Notes from the Coalmine - March 12th

Image - Seattle Rush Hour - 3/12/2020

Remember the old Alice Cooper song "School's Out?"

We'll its not forever, but it should feel like it. Schools are out in my neck of the woods for SIX WEEKS.

UPDATE 2PM 3/12/2020 - all private, public K-12 schools in King, Pierce, Snohomish counties are being ordered closed through April 24 due to coronavirus concerns. 563,600 students attend public or charter schools and roughly 216,700 of them qualify for subsidized meals, leaving many of the 43 school districts there scrambling to plan for feeding children during an extended closure.

It's challenging because all the teachers are being very helpful - I got a great email from my daughter's teacher today with a home lesson plan - but the DISTRICT is woefully unprepared for REMOTE LEARNING. Sigh.

I'm not going to comment on the national news - I just can't at this point - but I can give you guys a little insight into some of the things we're talking about in the PacNorWest:

• Tom Douglas, one of Seattle’s most well-known chefs, will temporarily close 12 of his restaurants - for those not in the know, Douglas is an ICON of PacNorWest cuisine. For him to close all his establishments...it's sending a little shockware through the local restaurant scene. And by little I mean PANDEMONIUM! With over 800 hourly employees, many of them will be laid off for up to eight weeks and have to file unemployment.
• Speaking of that, as COVID19 rips through the Seattle area, fear of the disease and policies to limit its spread have left canceled events, abandoned travel plans and vacant hotel rooms in their wake, with lower-wage hourly workers the most affected part of the hospitality sector. How bad do these people need help? It's so bad an Amtrak employee here was quoted as saying "Seventy-five dollars at the end of the month could really make or break me." We are having area conversations on unemployment insurance and other help to people temporarily out of work due to the virus - but (i wasn't going to do it) we need to have a NATIONAL CONVERSATION RIGHT NOW. Soon it will be Omaha and Fargo - not just Seattle or New York - dealing with closed or cancelled events and out of work waiter staff and cooks. #rantover
• Oh and guess what? We just figured out here in the Emerald City that you can't build a jet working from home. Boeing and other manufactures are faced with a conundrum. As of Wednesday evening, five workers at Boeing’s Everett wide-body-commercial-jet plant have tested positive for the coronavirus. They remain in quarantine under medical care while the circle of employees who were in direct contact with them have been sent home to self-quarantine. How will the assembly lines run? And it's not just Boeing - and not just here in Seattle. If Boeing shuts down, what happens to suppliers around the area, the country and the world? If you're a manufacturing in Richmond VA or even Sri Lanka who makes the little nobs that lock the bathroom door on Boeing planes...who are you gonna ship those knobs to?

I could go on, but we both know what that will lead to: a bunch of tears, an entire chocolate cake and a fifth of Makers Mark.

And I got work to do.

But there's some light here.

Small, pinpricks of light - you have to look hard, but you can see them.

In my 50 years on Planet Earth, having many jobs, many relationship, many good times and many bad, I've come to believe Mr. Rodgers was right - not because I'm deluding myself - but because I see it every day.

Because I'm looking.

I've seen a hundred acts of kindness in the last few days form people, strangers and neighbors, here in our community. Here's one:

An older couple reached out to our neighborhood on NextDoor.

NextDoor - for those of you that don't know - is a little like FaceBook for your neighborhood. And just like Facebook, sometimes it turns into people screaming at each other over politics.

Which is bad enough with people you DON'T see at the mailbox or at PTO meetings!

But sometimes this kind of thing happens.

The couple needed help - they are LITERALLY in the most at risk demographic for COVID19.

They've self quarantined - they're doing the RIGHT THINGS - but they need food.

And in less than a day over 30 of their neighbors offered to pick up their groceries - many were willing to make a commitment for the next few weeks to help them out. Almost 20 suggested delivery services and a few of those offered FREE use of their PERSONAL DELIVERY SERVICE to help this couple out.

Now 48 people offering help to a neighbor might not sound like a lot if you live in downtown SEATTLE or CHICAGO or WHERE EVER.

But there's only 3,324 people that live in Clearview WA.

And only a FEW hundred of us are on NextDoor.

And almost 50 people stepped up to help - not with money or thoughts and prayers.

But actual, tangible offers of help.

One Day Later:

So there's a little ray of light out here as we socially distance but emotionaly band together to get through these next few days.

Let me know how you're handing everything.

AND WASH YOUR HANDS!!