Tabor
COMMENTS TO SEATTLE PORT COMMISSION
MARCH 26, 2019
HENRY YATES, TABOR 100

Good Afternoon, Commissioners, Executive Director Metruck,

My nameis Henry Yates and | am the Public Affairs Chair for Tabor 100. Tabor 100 is named
after Seattle businessman and staunch supporter of minority businesses,
Langston Tabor. He
died months after the passage of the state's anti-affirmative action initiative, 200.
We are
committed to business development, economic power, educational excellence and social
equity
for African Americans and the community at large.

A few of you have been to Tabor 100 meetings and talked much about
your commitment to
communities of color. We acknowledge that Resolution 3737 and the Diversity in Contracting
Program is tangible evidence that you have begun to live up to that commitment. You have
also reacted positively to Tabor 100's economic development HUB. We
very much appreciate
your support and look forward to a long and successful partnership. We all have a long
ways to
go in this journey, but you have started the process in a very positive way.

| want to remind you of why yourDiversity in Contracting Program is
so important to all
residents of King County.

I have provided you with an article from the Seattle Times which
uses data from Acxiom, the
nation's foremost analytics firm dealing with net worth nationwide. Each year, Acxiom
publishes the results of its net worth analysis surveying more than 100 metro areas in the US.
The King/Snohomish county metro area this year ranked #10, meaning it is the 10%" wealthiest
metro area in the nation with an average family net worth of about $400,000. Thisis good

news, but as you delve into the figures, you see the ethnic breakdown is depressing. While
Caucasian and Asian households are worth about $450,000, Hispanic households
are worth
$90,000, while African American households are at $23,000.

Diversity in Contracting will help raise those numbers for Latino and African American
households, both through contracting with businesses owned by these ethnicities, but also in
knowing that the employees of those businesses likely share the ethnicity of the owner.

Tabor 100 has been a partner with the Port during our 20 yearsin existence and has watched
this institution asit has finally created a roadmap that will improve ethnic diversity in its
contracting. We appreciate the fact that the Port is serious about increasing both the number
of WMBEfirms and the dollarfigure you will spend on them. We applaud the Port on the
assignment of specific goals for each division and the many ways in which you intend to achieve
those goals. We have a few thoughts about the Program and offer our help to make this effort
successful:

1)   Pay attention to delivery method  Some construction delivery methods work better for
WMBEs than others. Requiring a low bid for everything can kill WMBE participation.
2)  Size matters  We urge you to pay attention to the size of WMBEfirms you help. We
are pleased that some WMBEfirms have becomelarge and are able to generally stand

on their own. We urge you to focus on the success of smaller firms so that they can
become larger sustainable businesses.
3)  In every study and regular reporting, African American firms are at the very bottom in
terms of utilization. The same is true with the Port figures we see today. We urge that
you be aggressive about addressing this disparity.
4)  Make sure that whatever you do in terms of implementing a CWA does not hurt your
efforts to achieve the Diversity in Contracting goals.
5)  Tabor 100 believes that this effort should not just be one ofgiving opportunities to firms
A&E and
so that they can do Port work, but it should be about growing firms, both in the
Construction arenas. A question you should ask is "how hasthat firm grown" as a result
of working with the Port.

With that, | will end my comments and thank you for giving Tabor 100 the opportunity to
address this critical issue.

Before | give up my time, | want to thank the Port forits strong position in support of abolishing
1-200.  If 1-1000, the initiative that would replace 1-200 is passed this session,it will make your
diversity in contracting effort more achievable.

Thank you and Tabor 100 stands ready to assist you as you move forward on this positive path
of inclusion and opportunity.

The Seattle area ranks among the richest places in the country. Yet

some households are worth little, or nothing at all.

Share story

By
Gene Balk / FYI Guy

Seattle Times columnist
Everybody knows how much money they make, but
how wealthy are you?

Maybe you've never given much thought to how
much you're worth, but the marketing-analytics
firm Acxiom has some idea. They use a variety of
public records and private sources to predict a
household's net worth.

Their data show that Seattle is one of the richest
places in the nation.
The median net worth of a household in King and
Snohomish counties is just shy of $400,000,
according to Acxiom's calculations. Median is the
middle point where half the households have more
and half have less.

That ranks our area 10th highest among more than
100 metro-areas in the U.S. The median net worth
for all those areas is about $110,000, meaning that
we're nearly four times wealthier here.

Seattle ranks near top for net worth
The median net worth of a household in King and Snohomish counties is about $399,000, which
ranks 10th highest among 126 metro areas.
i  MEDIAN HOUSEHOLD NET WORTH
ry
Seattle, WA: $399,000
MEDIAN HOUSEHOLD NET WORTH
/
~f San Rafael, CA: $1,138,000    FJ Nassau/Suffolk Counties, NY: $680,000el
San Jose, CA: $564,000    | Montgomery County, MD/
Bucks/Chester Counties, PA: $445,000->
~~}uw Oakland, CA: $452,000
A silver Spring, MD: $441,000 @                                                                    a San Francisco, CA: $421,000

EJ Cambridge, MA: $415,000
(OF) Oxnard, CA: $407,000


Note: Geographies include metropolitan areas and metropolitan divisions

Source: Acxiom NetWorth Gold/Nielsen                                             MARK NOWLIN / THE SEATTLE TIMES
A household's net worth is the sum of all of its
assets, minus its liabilities. Assets include financials
savings, investments, pensions and so on
plus
the other stuff, like the house, car, boat or anything
else that could be sold for cash. Subtract from that
total the amount of debt the household carries 
mortgage, car loans, credit card debt, etc.  to
determine its net worth.
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While Seattle is one of the nation's wealthiest
areas, the distribution of wealth here is far from
even.

The biggest predictor of wealth is homeownership,
and the difference in wealth between a homeowner
and a renter is huge. The median net worth for a
household that owns its home in the Seattlearea is
nearly $900,000. That's about 25 times higher than
the median net worth for renter households
($36,000).

Seattle's net-worth gap
The median household net worth varies greatly depending on home ownership, race and other
demographic factors.
RACE/
OWN OR RENT  MEDIAN NET WORTH                      ETHNICITY  MEDIAN NET WORTH


Rent   $36,000                               Black [523,000

scionI 510600
MARITAL STATUS  MEDIAN NET WORTH
Latino wl $30,000
varried IN 757.000

Unmarried* | $201,0003  *
AGE     MEDIAN NET WORTH

EDUCATION  MEDIAN NET WORTH                         18-34 a $196,000

35-49 [III] sas8,000
No college degree | $399,000

50-64 [INT sa61,000
College graduate [IE<629,000
65 or [III$699,000
* Unmarned includes single, widowed, divorced                               older

Source. Acxiom NetWorth Gold/Nielsen                                             MARK NOWLIN / THE SEATTLE TIMES
It is a striking discrepancy, but it does make sense.
A home is the biggest asset for most people (though
not for renters, obviously), and that's especially
true in this area, where home values are extremely
high. And since homeowners tend to be older and
more established (and typically married), they've
probably also accrued more wealth through other
types of assets, too.

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Mind you, Seattle renters aren't exactly doing badly
when compared with their peers around the
country. Their median net worth is still nearly six
times higher than the national median for renters,
which is just $6,400.

There is a massive wealth gap along racial and
ethnic lines in the Seattle area, as there is across
the U.S. Households headed by a white or Asian
person here have a median net worth of around
$450,000. For Latino households,it's around
$90,000 and for black households, only about
$23,000.

Homeownership plays a big role in this wealth gap,
as most white and Asian households own their
home, while most black and Latino households
rent. Ina 2017 column, I looked at homeownership
rates for black households in King County and
found they were among the lowest in the country.
According to the most recent census data, just 28
percent of black households in King and Snohomish
counties own their home, compared with 64
percent of white households.

The data show that age is another major predictor
of wealth.

While Seattle has become well-known for its well-
paid young tech workers, those high incomes don't
necessarily mean they have amassed much wealth.
Many are carrying college debt. They probably

don't own a home and may not have much in the
way of savings or investments yet.

On the other hand, an older, retired married couple
may live on a modest income, but they're more
likely to have gained wealth through a home that's
accrued tremendously in value, as well as savings,
investments and other assets.

Indeed, the data show that senior citizens in this
area have a median net worth more than three
times greater than millennials.

For some folks,of course, their liabilities outweigh
whatever assets they might own. It's not
uncommon even in our wealthy region. The data
show an estimated 70,000 households in King and
Snohomish counties have a net worth of zero or
less, including one in eight renters.

The area with the highest net worth in the country
is San Rafael, California  that's ultrawealthy
Marin County, near San Francisco  with a median
of $1.1 million.

The lowest net worth is in the Brownsville, Texas,
area, in the Rio Grande Valley, which has one of the
highest rates of poverty in the nation. The median
net worth there is just $8,400.

Similar to net worth, Seattle incomes are among the
highest in the nation. The most recent census data
show the median household income in Seattle
metro area is $82,000  that's 36 percent higher
than the U.S. median.

Correction: An earlier version ofthis column
misidentified the median household income in King
and Snohomish counties.

Gene Balk/ FYI Guy: abalk@seattletimes.com; on Twitter: @aenebalk.