Fall Report on Business: The Voting Issue

The newest Report on Business is out and is timely! It's the voting issue and is all about what and who is going to be on the ballot. Check out a few of the statewide races (Governor, Senate, Congressional Seat, and Dept of Public Instruction Superintendent) as well as the measure that GNDC has taken stances on. If you are looking for the plain text and the impacts - this is your issue.

We launch this issue with the GNDC VP of Operations & Outreach, Amanda Remynse's missing column:

The Gum Wall, A Case Study in the Power of One

A couple years ago, my husband had a work trip to Seattle and I sponge traveled – meaning I went with and enjoyed the time, even though he had sessions. I did the touristy things – Pike’s Place (love the fish throw show), Space Needle, Chihuly Glass Museum, the original Starbucks… but there’s one thing that totally fascinated me. The Gum Wall.
 
Just adjacent to the Market is an alley and it’s covered in chewed gum. So much gum that in places you can’t see wall and I’m sure the gum is inches thick. My husband was totally disgusted by this but I was intrigued staring at it. The alley is beside a box office for a theater – a small one that has occasional comedy shows. Patrons would leave their gum behind, occasionally with pennies stuck in. At first it was fought but eventually officials gave in and let it be – it’s been cleaned once (to the tune of $4000) but has grown back to the glory that it previously was.
 
Here’s why it amazes me… it started with one piece. One person in 1991 had the idea to stick their used gum to the wall. The wall is now covered with hundreds of thousands of gum pieces all representing a person. One person could have spit their gum onto the ground and become a menace to society, could have pushed it into a theater seat, could have thrown it in the trash, could have not even been chewing gum ... but one person changed this wall forever.
 
The wall was deemed a tourist attraction in 1999. Think of how this could apply to you? One person can change the course of a community or a business. Whether it’s big things like run for office or applying for a management spot or leadership course or little things like nominating a business for a local chamber award or writing a letter to the editor on a ballot measure or a simple thank you note for a job well done.  
 
This year at election season, think of the things that are going to ‘stick’ in your community and think of the individuals who changing your world. We must look to the power of ONE and celebrate the momentum that can happen. I don’t see the Gum Wall as this germ hole (even though i

t’s #2 for the germiest tourist trap in the world)… it’s the start of something bigger than a piece of gum. It’s art. It’s community. It’s a collaboration. Not everyone has to like it but it’s amazing to think that when people work together with a tiny spark created by one person – a little corner of the world can look a lot different. Encourage those ONES and their sparks.

 
FALL ISSUES OF REPORT ON BUSINESS: THE VOTING ISSUE

Pic of Gum Wall for Visual Understanding: