HISTORY

1000 Friends has established an impressive track record on growth management issues over the past thirteen years as the main source of expertise and support for numerous citizens and groups working to manage growth in their own communities and as the state's primary advocate for smart growth policies.

1000 Friends of Washington's success is based on: organizing a strong base of grassroots support for better growth management; leveraging the efforts of others by building coalitions and training advocates; and building power over time by cultivating good relationships with key decision-makers.

1000 Friends has achieved important victories on the Olympic Peninsula, where we kept a property rights initiative that would have repealed the County's regulations that protect streams, wetlands, and other critical areas off the ballot; outside of Olympia, where 1000 Friends set precedent for increasing protection for rural areas; and in Walla Walla and Spokane where 1000 Friends successfully appealed county comprehensive plans and protected more than 770,000 acres of rural land from sprawl development.

1000 Friends has also been successful at the state level. In 2002, 1000 Friends drafted and passed four bills that assist in our efforts to stop sprawl. In 2003, 1000 Friends stopped an all-out attack on growth management, successfully blocking over a dozen bad bills passed by the Senate. We also helped pass a bill that will strengthen shorelines protections.

In 2000, 1000 Friends spearheaded a difficult but successful campaign to defeat statewide ballot Initiative 745 - Tim Eyman's only loss at the ballot box. I-745 mandated that 90% of Washington's transportation funds be spent on roads - and would have reduced funding for public transit and other transportation choices by 50% to 75%. Executive Director Aaron Ostrom chaired the campaign, building a diverse coalition of public interest, labor, and business groups and spearheading the fundraising, grassroots organizing, and media drives required to defeat I-745. Starting with only 27% opposition in early polling (the result of a misleading ballot title), the coalition gained 31 points and pulled off a 58% victory.

1000 Friends' work on other land use issues has also been effective. 1000 Friends' work in Chelan, San Juan, Jefferson, Mason, Kitsap, and other counties greatly strengthened their plans and helped save tens of thousands of acres of farm and forest lands. Informative reports, such as the Pricing Growth and Washington's Most Endangered Places, have provided site-specific recommendations for areas to set good standards for how they grow.

1000 Friends of Washington was awarded the American Planning Association's Daniel Burnham Award in 1999, given each year to one organization in the entire country for effective work to create livable communities.