of the food, clothes, safety. Emotional, downtown population, women are still a minority in PHG mental, and health care needs are housing due to fears for safety or the fact they have children often put on the back burner.” who cannot be housed by PHG. By setting floors aside for —Todd Filer, PHG Housing Manager single women and creating a safe environment, their numbers last year rose from 19% to 24%.
Simply placing a homeless person in an apartment or shelter is The future guarantees a challenge. Welfare reform, particularly not a sustainable solution to homelessness. PHG recognized that cutbacks in federal housing subsidies, is diminishing housing the chronically homeless were struggling with emotional and for low-income populations. Federal contracts for rent subsidies mental issues, barriers to employment, lack of supportive will begin to expire in 1998. PHG maintains that those who are relationships, disabilities, HIV, and substance abuse. “When mentally ill, living with AIDs, and otherwise challenged cannot someone is homeless, a lot of energy is devoted to basic survival— be moved immediately “from welfare to work,” as directed by food, clothes, safety,” explains Todd Filer, PHG Housing the new welfare reform. Other housing agencies have had to Manager. “Emotional, mental, and health care needs are put on turn away Seattle’s neediest in favor of tenants who can pay the back burner.” PHG differs from typical low-income housing higher rent. Despite the growing financial pressure, PHG has programs by connecting residents with community resources that committed itself to serving the “poorest among us, those who help them manage their lives. The organization partners with often slip through the cracks and are left, literally, out on the agencies that treat mental health issues, AIDs, substance abuse, or streets.” attend to special needs of the elderly or disabled.
Most PHG buildings have resident management staff available to tenants 24 hours a day. Social service professionals work with tenants to increase their independence and self esteem, and adjust to living within a structured environment. Tenants relearn basic living skills such as managing a budget, or how to set boundaries and build support systems. Many tenants volunteer, by assisting at the lobby desk, cleaning up around the building, or running errands for a neighbor.
32 Economy Sustainable Seattle Indicators 1998 Economy S U S T A I N A B I L I T Y T R E N D S
Energy Use per Dollar of We continue to reduce by 1% per year Ï the amount of energy we use to generate Income each dollar of wealth.
Employment Despite a slight upswing in employment Ï concentration in 1996, Seattle’s Concentration economy continues to diversify.
Unemployment Unemployment has been decreasing, Ï following traditional economic cycles; still jobs are not equitably distributed.
Distribution of Personal King County’s rich are getting richer, Ð while the poor and middle class are Income losing ground.
Health Care Health care expenditures per capita Ð Expenditures continue to increase, but at a slower rate.
Work Required for Basic Workers are facing growing pressure to Ð work longer hours and earn more, while Needs having less time to spend with family and friends. Housing Affordability Housing costs remain 60% above ÍÎ affordable prices for first time buyers and renters, but the gap has stabilized over the last few years. Children Living in Increasing numbers of children in Ð Seattle and King County are living in Poverty poverty.
Emergency Room Use for High emergency room use shows the ÍÎ ER may be acting as a substitute for Non-ER Purposes primary health care.
Community Banks are generally meeting local credit ? needs, but changes in regulations inhibit Reinvestment comparisons to previous years.
Sustainable Seattle Indicators 1998 Economy 33 Energy Inputs per Dollar of Personal Income
Sustainability trend We continue to reduce by 1% Energy Use per Dollar of Personal Income per year the amount of (Thousand Btu/$) energy we use to generate 6 each dollar of wealth. 5 Description A sustainable economy minimizes its 4
throughput—the amount of materials Thousand Btu/$ and energy it uses—to provide for 3 individual’s needs and wants. In our work, each of us takes materials from 1983 1984 1985 1986 1987 1988 1989 1990 1991 1992 1993 1994 1995 the earth and returns wastes as we create Thousands of Non-renewable Btus per Dollar things of value for society. The Thousands of Btus per Dollar paychecks people bring home represent their monthly “take” for their economic decreased by 5.8% over the 13-year imported materials we use in our work. contribution. How many energy period. An improvement in this indicator is a resources are expended for each dollar certain signal that local efficiency gains of personal income? Basically, this It is important to note that both are being made in how we produce and indicator measures our economic personal incomes and energy use have enjoy the fruits of our labor. metabolism. The goal is to get as much grown significantly. Over the 13-year well-being as possible out of each calorie period, personal income increased by Linkages burned. 30.5%, non-renewable energy use Our energy-intensive economy creates increased by 23.7% and total energy use wealth, but at a high cost: the cost of increased by 15%. Though total Definition smog and acid rain, greenhouse resource use continues to climb, our This indicator compares per-capita warming, as well as economic and growing energy efficiency is important energy use to per-capita personal income strategic instability due to our to highlight. Of course, much more can for the last 13 years. The energy data is dependence on foreign oil. This be done. the same as that used in the Renewable indicator is directly linked to other and Nonrenewable Energy Use resource use and environmental indicator in this report. Annual Evaluation indicators, such as energy use, income personal income data for King County In King County, our paychecks are distribution and air quality. Contrary were obtained from the Bureau of getting slightly “greener,” using less total to what some might believe, the fossil- Economic Analysis, U.S. Department of energy per take-home dollar, but using fuel economy is not just the result of 1 Commerce. The income data is the same amount of non-renewable market forces. Our system is built upon measured in constant 1996 dollars to energy. Though our economy may be innovations of the 19th century—coal, 2 correct for inflation, and the energy getting slightly better at turning energy oil, gas, and automobiles. It will take data is measured in British thermal into wealth, its sheer increase in size has 21st century solutions to move out of 3 units (Btu). increased overall energy use by 15% in fossil fuels and toward sustainability. 13 years. In moving toward Public-private partnerships will be key. Interpretation sustainability, we need to accelerate our In 1995, 4.4 thousand Btu of energy innovation of energy-efficient means for were used for every dollar of personal creating economic well-being. The income in King County. The energy- Pacific Northwest is home to a skilled, intensity of King County incomes in wealthy, and environmentally conscious 1994 was 8.1% lower than the average work force. It is time that we put our energy use over the 13-year period talents towards creating the next measured. This represents an 11.9% economy—one that is efficient in its use decrease from the high of 5 thousand of energy and materials. Btu per dollar that occurred in 1984. Although this indicator fails to capture When measured against total energy the energy invested in goods and use, our personal incomes appear to be services imported from elsewhere, it getting more energy efficient. When does measure the energy that goes into incomes are measured against only non- our homegrown goods and services and renewable energy, energy intensity into the economic value we add to the
34 Economy Sustainable Seattle Indicators 1998 Employment Concentration
Sustainability trend Employment at Top Ten Companies Despite a slight upswing in in Central Puget Sound employment concentration in 1996, Seattle’s economy 1,200,000 25.0% continues to diversify. 1,000,000 20.0%
800,000 Description 15.0% A sustainable community values 600,000 10.0% diversity in its economy just as it values 400,000
diversity in its natural systems, and for % of Labor Force 5.0% many of the same reasons. Similar to a Number of Employees 200,000 diverse natural environment being able 0 0.0% to withstand shocks, a diverse 1981 1984 1987 1991 1994 1996 economy—comprised of an array of enterprises rather than a handful of Puget Sound Labor Force Top Ten Employment % Employed at Top Ten large employers and key industries—is more prepared to absorb cyclical downturns and changing market Interpretation Evaluation demands. If too many jobs are Between 1981 and 1994, the region The sources of data for the period concentrated in our region’s largest experienced a steady decline in between 1981 and 1996 are not employers, a downturn in a key industry employment concentration, as it fell completely comparable. Nonetheless, is likely to have serious repercussions from 20.7% in 1981 to 14.1% in 1994, decreases in employment concentration throughout the local economy. This with one small jump in 1987. The signal a trend toward sustainability. indicator looks at employment significant decrease in employment Recent strong growth in some of the top concentration as a measure of economic concentration between 1981 and 1984 ten companies in the mid-1990s has diversity. was driven mostly by a sharp decline in caused what is probably a temporary employment (from 80,000 to 62,000 increase in concentration. However, Definition workers) by The Boeing Company. By the long term trend is clearly toward In 1981, 1984 and 1987, Seattle City 1991, Boeing’s share of the local payroll increased economic diversity. Light released data on the ten largest had increased to 99,000. While employers in the “Seattle area,” as eclipsing its early 1980s employment Linkages levels, Boeing’s growth was matched by determined by Seattle Northwest When employment concentrates in a expansion in other sectors such as Financial Advisors (Municipal Light and few key industries or employers, it government, retailing, and software Power Revenue Bonds Statement, 1984, increases the likelihood of economic 4 development. Boeing’s share of the 1985 and 1988 editions). It no longer shocks when industries go sour. The region’s employment has fluctuated publishes that data. In 1991 and 1997, resulting cuts in tax revenues and over the years—accounting for 8% of the The Economic Development Council of consumer spending can cause other total in 1996, down from 10% in 1981, Seattle and King County released data layoffs, driving up homelessness, but having risen from a low of 7% in on the top 20 employers in the Central poverty, crime rates, and other 5 1994. Between 1994 and 1996, the Puget Sound Region. For 1994, data indicators of the social health of our percentage of Central Puget Sound was compiled from lists created by the region. A society experiencing such workers employed by the region’s ten Puget Sound Business Journal for shocks is less likely to have the vision or largest employers grew by nearly 2%. private employers and estimates of resources to adequately support 6 Mergers in the healthcare and banking public sector employment. This environmental protection or improve industries, as well as expansions by indicator compares employment by the the quality of life. largest ten employers to total non- Microsoft and Boeing, fueled this commuting labor force in the three increase. Public sector employment has counties that comprise the Central remained relatively stable over the past Puget Sound Region—King, Snohomish decade and a half. and Island.7 This data does not track the number of employees who commute from outside of their boundaries.
Sustainable Seattle Indicators 1998 Economy 35 Unemployment
Sustainability trend Recorded vs. Estimated Unemployment Unemployment has been in King County decreasing, following traditional economic cycles; 16% still jobs are not equitably 14% distributed. 12% 10% Description 8% 6% Unemployment is a traditional measure 4% of economic vitality. However, unemployment measures often Unemployment Rate 2% undercount the number of people who 0% are unable to get work, because they leave out the “underemployed” part- 1978 1979 1980 1981 1982 1983 1984 1985 1986 1987 1988 1989 1990 1991 1992 1993 1994 1995 1996 1997 time workers who want more hours and Official Unemployment Additional Unemployment (Sustainable Seattle Estimate) the “discouraged workers” who want to work but have ceased looking for jobs. real unemployment levels might be in and longstanding inequities among This indicator reports the official rate of King County. The numbers themselves different ethnic groups in King County. unemployment. It also provides an are neither “real” nor official estimate of “real” unemployment by measures.10 Linkages estimating what local unemployment might be if it incorporated Decreased unemployment levels can underemployed and discouraged Interpretation lead to a vital economy in many workers. After reaching a 20-year low in 1990, different ways and strengthen King County unemployment rates relationships throughout society. jumped in the early 1990s before However, a vital economy can also Definition settling into a steady decline the past attract more people to the region, To be counted as unemployed, you three years, reflecting our region’s adding higher levels of water must be considered a member of the economic growth. As of October 1997, consumption, traffic congestion, “labor force,” which means you have the official unemployment rate is 3%, resource use, and other kinds of searched for a job during the past year quite low by historical standards. negative environmental impacts. The and were available for work on the day However, unemployment among fact that unemployment, low job the survey was taken. You are not African Americans has remained high security, and low wages are all more “unemployed” if you are on strike, ill, even in times of relative prosperity— likely at lower levels of education means incarcerated, under 16, retired, in 11.3% in 1990, compared to the overall that adult literacy and high school school, taking care of your family, have rate of 4.1%. Nationwide estimates by graduation rates are related indicators. not looked for a job in the past, or the BLS reveal that this inequity has Persistent racial inequities in simply are no longer looking for a job. seen little improvement in 1996, as the employment mirror inequities in other The Washington State Employment unemployment rate among African social justice indicators. Security Department and the Bureau of Americans was 10.5%, compared to a Labor Statistics (BLS) provided 4.7% rate among whites.11 8 unemployment data. The BLS tracks six different measures of unemployment.9 Sustainable Seattle Evaluation estimated what “real” unemployment in The measured unemployment rate King County might be by expanding trended up in 1991 to 1993, then down official unemployment to the BLS’ in 1994 to 1997. These cyclical broadest unemployment measure—one fluctuations are considered a normal that includes underemployed and occurrence in our market economy. The discouraged workers. Our estimates for unfortunate result can be significant unemployed King County residents not social disruption for families whose being counted as officially unemployed members lose their jobs. The official range from 1.5% when official King County unemployment rate not unemployment is lowest to 4.4% at its only fails to account for discouraged highest. It is important to note that we and underemployed workers. Its focus calculated a very rough estimate of what on the average rate also hides significant
36 Economy Sustainable Seattle Indicators 1998 Income Distribution
Sustainability trend King County’s rich are getting Share of Income by Income Group (1959 to 1989) richer, while the poor and 60% middle class are losing 50% ground. 40% Description 30% A healthy, viable society is one in which 20% total personal income is distributed Share of Income 10% fairly among the population. A large discrepancy in income across society 0% creates uneven access to education, Poorest fifth Low fifth Middle fifth High fifth Richest fifth housing, health care, and other goods Income Group and services. It also may create social tension. A sustainable society will 1959 1969 1979 1989 minimize poverty and be wary of extremes of wealth; it will prosper with a strong middle-class and a reasonable every ten years, thus this indicator persons in households with incomes distribution of income that minimizes cannot be updated until 2001. below the poverty level increased from poverty while rewarding hard work, 7.7% to 8.0%. These trends are education and responsibility. Interpretation especially disappointing given that inflation-adjusted household money During the last decade, there has been a income increased by 9% in King slow but consistent change in the Definition County during the same decade. This distribution of income among major This indicator measures the money gain was disproportionately gained by groupings in King County. Inequality income earned by households. It the wealthy. increased slightly, as people with higher displays the percentage of income earned by each fifth (20%) of the incomes (highest fifth) received a households, arranged by increasing slightly larger share of overall income. Linkages income. The percentage of income is There were slight reductions in the Low income can be associated with calculated from data in the 1960, 1970, middle incomes (high, middle, and low children living in poverty, emergency 1980 and 1990 U.S. Census.12 These fifths). In 1989, the highest-income room use for non-ER purposes, low data estimate the number of households fifth received 45% of the money income birthweight infants, juvenile crime, and in various income ranges for King in King County, while the lowest two- depressed levels of civic participation. County. “Household” is defined as all fifths (the lowest 40%) received 15% of In the long run, higher incomes for the persons sharing a housing unit, such as the money income. These trends and poor are likely to result in a more stable a house, apartment, or mobile home. values mirror results on the national society that has fewer of the problems “Household income” is the money level. associated with poverty. Greater income they earned. “Money income” income may be associated with increases consists of wages, interest, and other Evaluation in community capital, investments in environmental protection and open personal receipts, including government The discrepancies of wealth and poverty 13 space preservation, increased energy use, cash transfers before taxes. represented in this data are not better health care, and improved sustainable in the long term. The great perceptions for quality of life. Most of the income not included in dream of the War on Poverty was that money income—such as capital gains the middle class would continue and employer-paid health insurance—is expanding until poverty was ended. earned by more affluent households. However, in the past two decades, two These increases were slightly more than billion low-wage workers have been offset by taxes for the two highest added to the workforce in countries that 14 income groups in 1989. Thus, the are active trading partners to the U.S. distribution of money income is an and trade barriers have decreased. The approximation of the distribution of percentage of families with incomes after-tax income. At present, the only below the poverty level in King County available source of the data for this stayed at 5% between 1979 and 1989, indicator is the U.S. census conducted which means the total number of families increased. The percentage of
Sustainable Seattle Indicators 1998 Economy 37 Health Care Expenditures
Sustainability trend Health care expenditures per Health Care Expenditures per Person in capita continue to increase, Washington State but at a slower rate. $3,000
$2,500 Description Health care has always been a basic $2,000 function of community life. This $1,500 indicator highlights how much of our financial resources are being allocated $1,000 Expenditures toward caring for or preventing illness (1990 Dollars) (and are therefore unavailable to meet $500 other needs). What it does not reflect is $0 how effectively those resources are being
used to improve health, how many 1980 1981 1982 1983 1984 1985 1986 1987 1988 1989 1990 1991 1992 1993 people don’t have appropriate access to health services, and how much of our 1993, with preliminary reports of zero increasing demand for acute medical total effort is spent caring for illness growth relative to inflation in 1997. care. rather than promoting health. However, these expenditure levels are still extremely high compared to earlier Linkages decades and other industrialized Escalating costs make access to Definition countries. appropriate and timely health care for Health care expenditures per capita for Washington State are defined as the those most vulnerable—the young, the sum of spending by the private sector Evaluation old, the sick and the poor—ever more (household and business 60% of the Government and private insurance difficult. Economic effects are total), public sector (federal, state and entities have introduced various cost widespread: personal, business, and local government 35%), and other (non- control measures over the last 15 years, governmental budgets are all seriously patient 5%), divided by the state which have contributed to a slower affected. A society that is spending population. The data is compiled and growth of health care expenditures disproportionate amounts on health published by the Health Care Financing compared to the 1980s. Medicare care cannot afford to meet its other Administration.15 introduced a prospective payment needs. system in the early 1980s, limiting cost reimbursement levels—especially for Interpretation hospital care. In the mid-1980s, many In 1980, Washington State health care private insurance parties instigated expenditures totaled $1,420 per capita similar cost controls, followed by a shift (in 1990 dollars). Expenditures have toward managed care in the late 1980s. since risen to $2,280 per capita in 1990 (In Washington, the percent of and to $2,552 in 1993. Health care population in managed care increased expenditures have continually grown from 15% in 1980, to 29% in 1993.) faster than inflation since 1980. However, the growth has slowed in An aging population just now entering recent years: expenditures grew only 2% the stage of life where chronic and over inflation in 1993, down from disabling diseases are more common annual growth rates of 6% over will place increasing stress on the health inflation in the 1980s. Health care care system. To achieve affordable, expenditures continue to consume a quality health care will require a focus growing amount of the Washington on the broad social, economic, Gross State Product (GSP): from 7.5% environmental, and lifestyle issues that of the GSP in 1980 to 11.1% in 1993. promote health and diminish or eliminate risks to health. Otherwise, These figures are similar to national problems such as heart disease, stroke, trends. According to the Health Care cancer, lung disease, accidents, and Financing Administration, national AIDS will continue to create an health care expenditures have continued to grow at slower rates since 38 Economy Sustainable Seattle Indicators 1998 Work Required for Basic Needs
Sustainability trend Workers are facing growing Monthly Hours Worked for Basic Needs pressure to work longer hours in King County and earn more, while having 95 less time to spend with family 90 and friends. 85
Description 80 This indicator attempts to answer the question, “How long must we work each Hours Worked 75 month to meet our basic needs?” A sustainable society would acknowledge 70 that time is our most precious resource, and would support an economic 1982 1983 1984 1985 1986 1987 1988 1989 1990 1991 1992 1993 1994 1995 1996 environment in which low and middle income families can meet society’s real Interpretation an adequate standard of living on 40- and perceived standards of living hour work week. From 1982 until 1993, the relationship without working more than 40 hours a week. People could reduce time spent between the average wage and the basic meeting basic needs through paid cost of living in the Seattle area Linkages employment in favor of time spent in remained stable: about half of an This indicator links directly to our communities and households, average wage-earner’s salary was community service, community volunteering, or pursuing other sufficient for supporting a family of four involvement, voter participation, and interests. The upward trend in the at a very modest level. However, the neighborliness, all of which are driven number of hours one must “trade” for number of hours of work per week downward by increasing demands at basic amenities is away from required to meet basic needs has work. Child poverty rates, high school sustainability, since it leads to a jumped from 83 to 90 since 1993. graduation levels, and juvenile crime reduction in the amount of time Recent raises in the average hourly wage rates also relate to this indicator as workers are able to spend with families have failed to keep pace with increases youth are affected by involvement of in communities. in basic housing, utilities and their parents (whose time available for transportation costs, contributing to an nurturing their children is dictated by economic environment in which low- work requirements). Likewise, other Definition income families are finding it social indicators such as participation in This indicator draws from two pieces of increasingly difficult to attain a healthy the arts, gardening, and neighborliness data: the average wage in King County standard of living. are likely to reflect patterns in the work and the cost of a market basket of basic required for basic needs. requirements such as food, rent and clothing. Combining this data allows us Evaluation to estimate how many hours of work are The recent rise in the amount of work required each month at an average wage required to meet our basic needs signals to meet basic needs for a family of four a trend away from sustainability in living a very modest lifestyle. The which workers are facing growing Washington State Employment Security psychological pressure to work longer Department provided the average wage hours and earn more, while having less for King County.16 Basic needs are free time to spend with family, friends drawn from the federal Consumer Price and community members. Increases in Index and updated annually by the consumer demand fueled by economic Washington State Department of Social growth push our real and perceived and Health Services (DSHS).17 Basic needs for money ahead of our desire for needs include rent, food, heat, free time. Jumps in the price of basic transportation, electricity, clothing and items such as housing, food and other household supplies and services. transportation have outstripped Additional costs, such as daycare, are increases in average wages, diminishing not included. the ability of low- and middle-income workers to provide their families with
Sustainable Seattle Indicators 1998 Economy 39 Housing Affordability
Sustainability trend Housing Affordability Housing costs remain 60% in King County above affordable prices for 150% first time buyers and renters, 125% but the gap has stabilized 100% over the last few years. 75%
50% Description 25% Adequate and affordable housing is 0% Above Affordable Cost central to a sustainable community. Percent Market Price is -25% Lack of affordable housing contributes to many social stresses, including 1983 1984 1985 1986 1987 1988 1989 1990 1991 1992 1993 1994 1995 1996 1997 homelessness. Because a healthy Median buyer Low income renter First-time buyer community is made up of households with a variety of incomes, affordable Interpretation 1989 when average prices were housing is needed to satisfy residents’ estimated to be more than double The median unaffordability ratio for wide range of needs. affordable costs. homes in King County has varied
substantially since 1980, peaking in Definition economic boom times and ebbing with Evaluation This indicator presents data on housing economic downturns. In the Housing affordability ratios have been for median income families, first-time early1980s, the median home price was fairly stable over the last few years. buyers, and low-income renters in an 44% above maximum affordable costs. More alarming, is the level of “unaffordability ratio”—the average price Median affordability dipped in the late unaffordability for lower-income of housing divided by the affordable 1980s, before a strong economy and households, with buying or renting housing costs. The higher the ratio, the population growth created housing prices at 60-70% beyond their less affordable the housing. demand in 1990 that drove median affordable means. As prices have risen Affordability for median buyers assumes housing prices to 25% above median in the county’s urbanized areas, many a 20% down payment, a 30-year affordable housing costs. More recently, lower-income homeowners have mortgage, and a median income. For median-housing affordability has progressively moved further away from first-time homebuyers, affordability stabilized at 10% below maximum Seattle. With continued increase in assumes a 10% down payment and affordability in King County. However, demand during 1998, the prices of mortgage insurance to cover the lower affordability for median incomes may rental and housing units are likely to down payment. First-time homebuyers soon struggle to keep up with the rise further beyond the means of include many young families and single- current housing demand that raised middle- and low-income buyers and person households with incomes home prices 15% in 1997. renters unless additional provisions are estimated to average 70% of median made to assure an adequate number of income, while low-income renters are The housing market is far more affordable units throughout the county. defined as citizens making half the disturbing for lower-income households median income and rent being no more and first-time buyers. Data tracked Linkages than 30% of their income. The since 1994 indicate that for these buyers, with incomes at 70% the county Housing affordability is closely linked to Washington Center for Real Estate indicators of economic and community Research provides data on local real median, housing costs are 60% above health. The availability of adequate, estate from 1994 to present, including their affordable costs. As a result, low- affordable housing directly relates to the housing costs and affordability.18 The income buyers compete for only 3% of quality and stability of neighborhoods King County Office of Budget and the house sales in the area. Likewise, and communities. Lack of affordable Strategic Planning published data on households at 80% of median income (representing 40% of all local housing is a primary cause of housing and rent affordability from homelessness. Sprawl caused by high 1983-1995.19 The housing affordability households) can only afford 14% of the available housing. housing prices in cities increases fuel data presented here is a combination of consumption and vehicle miles traveled. these two data sources. However, data trends after 1994 may not be directly Average monthly rents are also beyond comparable to the prior trends. Dupre affordable costs for low-income renters, and Scott, a local real estate consulting recently leveling off at 70% above firm, provide average rent price data.20 affordable costs. Long-term renter affordability has slowly improved since
40 Economy Sustainable Seattle Indicators 1998 Children Living in Poverty
Sustainability trend Increasing numbers of Percentage of Seattle Children children in Seattle and King Living in Poverty County are living in poverty. 20%
15.7% 13.4% Description 15% How well we care for the next generation tells us something 10% fundamental about our community’s health and vitality. A sustainable Percentage 5% society would ensure that all individuals have the chance to make the best use of 0% their gifts. Children living in poverty 1980 1990 are often denied the opportunity: their Census Year health and nutrition, education and personal needs are generally not met at the same levels as other children, leaving them at a disadvantage when Evaluation they enter adulthood and at risk for The data suggest a trend toward greater continuing problems as adults. numbers of children living in poverty: a clearly unsustainable development. The Definition rate of children living in poverty is growing faster than that of the The Federal Government defines population as a whole. A number of children living in poverty as persons factors are contributing to this trend, between the ages of 0 to 17 and living in including: a rise in the number of a family with an income below the single-parent families, the continued federal poverty line—that is, $15,911 per existence of areas of persistent poverty, year for a family of four with two changes in welfare legislation, increasing children in 1996.21 All data is from the strains on support services, lack of child U.S. Census Bureau. Seattle data is support from the non-custodial parent, from the dicennial census;22 King and declining or stagnant real wages. County data is from the census and a
1996 report of 1993 poverty estimates.23 Linkages Interpretation Children growing up in poverty are more likely to be at risk for substance In 1980, 13.4% of children in Seattle abuse and crime; to receive fewer were living below the poverty line, by educational opportunities; to have less 1990 that figure had risen to 15.7%. In contact with caring adults and lower absolute terms, the number of Seattle self-esteem; and to suffer the effects of children living in poverty has grown poor health care from malnutrition to from about 11,700 children in 1979 to unwanted pregnancies. Childhood about 12,800 in 1989, increasing poverty links directly with issues such as approximately 9%. At the county level, low birthweight, literacy, juvenile crime, the poverty rate among 5 to17 year olds population growth, and other social grew from 8.6% in 1989 to an estimated concerns. There are also economic 12.2% in 1993. These poverty statistics linkages, including unemployment, only count those children below the distribution of personal income, work official Federal poverty level. However, required for basic needs, housing a recent report by the University of affordability, and emergency room use Washington Fiscal Policy Center claims for non-ER purposes. High levels of that meeting the most basic needs for a children living in poverty can lead to a family of three actually costs over growing class of poorly educated and $25,000 per year. One-third of all underemployed citizens not able to fully Washington children lives in families contribute to the economy. with incomes below this level.24 Sustainable Seattle Indicators 1998 Economy 41 Emergency Room Use for Non-ER Purposes
Sustainability trend High emergency room use Percentage of King County ER Visits shows the ER may be acting not Admitted to Hospital as a substitute for primary 100% 89.7% health care. 89.5% 89.6% 80%
Description 60% Do people have adequate access to health care? Are visits to the Emergency 40% Room being made for true emergencies, or is the ER functioning more and more 20% as a clinic of last resort? The latter is not sustainable, because the cost of 0% medical care through emergency rooms 1993 1994 1995 is very high—both to the individual seeking it and to the hospital Interpretation Linkages administering the care. Since an Between 1993 and 1995, the number of Studies have shown that a large emergency room provides immediate patients per thousand county residents proportion of the people who use the and unconditional care (treatment now, using the emergency room for non-ER emergency room are people on payment later), it is a likely choice for purposes decreased from 332 to 304. Medicaid, children five and under, those who do not have medical Over the same period, emergency room people without a personal physician, insurance or other coverage, or who visits per thousand residents also and the unemployed. High and lack information on preventative health declined, falling from 370 in 1993 to unnecessary use of the emergency room care. Often those who seek emergency 339 in 1995. As a percentage of total is linked to poverty, to health care cost room care are unable to pay the ER visits, those not requiring hospital increases, and to increasing health resulting high bills, consequently this admission have remained stable at just problems in the society. A rise in cost is passed on to the hospital and to under 90%. While no countywide data violence or accidents would also be society. A high or growing use of is available before 1993, data from reflected in this data, though no such emergency facilities for non-ER Harborview Hospital show that the link has been determined here. purposes suggests a trend away from percentage of Harborview patients using sustainability in the area of health care the emergency room for non-ER awareness, costs, and/or availability. purposes grew from 73% in 1988 to 85% in 1995. Definition There is no data that directly measures Evaluation inappropriate use of the emergency While the number of King County room, so a proxy statistic was selected: citizens using the emergency room for emergency room use visits that do or do non-ER purposes has declined slightly not lead to hospital admissions in King since 1993, the number is still County. Emergency room visits that substantial—89.5% of King County lead to hospital admissions represent visits. At Harborview, the primary either a genuine emergency or at least a public hospital used by people with no significant health problem, while an means to pay for medical care, increase in the number of emergency emergency room use for non-ER room visits which do not lead to purposes is increasing. While showing hospital admission suggests that growing slight improvement at the county level numbers of people may be using in the past two years, this indicator is at emergency room service inappropriately. an unsustainable level, particularly Data sources are the Washington State considering the trend at Harborview. Department of Health and Harborview Clearly, more can be done to help 25 Hospital. people who may now use the emergency room as a substitute for primary care.
42 Economy Sustainable Seattle Indicators 1998 Community Reinvestment
? Sustainability trend CRA Performance Ratings Banks are generally meeting of King County Banks local credit needs, but changes in regulations inhibit 100% 80% comparisons to previous 60% years. 40%
Banks Rated 20%
Description Percentage of Total 0% To create and maintain a sustainable Prior, 1990-1995 Most Recent, 1992-1996 economy, we must ensure that capital is Rating period continuously reinvested in the Substantial Noncompliance community that generates it. Needs Improvement Satisfactory Availability of credit resources to local Outstanding small businesses, homeowners, and development projects builds economic diversity, vitality, self-sufficiency, and performance over the previous focus on moderate income buyers. In addition, stability. In today’s global economy, process and documentation. Since we over the period of the most recent CRA boundaries are permeable and capital is cannot accurately compare old ratings evaluations, Seattle’s economy has risen mobile. Financial institutions can do with the new, the 1996 Community from recession to a boom, making business anywhere and may export local Reinvestment Act ratings indicator will capital generally more available to deposits to seek the highest return on serve as a benchmark against which businesses of all sizes. investment. This indicator examines the future trends can be gauged. The 1996 commitment of local area banks to CRA rating data were collected for each Evaluation federally insured bank and thrift listed invest in the community of Seattle. The CRA performance ratings are in the Thompson Bank Directory as ideally designed to enforce and indicate based or operating a branch within the sustainability of a community’s local Definition Seattle. The date of the actual investment capital. The 1996 CRA This indicator tracks the performance of evaluations ranged from 1992 to 1996. ratings, however, may be too transitional banks and thrifts located in Seattle in An evaluation remains current until the to be considered a baseline for an meeting the credit needs of the bank either merges with another or is ongoing indicator. The new rules went community by using Community reevaluated. into effect for small banks beginning in Reinvestment Act lender ratings (CRA January 1, 1996, while large banks performance ratings), which are required Interpretation remained under the old rules until July by amendments passed in 1989 to the Eighteen banks were included, five of 1, 1997. In addition, each financial 1977 Community Reinvestment Act. which have either ceased operations or institution comes up for evaluation only The CRA mandates that all federally have merged since the end of 1996. The every two to four years, creating a lag insured banks and thrifts take action ratings indicate that banks are generally time. CRA ratings will become toward meeting the credit needs of their meeting local needs: 50% were rated comparable and provide trend data as communities, including those of low- “Outstanding,” and 50% rated banks undergo their post-1997 and moderate-income neighborhoods. “Satisfactory.” Of the 18 banks evaluations.27 Federal regulators periodically evaluate evaluated, three small banks (15%) the performance of each institution improved their rating since the last using the following four ratings: Linkages evaluation, one large bank (5%) was “Outstanding,” “Satisfactory,” “Needs to Community Reinvestment is closely graded down, and four (20%) have only Improve,” or “Substantial linked to other indicators of local had one CRA evaluation. In the prior Noncompliance.”26 By federal law, the economic health, including housing rating period spanning 1990 to 1995, CRA performance evaluations and affordability, employment there were no banks in “Substantial written reports must be available to the concentration, quality of life and Noncompliance.” These positive ratings public on request. children in poverty. Destabilizing credit may reflect current market forces, practices, such as discrimination based creating historically low interest rates The CRA evaluation process and criteria on race or geographic area, and more friendly toward home ownership, were overhauled in 1995, emphasizing increasing economic dependence are and higher growth opportunities for quantitative likely to result in deterioration of many lenders in the nation’s pool of low-to- other indicators.
Sustainable Seattle Indicators 1998 Economy 43
Economy Notes 1997, the official unemployment rate is from a will give a less accurate measure of the bank’s new U-3 data series. We apply our regression contribution to the community’s well-being. 1 Regional Economic Information Service, Bureau numbers to the U-3 data. Recent data is therefore of Economic Analysis, Table CA05 – Personal a less accurate estimate than the pre-1994 data. Income by Major Source and Earnings by 11 Unemployment by race from Bureau of Labor Industry, 1969-1995. Online at Statistics, Labor Force Statistics from the Current http://www.lib.virginia.edu/socsci/reis/. Population Survey. Online at 2 Bureau of Labor Statistics, Consumer Price http://stats.bls.gov/. Index—All Urban Consumers. Online at 12 U.S. Census Bureau, City and County Data http://stats.bls.gov/. Book, 1990 Census. (Washington D.C.: 1990) 3 A Btu is the amount of heat energy it takes to 13 Definitions are from U.S. Census Tables or the raise one pound of water by one degree Statistical Abstract of the U.S. Fahrenheit. 14 The American Almanac, Table No. 731, 4 Seattle Northwest Financial Advisors, via Seattle “Money Income of Households,” p. 462. City Light, Municipal Light and Power Revenue 15 Katherine Levit et. al., “State Health Bonds Statement. (Seattle, WA: 1984, 1985, and Expenditure Accounts,” Health Care Financing 1988). Review, Fall 1995. 5 Richard Chapman, Economic Development 16 Washington State Employment Security Council of Seattle and King County, private Department, King County, Selected Economic communication, July 18, 1997. Data, 1970-1995. Online at 6 Puget Sound Business Journal, Book of Lists, http://www.wa.gov/esd/lmea/labrmrkt/sed/king (Seattle, WA: 1995). sed.txt. 7Washington State Employment Security 17 Economic Services Administration, Department Department, Employment and Payrolls in of Social and Health Services, Annual Program Washington State, by County and Industry. Briefing Book, Fiscal Year 1995. Table 29, Online at http://www.wa.gov/esd/. (Olympia, WA: 1995) p. 96. 8 Unemployment data 1978 to 1995 from 18 Washington Center for Real Estate Research, Washington State Employment Security Washington State’s Housing: A Supply and Department, King County, Selected Economic Demand Assessment. On-line at Data, 1970-1995. Online at http://cbeunix.wsu.edu/~wcrer/ http://www.wa.gov/esd/lmea/labrmrkt/sed/king 19 King County Office of Budget and Strategic sed.txt. Unemployment data 1996 to 1997 from Planning, 1997 Annual Growth Report (Seattle, Bureau of Labor Statistics(BLS), Local Area WA: 1997). Unemployment Statistics. Online at 20 Dupre + Scott, Apartment Vacancy Trends www.bls.gov/. The unemployment figure for 1997 (Seattle, WA: 1998). is the average monthly unemployment from Jan- 21 U.S. Census Bureau, Current Population Oct 1997. Note: The Washington Employment Survey, Poverty Thresholds: 1996. Online at Security Department and the BLS data are from http://www.census.gov/. the same data set. The BLS site is referenced 22 U.S. Census Bureau, City and County Data because it has more recent unemployment Book, 1990 Census, (Washington, D.C.: 1990). numbers (i.e. years 1996 and 1997). 23 U.S. Census Bureau, County Income and 9 Unpublished tabulations of U-5b (official Poverty Estimates, Estimates for Washington unemployment) and U-7 unemployment from the State: 1993. Online at Current Population Survey. Prepared and sent by http://www.census.gov/ftp/pub/hhes/www/saipe Steve Haugen, Bureau of Labor Statistics, August /saipe93/estimate/estimate.html. 6, 1997. In 1994, the BLS revised the different 24 McIntire, Brandon, Deweese et. al. Policy categories of unemployment; there are now six. Choices for Working Families in Washington: A 10 The Bureau of Labor Statistics keeps statistics Baseline Analysis of State Economic Support for on various types of unemployment. The official Working Families. University of Washington national unemployment rate until 1993 was data Fiscal Policy Center, (Seattle, WA: March 1997) p. series U-5b. The broadest defined national 1. unemployment rate until 1993 was U-7, which 25 King County data from Vicki Hohner, adds to U-5b those people who want to and are Washington State Department of Health (DOH), available to work, and those who are employed obtained from DOH archives, August 1997. part time yet want full-time employment. The Harborview Hospital data from Larry Zalin, number for Sustainable Seattle’s estimated Harborview Community Relations, private unemployment is based on a linear regression of communication. the difference between national U-7 and U-5b 26 Standards are size dependent. Large banks and unemployment as it relates to national U-5b thrifts are evaluated on the performance of the unemployment levels. We assume that the ratio products and services they offer based on three of these national figures holds for the King tests: a lending test, a service test, and an County area, an assumption that may not be true. investment test. Small banks with assets less than The correlation between the U-7 U-5b $250 million or affiliated with a holding company “difference” and the U-5b rates was .74; this of assets less than $1 billion are evaluated by more means that about half of the variation in one rate streamlined standards. explains the variation in the other. Our regression 27 According to the Board of Governors of the analysis yields estimates of additional Federal Reserve system, the new CRA regulations unemployment of 1.5% when unemployment was provide clearer, more consistent and objective lowest, and 4.4% when unemployment was standards. Some bank officers argue that, under highest. Though the BLS unemployment the new rules, it will be more difficult for small measures changed in 1994, we still use the older banks to receive an Outstanding rating. Also, the measures because the old measures have been in decreased emphasis on qualitative information use for a much longer time. For years 1994 to 44 Economy Sustainable Seattle Indicators 1998 Y o u t h & Education S U C C E S S S T O R I E S Rainier Beach High School’s Teaching Academy Story by Chris Maag
ainier Beach is one of only five high schools in the country “One of the things the Teaching Academy does for the rest of the R with a Teaching Academy, a magnet program to prepare school is that it keeps students involved in the discussion about students of color for careers as teachers. The Teaching Academy restructuring schools,” says Purcell, who attended Seattle public builds opportunity for its 68 students by challenging them to take schools in the 1950s and ‘60s. “They develop their ideas of how rigorous courses and by offering them the chance to tutor the schedule should look or what should be added to the elementary and middle school students. Students also work as curriculum, engage other students in that discussion, and share junior counselors at school-sponsored outdoor camps, and those ideas with the school staff and administration. That’s participate in school exchanges with other districts and private different than any other school I’ve worked in.” schools. These real-world experiences not only help students decide whether teaching is the right field for them, they also get Thanks to past funding from Boeing and a two-year, $850,000 young people involved in serving their community. grant through the University of Washington College of Educa- tion, the academy has sent its teachers to trainings around the “The reason why this is so important is that people need role country so they can learn and demonstrate the newest and most models they can identify with,” says Kathy Purcell, a Rainier Valley effective teaching practices. The grant also paid for new native who was among the first women of color to become a high technology. Though the program is piecing together funding for school administrator in Kent. “In this very diverse community, we the future, it is currently supported by state funding for magnet need young people to see that they have these opportunities.” programs.
The Teaching Academy staff knows that not every academy Staff members actively recruit students from middle schools and student will become a teacher. Most students here will find paying high schools throughout the area, seeking students who have for college a difficult task, while many other high-paying profes- demonstrated a commitment to learning. The academy has sions will actively recruit qualified minority students. To best equip graduated 387 students in its eight-year history, and in the past students for these realities, the academy focuses on rigorous two years has begun to see some of those alumni becoming college preparation, with the hope that whatever a student’s certified teachers. Of the current group enrolled in the acad- ultimate career path, he or she might eventually turn to teaching. emy, 61% are Asian, 29% are African American and 10% are Students in the academy are expected to take the most challenging white. courses available, and to take honors classes in their best subjects. “Rainier Beach has a culture of family and community,” Purcell “I wanted to do this because I thought says, “and the Teaching Academy is the focus of that culture it would be fun to help little kids. I because we help people see that you can still help others and can help them with their math, and develop community in the world of work.” show them that someone who looks like them can succeed and go to college.” —Teaching Academy senior Kevin Ong
Classes focus on learning styles and career planning skills in addition to traditional subjects like American Literature and World History. Special classes like “Education Issues” encourage students to think critically about their education. In this class they discuss current issues at Rainier Beach, and develop their own models for the ideal high school of the future.
46 Youth & Education Sustainable Seattle Indicators 1998 S U S T A I N A B I L I T Y T R E N D
Youth & Education
S U S T A I N A B I L I T Y T R E N D S
High School Graduation Unequal graduation rates for different ? ethnicities reflect persistent social and economic inequities, while graduation data over time are incomplete.
Ethnic Diversity of Teaching staff ethnic diversity matches ÍÎ Teachers that of Seattle’s adults but not its students.
Arts Instruction Most Seattle public school teachers ? suggest that dedicated arts instruction accounts for no more than one hour per week.
Volunteer Involvement In 1996-97, Seattle public school Ï students received almost 20% more help in Schools in the form of volunteer hours than students in 1992-93.
Juvenile Crime Combined felony and misdemeanor ÍÎ prosecutions have remained relatively stable over the last few years.
Youth Involvement in Almost half of Seattle high school ? students are involved in community Community Service service.
Equity in Justice While still high relative to other ethnic Ï groups, the proportion of African American and Native American youth involved in the juvenile justice system is decreasing.
Adult Literacy Almost one-third of Washington State’s ? citizens have inadequate literacy skills.
Sustainable Seattle Indicators 1998 Youth & Education 47 High School Graduation
? Sustainability trend Cumulative High School Completion Rates Unequal graduation rates for by Cohort and Ethnicity different ethnicities reflect 100% persistent social and Note: Apparent decline due to cumulative data. economic inequities, while 80% graduation data over time are incomplete. 60%
Description 40% Is our public education system adequately serving our youth? Are we Completion Rates 20% preparing the next generation to assume full citizenship in our society? The 0% n o s public schools have the lion’s share of in ie t sian a icit Asian Black /L ca n responsibility for academic education, o u n Ca and increasingly they are being asked to ica h All Eth C take on socialization tasks previously American India reserved for families and religious Cohort (Class of…) 1994 1995 1996 1997 institutions. We rely on the schools to produce good citizens with the basic skills necessary to participate fully in the Interpretation Linkages stewardship of our city and region. This The percentage of high school The success of students in school indicator tracks how successful we are completers decreased from 70.8% in the depends not just on teachers and according to one basic measure of class of 1994 to 59.7% in the class of education budgets, but on parental success: high school completion rates. 1997. While the trend seems to be involvement, economic vitality, social toward lower completion rates, it is equity, public safety, and a host of other Definition difficult to compare the data since the factors. Likewise, most of these factors In 1994, the Seattle Public School 1994 class includes students who have are in turn dependent on the District began measuring completion had three additional years to graduate development of an well-educated rates using a cohort approach that or complete their G.E.D. However, the citizenry. What happens in the schools tracks cumulative dropout and data do reveal sharp differences between can affect—and be affected by—virtually graduation statistics for students of the ethnic groups, with on-time 1997 every other indicator of sustainability, a same expected graduation year. completion rates being significantly fact that argues strongly for a Previously, an annual statistic was used, lower for students who identify as heightened level of attention to the tracking just graduations and dropouts Chicano/Latino (47.3%), American status and success of our educational in the senior year. This new method Indian (50%), or Black (47.2%). The system. gives a more accurate picture of on-time rates for Asian or Caucasian graduation rates because it adjusts for students are higher—68% and 65.8% transfers into and out of the district. respectively. However, because it tracks data cumulatively, the method reports lower Evaluation completion rates for more recent years. From the data currently available, no Until a longer time series can develop, trends can be inferred, but the inequity comparing graduation rates across years in the graduation rates among the will be difficult. The source of this data ethnic groups is clearly not sustainable. is the annual report of the Student It is unfortunate there is no long-term Information Services Office.1 data for such an important indicator of “Completers” are students who societal well-being, but the advent of the graduate, earn a G.E.D., or a special Seattle Public School District’s tracking education I.E.P. Data are disaggregated system should help. by ethnic group. Note that the racial and ethnic designations presented are those used by the Seattle Public School District.
48 Youth & Education Sustainable Seattle Indicators 1998 Ethnic Diversity of Teachers
Sustainability trend Teaching staff ethnic Teaching Staff Diversity Compared to diversity matches that of Student Diversity Seattle’s adults but not its 2.5 students. 2.0 Description 1.5 Healthy, thriving communities place a 1.0
high value on education. It is Ratio of Staff 0.5 inherently important that youth have Representation to positive role models, and that they are Student Representation - able to see themselves reflected in the 1993 1994 1995 1996 1997 adults they interact with on a daily basis. Not only do teachers need to be American Indian Asian Black Latino Caucasian proficient and inspirational, they also should mirror the diverse make-up of increased slightly for Caucasians, community participation, voting, the student population, including Blacks, and Latinos. volunteering, and lead to decreased differences in gender, race, ethnicity, crime and lower unemployment rates. country of origin, sexual orientation, Evaluation etc. Quality experiences with people As the graph illustrates, within each who are different are essential to ethnicity category, the percentage of overcoming prejudice and building a certified staff is significantly mutually respectful society. disproportionate to the student population. The ratios of the percent of Definition American Indian, Asian, Black, and For this indicator, we used data from Latino/Latina certified staff to students the Seattle Public School District to are less than 0.5, while the ratio of compare the ethnic make-up based on a Caucasian certified staff to students is ratio of the district’s student population over 1.8. to that of certified staff.2 Certified staff include administrators, classroom It is important to note that the ethnicity teachers, librarians, and counselors. of certified staff resembles the current distribution of ethnicity among adults in Seattle, and that there might be a lag Interpretation time in representation so today’s youth There is significant disparity between can become adults and possibly the ethnic make-up of students and teachers. While precisely matching certified staff. In 1997, American student and teacher ethnicities would Indian students comprised 3% of the be difficult and not necessarily an population, while certified staff were appropriate goal, working to reduce the only 1%. Likewise, the Asian student current disparity does seem desirable. population was 25%, with certified staff at 9%; the Black student population was 23%, with certified staff at 10%; and Linkages the Latino student population was 9%, Having teachers with whom students with certified staff at 3%. On the other are able to see themselves reflected is hand, Caucasian certified staff were likely to have tremendous impact on over-represented in comparison to the students’ well-being and self esteem. student population. In 1997, 78% of This can lead to higher retention rates the district’s certified staff were and increases in the percentage of categorized as Caucasian, while only graduates from high school. Quality 41% of the students identified experiences with people of different themselves as Caucasian. From 1993 to ethnicities will also help reduce 1997, there was a slight movement prejudice and racism. Positive toward similar representation for educational environments can be linked American Indians, while the disparity to higher adult literacy rates, increased
Sustainable Seattle Indicators 1998 Youth & Education 49 Arts Instruction
? Sustainability trend Most teachers suggest that Number of Students per Art Teacher dedicated arts instruction in Seattle Public Schools 47,075 6,738 accounts for no more than one 2,500 hour per week. 2,000 Description 1,500 Are we investing in the creativity of the 1,000 Students next generation? Numerous studies per Teacher 500 have shown that students who participate in arts education do better in - a host of other learning areas. It is also Visual Arts Music Drama Dance true that not all students learn the same 1996-97 1997-98 way. Measuring arts education can provide insight as to how well we are students per dance teacher. Further arts education relates to other addressing the needs of future anecdotal data and informal polling of environmental, economic, and social generations. Achieving sustainability area teachers confirm that arts indicators because of its capacity to will require fresh perspectives, creative education is at a fairly low level; most inspire young people to dream and minds, and a capacity to explore other teachers suggest that dedicated arts develop into contributing adults. points of view—all of which are qualities instruction accounts for no more than developed by the arts. one hour per week. In an era of tight budgets, art programs are often the first Definition to suffer. However, the Seattle Public School District has launched a new Since no data is available to adequately comprehensive arts education plan that measure the number of hours devoted may elevate arts instruction in the to arts education in Seattle Public district.4 Schools, this indicator looks at the number of teachers in the Seattle School District who were both certified Evaluation to teach arts and actually taught arts Because no historical data exists on the during the 1996-97 school year.3 By number of teachers certified and comparing this number to the student teaching in the arts, no conclusions can population, we can get some idea of the be drawn as to the trend in arts resources available for arts instruction. education. Furthermore, it is still too Arts instruction (which includes music, early to assess the affects of the Seattle drama, visual arts, and dance) is schools new comprehensive arts generally left to the discretion of education plan. The lack of good data is individual teachers, except in high itself an indicator that we pay school where students may take art as insufficient attention to this important an elective. area of educational development. In the future, the school district should Interpretation expand its measurements to include the number of hours dedicated to art During the 1996-97 school year, there education, the portion of the school were 61 teachers certified and teaching budget dedicated to arts. in the visual arts, 78 teachers certified and teaching in music, 22 teachers certified and teaching in drama, and 1 Linkages teacher certified and teaching in dance. Arts education links directly to public Comparing this to the 1996-97 student participation in the arts, and more population of 47,075 yields 772 indirectly to other indicators such as students per certified visual arts high school graduation rates, juvenile instructor, 604 students per certified crime rates, and individual sense of well- music teacher, 2,140 students per being. More subtly, as a measure of our certified drama teacher, and 47,075 investment in the imagination of youth,
50 Youth & Education Sustainable Seattle Indicators 1998 Volunteer Involvement in Schools
Sustainability trend In 1996-97, Seattle public Citizen Volunteer Hours per Student school students received in Seattle Public Schools almost 20% more help in the 16 form of volunteer hours than 14 students in 1992-93. 12 10 8 Description 6 In a sustainable society, we would all per Student 4 have time to donate to causes, Volunteer Hours 2 organizations, and friends—to apply our 0 energy to nurture the parts of society we 1992-93 1996-97 value. The public school system should be one of the key places to which citizens offer their time. Public schools adults volunteered in the schools, equal Linkages to approximately 95% of the student foster the development of civic identity Volunteer involvement is correlated population. Together, these volunteers and democratic responsibility. While with other indicators of civic pride and contributed more than 427,000 hours adults personally benefit from school service, including quality of life and of service to Seattle schools. In the volunteering, their involvement creates voter participation. Volunteers can 1996-97 school year, more than 670,000 a dynamic environment in which enable schools to increase individual volunteer hours were contributed, a students’ learning is enhanced from the attention given to students and to 46% increase over the four-year period. one-on-one attention and connection additional programs. This in turn can The number of volunteer hours per with the outside community. When positively influence students’ self- student increased from 11.2 hours per adults and parents contribute their time esteem, reading comprehension, student per year to 14.2 hours per in the classroom, they communicate the participation in sports, school student per year. Unfortunately, the message that education is valued and government, clubs, drama, etc., which number of volunteers was not recorded that they support children’s learning. leads to higher student retention rates for the 1996-97 school year, and no and increased numbers of high school volunteer data was collected for the graduates. In addition, volunteering Definition 1993-94 and 1994-95 school years. models citizenship for both students Citizens may volunteer with schools in a number of ways: they can spend time and other adults, thereby increasing the helping in the classroom, with field Evaluation connection we feel with our community trips, sports, music, drama and special A 46% increase in the number of and contributing to an active citizenry. occasions throughout the school year. volunteer hours from the 1992-93 Parents may join the Parent Teacher school year to 1996-97 indicates a Student Association (PTSA) and get movement toward sustainability. involved with projects sponsored by School district staff confirmed there is a their school’s council. This indicator greater commitment by the compares the number of volunteer administration to foster volunteerism in hours to the number of students in the the schools. Recent programs such as Seattle Public School District. the Reading Campaign, the Alliance for Volunteer involvement is currently Education, the City of Seattle’s Families recorded by the Department of and Education Levy, and the Seattle Customer Service, which was created in Educational Pipeline Project all support the spring of 1996.5 Seattle PTSA more community involvement and involvement is tracked by the Seattle volunteerism in Seattle’s public schools. PTSA.6 In individual annual reports, many schools recognized people’s volunteer involvement, reinforcing feelings that Interpretation people are needed and appreciated and In the 1996-97 school year, students in fostering additional volunteerism. Seattle public schools received almost 46% more help in the form of volunteer hours than students did in 1992-93. In the 1992-93 school year, almost 43,000
Sustainable Seattle Indicators 1998 Youth & Education 51 Juvenile Crime
Sustainability trend Juvenile Crime Combined felony and Police Referrals and Informations Filed misdemeanor prosecutions 16,000 have remained relatively 14,000 stable over the last four 12,000 years. 10,000 8,000 Description 6,000 4,000 Juvenile crime rates provide insight into Number of Cases 2,000 the present health of our community— 0 reflecting how safe citizens are in their homes and on the streets, and what 1980 1981 1982 1983 1984 1985 1986 1987 1988 1989 1990 1991 1992 1993 1994 1995 1996 portion of the city’s resources are spent fighting crime or remedying its effects. Misdemeanor - Police Referrals Felony - Police Referrals The rate at which our youth are Misdemeanor - Informations Filed Felony - Informations Filed involved in crime also gives us a picture around 8,000 per year. Felony filings fell in part by child poverty, and can be of our community’s future. People who by 295 in 1995 before increasing by related to low birthweight infants, commit crimes as juveniles are twice as more than 200 in 1996. Misdemeanor ethnic diversity of teachers, high school likely to be incarcerated as adults as filings took a similar dip in 1995 before graduation rates, and adult literacy. It other members of society. The more reaching an all-time high in 1996. also seems likely for there to be a youth become involved in criminal Misdemeanor police referrals were negative relationship between juvenile activity today, the more we can expect to highest in 1980, then peaked again in crime and youth involved in community pay as a society over the long term—in 1987, before climbing back to 12,040 in service. lost life; damaged property; a 1996. Felony police referrals have disintegrating sense of community; and grown with some fluctuations, from prison, parole, and counseling costs. 3,800 in 1980 to 4,180 in 1996.
Definition Evaluation Juveniles are defined as citizens that are It is difficult to imagine a sustainable 17 years old and younger. Data cited in level of juvenile crime. While the past this indicator are for crimes committed two years show lower levels of juvenile in King County which involved the felony criminal involvement, police (a first step) and on which misdemeanor criminal activity among “informations” were filed by the youth continues to grow. Combined Criminal and Juvenile Division of the felony and misdemeanor filings show a County’s Office of the Prosecuting neutral sustainability trend. Attorney (a second step).7 Crimes are Significantly worse than in the mid- classified as either felony (violent crime 1980s, juvenile crime rates themselves and serious theft) or misdemeanor (less are at unhealthy levels. serious criminal infractions).
Interpretation Linkages Elevated levels of juvenile crime can Juvenile crime in King County, as have a deleterious effect on all aspects of judged by the number of felony and urban life—both in resources used and misdemeanor filings, has risen over the in overall community spirit. There are last decade and a half—from 2,791 economic and health linkages such as felony and 2,995 misdemeanor filings in health-care costs, distribution of 1980 to 2,957 felony and 5,191 personal income, housing affordability, misdemeanor filings in 1996. Note that and emergency room use as well as this is not a per capita measure, and environmental costs such as vehicle that population growth could account miles traveled (as people move away for some of the increase. More recently, from urban areas perceived as too combined felony and misdemeanor dangerous), impervious surfaces, and filings have remained relatively stable farm acreage. Juvenile crime is driven
52 Youth & Education Sustainable Seattle Indicators 1998 Youth Involvement in Community Service
? Sustainability trend Almost half of Seattle high Students Serving their school students are involved Community (1996) in community service. 100%
Description 80% For generations, we have lamented the 60% level of alienation among youth in 42% industrial society. Actively engaging 37% 40% youth in community service at an early Volunteer Service
age is an important step toward turning Students Reporting 20% this trend. Such involvement builds the foundation for a lifetime of community 0% activity, engaging the idealistic impulses Seattle National of youth to make positive contributions to their community’s civic and social life. It also helps young people develop are volunteering in their community. organizations to understand long-term positive self-concepts, proven skills, and In addition, most Seattle private schools trends. social commitments that can create a require community service, making the sense of place in the community. Part percentage and total number of Linkages students involved even higher. Based on of creating a sustainable society is to Youth involvement in community the same survey question, the national have a well-organized system for service is likely to be inversely correlated average for student involvement in involving youth in an array of to youth crime rates. Adult community service is 37%. community activities. service (including involvement in
schools), as well voter participation and A sampling of youth volunteer other indications of community Definition organizations in King County show an strength, are also mirror indices of In 1996, the Search Institute conducted increasing trend in community service. youth community service involvement. a survey of 3,400 ninth and eleventh Earth Service Corps has seen a steady Increasing numbers of youth in grade students at all Seattle Public High growth from 550 volunteers in 1993 to community service can significantly Schools for the organization It’s about 760 in 1995 to 1,000 in 1996. improve indicators of educational Time... for Kids: Real Assets, Real Similarly, Seattle Youth Involvement 8 achievement, decrease negative effects of Results. Students responded to Network has experienced a rise in poverty and health problems, and questions regarding different participation levels from 180 volunteers improve environmental quality. “developmental assets” in their lives, in 1993 to 220 in 1994 to 1,038 in including: “serving in the community 1995, but dropping to 550 in 1996. for one or more hour per week.” The Youth Volunteer Corps of King County Search Institute has identified reported a dramatic increase from 650 involvement in community service as volunteers in 1995 to 2,000 volunteers one of 40 key development assets that in 1996. help youth succeed in school and life. No previous data are available. In addition, volunteer participation data Evaluation was solicited from a few key volunteer With nearly half of Seattle public high- youth organizations: Youth Volunteer school students reporting they are Corps of King County, YMCA Earth involved in community service, the data Service Corps, and Seattle Youth show encouraging signs for Seattle’s Involvement Network.9&10 youth. Additional information from several local volunteer youth organizations substantiate this trend Interpretation toward increased levels of youth In the 1996 Search Institute survey, involvement in community service. A 42% of the responding high school follow-up Search Institute survey would students reported that they were provide useful comparison data as well involved in community service. These as continued tracking of local results indicate that about 5,500 public high school students throughout Seattle Sustainable Seattle Indicators 1998 Youth & Education 53 Equity in Justice
Sustainability trend While still high relative to Referral Ratios in King County other ethnic groups, the Juvenile Courts proportion of African 5 American and Native American youth involved in 4 the juvenile justice system is decreasing. 3
Description 2 Significant disparities in the frequency 1 with which members of different ethnic to Percent in Population Ratio of Referrals by Race group are arrested and/or punished are 0 examined here as indices of greater 1990 1991 1992 1993 1994 social and economic inequities. These African American Native American Hispanic disparities can reflect how people of Asian White different ethnicities or racial groups are treated within the justice system. disproportionality is exacerbated as Recent programs implemented in Furthermore, what happens within the African American youth progress Washington courts may help to reduce juvenile justice system can predict through the system. In 1994, the rate any inequities in treatment within the patterns for adulthood. climbed from 3.3 times expected judicial system, including cultural referrals to 3.9 times expected diversity training, ongoing evaluations Definition prosecutions, 3.8 times expected guilty of disproportionality, increased staff verdicts, and 4.2 times expected and volunteer diversity. This indicator measures “equity in confinements. Native American youth justice” in the form of a ratio, dividing are also over represented within the an ethnic group’s representation in the Linkages juvenile justice system—the ratio is 1.3 juvenile system by their representation Inequities in the juvenile justice system times expected for referrals and 1.9 in the population. Racial may be linked with other social and times for confinements. By contrast, “disproportionality” exists when youth economic disparities such as Whites, Asians, and Hispanics all have a of particular ethnicities appear in the unemployment rates, the percentage of less than one-to-one ratio for referrals. court system in proportions that differ children living in poverty, low from the proportions in which they birthweight infancy, literacy, high Interestingly, the proportion of African appear in the society as a whole. A school graduation rates, housing American youth involved in the juvenile study by the University of Washington affordability and personal income justice system is declining—for and the Washington State Department distribution. Juvenile justice disparities confinement, the ratio was 6.0 in 1990 of Social and Health Services (DSHS) may also relate to indicators of compared to 4.2 in 1994. At the same collected and analyzed data by ethnic community involvement, such as the time, proportions for Asian and group on juvenile involvement in the proportion of youth involved in Hispanic youth involvement have justice system.11 Data cited in this community service, the percentage of increased—0.54 to 0.88 and 0.83 to 1.12 indicator focus on two different stages in population voting, and participation in respectively. the justice system: referrals to court and the arts, as well as access to open space sentences to confinement. The racial and and usage of community centers and ethnic designations are those cited by Evaluation libraries. DSHS. This indicator shows encouraging signs with a decreasing trend in the Interpretation proportion of African American and Native American youth involved in the Though 1994 shows the lowest juvenile justice system and an increasing proportion of African American youth trend toward 1.0 in the ratio of Asian involvement in the justice system, the and Hispanic youth involved. Still, rate of referral is 3.3 times that which substantial inequities exist in the would be expected if referrals mirrored proportion of African American youth their portion of total youth population. referred and sentenced, potentially This driven by greater social and economic disparities linked to criminal activity.
54 Youth & Education Sustainable Seattle Indicators 1998 Adult Literacy
? Sustainability trend Almost one-third of Literacy in Washington State Washington State’s citizens 100% have inadequate literacy 90% skills. 80%
70% Weak Description 60% Limited Literacy—an indicator of society’s ability 50% Strong to communicate among its members—is 40% an essential component of a sustainable 30% society and of building an active, 20% informed citizenry. Even in an age of Percent of Population 10% telecommunications, written words 0% continue to be our primary means of sharing information and exchanging 19941 knowledge among citizens, government, business, educational institutions, and organizations. The literacy rate Evaluation sufficient, to make informed choices about environmental and health issues, describes the percentage of citizens who Movement in the direction of 100% and to combat the forces of poverty and are able to read and write, to solve literacy would indicate increasing crime. problems based on written materials, sustainability. The data suggest that we and to integrate complex information. have considerable work to do in
achieving reasonable proficiency for Definition many people. Although there is no data The data cited comes from the federally showing a long-term trend, the fact that funded “Adult Literacy in Washington more than 70% of study respondents Study” published in spring of 1994. were unable to perform the most The study’s conclusions are based on challenging tasks, and that 10% were interviews conducted in 1992 with a essentially illiterate, is of concern. sample of Washington State residents. Washington State, like the United The interview included performance of States overall, ranks significantly lower actual reading and writing tasks. than most other industrialized nations Unfortunately, the study was funded on in this area. a onetime basis, so the indicator could not be updated for this year’s indicators Linkages report. A study by the University of Washington Human Services Policy Interpretation Center has linked basic skill deficiencies The “Adult Literacy in Washington with high participation in welfare and Study” found that about 65% of other social service programs, lower Washington residents had strong earnings, and more children at risk. In literacy skills. The data suggest that a addition, those who are illiterate are less sizeable percentage—around 10%—of likely to participate in public life, or to Washington residents lack basic literacy benefit from public education efforts. skills. Another 21 to 25% have a Regional economic vitality is also limited level of proficiency and were affected: businesses increasingly need unable to employ higher level reading multi-skilled employees, not employees and problem-solving skills. Only 25 to lacking basic skills. 29% of respondents demonstrated the ability to perform the most challenging It is essential that all citizens possess tasks in the assessment. basic speaking, reading, writing, and computation skills to become employed and self-
Sustainable Seattle Indicators 1998 Youth & Education 55
Youth and Education Notes
1 Student Information Services Office, Seattle Public School District. Data Profile: District Summary—November 1996. (Seattle, WA: 1996) p. 129. 2 Ethnic breakdown of students and staff in 1996- 97 school year from Seattle Public School District, The Seattle Public Schools At-a-Glance, 1997 Facts and Figures. (Seattle, WA: 1997). Ethnic breakdown of staff in 1995-96 school year from Seattle Public School District, Sealth Annual Report. (Seattle, WA: 1997) p.2. Ethnic breakdown of students from 1992-93 to 1994-95 from Seattle Public School District, District Summary Report, 1995. (Seattle, WA: 1995) p. 7. Ethnic breakdown of teachers, 1992-93 to 1994-95 from Susan Fong of Personal Data Services, private communication, January 5, 1998. 3 List of certified arts staff in 1996-97 school year. Special tabulation provided by Lael Williams, Visual and Performing Arts Manager, Seattle Public School District, July 15, 1997. 4 Lael Williams, Visual and Performing Arts Manager, Seattle Public School District, private communication, May 27, 1997. 5Number of district volunteers and volunteer hours provided by Sue Beyers, Customer Service Department, Seattle Public Schools, private communication, July 31, 1997. 6 Becky Lilley, Seattle Council of PTSA, private communication, November 19, 1997. 7 Nancy Wilson, King County Office of the Prosecuting Attorney, private communication, August 1997. 8 Peter Benson, Dale Blyth, Craig Deville, and Jean Wachs, Developmental Assets Among Seattle Youth (Minneapolis, MN: Search Institute, April 1997). 9 Jamie Flaxman, Seattle Youth Involvement Network, private communication, April 1997. 10 David Kelly-Hedrick, King County Youth Volunteer Corps, private communication, April 1997. 11 Bridges, George S. Racial Disprportionality in County Juvenile Facilities. Conducted for the Department of Social and Health Services (Olympia, WA: July 1995).
56 Youth & Education Sustainable Seattle Indicators 1998 H e a l t h & Community
Health & Community S U S T A I N A B I L I T Y T R E N D S
Low Birthweight Infants The rate of low birthweight infants has ÍÎ leveled off, but the rate for Black infants is double that of other ethnicities.
Asthma Hospitalizations Childhood asthma rates are leveling off, ÍÎ for Children but at unacceptably high rates.
Voter Participation More residents are voting, but participa- Ï tion levels are still fairly low—with only one-fifth of eligible adults voting in the last primary election.
Library & Community Community center use in Seattle/King ÍÎ County has stabilized at 6 visits a year, Center Use while library use has averaged 10 books per year.
Public Participation in Seattle/King County residents enjoy a Ï the Arts growing number of artistic opportunities.
Gardening Seattle’s community P-Patch program Ï continues to blossom, reflecting a growing interest in gardening.
Neighborliness In 1994, the average resident reported ? having 20 people they consider “neighbors.”
Perceived Quality of Life Most residents think Seattle is a “very ÍÎ good” place to live, but increasing numbers feel quality of life is declining.
Sustainable Seattle Indicators 1998 Health & Community 59 Low Birthweight Infants
Sustainability trend Low Birthweight By Ethnicity in King County The rate of low birthweight infants has leveled off, but 14 13 the rate for Black infants is 12 double that of other 11 ethnicities. 10 9 8
Description % of Infants 7 A sustainable society adequately 6 w/ Low Birthweight nurtures its youngest members. Low 5 4 birthweight is the single most important cause of preventable infant deaths. In
King County, a low birthweight infant is 1980-82 1981-83 1982-84 1983-85 1984-86 1985-87 1986-88 1987-89 1988-90 1989-91 1990-92 1991-93 1992-94 1993-95 1994-96 Black Native American Asian nearly 19 times more likely to die than Hispanic White Total an infant of normal birthweight. She or he is also at risk for childhood American infants had rates of 6.0%, birthweight suggests a probable increase neurological and respiratory problems. 5.3% and 6.1% respectively. During in one or more of these factors. A decrease in the number of low the past 15 years, the rate for Black birthweight infants born in King infants has increased 6%. The rate for County would contribute to the health Asian infants decreased in the early of the region’s next generation and 1980s before stabilizing at its current suggest a trend toward sustainability. level. The percentage of low bithweight infants among Latinos has remained Definition relatively level while the rate for Whites has increased slightly. Though the rate Low birthweight infants are defined as for Native American babies rose steadily weighing less than 2,500 grams over the 1980s, it has substantially (approximately 5.5 pounds). Data are improved in the 1990s, dropping from a collected from county birth certificates, high of 9.5% to 5.05%. and analyzed annually by the Seattle-
King County Department of Public Health. The most recent data were Evaluation published in 1997 by the Washington The leveling off in the total percentage State Department of Health Center for of low birthweight infants offers an Health Statistics.1 Rolling three-year encouraging sign. However, the averages are used to calculate steady persistent gap between the low rates among racial and ethnic groups. birthweight of Black infants and those Note that data collection for Latinos did of other races is a symptom of social and not begin until 1988. Also note that economic inequities that must be the ethnic and racial designations remedied before a truly sustainable presented here are those used by the society is achieved. Health Department in its report. Linkages Interpretation Low birthweight correlates with many In 1994-96, 5.7% of King County other social factors, such as late or no infants were born with low birthweights. prenatal care, poor maternal nutrition, The yearly increase in the number of limited education, teen pregnancy and low birthweights in the mid-1980s poor health habits (especially smoking appears to have leveled off in the past and drug use). It also relates to seven years. However, significant economic factors such as poverty during disparities between infants of different the mother’s childhood, ethnicities persist. For the period 1994- unemployment, housing affordability, 1996, low birthweight rates ranged from and distribution of personal income. A 11.35% for Black infants to 5.07% for rise in the number of infants with a low Whites. Asian, Latino and Native
60 Health & Community Sustainable Seattle Indicators 1998 Asthma Hospitalizations for Children
Sustainability trend Childhood asthma rates are Childhood Asthma Hospitalizations leveling off, but at 450 unacceptably high rates. 400
Description 350 How healthy are our children? And 300 how healthy is the environment in which they spend most of their time? 250 Asthma, the leading cause of
100,000 Residents 200 hospitalization for preschool children in Hospitalizations per Seattle, is a good but complex indicator 150 that may point toward an answer to both questions. 100
Asthma is a chronic inflammatory 1987 1988 1989 1990 1991 1992 1993 1994 1995 1996 condition in the airways of the lungs. Seattle & North County South King County Triggers for asthma include dust mites, cat dander, cockroach allergen, molds, Evaluation contribute to the problem of reduced grasses, and pollen. These allergens can ventilation and should be coordinated Asthma rates may be leveling off at be found in house dust and indoor air. with public education and control of unacceptably high rates, particularly in (Seattle has been called the dust mite moisture and pollution in the home. urban areas and acutely in poor and capitol of the world, because our mild Finally, increases in hospitalizations minority populations. While we may and damp climate supports such a affect societal health costs, medical know about the risks from outdoor air thriving population of these premiums, and ultimately taxpayers’ pollution, we spend 90% of our time microscopic pests.) Outdoor air budget. pollution, secondhand tobacco smoke, indoors, and there appears to be a indoor air quality, and stress may also correlation between asthma rates and increase the likelihood of an asthma indoor air quality. attack. Poor air quality conditions that lead to asthma can be caused by wood and Definition cigarette smoke, moisture, molds and This indicator tracks the hospitalization other allergens, dust mites, and rate of Seattle children (ages 1-17) for inadequate ventilation. And while this 2 asthma from 1987 through 1996. The debilitating health condition impairs asthma hospitalization rate is the children of all income levels, poor number of child hospitalization cases children are hit hardest. A variety of for asthma per 100,000 residents. methods exist for treating childhood asthma and improving indoor air Interpretation quality (special mattress covers can Asthma hospitalization rates for control dust mites, for example), but Seattle/North King County children more research is needed to determine under the age of 18 increased by an asthma’s cause and devise effective average rate of 7% per year from 1987 methods for prevention and outreach. to 1993. The highest hospitalization rates and greatest increases were found Linkages among children, ages 1-4. This is In addition to those causes mentioned particularly acute among poor children above, asthma rates among children in the central and southeast areas of seem to be related to other indicators Seattle. The rates for children under 18 linked to poverty. Lack of access to in the urban areas of Seattle and North preventative health care (see emergency King County in 1996 were 84% greater room use) can also play a part. Increased than for all other areas of King County. energy efficiency is necessary for a sustainable Seattle, but it may
Sustainable Seattle Indicators 1998 Health & Community 61 Voter Participation
Sustainability trend More residents are voting, but Off-Year Primary Voting in Seattle participation levels are still 100% fairly low—with only one-fifth 90% of eligible adults voting in the 80% last primary election. 70%
60% Description 50% In a democratic society, the level of 40% voter turnout reflects the commitment 30% that people have to the political system 20% and the extent to which all segments of society participate in key decision- 10% making. It is also a measure of citizen 0% confidence in social and political 1983 1985 1987 1989 1991 1993 1995 1997 institutions. Decreasing voter turnout % of Adults Registered % of Registered Voters Voting % of Adults Voting can signal that people feel disempowered and believe their votes averaged only 13% of eligible residents. and other social problems are probably won’t make a difference, or that the With the four odd-year elections associated with decreasing civic government system is organized to between 1991 and 1997, turnout participation. discourage civic participation. increased to an average of 22% of
eligible adults. In the 1997 primary Definition election, 20% of eligible adults voted. Primary elections are used for this indicator because they shape the choices The percentage of eligible adults for the final election. Primaries also registered to vote has also grown—78% provide an opportunity for protest and in 1997 as compared to 69% in 1983. dissenting movements to enter the The addition of more than 130,000 political arena. Data from odd-year registrations in 1992 provided the most elections are used since even-year significant increase in voter registration. elections exhibit erratic voting patterns (reflecting the presence or absence of a Evaluation significant statewide race), and because More residents are voting, but the key to active democracy is participation levels are still fairly low— involvement in local government with only one-fifth of eligible adults elections, which in Washington State voting in the last primary election. This take place in odd years. The King means a significant proportion of the County Elections Office provided the population is being left out of the voting and registration data.3 democratic process, which raises
concern about our ability to govern Interpretation ourselves and make the kinds of Primary voter turnout in odd years has difficult decisions needed to create a oscillated from a high of 30% in 1977, sustainable society. Increasing active to a low of 11% in 1989 and 1991, citizenship should be a high priority. followed by a record high of 40% in 1995. Voter interest in two Linkages controversial referenda for public Voter involvement is linked to poverty financing of a downtown park and a levels and the health of the social baseball stadium contributed to the environment. Closely allied indicators high turnout in 1995. Still, voter include: youth and citizen community turnout has been slowly improving in service, adult literacy, quality of life, recent primaries. After turnouts near income distribution, work required for 20% in the 1970s, the five primary basic needs, ecological health and elections between 1981 and 1989 population. Crime, social alienation,
62 Health & Community Sustainable Seattle Indicators 1998 Library and Community Center Use
Sustainability trend Annual Library Circulation and Community center use in Community Center Visits per Capita Seattle/King County has 14 7 stabilized at 6 visits a year, 12 6 while library use has 10 5 averaged 10 books per year. 8 4 6 3 4 2 Visits per Capita Description 2 1 Yearly Books per Capita Public libraries and community centers 0 0 Yearly Community Center foster personal and community
development by making learning, 1982 1983 1984 1985 1986 1987 1988 1989 1990 1991 1992 1993 1994 1995 1996 knowledge, health and fitness accessible King County Library Visits Seattle Library Visits Community Center Visits to all. They also promote efficient use of resources by allowing shared use capita in 1996—one of the highest rates community recreation centers can among large numbers of people. In the in the nation for a system its size. contribute to the physical and mental emerging information age, libraries are Between 1970 and 1993, use of both health of a city, and can help strengthen becoming increasingly significant. the Seattle and King County library ties among neighborhood residents. Community centers, with their systems went up dramatically. In Seattle, emphasis on wellness and community the number of books and other material participation, are important gathering checked out per person each year rose places in many neighborhoods. Well- from 7.5 in 1970 to 10.3 in 1993—a used libraries and community centers 37% increase. King County circulation are indicators of a sustainable society. grew even faster, from 5.3 to 10.6 items circulated per person per year—a 100% increase. Definition For the Seattle and King County library Since 1991, the use of Seattle systems, library usage rates are measured community centers has stabilized at by books checked out per capita per around 6 visits per year. However, their year. With the Seattle Public Libraries, use has risen substantially since 1983. the total circulation is divided by the In 1996, community centers were city’s population. For King County, the visited 3,103,663 times, up from statistic is determined by dividing total 1,719,341 visits in 1983. circulation by the county population minus the population of Seattle. Data was obtained from the American Evaluation Library Directory and the Washington The data for King County’s libraries State Library Statistical Bulletin.4 and Seattle’s community centers suggest a trend toward sustainability. However, Usage rates for community centers are the declining circulation rates at measured by annual visits per year at the Seattle’s libraries should be heeded as a City of Seattle’s 25 community centers. warning signal that the number of well- The Seattle Department of Parks and informed and intellectually active city Recreation furnished the data on residents may be slipping. community centers.5 Linkages Interpretation Library usage is closely tied to other Since 1993, the circulation rate at signs of social sustainability such as Seattle libraries fell by 1.5 per capita to literacy and education, political interest 8.8. Another decline in 1996 brought and knowledge, and intellectual vitality. the rate to 8.4, the city’s lowest since the The gains in literacy and information late 1970s. Circulation rates at King exchange which grow from accessible County libraries have continued their and frequently used libraries help rise in the 1990s, reaching 11.2 per invigorate public debates and promote healthy alternatives to crime and self- destructive behavior. The use of Sustainable Seattle Indicators 1998 Health & Community 63 Public Participation in the Arts
Sustainability trend Seattle/King County residents Public Participation in the Arts enjoy a growing number of in King County artistic opportunities. 120 5
100 4 80 Description 3 A community may manage its affairs 60 and care for itself adequately, but 2
40 (millions) Attendance without the life of the imagination, it Organizations Number of Arts 20 1 may not be a worthwhile place to live, and therefore unsustainable. This 0 0 indicator looks at participation levels in 1992 1993 1994 1995 1996 various artistic media to get a sense of Organizations Attendance our area’s cultural vitality. estimated that 69% of King County Definition residents attended art, music, plays, or dance programs. A 1995 survey by the The King County Arts Commission has Business Volunteers for Arts estimated tracked the permanent arts that 27% of all 21-49 year-old county organizations in King County since residents and 43% of 50+ year old 1989.6 The Commission provides residents were organization subscribers. funding to 90% of the established, non- profit cultural organizations, which includes any group in existence for two Evaluation years with a scheduled season and a The growth in the number of hired staff. The Commission began established arts organizations provides a biannual monitoring of the good indicator of the overall vitality of organizations’ budgets and attendance the arts community. This increase might in 1995;7 the next attendance estimates reflect a growing interest in overall will be available in 1998. The data only public participation in the arts. Trends reflect passive arts attendance and not in actual number of attendees will be active arts participation in art classes, available in 1998. No measures of studios and education programs. Many active participation in arts programs are other forms of public art participation available; however, the Corporate are not included such as reading, Council for the Arts is commissioning movies, and popular music. an economic study that may provide future data. Interpretation Over the past five years, the number of Linkages established arts organizations qualifying Participation in the arts can be linked for Commission funding has increased with a number of social and cultural from 76 organizations in 1992 to 96 indicators such as literacy, educational organizations in 1996. These numbers attainment, voter participation, and do not include many new and perceived quality of life. Arts temporary organizations. Overall, the instruction in schools would tend to Arts Commission has estimated that stimulate participation in the arts. there are about 300 total non-profit Higher degrees of environmental cultural organizations in King County. stewardship may also relate to increased Established arts organizations served 4.7 participation, while elevated rates of million attendees in 1995. poverty and low economic vitality could depress participation levels. In addition, two recent surveys of county residents have examined attendance and subscriptions to arts organizations. A 1992 survey by the National Endowment for the Arts 64 Health & Community Sustainable Seattle Indicators 1998 Gardening Activity
Sustainability trend Seattle’s community P-Patch Community Garden P-Patch Plots program continues to in Seattle blossom, reflecting a growing 1,800 interest in gardening. 1,600 1,400 1,200 Description 1,000 Gardening is an indicator of sustainable 800 living as it relates to self-reliance and
Number of 600 producing one’s own nutritious food. P-Patch Plots 400 Community gardens can promote social 200 interaction, provide opportunities for - recreation, and contribute to
neighborhood open space and wildlife 1984 1985 1986 1987 1988 1989 1990 1992 1993 1994 1995 1996 1997 habitat. The act of gardening is also nurturing to the human spirit. As their successful heritage. P-Patches are Gardening can also improve local Thomas Jefferson once said “Cultivators also a transition point for immigrants to ecological health as landscapes include a of the earth are the most valuable of “get their feet on the ground.” In the variety of indigenous plant species and citizens. They are the most vigorous, the past two years in conjunction with the provide habitat for birds and animals. most virtuous, and they are tied to their Friends of P-Patch and the Seattle country and wedded to its liberty and Housing Authority, 10 new sites have interests by the most lasting bonds.” been built at low-income housing developments and two community Definition supported agriculture sites.
This indicator looks at the number of In total, there are 46 P-Patch community garden plots available neighborhood sites around the city of through the City of Seattle Department Seattle. It’s estimated the produce and of Neighborhoods P-Patch Program. flowers annually grown at P-Patch sites The program was established in 1973 to is valued at over $500,000. promote recreation and open space.
Data is available from 1984 to present. In the 1995 Indicators report, data Evaluation came from a survey of King County The steady increase in the number of P- residents; however, funding was not Patch plots shows a growing interest in available to repeat the survey for this community gardening. Despite the high edition. demand, the challenge persists of securing permanent open space Interpretation dedicated to community gardening. The City of Seattle’s Comp Plan mandates The number of plots available through that there be one dedicated garden for the city’s P-Patch program for each 2,500 households. community gardening has grown from
987 in 1984 to 1,609 in 1996—almost a 40% increase. During this period, the Linkages number of individuals served has Gardening is related to a host of social, increased from 2,400 to 4,500 people. economic, and environmental concerns. Still there is a long waiting list for P- There is potential for reduced health Patch plots in some neighborhoods. care costs, as people gain a deepened sense of well-being through gardening Among P-Patch participants are recent activities. Growing foods locally immigrants families from Southeast reduces shipping and transportation Asia, Eastern Europe, and Africa. impacts, decreases energy use, as well as These families often earn well below the lowers the amount of solid waste median wage so they use the gardens to generated by composting materials or augment their food supply and carry on consuming less packaged foods.
Sustainable Seattle Indicators 1998 Health & Community 65 Neighborliness in King County
? Sustainability trend Neighborly Activities In 1994, the average King 100% County resident 90% reported having 20 people 80% they consider“neighbors." 70% 60% Description 50% How well do we know each other? Do 40% we know the people next door by name? 30% Would we share tools with them, or 20% help them out in a pinch? 10% % of Population Participating “Neighborliness” is a hard quality to 0% rs y define, but most people know what it o a ello b nges None y H a feels like—and it’s a critical part of a a ids Pl S eigh K N Exch lp healthy city and region. In a sustainable sit & Socialize society, people are at least acquainted Vi He with the folks who live nearby. This Neighborhood Watch indicator combines several measures their neighbors. However, only 13% acquainted with only a few of the designed to tell us how well the social said they participate in a blockwatch people around them, and two-thirds fabric of the Seattle/King County area activity or otherwise keep a supportive share nothing more than polite is knit. eye out for each other; 12% said they conversation—hardly a recipe for
“help out neighbors or elderly”; and community cohesion. While no trend Definition 10% indicated that they exchange labor toward or away from sustainability can King County residents were polled in or borrow/share things with their be determined, there is certainly room August, 1994 by Market Trends, a neighbors. Surprisingly, only 5% for significant improvement in this survey research firm. They were asked a indicated that their children play or do region’s neighborliness. number of questions about their other activities with neighboring relationships with their neighbors, children. Linkages including how many people they A sense of neighborliness can make a identified as “neighbors,” what Hidden within these averages are some particularly significant contribution to percentage of them they knew by name, interesting variations. For example, enhancing cultural and economic health and how they interacted with them. people who have some higher in a community. To the degree that we This initial survey provides a baseline education, make higher incomes, and care for and keep an eye out for our for future comparisons; however, own their own homes report having neighbors, share resources and funding was not available to repeat the more people they consider as information, we can potentially survey for this edition. “neighbors” and knowing a higher contribute to reducing crime, assisting percentage of them by name, and people in East King County report children living in poverty, increasing Interpretation knowing a significantly higher civic participation, and perhaps The average King County resident says percentage of their neighbors (65%) reducing the amount of work required that she or he has about 20 people than residents in the North (50%), to meet basic needs. Greater community living nearby that they consider South (25%), or Downtown (27.5%). security can also translate to a greater “neighbors.” While half (50%) of the sense of well-being for all the people in the survey indicated that they inhabitants. know at least half or more of their Evaluation neighbors by name, over one-fifth (23%) This indicator has never been measured indicated they know less than 10% of before, so it is not possible to compare their neighbors by name. the neighborliness of people living in Seattle/King County today with that of When asked how they interact with years past. The survey results offer a their neighbors, nearly one-third (32%) somewhat mixed view of the present say they “visit”, “socialize”, “eat meals”, situation: on one hand, 32% of people or “party” together, and over half (56%) know their neighbors well enough to of the survey participants indicated they visit and socialize at more than a passing “say hello” or “speak cordially” with degree. On the other, many people are
66 Health & Community Sustainable Seattle Indicators 1998 Perceived Quality of Life
Sustainability trend Most residents think Seattle is Seattle as a Changes in a “very good” place to live, Place to Live Quality of Life 100% but increasing numbers feel 100% quality of life is declining. 80% 80%
60% 60% Description 40% 40% “How do you rate Seattle as a place to live?” Answers to this question reflect 20% 20%
how we feel about our jobs, homes, and Percent Responding 0% 0% neighborhoods. Perceived quality of life 1996 1997 1996 1997 is a highly individual and subjective Poor Worse judgment, but it involves issues relating Fair Stayed the same to the overall cultural, economic, Good Better environmental, and social sustainability Excellent/very good of life in the region. However, this indicator should not be considered in a Linkages vacuum, for high perceived quality of In 1996, about the same number of Since perceived quality of life is a life ratings in the face of rising problems people considered the city had gotten personal judgment that considers a could be a sign of denial or better (28%) as thought it had gotten broad range of “livability” issues, it can complacency. worse (27%). But by 1997, this be linked to almost any indicator. situation had changed: only 19% Many concerns related to the local reported it had gotten better, while Definition environment, population, economy, almost twice as many (37%) believed it In 1996 and 1997, the consulting firm education, health, and community had gotten worse. Opinions around the Northwest Research Group conducted a could influence perceptions of Seattle’s city varied considerably. Overall, survey for the City of Seattle. In each quality as a place to live for better or for residents of North Seattle, long-time year the survey asked more than 1,200 worse. In turn, an individual’s residents, and older citizens were more residents citywide, “Overall, how do you perception of quality of life can likely to feel that quality of life had rate the City of Seattle as a place to influence the decisions he or she makes declined. Central Area residents and live?” and “Over the last two years, do about volunteer involvement, voter people of color were more likely to say you think Seattle has gotten better, participation, neighborliness, education, quality of life had improved; for stayed the same, or gotten worse as a and even driving. And the choices one example, 35% of African-Americans place to live?” In addition, survey person makes also affect the quality of said Seattle had gotten better, nearly respondents were asked to rate the city life for other people around them. on specific quality-of-life issues such as double the average. job opportunities, housing affordability, public transportation, race relations, Evaluation and public schools. Seattle residents generally see the city as a good place to live. Compared to the Interpretation previous survey, however, more Most Seattle residents give the city high respondents in 1997 felt quality of life ratings for quality of life. In 1996 and had gotten worse. The limited data 1997, 91% of respondents described make it hard to tell if this increase in Seattle as a “good” or “better” place to adverse opinion represents an ominous live, while 8% called it “fair” and only trend, but in future surveys we should 1% considered it “poor.” In 1997, the watch this topic and investigate its proportion of respondents giving the causes. To preserve a sustainable city the highest rating rose to 55% from community in the 21st century, we must 49% the previous year. However, this focus on maintaining and improving increase may reflect a change in the the social, economic, and survey’s phrasing for the top rank (from environmental factors that make Seattle “excellent” in 1996 to “very good” in a desirable home. 1997), rather than a real change in perceived quality of life.
Sustainable Seattle Indicators 1998 Health & Community 67
Health & Community Notes
1 All information on low birthweight infants in King County (by race) is from Washington State Department of Health, Center for Health Statistics. Data were obtained from Marianne Sullivan, Epidemiology and Planning Division, Seattle-King County Department of Public Health, private communication, July 1, 1997. 2 Dr. David Solet and Marianne Sullivan, Seattle/King County Department of Public Health, private communication, February 1998. 3 Bob Bruce, King County Office of Elections, private communication, November 1997. 4 Washington State Library, Washington State Library, Washington State Library Statistical Bulletin (Olympia WA: 1997). 5 Jennifer Cargal, Seattle Parks and Recreation Department, private communication, August 1997. 6 Leonard Garfield, King County Office of Cultural Resources, private communication, April 1997. 7 King County Office of Cultural Resources, Sustaining King County Arts Organizations (Seattle, WA: 1997).
68 Health & Community Sustainable Seattle Indicators 1998 The Sustainable Seattle Indicators Story
How the Indicators health and vitality—cultural, economic, people volunteered. environmental, and social.” Process Began Support & Facilitation The “Indicators Project” grew out of a Recruiting Civic Panel To use time efficiently, we trained 20 one-day conference in November 1990 Participants Sustainable Seattle volunteers (two for sponsored by the Washington D.C.- each topic group) to serve as facilitator/ based Global Tomorrow Coalition in The Civic Panel process was invaluable in recorder teams. Prior to each workshop, which community leaders from all facets providing depth and a range of knowledge we prepared a packet of background of Seattle city life came together around about community life; giving serious materials that was sent to each partici- the idea of citizens choosing their own thought to all the dimensions of pant, planned an agenda with specific ways of measuring long-term community sustainability; providing critical thinking goals, and briefed coordinators to lead well-being. In February 1991, the about the best indicators of sustainability— each workshop. We used techniques of Sustainable Seattle Network coalesced economic, environmental and social; and facilitated whole group dialogue and with 30 volunteers meeting to further building support, enthusiasm and belief small group working sessions to accom- the concept of creating Indicators to that a community can find new and plish our goals each meeting, always measure the health of Seattle. better ways to measure its own progress. allowing time for socializing and enjoyment. People were drawn to the For the next six months, an Indicators The design of the Civic Panel was to effort because we seemed to be having so Task Team made up of people with bring together some of the most active much fun! diverse backgrounds—an economist, citizens in Seattle and engage them in a energy specialist, engineer, social worker, dynamic workshop process that would city planner, etc.—met regularly to lead to specific and credible results—but Steps in the Process brainstorm and research possible that was “sustainable” in terms of the Our plan included four participatory indicators. After creating a draft list of commitment it required from already workshops held over the span of six 29 potential key indicators, and a busy people. months, with the goal of developing number of secondary and “provocative” consensus recommendations for key indicators, the team recognized a need to First, we drew upon our own resources sustainability indicators. involve more people who could provide a and compiled a list of 300 citizens broader perspective on indices of a leaders and grassroot activists through- Workshop #1: Civic Panel Orientation. A healthy community across an economic, out the city. We made an effort to warm evening workshop in June kicked environmental, and social spectrum. equally involve men and women, and to off the Civic Panel process. Kay Bullitt, Business leaders, environmental groups, include active citizens of different ages, a local environmental visionary and city and county government representa- cultures, and lifestyles. Using a list of leader, and a representative of the tives, labor, the religious community, ten topic areas, we sought people who Mayor’s office, welcomed all the partici- special interest groups, educators, had knowledge in: pants. Next, Sustainable Seattle leaders students, and social activists were asked • Resource Consumption offered an inspiring presentation on the to participate in a Civic Panel and • Education vision and task of sustainability—the collectively imagine what aspects of the • Economy global concern and challenge for our community were important to measure. • Transportation local response. • Natural Environment During this same time, another group of • Health After spending a number of months by volunteers (some from the Indicators • Social Environment ourselves working towards a draft list of team as well as others) met as the • Culture & Recreation indicators, the Task Team was eager to Sustainable Seattle Board of Trustees. • Population introduce the “Indicators of Sustainable Also known as the “stewards of the • Community Participation Community” project to a broad audience process,” this group worked together to and invite their participation and define the network’s identity and create An invitation, including a description of creativity into the process. Each an organizational structure that encour- the purpose and six-month schedule for participant received “Draft Indicators aged consensual decision-making, shared the Civic Panel, was mailed to each Version 1,” the potential list of 29 key leadership, and diverse participation. potential participant followed by a indicators and many secondary and Sustainable Seattle’s values were tested personal phone call. Over 150 immedi- provocative ones, along with a six-page early on, as the Trustees struggled six ately agreed to participate. The panel feedback survey for individuals to fill out months to come up with a consensus was also open to anyone who wanted to on their own time. For the remaining definition of sustainability: “long-term participate, and an additional 20 or so
Sustainable Seattle Indicators 1998 The Sustainable Seattle Indicators Story 69 perceptions and visions of a sustain- indicators and excluding others related develop “chains of causation” between able culture. We asked participants to their topic. Many groups felt they key indicators. After a lunchtime to envision one generation from now, needed more time for discussion and demonstration of an electrical scooter in 2022, what evidence they might made plans to meet outside of the and a musical interlude, Panelists set to find that indicates we have become a scheduled Panel workshops. To wrap up work on brainstorming strategies for sustainable society. We also asked the second workshop, each topic group putting the indicators to work in what hopes or interests people had reported on its progress and planned next business, education, the media, commu- for the Civic Panel process. The steps to the larger group. All the results nities, and policy-making. The meeting evening concluded with a buzz of were compiled into Draft Version 2. concluded with a joyful celebration over enthusiasm and the pervasive feeling the successful completion of our work. we were beginning something Workshop #3: Towards Consensus on Key uniquely important to the Indicators. The goal for this October Use of Civic Panel community’s future well-being. meeting was that each topic group move towards agreement on the three to five Results First Review & Feedback By Mail. best key indicators for their area. To Next came the hard task of paring down Over the summer, Civic Panelists refresh people’s energy, we began the the Indicators list, giving serious spent time reviewing the first draft workshop with some reflection time consideration to issues of measurability, list of indicators and recording their about our visions and hopes for the data availability, and professional comments via the written feedback project. Then topic groups got to task credibility. Civic Panelists were invited survey. The process was designed so on winnowing their indicators list down to join the on-going Sustainable Seattle that panelists could individually using criteria for good indicators that Indicators Task Team for next steps, and review the draft list in an enjoyable were developed from the Sustainable some of them did. For the next three way that was paced according to their Seattle goals. By the end of the evening, months, the Indicators Task Team own schedules and could be com- each group reported their results to the worked with the prioritized list of 99 pleted without additional meetings. whole Civic Panel and shared ideas on indicators to winnow it down to a final Some people went to the added how to publish and use these indicators selection of 40 indicators that would trouble of attaching extra sheets of in the community. Some groups felt the give a “whole system” or “whole city” typewritten comments to explain need to meet independently one last snapshot of movement towards or away their ideas in depth. time after this workshop, while others from sustainability. In all, the indicators completed their work by telephone. list went through seven draft iterations. From the forms received, the Many groups only achieved consensus by We mailed the final draft list to all Civic Indicators Task Team studied and expanding the number of indicators they Panel members for one last review and synthesized the written feedback. In included. The results—99 total indica- comment. Then we began the final preparation for the next meeting, we tors—became Draft Version 3. phase of the project—data collection and divided the Panel into topic areas analysis, the results of which you see in (according to their interest and Workshop #4: 99 Indicators, Priorities, & this report. knowledge), and distributed a set of Celebration. On a Saturday in December, revised key indicators—in addition to the Civic Panel held its final meeting to Many Panel members helped find and framing comments and discussion review the newly proposed “Indicators of collect data through existing sources and questions. Sustainable Community.” All 99 served as peer evaluators and reviewers indicators were displayed in large print to assure that all information was Workshop #2: Topic Groups Develop Key on a wall. The meeting began with a reliable, defensible and meaningful. Indicators. In late September, the “dramatic reading” of the 99 indicators People from local government, schools Sustainable Seattle Civic Panel met interspersed with poetry, quotations, and and universities, businesses and research for the second time to begin work on stories that illustrated the values and groups contributed their time and the nitty-gritty details of designing principles of the project. As a final essential resources. All in all, hundreds key indicators of sustainability. We priority-setting exercise, Civic Panelists of volunteers came together to create began the workshop with a brief participated in a “green dot game” in this community report-card. And many update on the progress since the last which they each selected 15 indicators have continued to spark indicator or workshop, then Civic Panel members from the menu of 99 that seemed most benchmark projects in the Puget Sound divided into the ten topic groups. useful in providing a snapshot of region and elsewhere around the United Using the synthesized feedback on community sustainability. “Wild Salmon” States and the world. Draft Version 1, each group worked received the most green dots, by far. to develop and refine a list of ten potential indicators for their topic Next, Panelists considered how the area, first agreeing among themselves Indicators were linked to one another. about criteria for including certain They worked in pairs and small groups to
70 The Sustainable Seattle Indicators Story Sustainable Seattle Indicators 1998 Glossary
Agenda 21: The non-binding agreement Culture: An integrated pattern of evolution of native species. signed by world nations at the 1992 human beliefs, values, behaviors and United Nations Conference on Environ- institutions shared by a distinct group, the Endangered Species: Species whose ment and Development (see UNCED). inhabitants of a region, or the citizens of a populations and habitat have declined to Agenda 21 sets out conditions and nation. Used in some contexts as a the point where extinction is imminent, recommendations for achieving global synonym for the arts and other forms of requiring significant human interven- Sustainability. social expression. tions and protection of habitat to preserve them (as defined by the Benchmark: A point of reference or a Definition: The technical specifications Endangered Species Act). (See also standard against which measurements of an Indicator, including data sources. Species, Threatened Species.) can be compared; sometimes a goal or a target. Examples: Record highs in the Description: An explanation of the Environment: “The circumstances, stock market, optimal water levels in rationale for the choice of a particular objects, or conditions by which one is wetlands, so-called “full-employment” Indicator. surrounded” (Webster’s). Often used to levels of acceptable unemployment. refer only to natural Ecosystems apart Often confused with Indicator. Development: “To evolve the possibili- from human settlement, Environment is ties of” (Webster’s New Collegiate more accurately understood to include Biodiversity: The variety of living Dictionary). A process of growth or both natural and human-made physical organisms in an Ecosystem. (See also change. Often used in the phrases conditions. Diversity.) “economic development,” connoting an expansion of economic opportunities and Equity: Fairness; freedom from bias or Bioregion: A geographic area defined by jobs, and “sustainable development,” favoritism. close similarity in Ecosystems, Biodiversity, referring to economic and social changes and climate patterns, as distinct from an that promote human prosperity and Evaluation: A determination of the area defined by political boundaries. quality of life without causing ecological positive or negative connotations in the Many have defined the maritime Pacific or social damage. Sometimes confused data for an Indicator, including a judg- Northwest, from British Columbia down with Growth. ment about its movement toward or to Oregon, as a single Bioregion with the away from Sustainability. name “Cascadia.” Diversity: Difference and variety. Diversity is an essential component of Extrapolate: A method for estimating Brundtland Commission: Officially, sustainable cultural, ecological, and new data points based on existing the World Commission on Environment economic systems because it makes them measurements, and thereby predicting and Development, charted by the United more resilient and adaptable to change. trends. For example, if the data for 1994 Nations and chaired by Norwegian and 1995 are 8 and 9 respectively, one Prime Minister Grö Harlem Brundtland. Earth Summit: See UNCED. could extrapolate from that data to From 1984 to1987 it studied global estimate that in 1996 the figure might be environmental, economic, and social Economic Development: See Develop- 10. trends, and published recommendations ment. in the 1987 report, Our Common Future, Frugality: In Latin origin, to “enjoy the which set a global agenda for Economy: Originally, the “management fruits”; also a synonym for “virtuous.” In Sustainability. of a household.” More commonly today, contemporary usage, to use resources the system of production, distribution, (including money) wisely, without waste. Btu: “British Thermal Unit,” a unit of and consumption of goods and services measure for energy. Specifically, one Btu in the larger scale. Also a synonym for Global Forum: The 1992 meeting of is the amount of energy required to raise Frugality. non-governmental organizations (NGOs) the temperature of one pound of water in Rio de Janeiro, which ran parallel to one degree Farenheit, starting from 39.2 Ecosystem: An integrated system of the meeting of governments at UNCED. degrees. living species, their habitat, and the NGO participants signed a set of processes that affect them. “Citizen Treaties” that went far beyond the Civic Panel: A group of approximately agreements made by governments in 150 citizens and civic leaders convened by Ecological Health: A measure of the Agenda 21. Sustainable Seattle in 1992 to select ability of an Ecosystem to maintain Indicators of Sustainability for the essential natural functions, such as Seattle area. primary production, nutrient cycling, and
Sustainable Seattle Indicators 1998 Glossary 71 Growth: Increase or expansion. Used in Our Common Future: The Report of Sustainable: Able to endure over time. the phrase “economic growth” to mean an the Brundtland Commission, which A sustainable Society is one that is healthy, expansion in production, jobs, and linked economic development to alleviate vital, resilient, and able to creatively adapt revenue. Often confused with Develop- poverty with environmental protection to to changing conditions over the long term. ment, which does not necessarily include prevent ecological catastrophe. (See also Development, and Our Com- the idea of physical increase. mon Future.) Per Capita: Latin for “by heads.” A Indicator: A measurement that reflects measurement that is presented in terms Sustainable Development: The Our the status of a system. Examples: the of units per person, as opposed to a total Common Future report defined Sustain- Dow Jones Industrial Average, the or aggregate figure. able Development as that which “meets number of spotted owls in a forest the needs of the present without compro- ecosystem, an oil pressure gauge on an Renewable: Able to be continually mising the ability of future generations to engine. replenished. Rainwater, solar and hydro- meet their own needs.” electricity, and human creativity are all Interpolate: A method for estimating considered to be Renewable Resources. System: A set of actors or entities data points that fall between points of (See also Resources and Nonrenewable.) bound together by a set of rules and actual measurement. For example, if the relationships into a unified whole. A measurement for 1992 was “5 units,” Resources: “A source of supply or system’s health is dependent on the health and for 1994 “10 units,” one could support; available means” (Webster’s). of the whole pattern, which can sometimes interpolate that the measurement for The energy and materials used to support be reflected (and thus measured) in the 1993 would be the midpoint between an Economy and fulfill human needs and status of a key part of the system (see them, or approximately 7.5 units. desires. (See also Renewable and Nonre- Indicator). newable.) Interpretation: The analysis of the Threatened Species: Species whose data for an Indicator, including trend Riparian: Refers to land adjacent to a populations are in decline and trending analysis. river, watercourse or body of water. toward becoming Endangered (as defined by the Endangered Species Act). (See also Linkage: A direct or indirect causal Rolling Average: A statistical technique Species and Endangered Species.) relationship between two or more for smoothing out data trends that are Systems, where changes in one affect the subject to aberrant fluctuations in the UNCED: The United Nations Confer- status of the other. Linkages among short term. For example, a three-year ence on Environment and Development Systems are often reflected in the Rolling average takes the current year’s (the “Earth Summit”), held in Rio de Indicators that measure the health of data and averages it with the two Janeiro, Brazil in 1992. UNCED was the those Systems. preceding years to minimize sudden dips largest gathering of heads of state in world or spikes that may not be typical of the history. Mean: The statistical average, determined trend. by adding up all the data and dividing by Watershed: A geographical area whose the number of data points. For example, Society: From a Latin root meaning boundaries are determined by the flows in the series 1, 2, 6, the mean is 3. “companion.” Society in the broadest of water following gravity to a principal sense refers to the entirety of a commu- tributary, river, or body of water. Median: The figure in an array of data nity, the whole web of living relation- Watersheds may be of many different points that falls midway in the series ships among people, their Culture, and scales, from relatively small (Ravenna between the highest and the lowest their Environment. Creek or Piper’s Creek in Seattle) to the values. For example, in the series 1, 2, 6, very large (the Columbia River basin). the median is 2. (Note the distinction Species: A biological classification between Median and Mean.) referring to a group of organisms who share similar traits and genetic codes and Nonrenewable: Finite in quantity. who are capable of interbreeding. Fossil fuels (like gasoline) are considered “nonrenewable resources,” because they Sustainability: “Long-term health and exist only in limited amounts, and their vitality—cultural , economic, environmen- disappearance is essentially permanent. tal and social” (Sustainable Seattle’s (See also Resources and Renewable.) definition).
72 Glossary Sustainable Seattle Indicators 1998 Anatomy of an Indicator
There has been some confusion of terms when referring to indicators. Most often indicators are confused with benchmarks. The latter are a data point on a graph of indicator data. A benchmark is usually a point of reference for comparison of performance for various alternatives. Sometimes, as shown on the graph below, a benchmark is a reference at a point in time. The following graph is offered for clarification of terms when referring to indicators.
Anatomy of an Indicator TARGET BENCHMARK 80
70
60
50
40 MILESTONES
30 units/capita
20
10 TREND
0
4 5 6 7 8 9 0 1 2 3 4 5 9 9 9 9 9 9 0 0 0 0 0 0 9 9 9 0 0 0 0 0 0 1986 1987 1988 1989 1990 1991 1992 1993 19 19 19 1 1 1 2 2 2 2 2 2 Year INDICATOR DATA
73 Glossary Sustainable Seattle Indicators 1998 1992 Civic Panel Nate Ford Jim Ludden Jean Sunborg Mark Aalfs Angela Ford David Lurie Olof Sundin Cynthia Adcock Stephen Forman Michael Mac Sems Tom Tierney Kimberly Allen Joanne Franey Kate Mandell Paul Toliver Susan Alotrico Bart Freedman Milenko Matanovich Wally Toner Cecile Andrews Barbara Freeman Naydene Maykut Alison Tucker Arnie Anfinson Tom Friberg David McCloskey Janine Van Sanden Tony Angell Richard Frith Mary McCumber Menno van Wyk Alan AtKisson Pat Fullmer Mark McDermott Jim Waldo Ruth Bachman Diana Gale Evy McDonald Eugene Wasserman Tom Bailey Dave Galvin Nancy McKay Mike Weaver Mona Bailey Bob Cary Patricia McLean-Virigi Edward Wenk, Jr. Ed Belcher Pat Gibbon Ed Medeiros Carolyn Whitney Phillip Bereano Libia Gil Phil Millam Woody Wilkenson Belinda Berg Robert Gilman Lynn Miranda Don Willis Bonnie Berk Lonnie Goodteacher Sharon Tomiko Miyake Carl Woestwin Carla Berkedal Larry Gossett John Morefield Hazel Wolf Julie Blacklow Kathy Graham Bill Moritz Robert Wood Keith Blume Michelle Gransgaard Sharon Morris Fabiola Woods Juan Bocanegra Tom Gries Scott Morrow Vim G. Wright Sandy Bradley Patty Grossman Mark Murphy Ely Zimmerman Catherine Bradshaw Marcia Guthrie Mike Nelson David Bricklin Fern Halgren Peter Nelson Kay Bullitt Susan Hall Dick Nelson Emory Bundy Nancy Hansen Steven Nicholas Doug Burco Suzanne Hartman Folke Nyberg Noreen Calaghan Lee Hatcher Maura O’Brien Nea Carroll Jody Haug Gary O’Neal Doreen Cato Joan Haynes David Ortman Vivian Caver Denis Hayes Dick Page Bill Chapman Jo Henderson Margaret Pageler Chris Charbonneau Bruce T. Herbert Joan Pelley Stuart Clarke Carlos Herrera Kit Perkins Ron Clink Shari Hirst Melissa Petersen David Cole Diane Horn Hanna Petros Brian Collins Heather Houston Gary Pivo Tim Colman Fritz Hull Nancy Place Richard Conlin Rick Jackson Richard Pleus Nicholas Corff Phil Jackson Derek Poon Peter Costantini Kirk Johnson Lorraine Pozzi Don Covey Bruce Jones Robert Reed Dana Cox Kent Kammerer Ross Reider Dorothy Craig Davidya Kasperzyk Vicki Robin Sheila Crofut Ron Kasprisin Mary Robinson Carolee Danz Laurie Keith Zarod Rominski Dee Dickenson Sheila Kelly Terryl Ross Jim Diers Kathryn Kelly Jim Rulfs Martha Dilts Bruce Kendall Dennis Ryan Carol D. DiMarcello Doug Kilgore Chase Rynd Susan Doederlein Charles Kleeberg Lois Shelton Ann Dold Rich Kovar Bob Sicko Joe Dominguez Penelope Koven Buster Simpson Alan Dornseif Arthur Kruckenberg Leon Smith Kikora Dorsey Vic Kucera Liz Smith Amy Duggan Aki Kurose David Smukowski Claire Dyckman Michael LaFond Ron Snyder Polly Dyer Pat Lamphere Chris Stafford Bob Eaglestaff DeEn Lang Bill Stafford Dave Ellgen Gary Lawrence Lucy Steers Linda Ellis Ron Lewis Jim Street Jim Evans Nick Licata Don Stromberg Mickey Fearn John Little Pat Strosahl Mike Fitzgerald Nancy Long Diane Summerhays
Sustainable Seattle 1109 First Avenue, Suite 400A Seattle, Washington USA 98101 Tel: (206) 622-3522 Fax: (206) 343-9819 [email protected] www.sustainableseattle.org www