Signs of the Times: Light at the end of the tunnel goes out

[DainBramaged]

The global recession manifests itself in big and small ways, most gloomy, some quirky and often reflecting the inventive human spirit. Here is a look at some signs of the times.

* In the working-class community of Weymouth, south of Boston, Easter's Country Kitchen, a crowded little diner, captured the mood in a notice near the food counter:

"DUE TO BUDGET CUTS, THE LIGHT AT THE END OF THE TUNNEL IS BEING TURNED OFF."

* Many companies are scaling back on holiday parties. New York's billionaire Mayor Michael Bloomberg, who says the city faces a $1.6 billion budget deficit, personally paid for refreshments at his staff party. A dinner with the City Hall press corps, usually at the mayor's residence, was moved to a Chinatown restaurant and journalists will be charged $45 a head.

* In another sign of holiday cheer, the Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department reported a 250 percent rise in the number of guns handed over in a no-questions-asked program to exchange weapons for holiday gift cards. The department's station in a high crime suburb received 964 guns, two hand grenades and two briefcases full of dynamite.

* More people are seeking love online to compensate for the pain of losses. Match.com, which has online dating sites in 40 countries, had its largest membership growth in the last seven years in November. "During these trying times, people are looking for hope in their inbox," said CEO Thomas Enraght-Moony.

http://www.reuters.com/article/GCA-CreditCrisis/idUSTRE4B93T820081210

[depakid]

1. Plenty of lights at the end of Portand, Oregon's tunnel

Renewable Businesses Bring the Green to Portland

Oregon's bid to cash in on its green appeal has given Portland's weakening commercial-real-estate market an early holiday gift.

Denmark-based Vestas Wind Systems AS said this month that it is planning to build a new North American headquarters in the city. Negotiations still are under way and the site isn't set, but the project is likely to be more than 500,000 square feet and be valued at about $250 million.

estas Americas, which has been in the city since 2002, has roughly 300 employees in about six leased office locations totaling about 100,000 square feet in the Portland area, says Roby Roberts, a spokesman for Vestas, one of the world's largest wind-turbine suppliers.

Vestas, despite the credit-starved times, hopes to start construction next year.

"Certainly the existing economic situation is one that's going to make you be careful, but we're reasonably confident that things are going to work out," Mr. Roberts said. The state has sweetened the deal with an offer of about $15 million in cash on top of incentives from the city that could be valued at $12.5 million, city and state officials say.

Other sustainable-development and renewable-energy businesses also have made a home in Oregon. The state has courted the industry with such initiatives as the Business Energy Tax Credits, says Jillian Schoene, spokeswoman for Oregon Gov. Ted Kulongoski.

First created in 1979 and expanded in 2007, the tax credits have helped draw solar-energy manufacturers to the state, Ms. Schoene says. Germany-based SolarWorld AG this fall opened a 480,000-square-foot solar-cell manufacturing facility in Hillsboro, outside Portland. Moreover, the North American headquarters of Spain-based Iberdrola Renovables, already located in about 57,000 square feet of leased space in Portland's Pearl District, is looking for additional room to grow, a spokeswoman says.

More: http://online.wsj.com/article/SB122886465787792907.html?mod=googlenews_wsj

No reason why other regions can't follow Oregon's lead- and develop their own forward looking economic develpment schemes.

[DainBramaged]

2. It is the future, I know. I hope my body holds up so I can be a part of it

in New Jersey.