The Newsletter

Want more information on Asia as the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation meeting draws near? Go no further than our very own downtown Seattle Public Library. The library's Pacific Rim Business Information Service, in operation since 1987, provides up-to-date information on various Asian economies.

The library has a new brochure that outlines the resources. It covers mostly printed material - there's more from the library's electronic sources.

The brochure is available at the library and neighborhood branches. Or write the library at 1000 Fourth Ave., Seattle 98104-1193.

The resource center is a necessary part of making Seattle an international trade-oriented city. Bob Kapp of the Washington Council on International Trade calls it a valuable "homework" center.

I mentioned a service for the homeless in Baltimore that provides free phones and voice mail. Need not have gone so far - there is a similar service here and it's been in operation since 1991.

Community Voice Mail, operated by the Worker Center with equipment donated by Active Voice Corp., currently serves more than 300 homeless and phoneless persons. It is perhaps the oldest voice-mail service of its kind in the country.

Patricia Barry and Rich Feldman are originators of the idea. Earlier this month it received a $100,000 grant from the Harvard Innovations Program and the Ford Foundation to promote similar services around the nation.

I should have known.

It's Friday and we get a little frivolous. Like yacht rankings. Power and Motoryacht magazine recently ranked the 200 largest yachts in the U.S. There were several in the Pacific Northwest.

Leading the pack at No. 3 in the nation is Craig McCaw's Calixe. It's 193 feet long with a recent 12-foot extension to add an "integrated swim platform." The magazine said the yacht has just had a major overhaul in Holland where it was built.

The Evviva is No. 15 at 160 feet. It was built for John Orin Edson, Bayliner founder. It's one of the largest fiberglass yachts ever built. No wonder, with the Bayliner connection.

The Alliance is No. 52 at 127 feet. It's the Paccar boat. And the Shana II, owned by Bruce Leven, is No. 149 at 103 feet. It reportedly is up for sale.

Notes from the German auto industry, once so dominant.

Volkswagen is studying a shorter work week as one of a series of measures to save money and avoid cutting jobs.

Union officials said that while accepting a four-day week as a means to battle unemployment, they would insist on keeping the door open for workers being returned to longer hours at a later point.

At BMW things are falling. . . .

Sales fell to $13.1 billion and car production fell to 396,737 units. Deliveries to customers fell 9.8 percent to 406,537. The number of employees fell 4.3 percent to 71,940. In the first half, BMW net profit fell 38 percent to $152 million from $245 million the previous year.

Mini profile:

National Securities, 1001 Fourth Ave., Suite 2200, Seattle, WA 98154. Phone: 622-7200.

National Securities conducts a brokerage business through its main office in Seattle and through 11 other offices in 10 states. Business includes securities brokerage for individual clients and market-making trading activities. The company concentrates on retail business, emphasizing personal service. Nearly all transactions with the public are solicited trades, and about 60 percent of those involve sales of securities to customers. Sales occur through investment executives, or brokers. Of 137 employees, 102 are brokers.

Employees: 137. Exchange: Over the counter. Stock symbol: NATS. Founded: 1947. Fiscal year: September. Chief executive: Robert Kollack.

The Newsletter column by Stephen H. Dunphy appears Tuesday to Friday in the Business Section of The Times. His Economic Memo runs in the Sunday Business Section. To send items, write to The Newsletter, Stephen H. Dunphy, The Seattle Times, P.O. Box 70, Seattle, WA 98111. Phone: 464-2365. Fax: 382-8879. InfoLine: 464-2000 category 5767. ------------------------------------------------------------------- Community Voice Mail enables homeless and phoneless people to "navigate through the maze of social services, connect with employers and landlords, and return to economic independence." - Rich Feldman, CVM co-founder. The program has been replicated in 20 cities around the nation.

Gaming stocks are "still an exciting market," says casino industry tracker Stuart Linde. He says more states are looking to legalize gaming. Revenues of all operating casinos, including riverboats, will rise 45 percent to $16 billion in two years, from $11 billion in 1992, Linde predicts.