Our Man In China

ETS!,

Hi there, Geov, this is Bill from Beijing writing back after a long period off the Internet. Today I read the Seattle Times on the web. Don't ask me what compels me to do this, I can't find any explanation myself except for the fact that it has my hometown's name on it. However, I ran across a couple of articles about China, one being about Tibet, and the other about HK. The article about Tibet had little significance to me, except for the fact that it mentions an old Garfield classmate of mine and quoted someone saying that anything made in China is probably made by children or prisoners.

This statement was fairly ridiculous, but it made me think about the real problems here at the moment. People are not being forced to work in China; many are actually out of work. As the socialist system is slowly being replaced, a large portion of the vast population finds itself without a job. It is hard for Americans to understand the scale of this problem, as well as the realities of this country. Making Tickle Me Elmos or that sort of thing for a living is a privilege that many impoverished country folk would jump at. As I'm sure you can imagine, this kind of situation gives American manufacturers wet dreams. The wages outside of major cities such as Beijing or Shanghai are extremely low, and the living conditions are Third World. Improvements are being made, but China is not a small country and it changes slowly.

On the bright side, there is a bit of a cultural revival taking place in the capitol. The locals are finding themselves a bit more comfortable than in days past, and are doing the things that all people do when they have a few extra kuai to spend. All sorts of new nightclubs featuring live music and other forms of entertainment are sprouting up, adding a bit of spice to the city.

Of course, there are the foreign businessmen. These sorts are mostly concentrated in hotels and generally out of touch with the local culture. I've met a few guys from Seattle, mostly Boeing employees involved in technical work of some sort. I don't personally know any of the really big players, though, they tend not to spend too much time in the field. Bill Gates made an appearance in Beijing at some time during my stay, and was the talk of the town for a bit. I was informed of this by my students, who all faithfully use Microsoft products.

All in all, I have mixed feelings about the international business scene. What bothers me most about it is the way we Americans are manipulated at home by its firm grip on our media and government. When living in a foreign country it is much easier to see the blatant lies and damaging policies inflicted upon the mostly ignorant American population. China needs the technological help and loans provided by foreign investment if it is to build a modern infrastructure. But this doesn't mean that they have to buy into the diseased and soulless corporate culture of modern day America.

Well that's all for now, and I'll be sure to keep you up to date on the real deal in Beijing.

--Bill Price, Beijing, People's Republic of China

The Other Runway Scam

ETS!,

This is a biased infomercial about the proposed expansion of Boeing Field/King County International Airport (KCIA).

KCIA is in the process of developing a master plan to guide the growth of the airport for the next five years. In the process of developing this master plan, KCIA learned that the Federal Aviation Admin. would no longer let them get away with safety violations that have existed at KCIA for years. So, on Feb. 18, KCIA announced at an "open house" that they were going to extend the runway 800' closer to Georgetown in order to make the FAA happy and retain the 10,000' runway that Boeing and cargo companies say they need. KCIA, prior to that day, had insisted that any kind of airport expansion would not be part of the plan.

The kicker here is that they are trying to ram this 800' extension through without proper public input, and without considering other alternatives. The easy (and we think proper) solution to the safety violation would be to declare it a 9200' runway available for take off and landing. This would spare Georgetown, and save KCIA the expense of extending the runway. For folks like myself interested in reducing noise from big-ass aircraft, obviously, this could be a happy coincidence. Not surprisingly, Boeing has dug in its heels at numerous public hearings, and insisted that it needs the 10,000'. This will be a big time conflict--Boeing running roughshod over the already overburdened people of Georgetown and Seattle in general.

There are lots of other infuriating details surrounding the process:

Pollution and noise impacts from the airport in general, and runway expansion in particular, aren't addressed in the plan.

KCIA knew they had to extend the runway in November '97, but didn't spring it on the public until the night of the public hearing, Feb. 18, 1998, where we were supposed to give our comments on the plan!

The airport manager hand-picked the community representatives that sit on the committee to advise the King County Council. To their credit, these folks recently came up with a statement against runway expansion. It looks like there will be a clash between the community reps and the business folks, led by Boeing, who are in the majority (big surprise) on this committee.

There are serious credibility issues with the info KCIA included in the plan (e.g. they call for a maximum of approx. 17,000 cargo operations per month at the end of five years, when current cargo operations are at 23,000 per month). How can the county council be expected to evaluate, much less approve, a plan that is full of this sort of bullshit?

The whole master plan process was already under scrutiny by groups like the one I'm involved with (Seattle Council on Airport Affairs--SCAA) and the RCAA, among others. The community reps statement is posted at: http://www.scn.org/activism/scaa/statement.htm. More info about the runway extension is at: http://www.rcaanews.org/rcaa/newsspr98.htm#KCIA2.

Thanks for the great publication.

--Jamie Alls, Seattle

ETS! encourages comments, feedback, tips, corrections, and info! Please keep them as concise as possible so we can print as many different voices as possible: ETS!, P.O. Box 85541, Seattle WA 98145, or e-mail ets@scn.org.