If there is any bright side to the grimness of the recession, it's the bargains available for folks who can still scrape together a few bucks.

Nowhere is that principle more true than in the airline industry where airlines are rolling out ever-lower fares to coax people to travel.

"Just when you though airfares had hit rock bottom, the major U.S. airlines have slashed fares even deeper," said Tom Parsons of Bestfares.com. said today.

Here are some roundtrip examples gleaned from Bestfares and Farecast.com:

Sea-Tac to:

Miami $219
Washington, D.C. $160
Orlando $190
Los Angeles $139
Denver $139
London $499
San Jose del Cabo $293
Rome $586
Baltimore $152

Just how low are those fares? The roundtrip fare to Orlando, for instance, is $158 less than the average last minute low price. The prices to Baltimore, Washington and Miami are record lows. The fare to London is a little more than half of the average last minute low to the British capital.

In the case of the East Coast cities, those airfares price the cost of air travel at a little more than three cents a mile, a figure that buses, cars or trains can't touch.

These super low fares, of course, aren't available on every flight. Look for the lowest fares for Tuesday, Wednesday and Saturday departures. Overnight flights also are likely cheaper than daytime flights at more civilized hours.

Metro City Homes, a condominium development near South 23 Street and Yakima Avenue, is set for a June foreclosure auction.

The condo complex, developed by Mercer Island's Dwelling Company, has 13 units remaining unsold and 17 lots undeveloped.

The three-level homes have seen their prices drastically reduced in recent months. Prices range from about $250,000 to $350,000. A call to the marketing number listed on the development's Web page failed to connect with the development's sales department.

Another call to the developer was unsuccessful in reaching anyone who would talk about the project.

The foreclosure notice lists the value of the still unsold properties as $5,551,643.

The sale is set for 10 a.m. on June 26 at the Pierce County Courthouse.

Total office vacancies in Pierce County inched upward during the year's first quarter to 10.62 percent from 10.54 percent according to real estate firm Colliers International.

Vacancies were less in Seattle, but the increase in unrented space was more, said the real estate firm.

Seattle's office vacancy rate now is 8.93 percent, up a full percentage point from the last quarter of 2008.

Vacancy rates on the east side of Lake Washington were somewhat below those in Seattle's central business district, the survey said.

Eastside vacancy rates hit 8.57 in the first quarter despite the opening of some 2.1 million square feet of new office space in the last year.

In Pierce County, Puyallup reported the highest rate of vacant office space, 32 percent, largely because of an unoccupied former microchip plant on South Hill.

The plant's new owners, Benaroya Companies, is aggressively seeking new tenants. The company is reportedly preparing a major upgrade of the computer chip campus to attract new office tenants.

The campus is reportedly on the short list for new office space for kidney dialysis provider DaVita Inc.

Yesterday was a big day at the Tacoma law firm Gordon Thomas Honeywell Malanca Peterson & Daheim, which issued a new logo (that’s it above) and formally adapted the less cumbersome name, Gordon Thomas Honeywell, by which it was already more commonly known and by which it will also be known from now on.

Beyond which, firm patriarch Joe Gordon turned 100 years old and was feted by a party at the Hotel Murano.

Beyond which moreso, the firm itself has turned 115 years old.

Happy Birthday to all.

Over the next year, the typical American family will have an extra $800 to spend.

Really. This isn’t an April Fool’s Joke - at least I don’t think so. The news comes today from the White House.

This goes back to February, when the president signed the Making Work Pay tax credit law. “This is one of the fastest and broadest tax cuts in American history,” said the First Flak in a release. “In Washington (which refers to our Washington, the one where it rains a lot) that means 2.5 million working families will collectively get $1.3 billion in hand to help them weather the current economic storm.”

By today, according to the Internal Revenue Service, employers must have instituted a lowered withholdings deduction for their employees.

This year and next, the tax credit will provides a refundable tax credit of 6.2 percent of earned income up to $400 for working individuals and $800 for married taxpayers. “Families should see at least a $65 dollar per month increase in their take-home pay,” the release said. .

The credit will phase out for taxpayers with adjusted gross income in excess of $150,000 for married couples filing jointly and $75,000 for other workers, and thus is fully phased out for taxpayers with modified adjusted gross income in excess of $190,000 for married workers and $95,000 for other workers.

For a look at the new set of IRS withholding tables, visit www.irs.gov or click here.

In an effort to help its customers weather the challenging economy, the Port of Seattle is considering reducing its fees and allowing customers to defer some payments.

Port of Seattle staff proposed the customer relief package to the commission Tuesday. The relief package is focused on terminal operators whose revenues depend on the number of containers they handle.

Cargo at the Seattle port was down 37 percent in February as consumer spending continued to drop. The declining business can endanger jobs, according to a port news release.

The plan -- subject to commission approval -- would go into effect in June through June 2010, although adjustments may be made as economic conditions change.

Port of Tacoma Executive Director Tim Farrell said last week that he was also considering a combination of reducing customers' fees and lease payments to take the edge of the cargo downturn for the port's tenants.

Tacoma container volume dipped 17 percent in February compared to the same month in 2008.