washington business
The Water Cooler
“What would I do with
30 minutes on the
Alaskan Way Viaduct?”
—Theme of an October essay contest sponsored by the Washington State Department
of Transportation. The winner received
exclusive access to the viaduct’s downtown
section for 30 minutes on Oct. 22, the
day after the southern mile of the viaduct
closed for nine days for demolition. (1)
“And how did we find out
about this? By e-mail.”
—Spokesman-Review political reporter Jim
Camden on the means by which members
of the U.S. Postal Service union disseminated
info about a Sept. 27 protest event—to
save the Postal Service. (2)
“It’s a tax on cover charges imposed on patrons who come somewhere
with the intent to dance. It’s marketed as a place to dance.”
—Mike Gowrylow, spokesman for the Washington state Department of Revenue, on the department’s auditing more than 120 bars and taverns
in the Seattle area. In August, the state made news for its proposal to charge nightclubs thousands of dollars in back taxes because they had
not been paying a “dance tax.” (3)
“A return to normalcy
seems like a mirage
in the desert. The closer
we get to it, the further
it moves away.”
— Dr. Arun Raha, executive director of the
Washington state Economic and Revenue
Forecast Council, on the tenuous nature of
an economic recovery. (4)
“You’re not on the
PR staff are you?”
—Member of Portland’s KGW news crew
to a member of the International Longshore
and Warehouse Union who verbally attacked
and threatened the TV reporter and camera
crew. The crew was attempting to interview
the longshoreman about the September work
stoppage in Longview, eliciting a foul-mouthed
response now popular on YouTube. (5)
20 association of washington business