The Airport Communities Podcast
We’re in the midst of producing episodes on the Sea-Tac Communities Plan, and our comments on the SAMP and updates on the totally confusing state of Port Package updates and… But the Port Commission held a bonus ‘listening session’ at Pier 69. We cover all meetings, of course. But since JC was already there, he decided to step to the mic and mention the two things that have been absent from the discussion for too long: measurables–now.
Topics
- Ep #33 Socioeconomics – Appendix K
- City of SeaTac Budget Presentation (The Bridge) August 11, 2026
- Port of Seattle Special Meeting (SAMP Listening #2) August 11, 2026
- Port of Seattle Regular Commission Meeting August 11, 2026 (S. Concourse)
- 2018/2025 Port of Seattle CAI Economic Impact Study
- SAMP SEPA NEPA/DEIS Appendix K Children’s Environmental Health and Safety Risks Socioeconomics and Environmental Justice
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JC Harris, for STNI. My first comment: it would be lovely if I could get parking validation.
My second comment. I heard the morning presentation, and of course you’re going to hear about the 17,000 jobs — the socioeconomic impacts thing is total rubbish. People will want to conflate King County’s benefits with those of the fence-line communities. There are needs everywhere, of course. But you will want to conflate the economic benefits of the walled garden of the Port — where you do provide a best-in-class land stewardship plan, a child care center, all of it — with what actually reaches the fence-line communities. And that’s creating this Elysium effect, this polarization. The delta between the services and the ethics you apply internally and what radiates out to the fence-line communities is widening not closing.
I don’t care how many temp jobs you provide for the Concourse and everything else — none of it moves the needle in the fence-line communities. I know that because you’ve been doing billions of dollars of construction over the last decade, and it’s a very easy thing to measure. Look at the budget books over the last ten or fifteen years and you’ll see conditions have not gotten better, despite the stratospheric growth of the airport.
Would you not think that if the airport’s revenues increased — even from one-time construction spending — some of that would emanate out to our communities? That is not the case. Conditions have actually continued to decline. It’s measurable and it’s something I hope you’ll give some consideration to.