Source: Vanessa Ho, Seattle PI.com, August 15, 2011 and Publicola, August 17, 2011. The Seattle PI called the City of Seattle’s Green Jobs initiative a “bust.” Mayor McGinn announced last year that Seattle had been awarded a $20 million federal grant for weatherization. It was hoped that the funds would be used to create 2,000 jobs retrofitting an equal number of low income homes.
To date, these goals have not been achieved. Only fourteen jobs have been created. Only 337 households have applied and only fourteen either applied for or received a loan. Only three homes have been retrofitted.
“We’re not seeing as many completed retrofits as we wanted to,” said Joshua Curtis, the city’s manager for Community Power Works. “While everyone would like to see more upgrades, I think we’re feeling cautiously optimistic.” Curtis was hopeful Seattle would make the goals by 2013, when the funding ends.