A plan to add an additional $3 parking fee at the Port of Everett’s 10th Street boat launch and Marine Park has been modified to apply only from Friday through Sunday and will include some special passes, said Carl Wollobek, port operations manager. He said the fee will be applied from May 1 to Sept. 30. He said the port will offer passes for disabled veterans and will accept annual launch passes. People who pay launch fees will be able to park the launch vehicle for free. The port will add new machines to the area that accept credit cards. The Port initially proposed a daily fee but heard strong opposition from the public. Wollobek said the new plan will help the port make some needed revenue while also encouraging carpooling at peak times for the lot.
Corning’s top boss paid $10.8 million
Corning’s chief executive received compensation valued at $10.8 million in 2009, a seesaw year during which the specialty glassmaker trimmed 3,500 jobs. Wendell Weeks got a performance-based cash bonus worth $4.8 million, far higher than the $301,584 he got in 2008. But $3 million of that is tied to Corning’s financial progress this year. His total compensation in 2009 was 43 percent higher than the $7.5 million he earned in 2008. The pay calculation is based on a regulatory filing and isolates the value the company’s board placed on the CEO’s total compensation.
GM designer Lutz to retire in May
Bob Lutz, the longtime auto industry executive who led a near-complete overhaul of General Motors’ lineup, will retire May 1. Lutz, 78, confirmed his retirement in an e-mail on Wednesday. “My work is done here,” Lutz wrote from a restaurant in Geneva at the Geneva Motor Show. “The whole organization, top to bottom, now has absolute product superiority as the highest objective which enables all others. So, I can retire in peace.” Lutz, a former U.S. Marine aviator who once crashed his personal helicopter at a Michigan airport, overhauled design at GM. He has called the Chevrolet Volt, the gas-electric sedan that can go up to 40 miles on battery-power alone, as his proudest achievement.
Storms stifle economy recovery
The economy is growing slowly, but snowstorms crimped activity along the East Coast last month. The Fed’s Beige Book survey, released Wednesday, showed that the nation’s recovery is managing to plod ahead though not at a strong enough pace to promote hiring. The Fed said “economic conditions continued to expand … although severe snowstorms in early February held back activity.” Of the Fed’s 12 regions surveyed, nine showed improvement. The Richmond district, which includes Maryland, Virginia and the Carolinas, was hurt the most by the bad winter. That region reported economic activity had “slackened or remained soft across most sectors” because of the weather.
From Herald news services
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