PSE DONATIONS BOOST DOWNTOWN REVITALIZATION
Jan 02, 2013
From the PSE weekly employee newsletter: 
Visitors gather under the snowflake lights at the Hometown Holidays Moments to Remember festivities held the day after Thanksgiving in Ellensburg. Photo by Rich Villacres and courtesy of the Ellensburg Downtown Association. Lighted snowflakes provide a bit of sparkly magic to the streets of downtown Ellensburg this holiday season, but the decorations didn’t just magically appear. A state-supported grant project called the Main Street Program helped pay for them, and this year, PSE (Puget Sound Energy) became a contributor. PSE donated more than $18,000 directly to 15 downtown associations—including Ellensburg’s—in all four PSE regions, but the state’s Main Street Program will transform that donation into a much larger total contribution through its state tax credit matching fund. Essentially, a corporation’s donation triples through tax credits that can be earmarked for downtown development. Visitors gather under the snowflake lights at the Hometown Holidays Moments to Remember festivities held the day after Thanksgiving in Ellensburg. Photo by Rich Villacres and courtesy of the Ellensburg Downtown Association. This means that in 2013, PSE will be able to take about $55,000 that it would otherwise pay in public utility and other taxes and donate that amount to the same downtown associations, making PSE’s total contribution to these communities nearly $74,000. Main Street coordinator Sarah Hansen says that when PSE joined the program this year, it became the third-largest contributor in the tax credit incentive program. “Having PSE as a participant speaks volumes for the crucial contribution they are making to the economic vitality of their communities,” she says. Brian Lenz, a PSE community relations manager, encouraged PSE to begin contributing to the program, saying that it fits well with PSE’s mission. “PSE is involved in the communities that we serve, and we support economic development and community development. This is one way of taking some of the taxes that we contribute and leveraging them to support those communities,” Brian says. He credits teamwork between PSE’s Tax department and Community and Business Services department for finding a way to make it work. For Carolyn Honeycutt, director of the Ellensburg Downtown Association, the funding contributed by PSE and other Main Street Program donors makes a big difference. The city’s 170 snowflake lights, for example, cost about $55,000 to purchase and install on historic street poles downtown, but the expense is worthwhile. She has heard out-of-towners say they wish their communities would do the same. “You have to create the atmosphere for the economic development to take place,” she says. “It creates that unique sense of place so people think it’s special to go down there.” Among the projects supported by the Ellensburg Downtown Association are the placement of dozens of trash bins, planters and benches made by local artists or metalsmiths; new community events such as a hoedown and a busker festival; an entrepreneur class that helps residents develop business plans; a downtown business database and website; and a published holiday calendar that covers the entire community. “Now Ellensburg is going on the radar,” she says, with help from the Main Street Program. Learn more about the Main Street Program at www.dahp.wa.gov/programs/mainstreet-program.
Visitors gather under the snowflake lights at the Hometown Holidays Moments to Remember festivities held the day after Thanksgiving in Ellensburg. Photo by Rich Villacres and courtesy of the Ellensburg Downtown Association. Lighted snowflakes provide a bit of sparkly magic to the streets of downtown Ellensburg this holiday season, but the decorations didn’t just magically appear. A state-supported grant project called the Main Street Program helped pay for them, and this year, PSE (Puget Sound Energy) became a contributor. PSE donated more than $18,000 directly to 15 downtown associations—including Ellensburg’s—in all four PSE regions, but the state’s Main Street Program will transform that donation into a much larger total contribution through its state tax credit matching fund. Essentially, a corporation’s donation triples through tax credits that can be earmarked for downtown development. Visitors gather under the snowflake lights at the Hometown Holidays Moments to Remember festivities held the day after Thanksgiving in Ellensburg. Photo by Rich Villacres and courtesy of the Ellensburg Downtown Association. This means that in 2013, PSE will be able to take about $55,000 that it would otherwise pay in public utility and other taxes and donate that amount to the same downtown associations, making PSE’s total contribution to these communities nearly $74,000. Main Street coordinator Sarah Hansen says that when PSE joined the program this year, it became the third-largest contributor in the tax credit incentive program. “Having PSE as a participant speaks volumes for the crucial contribution they are making to the economic vitality of their communities,” she says. Brian Lenz, a PSE community relations manager, encouraged PSE to begin contributing to the program, saying that it fits well with PSE’s mission. “PSE is involved in the communities that we serve, and we support economic development and community development. This is one way of taking some of the taxes that we contribute and leveraging them to support those communities,” Brian says. He credits teamwork between PSE’s Tax department and Community and Business Services department for finding a way to make it work. For Carolyn Honeycutt, director of the Ellensburg Downtown Association, the funding contributed by PSE and other Main Street Program donors makes a big difference. The city’s 170 snowflake lights, for example, cost about $55,000 to purchase and install on historic street poles downtown, but the expense is worthwhile. She has heard out-of-towners say they wish their communities would do the same. “You have to create the atmosphere for the economic development to take place,” she says. “It creates that unique sense of place so people think it’s special to go down there.” Among the projects supported by the Ellensburg Downtown Association are the placement of dozens of trash bins, planters and benches made by local artists or metalsmiths; new community events such as a hoedown and a busker festival; an entrepreneur class that helps residents develop business plans; a downtown business database and website; and a published holiday calendar that covers the entire community. “Now Ellensburg is going on the radar,” she says, with help from the Main Street Program. Learn more about the Main Street Program at www.dahp.wa.gov/programs/mainstreet-program.
