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Newspaper Archive of
Shelton Mason County Journal
Shelton, Washington
January 14, 2020     Shelton Mason County Journal
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January 14, 2020
 
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A—6 — Shelton-Mason County Journal Thursday, Jan. 14, 2021 GUEST COLUMN ' « Working from home here to stay . ith COVlD-19 vac- cines being widely dispensed, will an end to this pandemic halt “work from home?” Will workers return to down- town offices at pre-pandemic levels? Not likely! However, it is not an ei- ther/or question, said Stan- ford professor Nicholas Bloom, who is co-director of the National Bureau of Eco- nomic Research’s productiv- ity, innovation and entrepre— neurship program. “Working from home will be very much a part of our post-COVID economy,” he added, “so, the sooner policy— makers and business (employ- ers) think of the implications of a home-based workforce, the better our firms and com- munities will be positioned when the pandemic subsides.” In September, Reuters reported that U.S.-based Enterprises Technology Re— search surveyed 1,200 chief information officers who indicated more than one- third of their workers are By DON BRUNELL “permanently remote” in 2021. The legical follow-up ques- tion: Should employers (busi- ness and government) get rid of the offices altogether? “No, but you may want to move it,” Bloom added. “What is happening, howev- er, is offices are moving from skyscrapers to industrial parks?” The pandemic reversed the urban growth pattern starting in the 1980s “when Americans have flocked to revitalized downtowns.” Occupied office space in Seattle has grown 34 percent since 2010, according to the Downtown Seattle Associa- tion. Now, those towers sit hollow. Roughly 90 percent of the 47 million square feet of leased Seattle office space is currently vacated as a result of the pandemic.” Bloom estimates that post-pandemic workers not in downtown could trim total daily spending in bars, res- taurants and shops by half of prepandemic levels. Regardless, whether offic- es are in tall buildings, strip malls or industrial parks, they must be reconfigured. They need to be roomier and arranged for social distanc- ing. So will lobbies, eleva- tors, breakrooms, transit buses and commuter trains which often were crammed to capacity. Bloom’s best advice is plan to split time between home and the workplace. Work from home about one to three days a week. It’ll ease the stress of commut— ing, allow employees to use their at-home days for quiet, thoughtful work, and let them use their in-office days for meetings and collabora— tions. That schedule also gives employers options to rearrange offices for “shared space” to avoid renting addi- , tional footage. Before the pandemic, the Bureau of Labor Statistics estimated only 15 percent of salaried employees had a full day working from home and only 2 percent worked from home full time. Working from home now is dominating our lives and jumped by 12,000% last year. Now, 42% of our labor force works from home full time. However, another 33 percent of workers are unemployed—— evidence of the savage im- pact of the lockdown. The remaining 26 percent work at traditional employer premis— es. They are mainly essential service workers such as fire- fighters and hospital staff. “We see that these at: home workers now account for more than two-thirds of America’s GDP (economic activity),” Bloom adds. Work from home is not for everyone. Bloom found only half of the people surveyed were able to work from home at an efficiency rate of 80% managers, professionals and financial workers who can easily carry out their work on their computers by videocon- ference, phone and email.” “The remaining half of Americans don’t benefit from those technological work- arounds — many employ- ees in retail, health care, transportation and business services cannot do their jobs anywhere other than a trao ditional workplace,” Bloom added. Finally, Forbes pointed — out the decade between 2020 and 2030 will see the num- ber of Americans eligible to work at its lowest point since the Civil War: “So it is a good thing that remote work makes many employees hap— pier and more productive be- cause companies will want to hold onto those employees.” I Don C. Brunell is a business analyst, writer and columnist. He retired I as president of the Associa- tion of Washington Business, the state’s oldest and larg- est business organization, and now lives in Vancouver. He can be contacted at the- Brunells@msn.com. or more. “These are mostly LETTERS continued from page A-5 Slow down, EquityPlus Editor, the Journal, This letter is an appeal to the Shel— ton City commissioners to slow down the rush to sign a development agree- ment authorizing EquityPlus LLC, based in Mississippi, to build up to 400 housing units on acres in the Shelton Watershed north of the Huff ’N’ Pufi‘ Trail. This project was introduced at a hearing on Jan. 5. A second hear— ing is scheduled for Jan. 19. (Partici- pate on Zoom or watch on Youtube at MasonWebTV.) The city manager is pushing City Council members to move this project to the action agenda, which would au- thorize him to sign the development agreement and commit the city to this huge project. believe citizens generally agree Shelton needs more affordable homes, but many questions remain unanswered. I Why the rush? During the hear— ing, several people asked the city manager whether the city had given citizens an opportunity to discuss the future of the watershed or bid on “sur— plus” watershed property. He replied, “No. We didn’t do that because we don ’t have to.” I Why would the city work with an East Coast developer instead of local builders who create local jobs? The Eq- uityPlus executive who approached the city is based in Washington, DC. The proposal is for factory—built houses. I Why pack homes onto, one site? Developing small communities of 25, 50 or homes would create liv— able neighborhoods and mitigate traf— fic impacts. I What will be the impact on local schools? I Why EquityPlus? They ap- proached the city with a proposal, but what do we know about their work? Has the city contacted cities who . worked with them on recent projeth to learn whether they are happy with the process and with the houses Equity Jdurnal Letter Policy The Journal encourages original letters to the editor of local interest. Diverse and varied opinions are welcomed. We will not publish letters that are deemed libelous or scurrilous in nature. All letters must be signed and include the writer’s name, address and daytime phone number,,which will be used for verification,purposes’only. Alleletters ‘ are subject to editing for length, grammar and clarity. To submit a letter, email editor@masoncounty.com, drop it off at 227 W. Cota St, or mail it to PO. Box 430, Shelton, WA 98584. Plus built I Has the council seen floor plans for the proposed homes? Photos of re- cent projects? The development agreement was written by EquityPlus and authorizes it to acquire and develop the property. Section 13.9 allows EquityPlus to “assign or transfer all or any portion of its interest, 'rights, obligations or responsibilities in this Agreement to third parties, without limitation (and) without the necessity of consent by the city.” EquityPlus can sell its interest and get out at any time. The city cannot. The contract should be changed so that EquityPlus can only transfer its rights and obligations to a third party with, the city’s consent. ' No cash is paid at closing. Equity- Plus will give the city a “seller’s note,” which will be paid to the city annually “to the extent of net available cashflow ...” and based on number of units con- structed (Section 12) Since the contract has no schedule for when houses will be built, it is unclear when payments would start. In Section 13.11, the city waives im- portant legal rights if a dispute arises. The development agreement trumps Shelton Municipal Code. “If any terms of this Agreement conflict with other- wise applicable provisions of the SMC, the terms and conditions of this Agree- ment shall control.” (Section The development agreement is a 15- year commitment. Please check client references, strengthen the city’s rights in the contract and consider local op- tions before you sign. Barbara Parsloe Shelton Save our country Editor, the Journal, Donald Trump once boasted that he could kill someone in public and get away with it. His inciting his mob to attack the US. Capitol to disrupt the certification of the Biden-Harris electibn victory and steal this fair election resulted in hold- ing Congress, stafi‘ and media members hostage and the deaths of five people, including a brave Capitol Police ofiicer and veteran,and must be punished. If Trump, the attackers and politi- cians who also tried to disenfranchise the majority of voters are not held ac— countable, they will continue the ram- page; how far this goes, don’t know, but as a Jewish and gay person, we can look to Nazi Germany and see those results. Trump must be removed immedi- ately for treason, either through the 25th Amendment or impeachment and the violent attackers of the Capitol/ Congress must be prosecuted for the high crimes they committed. Domestic terrorism must not be tolerated. Doing so will undermine our democracy and more lives will be lost. We must save our democracy, our country. Michael Siptroth Belfair Wake up, Trumpsters- Editor, the Journal, To all my fellow Americans who continue to support President Donald Trump, please wake up! Seek the truth. Just this morning, Trump said on a national television that he’s done noth— ing wrong. Big surprise. You may believe in Republican prin- ciples. tend to lean toward DemOCratic principles. This is a good thing. It’s how we keep a country with a healthy v balance that represents all of us. But let’s be clear, Trump onlystgndsfor, Trump principles. He’s nat‘Ame First. He’s Trump first and only. . entire presidency has proven he’s inca— pable of seeing any foreign or domestic policy through any lens other than how" it makes him look, his personal enrich: ment, his re-election prospects or his ego gratification, This recent mob riot at our Capital is a direct result of Trump’s lies and decisive rhetoric. The continu- ing threats brewing forward are scary and dangerous. But even more impor- tantly, they’re a horrible assault doing lasting damage to our democracy and our peaceful existence. Stop with the false equivalencies comparing this to the Black Lives Matter riots. There is no comparison. All of this violence has been, directed by Trump and is based on lies. Full stop. The election was not rigged. The only serious election fraud was at, tempted by Trump himself. As with most all of his accusations throughout the last five years, everything Trumpaccuses others of, he is actually guilty of. It saddens me that people know and used to respect) continue to perpetuate their undying allegiance to this horrible, lying, narcissistic conman. Do you actually think this makes you a patriot? Standing up for a man who takes the side of Vladimir Putin and other authoritarians while alienating our al- lies? Standing up for a man who has screamed election fraud all the way back to before the election? Because being the type of “cheating competitor” he has been all his life, he must pre—emptively bake in his excuse in the event he loses. Stop looking the other way" and making excuses for him. Stop changing channels when even FOX News begins to occasionally tell the truth. The truth is out there. Look for it. . Open your mind. If you, take offense to being called a cult member, stop act— ing like one. Audrey Vandervelde Shelton “WNW”... AWWWMMM .WWWM. .,