New Wine Distribution Warehouse Under Construction
The Port is pleased to report a new 500,000 square foot bonded wine storage and distribution warehouse is under construction at the Port's Dodd Road Business Park in Wallula. The new $20 million complex is being built by Railex, LLC. St. Michelle Wine Estates will be the primary tenant. Railex and St. Michelle are teaming up to create the first rail-based system to transport wine efficiently and sustainably across the U.S. Railex guarantees five day rail transit from its Wallula location to New York.

The Port over the last several months has worked closely with Railex to insure that the required infrastructure needed at the Port's Dodd Road Business Park can be put in place to accommodate this new distribution warehouse. The Port, with the assistance of state funding, will be building a new access road, rail, and water system improvements. The wine distribution warehouse is scheduled to open February 2013.

In 2006 Railex constructed a 200,000 square foot produce distribution facility at the Port's Dodd Road Business Park. This business model has proven so successful, Railex has decided to expand its operation to include a storage and distribution facility exclusively for wine. In addition to the 25 new jobs that will be created, the new wine warehouse is projected to pay some $300,000 annually in property taxes.

Port Comprehensive Plan
In our summer Walla Walla Trends e-newsletter column, we wrote about the Port's development of a Comprehensive Plan. This plan will serve as a guide for the development of Port property, now and in the future. The draft Comprehensive Plan has now been prepared and we encourage you to visit our website at www.portwallawalla.com to review it.

Of particular importance to the Port Commission is obtaining constituency feedback through an on-line survey. We would appreciate it if you would click on the link below and take the survey.

http://www.m2survey.com/testing_dev/takesurvey/lM63h1gU

Port of Walla Walla Commission
Paul H. Schneidmiller
Ronald W. Dunning
Michael Fredrickson

Housing Supply Improving
The number of months' supply of housing is an estimate of how long the supply of homes on the market would last at the current sales pace if no more homes were put on the market. For depiction on the Trends site, supply has been separated into four price categories including "under $80,000," "between $80,000 and $159,999," "between $160,000 and $249,999," and "over $250,000." Check out Trend 6.3 to learn more. more...

Water usage per capita declining in the City of Walla Walla
The City of Walla Walla gets most of its water from Mill Creek which flows into the Walla Walla River and comes from a protected watershed in the Blue Mountains. When the supply of water from Mill Creek is inadequate, a series of 7 wells that reach down to the basalt aquifer are utilized to meet the need. Some of these wells were originally artesian, according to Frank Nicholson, Water Engineer at the City of Walla Walla. He says that due to over use, "the wells stopped being artesian back around 1950," but due to the Aquifer Storage and Recovery Program (ASR) "we have restored some of the aquifer to its pre-development level in many places." Indicator 4.9 uses two variables to compare water usage in the City of Walla Walla with the City of Spokane: per capita water usage and summer rainfall. more...

Residential construction activity increases in county
Residential building permit activity can tell officials several different things about an economy. A key role the activity gives local government officials is a glimpse at potential future property tax revenue. Whether the permits are for a new home or improvements to an existing home, they both mean increased property tax revenue due to the increased value of the property. The data also tell us about the construction industry, particularly the number of projects that will occur in the near future. Indicator 2.6, measures all residential building permits, which includes projects like remodels in addition to the construction of new homes. more...

Roughly two thirds of Walla Walla residents are registered to vote
With the presidential election around the corner, many efforts are being made to ensure that as many people as possible are registered to vote at their current residence. Walla Walla County Auditor Karen Martin says that "out-reach efforts are done by local service organizations and schools and colleges" to encourage people to register to vote. The deadline for mail and online voter registration passed on October 6th and 8th respectively, but in person voter registrations were accepted at the County Elections Office 310 W Poplar, until 4:00 PM on October 29, 2012. Ballots were mailed on October 19, and must be postmarked no later than November 6, Election Day, or dropped off in an official drop box prior to 8:00pm. more...

Washington State Auditor's Office encourages the use of indicators to improve local government
The Washington State Auditor's Office (SAO) has launched an effort to bring a greater use of metrics into local government. Known as the Local Government Performance Center (LGPC), the effort is led by Larisa Benson of the State Auditor's Office. Starting this past spring, Ms. Benson has convened a group of local government elected officials and staff, municipal government analysts, and some representatives from higher education. It is known as the LGPC Technical Expert & Leadership Group. Patrick Jones, from EWU's Institute of Public Policy & Economic Analysis, has participated in the meetings, as government performance measures are complementary to community indicators.

Census Bureau releases American Community Survey 3 year estimates
Many of the indicators on the Walla Walla Trends website get some or all of their data from the American Community Survey. The Census Bureau collects data on age; sex; race and ethnicity; families and relationships; income and benefits; health insurance; education; veteran status; disabilities; where you work and how you get there; and where you live from random samplings of the population. The 3-year estimates were released on October 25, 2012 and the 5-year estimates will be released on December 6, 2012.

New Indicators Manager Hired
After two years as the Community Indicators Manager at the Institute for Public Policy and Economic Analysis at Eastern Washington University, Anna Halloran has resigned to take a position as Health Program Specialist in the Communicable Disease Prevention Program at the Spokane Regional Health District. During her time as Community Indicators Manager, Anna facilitated the tail end of the creation and launch of the Grant County Trends site and the entire creation and launch of the Kootenai County Indicators website. We thank Anna for all her good work. Scott Richter, a recent graduate of the EWU Master of Public Administration program, has been hired as the new Community Indicators Manager. Welcome Scott!