Power of partnerships on display, courtesy of Covid-19
The Covid-19 pandemic has delivered some costly and invaluable lessons, including a reminder of the power of partnerships between government and business.
Before memory fades, let’s examine some indispensable arrangements and what it takes to make them flourish.
Thanks in part to a successful collaboration between public and private entities, the Seattle area went from the brink of potential Covid catastrophe to having the lowest death-per-capita rate among the nation’s 20 largest metropolitan areas, according to the New York Times.
Lumen Field’s mass vaccination site is the most visible manifestation of this public-private partnership (made up of the City of Seattle, First & Goal Inc. and Swedish Medical Center). It was the largest civilian site of its kind in the country, with the ability to vaccinate up to 150,000 people a week.
Amazon opened up one of the most efficiently operated pop-up mass vax sites in partnership with Virginia Mason Medical Center. The first such facility vaccinated 2,400 people in one weekend.
David Brewster from Post Alley recently pointed out that the Covid public-private partnership (PPP) draws on a rich history in our region. Other such collaborations brought Seattle The Goodwill Games, pro sports to Seattle and the Seattle World’s Fair, which gave us Seattle Center.
Perhaps most notably, Paul Allen’s 1997 purchase of the then-struggling Seahawks was predicated on public investment in a new stadium, resulting in a partnership that gave the region a world-class showcase. It also delivered innumerable other benefits to the community, from prevailing-wage construction jobs to minority business opportunities to funding for schools and youth athletics facilities.
More recently, Seattle’s deal with the Oak View Group to renovate city-owned KeyArena (now Climate Pledge Arena) brought NHL hockey to the Emerald City beginning in October 2021. (Go Kraken!)
Another inspiring multiyear, multimillion dollar partnership is the Waterfront Park, which is scheduled to open in late 2024.
PPPs aren’t only about public health or commerce. The Third Door Coalition’s work to end homelessness in King County is an example of business, political and neighborhood leaders coming together to do the hard work necessary to solve complex societal issues.
For any PPP to work, trust must be in the room. This trust can exist only where both parties have greater interests at heart that are capable of reliably delivering on their promises. Successful PPPs also require a sense that both parties are “in this together” well beyond the contract terms, as Elyse Maltin explained in a 2019 HBR article. A built-in mechanism to share perspectives — including problems — about the project and effective ways to rebound from failures to deliver are also essential to success.
Our City Council would be well-advised to explore more public-private relationships like those that have served Seattle so well. PPPs can help us tackle our region’s most critical issues more swiftly and effectively than any other approach.
To that end, council members should rein in colleagues who propose the kind of anti-business legislation that has divided the community in recent years. Such actions undermine the trust and other mechanisms necessary to create effective public-private partnerships. Both lawmakers and their staff should bear this reality in mind when their peers float legislation that would unreasonably burden businesses.
As we all learned in kindergarten and have long known in Seattle, sharing and cooperation make it happen. If leaders have learned that lesson from our Covid experience, the pain of 2020 will not have been entirely in vain.