OneRedmond Advocacy Priorities

Goal: Policy plays a critical role in making Redmond the location of choice for businesses and a vibrant community in which to live and work. OneRedmond is uniquely positioned to facilitate dialogue between Redmond’s policymakers and the business community.

Ways we will engage: OneRedmond works with our members to identify policy priorities and will work with its members to identify policies and practices that can help.

Current Priorities:

  1. Encourage vibrancy and downtown growth. Since its inception OneRedmond has advocated for more downtown employment, housing, and amenities to create a vibrant, walkable community convenient to transit options. Growth allocations should be balanced between Overlake and Downtown.
  2. Affordability. Redmond’s strength is the diversity of its residents. Today, too many people who work in Redmond cannot afford to live in our city. We must create a Redmond that attracts new housing. We can achieve this through participation in region-wide initiatives and policy innovations that create opportunities for ongoing development and investment.
  3. Sustainability. The City of Redmond leads our region in defining goals for reducing our community’s impact on the environment. We should continue to be aspirational in our goals for reducing the impacts of global climate change while also striving for housing affordability. We will encourage the analysis of proposed goals for feasibility and cost/benefit prior to adoption.
  4. Growing jobs. Redmond is home to diverse industries. We must continue investing in economic development and workforce development to ensure a steady pipeline of talent and employment opportunities.
  5. Education. Access to high quality education is critical to attracting families and talent to Redmond. Our schools should have funding and support to develop our future leaders.
  6. Safe communities. To maintain a vibrant community, our public needs to feel safe shopping at Redmond businesses and business owners need to feel safe welcoming the public into their shops. We must find ways to deter crime and support individuals in our community who need our help and assistance.
  7. Successful transition to Light Rail. The introduction of East Rail is a transformational change to Redmond. As a community we must come together to anticipate and plan for the changes light rail will bring to our community, including meeting the transportation and parking needs for the Downtown station.
  8. Continuing our tradition of partnering with City government to improve our community. The City of Redmond and its business community have long partnered to create vibrant communities and economic opportunity. We will strive to continue partnering to find innovative solutions to our community’s challenges.

For our latest advocacy updates, please click here.

Federal-Level Advocacy
OneRedmond’s One-on-One Relationships

OneRedmond has established strong relationships with our region’s federal delegation. As one of the few recipients of a federal grant during the pandemic, OneRedmond has demonstrated a high-level of effectiveness in serving and supporting the business community in Redmond and East King County. With this reputation, our congressional members will often call on the OneRedmond team to coordinate leadership visits to businesses. As the only public/private economic development entity in East King County, OneRedmond also gives insights and data in regard to the state of our local business community and what is needed to keep our economy resilient particularly as it relates to legislation that is being developed.

Another focus for OneRedmond is to ensure or elected leadership understands the importance of our technology and advanced manufacturing businesses to our region’s economy. Washington State surpassed Colorado as the global center for satellite production, as more satellites that are orbiting earth are made in Redmond than anywhere else in the world.

Local Advocacy
OneRedmond Government Affairs

The OneRedmond Government Affairs Committee is laser-focused on a business-friendly City of Redmond. In partnership with the city, this committee works continuously to ensure the laws, regulations, programs and processes enacted by public agencies respond to and support the needs of Redmond’s business retention and expansion efforts. It is a collaboration of all stakeholders to work for the adoption of policies that support success. 

For our members, this committee acts as an advocate when issues arise which may adversely impact a business, and collaborates to create effective solutions.

State-level Advocacy
OneRedmond’s Partnerships with AWB, WEDA, and EKCC

To advocate for critical business legislation at the state level, OneRedmond has developed relationships with our local law makers and also works in partnership with three organizations. The first is the Association of Washington Businesses (AWB), Washington’s oldest and largest statewide business association, and serves as both the state’s chamber of commerce and the manufacturing and technology association. 

To advocate for economic development issues and to support economic resiliency across East King County, OneRedmond is an active member of the state-wide organization Washington Economic Development Association. Priorities for 2022 include: Strengthening the Economic Development Ecosystem; Fostering Catalysts for Job Recovery & Growth; and Increasing Prosperity for All. 

OneRedmond also serves on the East King Chambers Coalition, a committee of the Bellevue Chamber of Commerce, to help represent the Eastside business community and enables these chambers to advocate as a group on legislative issues. The Coalition develops a variety of annual position papers and brings lawmakers and business leaders together through events twice a year.