PORT TOWNSEND — Washington state and Jefferson County could pull out of tough economic times if they could develop goods and services to export to other nations, according to the governor’s top economic adviser.
“Our state has been benefiting with its exports to China over the last 10 years. Even as we went into the recession, we saw that Chinese exports seem to grow for our state,” said Commerce Director Rogers Weed in an address to the Jefferson County Chamber of Commerce on Monday.
“We’re in a gateway position to that part of the world. We’ve built all this infrastructure to import goods from China, and now we have a chance to turn that around and focus on exporting.”
During his trip to Port Townsend, Weed toured the Port Townsend Paper Corp. mill, high-tech security systems producer Intellicheck-Mobilisa and the Glen Cove Industrial Park.
“I’ve met with other people on the Peninsula, and I’ve seen there are people who have world class ideas and technology and want to live out here,” said Weed, a former Microsoft vice president appointed by Gov. Christine Gregoire to her cabinet in 2009.
“Jefferson County is a more unique blend of old and new than you find in other places, with a lot of entrepreneurs who came here for the lifestyle talking about new cutting edge things.”
Weed said the software industry is one example where ideas can be turned into profit.
He spoke at the chamber luncheon for about 30 minutes, telling the audience his topics were complicated and would benefit from a longer presentation.
As a result, he discussed a few topics in some detail while breezing through several others.
He focused on the housing crisis and the related loss of mid-wage jobs as one of the state’s biggest economic problems.
“Medium wage jobs were the ones we lost the most of in the recession,” he said.
“That’s tough because it’s the center of our economy; it’s the middle class and has a lot of people worried because they are wondering what the distribution of wealth looks like going forward.”
Weed said many of these jobs reside in the housing market, the construction industry and home financing.
“Until we get the housing market cleared and moving in a positive direction, it’s going to be a challenge to get those medium wage jobs back,” he said.
Weed said that between one-fifth and one-quarter of residential mortgages nationwide are “upside down,” where the loan is greater than the value of the house.
“The house is the center of people’s net worth,” he said.
“They aren’t going to spend money until they know what their house is worth and determine what they are worth and figure out what their budgets are.”
Weed said the abolition of the state tourism office at the end of June forces the private sector to find ways to preserve one of Jefferson County’s most important revenue sources.
“I think we have to rethink a more sustainable way to fund tourism rather than general fund state money,” he said.
“There is a widespread belief in the Legislature that promoting tourism isn’t a good use of public money, sifting through who and why that is has been really hard for me to figure out.”
Weed said the travel industry “needs to reassess itself and invest in the marketing that will bring in the revenues.”
Weed said Washington develops a lot of innovative technology but lags behind in some important areas, such as providing government services online.
“We have generated a huge amount of patents in this state but haven’t been able to translate those patents into economic growth,” he said.
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Jefferson County Reporter Charlie Bermant can be reached at 360-385-2335 or charlie.bermant@peninsuladailynews.com.