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By Don C. Brunell

President

Association of Washington Business

What’s that old saying? “One step forw

ard, two steps back.”

Just as our economy is starting to move again, rising gas prices threaten to put the brakes on the recovery.

Gasoline is at the highest price ever for this time of year. AAA reports the average price in Washington on Feb. 22 was $3.68 a gallon. That’s up 14 cents in a week and 21 cents in a month. Analysts say gas could hit $4.25 a gallon or higher by late April.

Rising prices for gasoline, diesel and jet fuel increase the cost of Read More »

The Wenatchee Valley Chamber of Commerce Board of Directors unanimously endorsed the regional plan to solve the current funding crisis for the Town Toyota Center at its February Board meeting.  This action is consistent

with the Chamber‘s mission to strengthen the economic climate of the Wenatchee Valley.

This solution was developed by our local elected officials.  It would eliminate the cloud of uncertainty that currently covers the region and avoids the risks of a shuttered Town Toyota Center, a bankrupt Public Facilities District, and a crippled City of Wenatchee.

The Chamber has testified in Olympia supporting passage of SB 5984 and calls on the House to pass

and the Governor to sign it quickly.   We will support the Wenatchee City Council raising the sales tax as the City should bear the brunt of the burden for a solution to this crisis.  The Chamber calls on the jurisdictions that make up the Public Facilities District to put to a public vote a 1/10 of 1% sales tax increase on the April 17^th ballot.  If this issue makes the ballot, the Chamber will advocate for passage of the tax increase.

While advocating for a tax increase is unusual for the Chamber, it is the only way forward for the region at this point.  This is a fluid and fast moving process.  Time is of the essence and the Chamber supports a quick resolution to this crisis.  This plan is good for business and will keep our region moving forward. 

Below is a letter from an experienced venture capitalist, Al Lorenz, who lives in the Lake Chelan area. He is trying to form a Venture Capital Club in our region. Access to capital is one

within the region. The key is getting 20 members to establish the club. If you or someone you know is interested, please contact Al directly.

Greetings,

I’ve been chatting with folks for awhile that we could do more to attract businesses to North Central Washington. As you know, our quality of life can be a huge draw to attract companies to the area. The easiest companies to attract to the area are startups, who aren’t as established in a given area.

But, one of the things that is missing is that we don’t have an active community of angel investors to help support promising companies. Since that is not something that government entities can, or should be, doing it needs to come from the private sector.

When I lived on the other side of the mountains, I was active in the Puget Sound Venture Club. With the help of the founder of that club, I am working to see if I can get a group of interested investors to form an angel investment group in North Central Washington. If done correctly, a group like this can provide a tremendous boost to business development in the area. Some of the other groups in the Seattle area include: Alliance of Angels and the Zino Society.

I would need a minimum of 20 members to form a viable group. The maximum is also limited to 35 members at this point. I want to personally call and invite potential members to an organizational meeting in early December so we can start receiving pitches from startups early next year. From this group I would like to ask for some names and phone numbers of potential members that I can invite. I already have a list started, but if each of you could send me three to five names of good potential members, we could have an angel investment club in North Central Washington.

Here is a link to the beginning web site of the North Central Washington Venture Club: http://www.ncwventureclub.org/

Sponsorships also help defray the costs of running a club. On the other side of the hills, banks, attorneys and financial firms are all common sponsors. Please let me know your due dates for requests for funding and I will get a proposal into your organizations, if appropriate (chambers, port, GWATA) as well. When chatting with folks at possible business sponsors, please feel free to put in a good word about potentially sponsoring this effort. Also, please

forward this to others you think should be aware of it.

Thank you for looking at this. It could become a wonderful asset to our area.

NCW Venture Club

Al Lorenz
509-630-6769
877-822-3271 fax

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