Olympia Business Watch

Gdynia Celebrates Fifth Year of Poland Business Week

On Friday (Aug. 23) Washington Business Week celebrated the completion of five successful years in the Baltic Sea port city of Gdynia.  Gdynia was the first city to host the Business Week program in Poland.

To commenorate the successful partnership between the Association of Washington Business, Washington Business Week, and city and education leaders, Deputy Mayor Ewa Łowkiel presented AWB President Don C. Brunell and WBW Executive Director Steve McGraw with the city's awards for education and civic accomplishment.

The Poland Business Week program grew out of a sister city relationship between Seattle and Gdynia, a city of 230,000 citizens, the Polish American Chamber of Commerce in Seattle, and Polish students coming to Ellensburg to attend the Washington Business Week program at Central Washington University. 

Gdynia Mayor Wojciech Szczurek wanted to give Polish students the same opportunities to experience the rewards of the free enterprise system in Poland.  The city officials worked with then WBW executive director Steve Hyer and volunteers including Janice and Allan Jaworski, Darby Vigus (a Monroe High School teacher), Dan Tompkins (Walla Walla CPA), Kathy Reid (Boeing), to help establish the Poland program in Gdynia.  Since Poland Week has spred to other cities.

Two years ago, Tompkins started the Advanced Business Week program at Gdynia.  It is modeled after the advanced program which he helped establish in Washington.  Tompkins, a long-time AWB small business member, is one of many business leaders who give freely of their time to help students in Washington, Alaska and Poland experience running their own business. 

Washington Business Week started at the Association of Washington Business in 1976 and over 50,000 students and teachers have graduated for the one-week summer camp.

Business Week off to another successful year

More than 200 high school students and adult leaders are at Gonzaga University in Spokane this week for the 38th annual version of Washington Business Week, a program which started at the Association of Washington Business in 1975.

This summer, Washington Business Week already has completed sessions at the University of Alaska in Fairbanks, Alaska, and at Western Washington University in Bellingham.  After the Gonzaga session, it moves to Central Washington and Pacific Lutheran universities in Washington State. In Poland, Washington Business Week occurs in Boleslawowo, Gdańsk, Mińsk Mazowiecki and Gdynia.

AWB remains the founding sponsor of Washington Business Week.  AWB members not only financially support the youth entrepreneurial program, but are volunteer adult leaders.

Students pictured here are participating in the Health Career's Fair session at the Gonzaga Business Week program.  At Gonzaga, students can choose between the traditional business or health care pathways.  At other campus programs they can select the traditional business pathway or agri-business, energy, health care or manufacturing programs.

 

 

 

Dave Matthews helping to welcome new U.S. citizens on Independence Day

There is no more inspirational place to celebrate the Fourth of July than Monticello, Thomas Jefferson's estate on the outskirts of Charlottesville, Virginia.  Jefferson is known as the author of the Declaration of Independence.

Since 1963, more than 3,000 people from every corner of the globe have taken the oath of citizenship at the annual Monticello Independence Day Celebration and Naturalization Ceremony. It is the oldest continuous naturalization ceremony in the United States outside of a courtroom.

Dave Matthews, best known as the lead vocalist/guitarist for Dave Matthews Band, will be the featured speaker this year. Born in Johannesburg, South Africa, Matthews became a naturalized American citizen in 1980.

Each year, the U.S. Citizen and Immigration Service (USCIS) welcomes approximately 680,000 citizens during naturalization ceremonies across the United States and around the world.  Last year, 74 percent of all persons naturalizing resided in 10 states (in descending order): California, Florida, New York, Texas, New Jersey, Illinois, Virginia, Massachusetts, Washington and Georgia. 

On July 4th at Seattle Center, more than 500 candidates originating from Angola to Zambia, will become naturalized citizens.

This year's ceremonies come at a time when President Obama and Congress are working to reform our nation's immigration laws which gives 11 million foreigners living and working in the United States a way to become citizenship. Under the bill, which passed the U.S. Senate by a 68 to 32, picking up all Democrats and 14 Republicans, illegal citizens have a way to be legalized and can start on a 13-year path toward citizenship.  The bill includes beefed up border protections.

The U.S. House is about to take up the legislation.  AWB supports comprehensive immigration reform and urges Congress and President Obama to act this year.

 

Boeing starts tanker production in Everett

Earlier this week, Boeing workers in Everett loaded the first wing spar for the first U.S. Air Force KC-46A aerial refueling tanker, starting production of that aircraft and achieving another milestone toward delivering 179 tankers during  the next 14 years.

The KC-46A is based on the commercial 767-200ER, a proven  airframe in service as an airliner, freighter and tanker. Boeing has delivered more than 1,050 767s worldwide.

The aircraft will be assembled in November and will roll out of the factory in January.

Next June, Boeing will begin installation of military-unique  systems on the aircraft at Boeing Field in Seattle as well as testing. First flight for the fully provisioned tanker is scheduled for early 2015, with first delivery in 2016.

Boeing expects to build and deliver the first 18 KC-46As by 2017 and a total of 179 by 2027 if all options under the contract are exercised.

The Air Force sought for nearly a decade, beginning in 2001, to replace its fleet of KC-135 tankers, which are 50 years old on average. Boeing beat out EADS, the European parent of Airbus, in 2011 for the contract, which is worth as much as $35 billion.

Boeing and Airbus going head to head again in Paris

The famed Paris International Air Show starts this week. It is the 50th anniversary version and it will feature another heavyweight round between Boeing and Airbus, only this year it is over the new widebody composite aircraft.

Airbus and Boeing compete for the lion's share of a jet market estimated at $100 billion a year. With Boeing assembling most of its commerical aircraft in the Puget Sound area, Boeing's success is America's success and more pointedly, Washington's success.

Airbus is scheduling a flyover of its new A350, its answer to Boeing's 787. The plane, built from carbon-fiber-reinforced plastic composites, made its first flight on Friday.

Seattle Times aerospace reporter Dominic Gates wrote: "Airbus aims to steal the show with a flyby of its A350 jet, but the real battle is for the future of the twin-aisle market." Boeing projects a global market for 8,590 widebody jets over the next 20 years, worth about $2.5 trillion at list prices.

Both the 787 and A350 make extensive use of lighter composite materials ---53 percent for the A350 and 50 percent for the Dreamliner -- that help reduce fuel consumption and pollution. Fuel bills make up about one-third of the airline industry's costs.

For its new products, Boeing is launching the 787-10 and a new version of the 777X, its current cash cow. 

In an article in Monday's Seattle Times. Gates reports that the new 787-10 may be made exclusively in South Carolina where much of the fuselage for the 787s are fabricated currently.

The 787-10 specifications include seating some 320 passengers and offering a slightly shorter range than its siblings the 787-8 and 787-9.  It can about 7,800 miles making it an ideal transatlantic and intermediate-range widebody.

The key issue for Boeing in locating the final assembly of  787-10 is logistical.  The midsection of the 787-10 is too big to fit inside the Dreamlifter, the modified 747 used to fly sections of the Dreamliner to Everett. That being the case the 787-10 will have to be assembled exclusively in South Carolina where two-thirds of the fuselage is already manufactured, Gates reported.

The much bigger 777X is the next variant of its Everett-built twin-engine jet which will feature giant new composite wings and new engines.

 

$1 Trillion EPA Rule on Drawing Board

The Obama Administration can't be serious by proposing a new smog regulation which could cost $1 trillion to implement IF the technology is even available and state's have the ability to fund such a strategy.

What is going on?  Who is going to pay for this latest in a string of costly regulations the federal Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has proposed over the last five years?

The EPA is scheduled to propose new ozone standards within the next year and is considering toughening the limit to 60 particles for every billion in the atmosphere, or parts per billion, down from the current standard of 75 set in 2008.

Ozone is produced by automobiles, power plants and other sources, though it also occurs naturally. Natural levels vary, though, and can be affected by forest fires and other events.

The Republicans on Capitol Hill say the standards would be impossible for some states to achieve and could result in up to $1 trillion in new costs for businesses.

In 2010, the EPA proposed to cut ahead of that timetable and issue new standards that would have reduced the ozone limit to 70 parts per billion, but the White House killed that plan the following year.

The EPA has estimated that reducing the standard to 60 parts per billion would cost the economy $90 billion annually as manufacturers and refiners improve their systems — and cut jobs.  EPA counters by saying it has also estimated the new standard could add $100 billion annually to the economy through fewer deaths, trips to the Emergency Room, respiratory ailments and less loss of productivity.

Don't get us wrong.  We support efforts to clean our air, water and land; prevent poluution; and, to wisely use our resources.  Much has been accomplished over the years and there must be a balance.  What is being proposed appears beyond reason and unaffordable.

Aside from the potential new standard's price tag, the new standard would disproportionately impact the west, particularly states like Utah, where levels of natural ozone as well as ozone that drifts in from other countries, known as “background” ozone, are higher.

Does the President realize our economy is struggling to recover and that we are already nearly $17 trillion in debt? 

Does EPA even understand the fact that we have some of the most pristine air anywhere and that air pollution from some of our competitors in Asia is responsible for background ozone and those competitor nations are undercutting our nation's manufacturers who struggle just to deal with all of the current costly federal, state and local regulations?

Is that even on their radar screen?  

Don C. Brunell, President ([email protected])

 

Keep your mind on your driving

Using voice commands to send text messages and emails from behind the wheel, which is marketed as a safer alternative for drivers, actually is more distracting and dangerous than simply talking on a cellphone, a new AAA study found. 

Researchers at the University of Utah who conducted the study for the AAA measured the brainwaves, eye movement, driving performance and other indicators of 32 university students as they drove and performed a variety of secondary tasks, ranging from listening to music to sending emails.

Cameras were mounted inside the car to track drivers' eye and head movements. A device that drivers pressed was used to record their reaction time to red and green lights introduced to their field of vision. Drivers were fitted with a special skull cap to record their brain activity.

One reason using voice commands is so much more distracting for drivers, even though they aren't using their hands, is that they often require more concentration than simply speaking to another person, said University of Utah psychology professor David Strayer, an expert on cognitive distraction and lead author of the study. Talking to a computer requires far greater precision than talking to a person, he said. Otherwise, "Call home" may get you Home Depot.

"People aren't seeing what they need to see to drive. That's the scariest part to me," said Peter Kissinger, president and CEO of the AAA Foundation for Traffic Safety, the group's safety research arm. "Police accident investigative reports are filled with comments like the 'looked, but did not see.' That's what drivers tell them. We used to think they were lying, but now we know that's actually true."

There are about 9 million cars and trucks on the road with infotainment systems, and that will jump to about 62 million vehicles by 2018, AAA spokeswoman Yolanda Cade said, citing automotive industry research. At the same time, drivers tell the AAA they believe phones and other devices are safe to use behind the wheel if they are hands-free, she said.

"We believe there is a public safety crisis looming," Cade said. "We hope this study will change some widely held misconceptions by motorists."

Brunell: Higher taxes and costs will send jobs out of state

Critics say that in these difficult economic times, Washington can't afford tax incentives.

The real question, AWB President Don Brunell writes in his weekly column, is whether we can afford not to have them.

Employer tax incentives may be a convenient target, but nearly one-third of Washington's tax breaks benefit individuals -- in the form of property tax breaks and and sales tax exemptions for food and prescription drugs.

And those that do apply to businesses generate more money than they "cost."

Multiple reviews over the years have shown that Washington's largest business tax incentive -- the 1995 Manufacturers' Sales and Use Tax Exemption -- produces a "net profit" for the state.

And yet it's being targeted as a "loophole."

"It makes no sense," Brunell writes," to eliminate a tax incentive that brings in more money than it costs."

That kind of thinking plays right into the hand of other states -- states that are fighting to steal Washington's employers. 

Alaska Business Week launches 2013 summer schedule

Today, Alaska Business Week launched its week-long summer program at the University of Alaska, Fairbanks. The program, modeled after Washington Business Week which started in 1975 by the Association of Washington Business, is starting its fourth year at UAF.

Fifty six high school students from across Alaska are at UAF which, along with the Alaska State Chamber of Commerce, AWB's sister state chamber, sponsors Alaska Business Week.  The Alaska program is financially supported by many of the same companies which not only sponsor Washington Business Week, but four one week summer programs in Poland.

Ann Ringstad, University of Alaska, Fairbanks, coordinates the Alaska program and is on the Washington Business Week board of directors. Steve Hyer, recently retired Washington Business Week executive director, is the chair of the week.

Washington's summer program starts on June 23 at Western Washington University and there are programs at Gonzaga, Central Washington and Pacific Lutheran universities. 

There are still openings for students in the Washington programs.  If you are interested, contact Washington Business Week.

Speedy I-5 bridge replacement means you can't drive 55 - for a while

 

Skagit River temporary span visualization. Source: WSDOT

Officials are looking at a mid-June opening for a temporary Interstate 5 span across the Skagit River, Washington Transportation Secretary Lynn Peterson told AWB members Friday.

The temporary bridge will come with a speed limit well below normal freeway speeds, possibly as low as 35 mph. The lower speed limit will be required because the four-lane temporary bridge will come with 11-foot lanes instead of the usual 12- to 14-foot lanes found on interstate freeways, Peterson said.

Peterson's update came during a conference call that also featured Sen. Curtis King, R-Yakima, and Rep. Judy Clibborn, D-Mercer Island, the leaders of the state Senate and House transportation committees.

Approximately 100 AWB members listened in as the lawmakers spoke about the status of a transportation revenue package, the controversial Columbia River Crossing between Vancouver and Portland, and possible transportation reform legislation. Mike Ennis, AWB's government affairs director for transportation issues, moderated the call.

Peterson received praise for her handling of the I-5 bridge collapse and the speed with which officials are moving to replace it. Washington Department of Transportation is not only moving fast to put up a temporary bridge, but they also plan to use a first-in-the-country "emergency accelerated" design-build process for the permanent replacement, Peterson said.

At this point, officials are making plans to close the temporary bridge around mid-September to remove it and roll the new bridge into place, Peterson said. They are hoping to keep that closure to less than two weeks, she said.

Peterson in turn praised officials from the state Department of Ecology and the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers for their cooperation with permitting and other regulatory issues that might otherwise slow down the repair work.

The detours currently in place are causing an average delay of just 6 to 10 minutes, Peterson said, but she said traffic snarls are nevertheless hurting local merchants who are reporting a 45-80 percent drop in business.

"It is having quite an effect on business," she said, adding that officials are spreading the word that businesses remain open and there are ways to get to them.