Boeing’s recent and continuing decisions to divide its operations abroad will put it among many multinational corporations that have done the same.

This brings to light a key feature of how the global economy works. It is based upon the reciprocal benefit of businesses and citizens to attract global capital and essentially build the city around the workers and consumers those large businesses bring.

This theory of urban development was adopted by some large cities – Chicago, for example, which faced a severe economic downturn after manufacturing left the city in the 1980s. And much to their delight it brought them the Boeing headquarters in 2001.

The Puget Sound region had already attracted in Boeing the global player that it needed for initial economic growth. The loss of Boeing is an unsettling hit to the economy, but regardless of that loss, the Puget Sound area has developed into something entirely new from when Boeing first arrived. Seattle and the Northwest now represent a region of international trade that is exactly what attracts global corporations to invest.

Perhaps the days of aerospace manufacturing are over in the Northwest, but once it is all said and done this region will still be ripe with consumer demand, high-quality universities that corporations love to recruit from and develop around, and advanced metropolitan cities like Seattle that provide perfect locations for future capital investment.

It would be in the City of Tacoma’s best interest to not make a single penny on the former brewery district site.

Despite our terrible start to Asian-American relations in the late 19th century, we now enjoy a vibrant and healthy Asian-Pacific population here in the city of Tacoma. The best use of the former brewery site, situated so perfectly close to a burgeoning downtown, also would serve as clear indicator of the city’s commitment to its diverse culture.

Take a look at Seattle’s International District; it is a thriving city unto itself. Even in a down economy it thrives on its unique services and cultural offerings. Tacoma could have the same rich opportunity staring it right in the face.

What other use is as win/win for this site? Bring the Asia Pacific Cultural Center to the former brewery district and watch Tacoma respond the same way she did to the investment made by the city and the University of Washington. Remember when that seemed like a risky idea?

That’s nice, but the revised plans call for flights arriving from the southwest, rather than dog-legging over Olympia, to be replaced by more direct routings over Joint Base Lewis-McChord and the neighborhoods north of state Route 16.

At least the cacophonous noise of those 100 to 150 daily overflights should add joy to the residents who for the past 12 years have been subjected to extreme noise levels of low-flying military
aircraft operating 24/7 out of JBLM, as well as the noise emanating from emergency medical helicopters flying to local hospitals.

Enough is enough. Indeed, it is time for me to consider moving to Olympia or North Seattle, where the politicians attempt to alleviate noise for their residents.

So how could Seattle cops look so woefully and inadequately prepared to protect an area they are charged to serve? Total mayhem reigned, and businesses and taxpayers are again on the hook to pick up the pieces.

In this day and age, saving green space in the middle of town is a no-brainier. If Pugnetti Park were in Seattle, the move by the Washington State Department of Transportation to close and sell it would be unheard of. But not in doormat Tacoma.

Tacoma leaders should be on the phone to the governor asking why billions of taxpayers’ dollars go to Seattle transportation projects and a small park at the entrance to the City of Tacoma is closed without a word of support.

We are truly the City of Destiny – destined to be the doormat of Seattle with our state and city leaders.

Instead, the Times featured the Seattle Art Museum (showing Paul Gaughin art), the Denver Art Museum (Yves St. Laurent couture) and the Getty (an altar from Warsaw). All excellent shows, no doubt. But why are our cultural assets hidden?

If outsiders didn’t say such great things about TAM and LeMay, the Museum of Glass and the Washington State History Museum, then we might be delusional, guilty of self-importance. I don’t think so. LeMay is not a well-lit car lot; “Hide/Seek” isn’t snapshots from a Warhol binge.

Do we actually choose to hide our light under a barrel? Or are we – as a community – incompetent in the art of blowing our own horn when it comes to cultural tourism? Modesty may be a virtue but not when it comes to competing for visitors we need to help grow our economy.

You say: “Taxpayers wouldn’t be asked to come up with a dime for any of it.” And “The remainder of the $500 million cost would be paid by team rent and taxes generated by the arena.”

Moreover, you quote King County Executive Dow Constantine as saying, “Only two other pro-sports arenas in the country would have more private investment.”

If taxpayers won’t be asked to come up with a dime, how could any sports arena have “more” private investment, and why are taxes part of the funding package?

These kind of word games are why no one trusts politicians and why people are starting to distrust their local newspaper.

If some people want to build a sports arena, they should do so. The government has more important things to do and shouldn’t be finding new ways to funnel money into the pockets of rich people.

I just heard about the plastic bag being banned in Seattle. That’s so awesome; I just hope that it gets banned in Tacoma, too.

I know I always want to stop using plastic bags, but I forget and go to the store, and then all of a sudden – more plastic bags. I would remember to bring my reusable bags if I had to, and so would other people.

The best way to change something is just to change it and make it work. Seattle has set a wonderful example for the rest of Washington to follow. Let’s ban the bag!

The last time WSDOT employees withheld records on the eve of a Seattle election, it took a superior court order to make the EEB conduct an investigation. The multibillion-dollar, deep-bore tunnel was a central issue then, too.

The ink was barely dry on the court order before the chief bureaucrat at the EEB stated to a reporter that, in effect, WSDOT employees had not violated the ethics law – a law that makes it an ethical violation for state employees to withhold public records that are required to be released by the state’s public records act.

Why wait for initiation, let alone completion, of an investigation before announcing there is no unethical behavior?

Nineteen months after I filed a complaint with the EEB, and six months after the superior court ordered the investigation, over the objection of the EEB, the investigation is still incomplete despite complaint footnotes that identify every email and document that tell the story of how WSDOT employees withheld the public records requested prior to the mayoral election in Seattle. The multibillion-dollar, deep-bore tunnel was very much a central issue.

Shame on WSDOT, and shame on the EEB.