Philadelphia Apartments and Home Remodeling Blog

Young professionals prefer more urban living environments

2011-04-04T15:01:00.000-04:00

Young and educated professionals among the USA's largest metropolitan areas are moving closer to urban, downtown living spaces. The emerging popularity of city dwellers has resulted in the transformation of old, abandoned warehouses into modern historic apartments.

In almost over 70% of nation's 51 largest cities in the past decade, the population of college-educated individuals grew twice as fast within 3 miles of the urban center as in the rest of the metropolitan area. For states like Pennsylvania, that means more Philadelphia apartments for rent, with many unique living features.

Even in city of Detroit where the population decreased by 25% since 2000, the downtown area has witnesed 2,000 young and educated residents new residents, according to a Census analysis by economic consulting firm Impresa Inc.

Cities all over the nation are realizing an influx of young talent, and many developers are taking advantage of profitable opportunities.

Reinhold Residential is one company that specializes in architecturally unique, urban apartments designed with a luxurious and contemporary approach. Reinhold renovates historic warehouse buildings into quality living atmospheres. From luxury apartments in Chicago to glamorous pads in St. Paul, MN, the company is expanding parallel to the trends of migrating city residents.

In Cleveland, Ohio, the downtown area added 1,300 college-educated people ages 25 to 34. That growth of 49% has upped the demand for places to live.

Apartments in Pittsburgh have also been of higher demand with respect to the latter trends. More and more young professionals, especially in the fields of medicine, are seeking popular living hot-spots like Shadyside apartments, which neighbor the University of Pittsburgh Medical Center Shadyside Hospital.

David Egner, president and CEO of Detroit's Hudson-Webber Foundation, claims such data hints that they city of Detroit is on headed in the right direction. Three of the city's anchor institutions — Wayne State University, Henry Ford Health System, Detroit Medical Center — recently launched a campaign called "15 by 15." The program is designed to bring 15,000 young, educated people to the Detroit's downtown area by 2015.

The campaign boasts a powerful arsenal of cash incentives, including a $25,000 forgivable loan to buy (need to stay at least five years) downtown or $3,500 on a two-year lease.

Also seeing tremendous growth are the Loft District apartments in Baltimore. These contemporary living spaces are the ideal comfort retreat for the emerging mass of young city professionals.

As these trends continue, developers like Reinhold Residential will continue to pursue unique living spaces or potential warehouses capable of apartment makeovers.

Board OKs new Water Line in Gas Drilling Area

2010-11-11T01:54:00.001-05:00

BusinessWeek

A Pennsylvania state water and sewer project financing agency on Tuesday approved nearly $12 million to extend municipal water service to residents of a small town who are complaining of tainted well water in the midst of heavy Marcellus Shale natural gas drilling.

State environmental regulators view the money approved by the Pennsylvania Infrastructure Investment Authority board as essentially a down payment, saying they plan to sue to recoup the money from Houston-based Cabot Oil & Gas Corp.

The board voted after hearing a lawyer's threat that Cabot will sue to overturn an approval, as well as pleas from Dimock residents who say that for two years, they have been unable to use their brown, methane-tainted and rash-causing well water.

One man from Dimock, a rural community 15 miles south of the New York border in northeastern Pennsylvania, toted a plastic milk jug of brown water -- poured from his tap, he said.

The clash between the state and Cabot over Dimock is Pennsylvania's highest-profile regulatory dispute in the Marcellus Shale since drilling crews, financed by cash from around the world, were lured two years ago by what could become the country's largest natural gas field.

"The only thing that I regret is that it's taken two years for this company, Cabot, to be faced with a solution," John Hanger, secretary of the Department of Environmental Protection, said after the meeting. "You saw today what Cabot does: They bring the lawyers in. They've done that for two years. They are unique in having lawyered up, as opposed to really dealing with the problem. Every other company I've dealt with ... has accepted responsibility and gone through the work of fixing the problem."

The applicant, the Pennsylvania American Water Co., would use the money to connect 14 households, and possibly more, to the water system of Montrose, a town about 6 miles away. Construction is expected to take more than a year, and would be completed after a newly elected governor, Republican Tom Corbett, takes office in January.

Cabot denies that it is responsible for the polluted water wells, saying its wells were properly designed and built to prevent gas from migrating underground and into the water table.

A Houston-based lawyer representing Cabot, Douglas Daniels, asked the board to put off consideration of the application, and said its rushed filing and consideration violates state laws and agency procedures -- assertions rejected by authority staff.

Daniels then said numerous parties, including some local governments, plan to sue over the approval.

"Because Secretary Hanger has made abundantly clear ... that he will seek to use the resources of the commonwealth to force Cabot to pay for this line, Cabot will have no choice to join in those efforts," he said.

The board approved a $11.6 million grant and $172,682 loan.

EDITORIAL: Marcellus Shale Tax a must for Pennsylvania

2010-11-11T01:54:00.000-05:00

DelCo Daily Times

For the last couple weeks, the Daily Times Editorial Board has been interviewing candidates for state and local offices. There hasn’t been a lot of happy news coming out of those sessions — particularly those with incumbent state legislators.

Republicans and Democrats alike say Pennsylvania is staring at a fiscal abyss in the next year. With an economy that barely has a heartbeat, it’s being projected that the state is looking at a deficit of anywhere from $3 to $5 billion.

Making the situation worse is the fact that the man who is most likely to become the next governor — Republican Tom Corbett — has flatly ruled out any new tax or tax increase to help fill that gap.

(Corbett this week did propose one revenue producer: Selling the state store system. But that’s an idea that’s been bandied about Harrisburg for decades, always with the same result: An ignominious death.)

There is another source of revenue that most lawmakers deem promising. That is a proposed tax on natural gas extraction in the Marcellus Shale region — a rock bed the size of Greece that lies about 6,000 feet beneath New York, Pennsylvania, West Virginia and Ohio. Since late 2008, gas drillers have crowded the area, which they believe could supply the entire country’s natural gas needs for up to two decades.

Almost all of the natural gas produced in the United States is subject to a severance tax, which produces a significant source of revenue for a wide variety of services — as well as dealing with the inevitable environmental problems the extraction process, called fracking, produces.

Pennsylvania is the only state in the nation that does not impose a severance tax of any kind. That, according to the Pennsylvania Budget and Policy Center, has led to a $100 million loss of potential revenues in the last year alone. The commonwealth is giving away, for free, a one-time resource to energy companies that gladly pay for it everywhere else in the nation, the center said in a report issued Thursday.

Now, $100 million is a drop in the state’s money pit. But it’s nothing to be ignored.

How likely is it that the state Legislature will do the right — and fiscally responsible — thing?

It’s not looking good at this point. Harrisburg Democrats, seeing riches, are proposing substantial tax penalties; Republicans, saying they fear a big tax will scare drillers away, want minimal levies. Gov. Ed Rendell, who knows Corbett opposes any extraction tax, has been trying to play the middleman and bring those parties together.

But Thursday, he said that process “clearly is dead” for this year and blamed GOP intransigence. A spokesman for Senate Republicans said they were surprised by his stance, and they are willing to continue talking.

Perhaps it will take the November election to get the process going again. If Corbett wins, as expected, that may spur responsible members of both parties to come to an agreement.

Clearly, the tax is the right thing to do. The prospect of drowning in $5 billion worth of red ink makes it the necessary thing to do, too.

Penn Evaded Harvard Losses With `Defensive' Fund, Marks Says

2010-11-08T17:37:00.002-05:00

Bloomberg

The University of Pennsylvania, the Ivy League school founded by Benjamin Franklin, outperformed its wealthiest peers by avoiding many hard-to-sell assets such as real estate, according to Howard Marks, former chairman of the the investment committee.

Penn held less in private equity and property, more in stocks and owned a “defensive” mix of hedge funds, as well as “substantial” cash and short-term U.S. Treasuries, Marks wrote in an Oct. 20 memo to trustees, obtained by Bloomberg News. The Philadelphia school’s investments fell 16 percent in the year ended June 2009, versus the 27 percent and 25 percent declines of Harvard and Yale, the two richest U.S. universities.

“Most things in investing are two-edged swords: if you do more of them, you’ll make more if they work but lose more if they don’t,” wrote Marks, chairman of Oaktree Capital Management LP in Los Angeles, who left his endowment post on June 30. “Two prominent examples are (1) using borrowed money, or ‘leverage,’ to magnify results and (2) investing in illiquid assets that can’t always be sold on demand other than at a substantial discount from their fair value.”

The $5.7 billion fund outperformed Harvard in Cambridge, Massachusetts, and Yale in New Haven, Connecticut, again in the past year, while still trailing them over the last decade. Yale’s David Swensen pioneered the strategy of using private equity, real estate and commodities to beat stocks and bonds. These infrequently traded stakes ballooned as a percentage of big endowments when markets tumbled after the September 2008 bankruptcy of Lehman Brothers Holdings Inc.

5.6% a Year

Penn averaged annual increases of 5.6 percent in the past decade, compared with the 7 percent and 8.9 percent returns at Harvard and Yale, and its own target of 8.25 percent. In the year ended June 30, Penn gained 13 percent on investments, tied for third-best in the Ivy League, while Harvard’s $27.6 billion endowment climbed 11 percent and Yale’s $16.7 billion fund advanced 8.9 percent.

Columbia University’s $6.5 billion fund in New York led with a 17 percent gain, followed by Princeton University’s $14.4 billion endowment in New Jersey, which increased 15 percent. Cornell University’s $4.4 billion endowment in Ithaca, New York, matched Penn last year.

Yale was the worst performer among the eight Ivy League schools, while Harvard ranked fifth.

Marks, 64, started Oaktree after leaving TCW Group Inc. in 1995. The firm managed $75.1 billion, as of June 30, in investments including distressed debt, high-yield and convertible bonds, private equity and real estate. Marks, who graduated from the Wharton school in 1967, served on Penn’s investment committee for 13 years and established the Marks Family Writing Center in 2003 on campus.

Not ‘Superhuman’

“As I wrote last year, ‘everyone had regrettable investments in his or her portfolio -- given the climate, you’d have to be superhuman not to,’” Marks said in his final letter to trustees after 10 years as the head of Penn’s investment board. “What matters is how many, how big and how bad Endowments in general had more of these than other investors in 2007-08, and thus they experienced bigger problems.”

Robert Levy, chairman and chief investment officer at money manager Harris Associates LP in Chicago, has taken over the chairman role at Penn, Marks said yesterday in a telephone interview.

“Investors have a choice between trying to maximize and trying to build in security,” Marks said in the interview. “There isn’t a right over wrong. Everybody has to make that choice for themselves. I think the events of these recent years demonstrate that choice and action.”

Stressing Stability

Penn’s investment committee emphasized stability over maximizing returns and achieved “a respectable return and minimized disappointment and difficulty in bad times,” Marks said.

In the past decade, the endowment added holdings of non- U.S. equities and hedge funds, lessened its preference for value stocks over growth companies, diversified its mix of investment managers and added venture capital and buyout firms, albeit to a smaller extent than its peers, Marks wrote. In 2004, the school appointed Kristin Gilbertson as CIO, growing its internal endowment management capabilities, he wrote.

The Ivy League schools are private institutions in the northeastern U.S. None has recouped the record losses incurred in the year ended in June 2009. As investments tumbled, universities cut jobs, froze salaries and postponed building projects.

Penn dodged the hundreds of layoffs, construction delays, discounted sales of illiquid investments and debt issuance of several of its peer institutions because the university was less dependent on its fund, getting 10 percent of its budget from endowment earnings, Marks said. In comparison, Harvard and Yale get more than one-third of their budgets from endowment income.

“Never forget the 6-foot-tall man who drowned crossing the stream that was 5 feet deep on average,” Marks said. “Prudent financial management doesn’t get you through ‘on average’ -- rather, it enables you to survive the low points."

Pennsylvania Airport with Feral-Cat Problem announces Plans to trap, neuter and release Cats

2010-11-03T18:21:00.000-04:00

LA Times

ALLENTOWN, Pa. — An airport in eastern Pennsylvania that is dealing with a feral cat problem has announced plans to trap the felines and send them to a farm -- not euthanize them.

Lehigh Valley International Airport has reached an agreement with the Allentown group No Nonsense Neutering.

The Morning Call of Allentown reports the airport plans to have the cats trapped, spayed or neutered and then sent to a farm.

Animal lovers were upset last month when the airport said it would consider killing the cats.

Martha Kahan, president of No Nonsense Neutering, says the new agreement is a "win-win."

On Saturday, she trapped three of the cats and she says she plans to keep trapping them until she gets them all.

Rehabilitating the Housing Authority

2010-10-18T00:50:00.000-04:00

Philadelphia Inquirer

This old agency is in dire need of repairs. The legislature can help.

The maelstrom surrounding the Philadelphia Housing Authority and its former executive director, Carl Greene, has yielded promises to do better. We can probably expect a new director, and maybe some new direction, soon.

But all may be for naught if we don't address the root of the problem: the lack of coordination between the Housing Authority and the city government. That can't be remedied without state legislation, which determines how the Housing Authority is run.

As it stands, the commonwealth requires the authority's governing board to include two members appointed by the mayor, two appointed by the city controller, and a fifth chosen by the other four members who is supposed to represent tenants. As such, the agency does not have to coordinate its efforts with the city administration. Regardless of his or her morality and competence, no PHA executive director is obligated to heed the city government or its elected officials.

No other U.S. housing authority of any size is run this way. The PHA's counterparts in other cities are generally controlled by mayors and city councils.

It took a scandal

We need to make the Philadelphia Housing Authority - which has a $400 million budget and ranks fourth nationwide in housing units - similarly accountable to the city.

The state law governing Pennsylvania's housing authorities was written during the Great Depression. The structure of government has changed dramatically since then, and public housing has become a far greater part of the city. Its integration with city planning and budgets is long overdue.

It shouldn't have taken a scandal to make us recognize the problems inherent in the Housing Authority's long-standing lack of accountability. True, the PHA - like many other housing authorities in Pennsylvania and the rest of the country - has taken advantage of changes in federal policy and demolished many dangerous, crumbling high-rises. And it has replaced some of their units with safer, cleaner, more efficient, low-rise housing. But that shouldn't have blinded everyone to the agency's flaws.

Now several members of Philadelphia's legislative delegation have promised to press for reforms to the Housing Authority's structure and oversight. The state House Urban Affairs Committee plans to hold a public hearing Thursday on updating and improving the state housing authorities law (Act 265 of 1937).

Corrective measures

I will be urging lawmakers to take the following steps:

Add a provision saying that all Housing Authority board members appointed by elected officials serve at the pleasure of those who appointed them.

Expand the PHA board to include seven members, as the legislature did in Pittsburgh, four of whom are appointed by the mayor.

Instead of the city controller, give City Council, which is intimately involved in housing and community development, the power to choose two appointees to the board. One should be picked by Council's majority leader, and the other by the minority leader.

Create a mechanism for Housing Authority tenants to choose their own representatives.

Eliminate the recently enacted provision calling for five-year contracts for Housing Authority employees. Three years is a more reasonable term.

Subject all Housing Authority subsidiaries and related organizations to the rules that apply to public agencies, including the open-meetings and right-to-know laws.

Require that the financial statements of any Housing Authority subsidiary or related organization be consolidated with the financial statements of the Housing Authority.

The state legislature cannot let this issue fester much longer. The current controversy could bring the PHA to a near-standstill and jeopardize its ability to qualify for some federal funds.

Pennsylvania needs to move quickly to change the way the Philadelphia Housing Authority is run. Some of our neediest citizens depend on it.

Philadelphia School Partnership Launches

2010-10-11T14:21:00.000-04:00

Kansas City Star

Organization Pledges to Raise $100 Million to Support High Performing Charter, District and Parochial Schools in Philadelphia

Today marks the official launch of the Philadelphia School Partnership-- a collaboration of business leaders, foundations, city leaders and educators from the School District of Philadelphia, public charter and parochial schools. The goal of the Philadelphia School Partnership is to make Philadelphia the highest performing city in the country in terms of educational achievement by 2015. The Philadelphia School Partnership will do this by increasing the pace of education reform in Philadelphia and by financially supporting great schools that can serve additional students within the charter, District and parochial school systems.

The Philadelphia School Partnership has established a five-year goal to raise $100 million and to strategically invest the funds in initiatives that will directly increase student performance across Philadelphia. To date, the Philadelphia School Partnership board and anonymous donors have seeded this fund with $16 million.

"The Philadelphia School Partnership speaks, acts and stands for quality education for the children of Philadelphia, wherever they attend school,” said Mike O’Neill, Chair of the Philadelphia School Partnership Board of Directors. “This organization is a public recognition that we share more educational goals than differences and that now, more than ever, Philadelphia has to pull together to support this common agenda.”

Central to the Philadelphia School Partnership’s approach is working with innovators from the three major schools systems in the City: public charter, District and parochial. The organization will invest in high performing schools that agree to be held accountable for achieving outstanding levels of academic achievement for the students they serve. The organization will monitor school performance and will continue to work only with schools that achieve the highest levels of student achievement.

The Philadelphia School Partnership has the support of city and state leadership, including Mayor Michael A. Nutter who commented on the impact of the organization.

“The Philadelphia School Partnership can be a powerful and inclusive new force in the city with the ability to create tremendous positive change for the children in all of our schools,” he said. “We support their focus on creating quality seats and on activating parents as the primary advocates for their children.”

A launch event will occur today at 10 am at the National Constitution Center. Remarks will be provided by Mike O’Neill, Nick Torres; Executive Director of the Philadelphia School Partnership, Representative Dwight Evans, State Senator Anthony H. Williams and Lori Shorr; Chief Education Officer from the Mayor’s Office of Education. More than 200 top education, government, business and philanthropic stakeholders are expected to attend the announcement.

Philadelphia School Partnership

The Philadelphia School Partnership is a collaboration of business leaders, foundations, city and state leaders and educators from public charter, District and parochial schools. The organization works to ensure that every child in Philadelphia attends a great school and graduates from high school prepared for college or the work world.

The goal of the Philadelphia School Partnership is to make Philadelphia the highest performing city in the country in terms of educational achievement by 2015. To get there, the organization leverages philanthropic giving to serve as a catalyst to increase student achievement in schools across Philadelphia.

Range Resources plans to add staff, build office complex in Pennsylvania

2010-09-28T08:44:00.000-04:00

Fort Worth Star Telegram

Range Resources Corp. plans to more than double its regional headquarters staff in the Marcellus Shale natural gas field to about 500 employees "over the next several years" as it moves into a new $30 million office development in southwestern Pennsylvania, the Fort Worth-based company said Monday.

Range, a leading producer in the Marcellus, has 225 employees in its regional office in Canonsburg, Pa., said Ray Walker, senior vice president for Appalachia operations. The new facility will be a quarter-mile away in Canonsburg, 20 miles south of Pittsburgh.

Most of the new jobs "will go to local residents, demonstrating the positive impact that Range is having on the community," Walker said.

Range said it has contracted with Horizon Properties Group of Pennsylvania to develop and lease its new headquarters. Construction is to begin immediately in the Southpointe II development and is expected to be finished by November 2011.

Canonsburg has become a hotbed for dozens of energy companies operating in the Marcellus, a geological formation thousands of feet beneath large chunks of Pennsylvania, New York, West Virginia and Ohio.

The initial phase of Range's project calls for construction of a five-story, 180,000-square-foot Class A office building on 13 acres. The facility is to include a 225-seat auditorium, cafe and outdoor event plaza.

The second phase calls for a building expansion of up to 100,000 square feet.

Walker said Range has authorized Horizon to develop the project for designation under the Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design, or LEED, program, certified by the U.S. Green Building Council.

"Our plans call for a state-of-the-art 'green' facility, designed to accommodate what is anticipated to be dramatic growth in our office staff, while incorporating the latest in energy-efficient technologies to help us minimize our environmental impact," he said. The building will feature reflective roof material, energy-conserving glass, recycled waste material and advanced energy-management systems.

Kyle Poulson and Jack Huff of Huff Partners in Fort Worth represented Range in the selection of Horizon Properties for the project and in contract negotiations.

Range is producing the equivalent of about 160 million cubic feet of natural gas per day in the Marcellus, "which is ahead of its midyear target," company spokesman Matt Pitzarella said Monday.

Range said in late July that it plans an additional $210 million in capital expenditures in the Marcellus this year.

With the spending boost, the company said it expects to double its net production from the equivalent of 200 million to 210 million cubic feet of gas per day by year's end to 400 million to 420 million cubic feet by the end of 2011.

Philadelphia Inquirer Buyer Said to Cancel Purchase, Forcing New Auction

2010-09-14T14:17:00.000-04:00

Bloomberg

A deal to sell the Philadelphia Inquirer newspaper fell apart, forcing the publisher operating under bankruptcy protection to consider putting itself up for auction, a company attorney said today.

Philadelphia Newspapers LLC, the company that controls the Inquirer and the Philadelphia Daily News, is negotiating with the group of lenders who backed out of a contract to buy the newspapers today, Lawrence G. McMichael, a lawyer for the company, said in an interview. The company can continue to operate because it has enough cash and is approaching the busiest time for advertising sales in the newspaper industry, McMichael said.

“I don’t know what we’re going to do,” said McMichael, with the law firm Dilworth Paxson LLP. Fred Hodara, an attorney for the lenders, declined to comment.

Under the company’s plan to exit bankruptcy, a group of the newspapers’ lenders, including hedge fund Angelo Gordon & Co. and a unit of Credit Suisse Group AG, had until noon today to complete the purchase of the company.

The sale collapsed after members of the Teamsters union refused to agree to change their pension plan, a person familiar with the standoff said today. Under the contract to buy the newspapers, the lenders had the option to back out if they failed to win support from all of the unions.

Frank Sabatino, a lawyer for the Teamster Pension Trust Fund of Philadelphia & Vicinity, didn’t immediately return a call for comment.

‘No Worries’

Philadelphia Newspapers had planned to file court papers this afternoon seeking a new auction, McMichael said. Those plans are on hold while the company talks to the lenders and the lenders talk to the Teamsters, he said.

“There is no reason for panic by anyone,” McMichael said. “There are no worries about shutting down.”

The newspaper company filed for bankruptcy in February 2009, blaming the recession and a slowdown in advertising.

How Philly's Navy Yard will become Mini-City of Energy Innovation

2010-09-01T12:47:00.000-04:00

Philadelphia Inquirer

Congratulations. You've blown some insulation into the attic, screwed in some compact fluorescent lightbulbs. Perhaps you replaced those old, drafty windows.

Energy-saving moves, all of them.

But that's nothing compared to what is coming at the Navy Yard.

Pennsylvania State University and a slew of partners plan to implement and develop the very latest in eco-friendly technologies at the South Philadelphia site, with the help of $159 million in federal and state grants announced last week.

"Dynamic" building facades that adjust in response to changes in outdoor temperature and sunlight. High-tech materials that remove humidity from the air without cooling it to the bone-chilling level of the typical air conditioner. Electronic sensors that perceive harmful particles in the air and activate filters when needed.

Some of this is still in the concept stage, while other elements are on the market. But they are rarely implemented as parts of a system in which buildings - even entire neighborhoods - can slash energy costs by engaging in a computer-controlled give-and-take with the environment and the electrical grid.

So-called smart buildings have been built here and there, but not in a way that can be replicated at low cost for a mass market, said James Freihaut, a professor of architectural engineering at Penn State. The goal is to develop technology that will pay for itself within five years, cutting energy costs by at least 50 percent.

"It's not rocket science," said Freihaut, the technical lead on the project. "It's actually a lot more difficult."

But he thinks it can be done, starting with several of the Navy Yard's redbrick structures as guinea pigs. Among the site's benefits is that it has its own power grid, said engineer Satish Narayanan of the Connecticut-based United Technologies Corp.

"It's sort of a mini-city," said Narayanan, whose employer is a project partner.

UTC makes Carrier air conditioners, among many other products, and this expertise is expected to be a big source of cost savings.

Today's air conditioners cool the air well below room temperature in order to remove humidity. In a typical commercial building, the air must then be reheated - a significant waste.

In a home with central air, the machine comes roaring to life every so often, emitting air at 55 degrees until the overall temperature is brought down to the desired level.

If the humidity were removed from the air in some other way, the air would not need to be cooled as much, and the machines could be smaller - saving energy and capital costs, Narayanan said.

Humidity could be lowered with some sort of membrane or chemical dehumidifier, perhaps by mimicking processes found in nature, said Penn State's Freihaut. For example, certain desert toads have skin that can capture water from the air, he said.

Other technologies that will be studied at the Navy Yard include window glass that can be electrically manipulated to admit different amounts of light depending on the time of day. Such a system would be automated to anticipate and respond to weather changes and how many people are in the building, said Narayanan.

The project's biggest recipient of federal funds is Penn State, with $34 million. UTC will receive $10 million for research and will chip in $5 million of its own, while Bayer MaterialScience is to get $2.5 million and contribute about $3 million. The partners include 11 universities and five corporations.

Several buildings at the Navy Yard will be retrofitted, among them Building 661 - a 30,000 square-foot edifice that once housed a gymnasium, swimming pool, and offices. A separate laboratory facility will be built from scratch.

Various forms of high-tech insulation will be used, but that requires more focus on indoor air quality, said Mike Gallagher, director of the government services group for Bayer MaterialScience. The air in a tightly sealed building can suffer from "off-gassing," chemicals emitted from synthetic materials.

So the company, part of the German-based Bayer Group, has developed eco-friendly urethane coatings and other materials with negligible levels of volatile organics.

Still another technology involves impregnating concrete or another rigid building material with a second substance, such as a waxlike polymer, that has a melting point near room temperature.

Called phase-change materials because they change back and forth from liquid to solid, melting or solidifying depending on the temperature, they serve as a sort of insulator.

They rely on the principle that a substance requires energy to change its phase - to melt (or boil, for that matter) - energy that is absorbed from the surrounding environment without changing the material's temperature.

The melting point of the substances used in building materials is typically above room temperature. So when the outdoor temperature exceeds that melting point, a certain amount of the heat is absorbed for the purpose of melting. Similarly, when the outdoor temperature comes back down at night, the heat from the material is released.

While these and other green materials already are available, rare is the building that has them all working in concert, said Thanos Tzempelikos, an assistant professor of architectural engineering at Purdue University - another project partner, which is getting $6 million.

A building has many complex subsystems, and they are generally designed and installed by different people. Unlike with say, an automobile, these professionals do not necessarily communicate with each other - from the developer to the architect to the subcontractor.

And the project leaders acknowledge that all the gee-whiz gadgetry in the world will not make a difference if no one uses it. The project officials will visit schools to describe their work and encourage people to enter the green-building field.

Business owners will be able to follow their work on an interactive website.

And some research will look at policies to encourage adoption of the technologies, such as incentives or regulation.

Still others will study energy generation and storage - for example, batteries to capture excess solar or wind energy for later use, when it is not sunny or windy.

Then there's a concept called combined heat and power - generating electricity on or near the site, perhaps with a gas-powered microturbine. Large power plants lose much of their energy in the form of waste heat, whereas the excess heat from a small, on-site plant can be used to heat the buildings.

The bottom line, said Freihaut, is that there is a lot of innovation to be done:

"I tell my students, 'Look, you can be richer than Bill Gates.' "

Pennsylvania May Get Oil Company Tax Under Rendell Road-Repair Proposals

2010-08-24T11:54:00.000-04:00

Bloomberg

Pennsylvania Governor Ed Rendell proposed taxing oil companies and increasing motor-vehicle fees to generate an additional $1 billion annually for transportation infrastructure.

Oil companies do about $5 billion in business each year in the state while paying some $35 million in taxes, less than their fair share, Rendell, a 66-year-old Democrat, said today. A Republican spokesman said Rendell’s proposed tax is unlikely to pass, and might be unconstitutional.

Profits of oil companies doing business in the state would be taxed 8 percent under the proposal, bringing in about $576 million during the first full fiscal year. Motor vehicle fees, some of which haven’t been increased in decades, would be adjusted to reflect the rate of inflation, Rendell said in a press conference in Harrisburg, the capital.

Transportation funding is “one of the most important and immediate challenges facing the commonwealth,” said Rendell, who is serving his final year in office. “We all know that we’ve averted tragedy by happenstance here in Pennsylvania. We can’t endanger public safety any longer. We cannot wait another month before we get to work on these projects.”

Pennsylvania has 5,646 state-owned structurally deficient bridges, the most of any U.S. state, and more than 10,000 miles of roads in need of repair, according to a statement announcing the plan.

Scaling back

On Aug. 12, the Pennsylvania Transportation Commission, which sets transportation priorities for the state with the fifth-largest road network, cut its planned expenditure for the next 12 years from $67.9 billion to $51.6 billion, citing questions about federal funding, inflation and the lack of additional resources.

The state spent $3.9 billion on highways, bridges and transit in 2009, aided in part by $1 billion in federal stimulus funds, said Erin Waters, a spokeswoman for the Pennsylvania Department of Transportation. The state needs an additional $3.5 billion in annual funding to maintain infrastructure, according to a May report by the Transportation Advisory Committee, which was established in 1970 to help determine the state’s needs.

Oil companies operating in Pennsylvania avoid most corporate income tax because their accounting credits profit to parent firms based in other states, Rendell said.

Under the proposal, the companies would be exempt from the 9.99 percent corporate net income tax. They would be barred by law from passing the new tax on to consumers at the pump, he said. The proposal would allocate money to the Attorney General’s office and the Department of Revenue to enforce the tax though audits.

33 Cents

Motor-vehicle fee increases would cost the typical Pennsylvania driver approximately 33 cents a week, Rendell said. That would add almost $434,000 to the motor license fund, according to calculations by the governor’s office sent in an e- mail from a spokesman, Gary Tuma.

The proposal may create as many as 40,000 “good-paying” jobs in the sixth-most-populous U.S. state, Rendell said. The General Assembly may vote on the measure in coming months.

A spokesman for Senate Majority Leader Dominic Pileggi, a Republican, said such a tax would be unworkable and unpassable.

“The specific plan to tax oil company profits -- and somehow prohibiting the companies from passing that cost on to Pennsylvania consumers -- has serious constitutional issues under the Commerce Clause,” said Erik Arneson, the spokesman. “At best, we would face years of litigation before seeing any possible revenue from that scheme.”

He said that the plan would likely die in the Senate.

House Republicans favor exploring public-private partnerships and greater contributions from local governments and users before turning to taxes and increased fees, said Steve Miskin, spokesman for the House Republican Caucus.

Rising Enrollment Strains, Crowds Western PA Colleges

2010-08-23T16:14:00.000-04:00

Pittsburgh Tribune-Review

During her time at the University of Pittsburgh, Sandy Bly has seen the impact of ballooning freshman enrollment.

Students living in converted lounge areas. Difficulty in registering for required courses.

"It's pretty frustrating," said Bly, 20, a senior majoring in accounting and general management.

Colleges and universities in Western Pennsylvania and across the nation are coping with similar growing pains. Enrollment is rising because of a lack of jobs, employers' demands for a bachelor's degree and more older students returning to the classroom.

At Pitt, where the number of new students increased 12 percent between 2005 and 2009, students initially assigned to lounges were in regular rooms within months, said Bly, a resident assistant. Still, the problem is repeating this fall.

About 50 freshmen will start the school year at the Wyndham Hotel Pittsburgh-University Place in Oakland, Pitt Provost Patricia E. Beeson said. Officials couldn't say how long those students might be there.

At Robert Morris University in Moon, about 200 students will live at the Holiday Inn Pittsburgh Airport this year because of a housing shortage that coincides with a record freshman class of more than 900, said Jonathan Potts, a university spokesman.

Beeson said she and her counterparts at schools across the country had a tough time anticipating the sizes of last year's and this year's first-year classes.

At Pitt and RMU, more students accepted admissions offers this year — boosting freshman class sizes, officials said.

"The economic uncertainty has made it difficult to know how many students to accept," she said.

A 2009 report by the National Center for Education Statistics projected that America's undergraduate enrollment will increase by 12 percent between 2007 and 2018. That would bring the total to 17.5 million students, up from 15.6 million.

Enrollment among 18- to 24-year-olds is projected to grow by 9 percent during that period, to 12.1 million, while the number of 25- to 34-year-old students could mushroom by 25 percent, to 5 million.

"Today, you need a bachelor's degree or you're not going to do well in the short-term, the next three to five years," said John Hammang, a spokesman for the Washington-based American Association of State Colleges and Universities.

Mark Kantrowitz, a financial aid expert based in Cranberry, published a report last week that shows recessions typically spur college enrollment in pursuit of such programs as education degrees. The average annual increase during a recession is about four times what it is otherwise, he concluded.

Critics argue that higher-education officials haven't handled the demand appropriately this time around.

"In almost any other endeavor with a product or service, they're able to achieve economies of scale," said James A. Boyle, president of College Parents of America, a Virginia nonprofit. "Why can't they try to serve more students with a fixed level of investment, like more classes online?"

Pitt officials have no plans to add online courses targeted to traditional undergraduates, said Kit Ayars, a senior assistant to Beeson.

RMU officials plan to start eight online-degree programs, including business degrees, this fall, Potts said, but those are aimed at working adults.

Pitt is adding class sections of key freshman courses such as anthropology and composition. RMU hired eight faculty members to accommodate its bigger freshman class and programs, in addition to adding 34 class sections for the freshmen, Potts said.

Earlier this month, Pitt announced a $17.6 million project to build 48 on-campus apartments for 155 students before the start of the 2011-12 academic year.

Pitt officials generally can guarantee only three years of on-campus living for undergraduates, said Linda K. Schmitmeyer, a school spokeswoman.

A $12 million apartment-style residence hall for 190 students at RMU is expected to open in fall 2011, Potts said.

Duquesne University is building a residence hall for the first time in about a decade, said Paul-James Cukanna, associate provost for enrollment management. Scheduled to be finished in spring 2012, the $38 million building will house 400 upperclassmen in suites.

"Our freshman class size has gone up for the past number of years," Cukanna said. "The increase has been by design — not by happenstance."

When Duquesne President Charles J. Dougherty arrived in 2001, a total of 1,191 new students entered the school. Last year, that number was 1,432, Cukanna said.

Competition in the higher-ed marketplace has compelled Duquesne officials to offer new programs, such as a pharmacy degree that students may earn on weekends, he said.

PA Company has Tombstones Going Digital

2010-08-13T20:15:00.000-04:00

Philadelphia Inquirer

WAYNESBURG, Pa. - The concept of barcodes on tombstones and interactivity at the cemetery was considered too far-fetched when Glenn Toothman first traveled to funeral industry conferences 10 years ago.

"Nothing in the death-care business happens too quickly," he said.

After years of waiting, technological developments have finally allowed Toothman to get to a point of "rebirth" for his Waynesburg company, the Memory Medallion.

The Memory Medallion story began one Sunday evening in 1999, when Toothman, then the district attorney for Greene County, was visited by his father, a retired judge.

"I spent the day in the cemeteries," the judge told his son. "And I hate to think that life comes down to this dash" between the birth and death dates on a tombstone.

You're the problem-solver of this family, he told his son, and you need to think of a better way to honor the deceased.

Toothman has always been a "frustrated electronic engineer," and he knew the answer had a technological solution , replace the dash with a high-tech dot that can direct cell phones to websites and video about the deceased.

A standard Memory Medallion remembrance package costs $225 and includes a barcode medallion for the grave site, a website of eight photos and 1,000-word story and a printed biography. Family members also can record a video about the deceased that plays on smart phones that scan the barcode, called a QR code.

QR codes have become hot tools for advertisers hoping to hook young shoppers with promotional deals. Japanese companies started the trend of putting them on tombstones.

Toothman said his board of directors doesn't like him to tell this next part, but what's true is true: The solution came to him in a dream.

Surveying Green Mount Cemetery on a recent morning, Toothman recounted the dream with tears in his eyes. He saw himself walking through a cemetery holding a device that touched the tombstones and displayed photos of his family.

He had his first prototype after about 30 days of tinkering in the basement. His wife would find her moonlighting husband asleep in the suit he'd worn in court that day.

In 2001, the company applied for funding from Innovation Works, a nonprofit venture capital firm that provides funding for startups.

He secured a $300,000 grant.

The smart phone market has been a godsend for Memory Medallion, which previously required users to lug a laptop to the tombstone and download the information through a USB cable.

The accompanying remembrance website links to online genealogy sources and also can have customized links, such as a personal Facebook page. A fourth link was introduced recently and is available for corporate sponsorship.

A certified genealogist on staff, Candice Buchanan, sets the page up for families.

The company is in talks with public memorials that honor those fallen on Sept. 11, 2001, and Memory Medallions has been used as a supplement to historical tours that stop in a cemetery.

The first year Memory Medallion saw about 50 sales. Last year the company recorded about 5,000, and Toothman expects business to grow about 200 percent in the coming years. His staff of seven workers also will grow in scale, he said.

Toothman, who resigned as Greene County's district attorney in 2001 to focus on the Memory Medallion, expects 2011 to be the first year he'll make more money in the new job than he did in his old one.

The company works out of a vine-covered, Victorian home, complete with a turret and second-story wraparound porch.

Clients come from near and far.

Marilyn Kerr, of Waynesburg, has more than six Memory Medallions for her immediate family, but her first Medallion was for a distant cousin with no children or relatives.

"There would be no one to hear her story without it," she said. "It's something that lives on and on and on. When I'm not here to tell my children about them, I want them to feel more closely related to that individual," she said.

Toothman talks about the project in evangelical, not fiscal, terms, viewing it as a chance to help his depressed community economically and his fellow man spiritually.

And industry executives say the skepticism has faded over the years.

Dave Bishop offers Memory Medallions to clients as senior executive vice president of sales at McCleskey Mausoleums of Atlanta, and the rate of purchase is about the same for clients who are planning their own grave site or buying one for a deceased relative.

Bishop said his company does not get a cut of Medallion profits , he simply sells it because he believes in it.

"Cemeteries are the receptors of heritage," he said. "It's really neat, but we have to make sure it is going to last."

But the company long ago satisfied its most important customer.

Before his father died in 2001, Toothman showed him the first Memory Medallion.

"He said it finally gave him a reason to own a computer," he said.

Pittsburgh Commercial Real Estate Market Improving

2010-08-02T18:15:00.002-04:00

Pittsburgh Business Times

Real estate research company RealSTATs says the Pittsburgh region's commercial real estate market showed an increase in sales volume for the first half of 2010, compared to the same period last year.

RealSTATs data shows the volume of commercial sales in the Pittsburgh region during the first half was $395.98 million, up 54 percent from the first half of 2009, when the volume was at a five-year low of $256.9 million.

The average commercial sales volume for the first half of the year in the region over the past five years is $667.3 million.

In Allegheny County, commercial sales volume was up 34 percent over the first half of 2009, to $277.5 million. Within the city of Pittsburgh, two sales accounted for almost half of the first half's $160.3 million total: the $38.6 million sale of the Federal North building at 1315 Federal St., and an eight-story office building on Penn Avenue, which sold for $35 million.

Collingswood PATCO Construction Project Nears an End

2010-07-29T19:02:00.000-04:00

Philadelphia Inquirer

Two years of pokey trains, parking disruptions, and noisy nights around the Collingswood PATCO station are almost over.

Just when a columnist - puzzled by the seemingly inscrutable and endless goings-on - got curious enough to ask a couple of questions.

Turns out a $12 million project to replace 5,000 concrete pads under the tracks along a half-mile elevated stretch of the commuter line should be finished this month, PATCO general manager Bob Box says.

Although this sort of infrastructure project is a major undertaking, there's little glamour attached. The need isn't evident to the public, but the annoying nature of the work is all too clear. And there's little visible difference after the project is done.

Hardly the stuff of photo ops and ribbon-cuttings.

But the wear and tear caused by the trains and the weather made continued spot replacement of the pads on the 42-year-old viaduct impractical. So in October 2008, crews began jackhammering out, and pouring a replacement for, each of the pads, which sit atop the concrete deck and keep the tracks at proper grade.

The rails were then bolted into the new pads.

"It's very precise work," Box says.

Noisy, too: "Pennsylvania concrete contractors are working at night removing concrete. It's an inconvenience for people who live around the viaduct, and it impacts the [train] schedule."

PATCO, which carries about 36,600 passengers on a typical weekday, maintained service during the project.

Work was done during off-peak hours and involved closing sections of track and slowing trains to 15 m.p.h.

While the 219 trains that hurtle along the viaduct on weekdays (156 on Saturdays and 124 on Sundays) should run a bit smoother and quieter after the repair, passengers may not notice. But the job was essential.

"You could call it a midlife rehab," Box says.

Whatever you call it, the imminent completion is good news.

"We'll be happy to see it end," observes Collingswood Mayor Jim Maley, who says PATCO was generally cooperative in resolving noise and other complaints.

"In the evening you could hear them out on the tracks with heavy tools. It was definitely noticeable," says Michael Miles, a lawyer who lives in the LumberYard condominium complex adjacent to the viaduct and uses PATCO to get to work.

"We got through it!" says Betsy Cook, director of the Collingswood Farmers' Market, a Saturday morning attraction under the Speed Line between Irvin and Collings Avenues.

Two dozen vendors and thousands of patrons had no choice but to go along for the ride. And the market's musicians found themselves competing with not only the rattle and roar of trains but also the buzz of generators, the hiss of hoses, and the rat-a-tat of jackhammers.

"Some of the seniors complained," says Cook, whose house backs up to the viaduct. "There were bright lights and loud noises in the middle of the night. It was annoying."

"But I grew up in Collingswood," she adds. "The Speed Line is my neighborhood train. It really does make a contribution to the town. So whatever they had to do to fix it up is all right with me."

In the enveloping heat of the station platform Wednesday, riders Chad Jackson of Philadelphia and Rose Del Vecchio of Collingswood had no complaints about the project. Or PATCO, either.

"I've been taking the train for a while, and I hadn't even noticed, really," said Jackson, a 27-year-old mechanical engineer.

"I take this train to work every day," said Del Vecchio, an Atlantic City casino worker. "I love it."

Gotta love this, too: PATCO has no major projects planned for the Collingswood station area for the next several years.

Taxpayers Fund Building Amid the Slump

2010-07-26T19:46:00.000-04:00

Philadelphia Inquirer

Much of the scant construction in Pennsylvania in the near future will be funded by taxpayers, including the projects crammed into the $1.6 billion "Public Improvement Projects, Transportation Assistance Projects and Redevelopment Assistance Capital Projects" signed by Gov. Rendell last week.

My colleague Suzette Parmley has written about the $10 million offered developer Robert Ambrosi for his conversion of the former Pincus Bros. clothing factory in Old City into a hotel, apartments, and stores.

Our Harrisburg staff detailed the state's plans to immortalize the political papers of lame-duck Sen. Arlen Specter and the late Pentagon contract specialist Rep. John Murtha.

There are a lot more like those packed into House Bill 2289.

City projects include:

$20 million for the proposed American Revolution Center in Center City, plus $5 million for the Independence Visitor Center.

$15 million for "redevelopment" at the former Tasty Baking Co. at Fox and Roberts Streets bordering Nicetown and East Falls.

$10 million for projects, including the Specter library, at Philadelphia University in East Falls.

$10 million for a "research/education facility" at Drexel University.

$5 million for "mixed-use development" in South Philly's Grays Ferry section.

$5 million for Norris Square Civic Association's redevelopment project in North Philly.

$5 million for Aspira Inc., which has a long track record recruiting and supporting Latino students for college, to "develop" the former Cardinal Dougherty High School in Olney.

$3 million "for a new Community Legal Services building" to house antipoverty lawyers.

$750,000 for "campus expansion" at Philadelphia College of Osteopathic Medicine on City Avenue.

And in the suburbs:

$15 million for concrete construction at the Keystone Industrial Port Complex in Falls Township.

$10 million for "blight removal" and reconstruction at Chester's Union Square Neighborhood Revitalization District.

$7.5 million "for a mixed-use commercial/retail development" at Fornance, Wood, and Locust Streets in Norristown.

$5 million for "construction, renovation, and improvements in the Bucks County remodeling enterprise zone" in Bristol Township.

$5 million for "the retail development of a 35-acre site in Upper Darby."

$1.5 million for "an industrial facility project" at an unnamed site in Montgomery County.

Where'd we get the money for Pennsylvania concrete contractors and construction? We're borrowing it, from the regular sale of state bonds to private investors, Rendell spokesman Gary Tuma told me. Taxpayers will be financing these projects for decades, as they do with most of what governments build.

A lot of the projects require additional funds from private developers, Tuma said. Plus, the state Office of the Budget can impose conditions before releasing the money.

So maybe not all the projects will get built - this year, or ever. Some of the money will end up going to projects in next year's bill.

There is no all-wise Harrisburg agency picking economic winners. No "invisible hand" of the free market killing off the worst proposals.

This is a grassroots political process, if by grassroots you mean politically adept developers and private and community interests pushing legislators to let them get their hands into the public wallet.

Grabbing Pennsylvania public funds for your firm and your buddies, in the name of higher social goals, goes back to Ben Franklin and Robert Morris, as Charles Rappleye's new Morris biography reminds us.

From the public's perspective in these job-scarce times, the process is only tolerable if a lot of people are hired to build these projects, and run them, once they're done.

America's Warehouse

Besides tax-funded projects, almost the only action in Pennsylvania commercial real estate these days is out in the warehouse districts clustered along I-78 from Allentown down to Chambersburg, where the grandchildren of miners and steelworkers seek work pushing pallets and packing truck containers.

Pennsylvania's toll-free Interstate belt, along the inland truck route from New York to Washington, now ranks as America's Warehouse, the postindustrial home of places where stuff made somewhere else gets parked until East Coast consumers and businesses want it.

Check, for instance, the latest "industrial space" report from Philadelphia-based national landlord Liberty Property Trust.

So far this year, Liberty has leased three million square feet of warehouse space - that's as much as all the office space in Philadelphia's two Liberty Place towers, plus the Liberty-built Comcast Center - in the state's warehouse belt.

New tenants include companies such as Diversified Distribution Systems Inc. , of Minneapolis , which is moving from a smaller Baltimore facility into a nearly half-million-square-foot facility near Chambersburg in search of extra space and a "more advantageous labor market," as president Gary Langer told me.

We're now America's Warehouse? "You pretty much nailed it," says Liberty spokeswoman Jeanne A. Leonard.

Phoenixville Hospital to build its Third Cardio-Cath Lab

2010-07-15T20:14:00.000-04:00

Philadelphia Business Journal

Phoenixville Hospital is getting ready to build a third cardiac-catheterization laboratory to keep pace with patient demand at its burgeoning heart program.

The Chester County hospital performed 1,192 diagnostic and therapeutic catheterization procedures — such as balloon angioplasties to clear blocked arteries — in 2007, the year its second cath lab opened.

This year the medical center expects that number to reach 2,059 procedures.

“This is an area where we’ve had significant growth,” said Stephen Tullman, president and CEO of the hospital. “We’re at capacity at the two cath labs now.”

The $3 million price tag for a new cath lab is a small portion of an ongoing expansion and renovation project expected to carry a final cost of between $90 million and $100 million when completed over the next two years.

Phoenixville Hospital — which is owned by Community Health Systems of Franklin, Tenn. — last year concluded the bulk of its expansion, spending $80 million on a new patient tower, a medical office building and much-needed parking garage. The tower project enabled the medical center to grow from 138 hospital beds to 160 beds, all now in private rooms. The hospital also increased its count of intensive-care units and telemetry beds, which feature continuous monitoring.

Expanding the hospital’s heart program is a strategy that began in early 2002 and continues today. The hospital performed its first cardiac intervention and first open-heart surgery in 2003. Over the years, other services were added, such as implantable defibrillators and peripheral intervention procedures, robotic-assisted surgery and, last year, electrophysiology.

Phoenixville Hospital has a clinical affiliation in cardiology (along with oncology, pathology and diagnostic imaging) with the University of Pennsylvania Health System.

Tullman cited several factors for the growth of the hospital’s heart program.

He said the hospital has recruited one of the largest groups of acute-care cardiologists in the region. A 12th heart physician, Dr. Karthik K. Linganathan, who specializes in the care of chronic heart failure patients, is joining the team later this month.

Tullman also noted the communities served by the hospital have grown with the housing boom in western Montgomery County and northern Chester County over the past decade. In addition, he said, the region’s population has aged and older residents require more heart care. And they want to get that care close to home.

“Patients want to stay here,” said Dr. Hans M. Haupt, director of cardiothoracic surgery at Phoenixville and the surgeon who performed the first open-heart surgery at the hospital in 2003. “They don’t want to go into the city for surgery.”

Dr. Rajiv Dhawan, the hospital’s cardiac catheterization lab co-director, said that “very few” patients at Phoenixville opt to make the trip to one of the larger Philadelphia hospitals for heart care. “We have all the technology and all the services here,” Dhawan said. “That really counts.”

Haupt said Phoenixville, like other hospitals around the region and the country, is seeing a decline in open-heart surgical procedures as more therapeutic catheterization procedures — such as those involving angioplasties and stents to clear blocked arteries — are handled in cath labs. He said Phoenixville’s surgical volume has not dropped dramatically because of the large volume of elderly patients the hospital serves who are not strong candidates for the cath lab procedures.

Dr. Herbert Fisher, an interventional cardiologist at Phoenixville, said one of the unique features being planned for the third catheterization lab is a “hybrid” operating room that will allow surgeons and interventional cardiologists to work side-by-side.

The hybrid OR will combine the high-tech imaging capabilities of a cath lab with a large operating room to allow a patient to receive an angioplasty, then a bypass procedure, without having to be transferred to a different room.

Fisher said Phoenixville Hospital is also in the planning stages of enhancing preventative primary-care programs in heart care to provide more diagnostic screening of otherwise healthy patients to catch heart ailments earlier.

“We do all these fancy procedures on patients who represent just a small section of the population we serve,” Fisher said. “We want to do more to keep patients out of the [operating room]. We do colonoscopies and mammograms now, we should be doing more Indianapolis heart examinations on patients at midlife.”

N.J. Motorists run into Delays as $2B in Construction Projects Begin

2010-07-14T21:27:00.000-04:00

NJ.com

More than $2 billion is being spent this year to repave highways, replace bridges, add new lanes and make other improvements on roads across the state. Though the roadways were clear of construction work for the past five days, due to the long Fourth of July holiday, starting at noon today the crews — and their orange cones will be back, and so will the delays.

To keep score on what's happening, here is list of the places near you and around New Jersey where road crews will be at work this summer and, in some cases, far beyond. Avoid them if you can. But if you can’t, approach with care.

• Route 1 North Brunswick bridge replacement: The Route 1 bridge will be replaced over the abandoned Sayreville Railway and local roads in the Milltown Road and the Ryders Lane interchanges north of the Route 1/130 interchange in North Brunswick Township. The construction will replace the five-span bridge with a single-span bridge. Construction will end in Summer 2011. The project will cost $24.1 million.

• Route 1&9 Saint. Paul’s Viaduct: Viaduct replacement in Hudson County over St. Paul’s Avenue will restore the deteriorated viaduct, while providing a more continuous traffic flow. The project will take an estimated four years to complete and cost $250 million. Traffic flow is continuously shifting in the area.

• Route 27 Metuchen bridge replacement: The Route 27 Bridge over Conrail in Metuchen Borough closed in April in order to safety repair the deteriorating bridge. NJDOT will provide detours for trucks and cars during the repairs. The project is scheduled for completion around October. The new bridge featuring single 12-foot lanes, 10-foot shoulders and 10-foot sidewalks in each direction. The project will cost $9 million.

• Route 36 Highlands Bridge over Shrewsbury River: NJDOT will replace bridge. The lanes will be expanded to 12-feet, with eight-feet shoulders and a median barrier. The improvements will help traffic flow and minimize seasonal impacts and diversion of traffic to local streets. The project will finish at the end of this year.

• Route 52 Causeway replacement Contract B: The bridge in Atlantic and Cape May counties will be replaced. Two fixed and two moveable bridges will be replaced by two bridges that will have two high fixed spans over Ship Channel and Beach Thorofare with new 12-foot expanded lanes, with two going in each direction. A new visitor’s center, multi-use sidewalks for bicyclists and pedestrians and several fishing piers will be provided as a part of the project by the NJDOT. The project is scheduled for completion in 2012 and cost $400 million.

• Route 70/73 Marlton Circle: The Marlton Circle will be eliminated in Burlington County. The project is scheduled for completion in winter 2011. The project will improve traffic flow and reduce accidents at the intersection. The project will cost $63 million.

• Route 295 rehabilitation projects: 25 miles of pavement will be repaired and resurfaced in Gloucester, Salem, Burlington and Camden counties. Project will switch to southbound lanes in 2010. The three projects will cost $170 million total and is expected to end in July of 2012. 17 bridge decks will be repaired and resurfaced, the acceleration and decelerations lanes will be upgraded and have new guide rails.

• Gordon’s Corner Road over Route 9: NJDOT installed a new precast concrete bridge structure connecting Gordon’s Corner Road and Tennent Road to Morganville and Wickatunk Road over Route 9 in Monmouth County, NJDOT officials said. The bridge will have upgraded clearance and guide rails. The project costs $6.3 million and is expected to be finished by late this summer.

• Route 35/36 in Eatontown: In Eatontown Borough and Monmouth County will undergo construction that will widen highway shoulder and relocate Wall Street. New left-turn lanes along Route 35 south will replace the existing loop ramp. The project is scheduled to end in summer 2012. The project will cost $12.4 million.

• Barrier Gate Replacement: The barrier gates, warning gates and traffic signal at the Route 71 bridge over the Shark River in Avon by the Sea and Route 88 Bridge over the inland Water way in Point Pleasant will be replaced. No construction will take place during the weekend.

• Route 9 Ocean Gate Drive: The intersection between Route 9 and Ocean Gate Drive/ Korman Road in Berkely Township will see improvements. The $345,000 state-funded project will improve safety by providing left-turn lanes from the cross streets on to Route 9. All construction will take place during the day, and the project is scheduled for completion by July 2010.

• Route 9 over Route 70 bridge deck replacement: The Route 9 bridge deck over Route 70 in Toms River will be addressed by concrete contractors to help improve conditions. NJDOT will also resurface the bridges approaching Route 9 in both directions. The project will cost $1.8 million and is scheduled for completion in November 2010.

• Route 195 Resurfacing: Route 195 will be resurfaced as a part of a $9.2 million fedearlly-funded project. Construction will mainly take place at night, with minimal daytime closures. No weekend lane closures are planned during the summer, and the project will be complete in late fall.

• Route 130 resurfacing: Roads will be resurfaced and Pennsylvania concrete contractors will repair roadways in Burlington and Mercer counties. NJDOT officials said they plan to mill and repave asphalt sections of the road and make repair to concrete surfaces on the northbound and southbound lanes between Bordentown and Hamilton.

• Route 30 Copper River Drainage: A new drainage system will be installed to prevent the high tide from reaching local ramps. Project will cost $7.8 million, and is scheduled to be completed in November.

• Route 73/Fox Meadow Road: The $18 million project will improve roads by realigning and widening lanes on Route 73. Project is anticipated to be complete in spring 2012.

• Route 78 Newark: A 2.2 mile stretch on both sides of I-78 in Newark will be resurfaced in a $12.7 million project. The project will be completed later this year.

• Route 1/9 northbound Express lanes in Newark: Delancey Street exit ramps will be permanently closed. Express traffic heading to Delancey Street must cross over to local lanes before exiting. The $2.1 million project is scheduled for completion in July.

• Route 280 East Orange, Livingston, Newark, Orange and West Orange: Resurfacing over 35,000 square-feet. The project is scheduled for completion in March of this year and will cost $21.6 million. Overnight single and double lane closures will occur on both sides of the roadway.

• Wittpenn Bridge on Route 7 in Jersey City and Kearny: Bridge will receive structural and mechanical repairs in an $8.3 million project. The bridge will remain open to traffic weekdays from 6 a.m. to 9 p.m. but traffic shifts and lane closures may occur overnight and on weekends. The project is expected to be completed this winter.

• Route 280 Harrison and Kearny: More than two miles will be resurfaced in both directions from milepost 14.79 to 16.83. The $6.8 million project is expected to be completed in October of this year.

• Route 46 Fairfield: New acceleration lanes, deceleration lanes and ramps will be installed on the Hollywood Avenue exit off Route 46 in Fairfield. The $5.5 million project will begin the week of July 6 and is scheduled for completion in November 2011.

• Newark bridge replacement: The project will replace superstructures for Third, Fifth, Sixth and Seventh Streets as well as Roseville Avenue over New Jersey Transit’s Morristown Rail Line. The construction will cost $13.5 million and is scheduled for completion in fall 2011.

• Pulaski Skyway in Jersey City and Newark: The Skyway will be repaired in a $27 million project to redirect rain runoff away from the steel under the deck in the sections with open curb. The project began in February and is estimated to be completed by October 2011.

• Route 46 Palisades Park: The Roff Avenue Bridge, which has been closed to traffic since March, will receive major renovations by fall of this year. Roff Avenue motorists are being detoured around the construction zone.

• Route 80 Bergen and Passaic County: Road resurfacing will take place on eight miles of the eastbound side of Route 80 from west of Madison Avenue to Polifly Road. Single and double lane closures will continue until the project is completed later this summer.

• Route 17 Rutherford, East Rutherford and Hasbrouck Heights: The $14.7 million project, which began in September 2008, will be completed by August and will improve traffic flow at Highland Cross in Rutherford, Union Avenue in East Rutherford and Franklin Avenue, Malcolm Road and Williams Avenue in Hasbrouck Heights.

• The Route 3 Bridge over the Passaic River: Bridge will be replaced with construction beginning later this summer. The project area extends from Main Avenue in Clifton to the Route 17 interchange in Lyndhurst and Rutherford. Route 3 will not close during any point during construction.

• The Route 46 bridge in Dover: The bridge over the NJ TRANSIT rail line and the Rockaway River will be closed on or around July 9 for replacement. The bridge will remain closed until $50 million project is completed at the end of 2011.

• Tuckahoe Road Bridge in Estell Manor: Bridge over the Cape May Branch rail-line, which has been closed since March 15, be replaced. The $4.9 million project is scheduled for completion in late-fall 2010.

• Route 49/55 Millville City: Ramps from Route 55 southbound to Route 49 will be elongated in a $10 million project expected to be completed by fall 2011.

NEPA Schools Preparing Students for Gas-Drilling Jobs

2010-07-14T21:06:00.001-04:00

Times-Tribune

With the boom in Marcellus Shale natural gas development throughout the region, area educational institutions are growing to keep up with work force demands.

New training, certification and degree programs are being created at local schools to ensure local job skills are tailored to white- and blue-collared job needs related to the natural gas drilling industry.

Already, Lackawanna College and Johnson College in Scranton, Keystone College in LaPlume and the Pennsylvania College of Technology in Williamsport represent the growing trend of educational institutions offering course work and the hands-on training needed to become employable in one of Pennsylvania's growing industries.

And, college administrators agree the reason for the trend is simple: There's a demand for it by both the industry and potential workers who want the training and the jobs that come with it.

An industry-financed study conducted by Penn State's department of energy and mineral engineering, which offers an undergraduate degree in natural gas engineering, expected Marcellus Shale natural gas extraction efforts to create more than 200,000 jobs in the state and have an overall $18 billion economic impact by this year.

"Marcellus Shale is going to be big business," said Christopher Kucharski, Lackawanna College spokesman. "Problem is there is just nobody trained to handle the positions they want filled."

It appears a change is under way.

Larry Milliken, director of Lackawanna College's energy program and a natural gas instructor, just finished guiding the first class of 18 students through its first year of study to earn an associate degree in natural gas technology.

Based at the college's New Milford campus in the center of the action near gas fields in Susquehanna County, the program is preparing students for well tender jobs - a position that requires monitoring and maintaining natural gas wells during their lengthy production phase.

There is generally one well tender employed for every 20 to 40 natural gas wells, Mr. Milliken said, and the entry-level annual salary is $36,000. Sixteen students have paid internships with natural gas drilling companies this summer in western Pennsylvania, he added.

"The industry has been very supportive of wanting to get (our students) on board," he said. The college also is hiring three additional instructors this year to accommodate the increase in students who have enrolled in the natural gas technology degree program for the 2010-11 school year.

At Lackawanna College's new campus in Hawley, college administrators recently announced a new certificate course for fall centered on training accounting assistants, accounting clerks and administrative assistants specifically for the oil and gas industry.

Tracy Brundage, managing director of work force development at Pennsylvania College of Technology, said administrators decided to take the leap into offering natural gas drilling-related courses this year. The decision followed an in-house study that determined growing employment opportunities because of the prevalence of natural gas development under way in the region.

"The jobs are going to be around for a long time," Ms. Brundage said. "We're just getting started â€¦ to get our arms around what is happening â€¦ and how we need to respond."

Pennsylvania College of Technology has just begun offering training and certification classes in welding specialized for the industry's infrastructure and commercial driver's license classes, and has tweaked some of its academic majors - including diesel and electrical technology - to include natural gas drilling-related coursework.

So far, about 350 students have enrolled in the non-degree programs.

The college plans to expand its offerings, perhaps to include training for natural gas well operators and emergency response technicians, Ms. Brundage said.

Keystone College, known for its focus on the liberal arts, is also jumping on board.

Robert Cook, Ph.D., the college's environmental resource management program coordinator, said the college will be offering a handful of new courses early next year that include mapping underground natural resources tied specifically to natural gas.

The environmental resource management degree, a four-year Bachelor of Science, has had its "highest level of interest this year" in part because of the Marcellus Shale boom and an expectation that jobs will be available for graduates, Dr. Cook said. The degree, which includes environmental law courses, can also prepare a would-be environmental regulator, he added.

"It's clear energy is going to be an important subject for decades," said Dr. Cook, a professional geologist. "It's thrilling to see our discipline become an important skill set."

Keystone is also hiring a new instructor to teach undergraduate courses within a new natural gas and petroleum resource curriculum that is now under development.

Marie Allison, director of continuing education at Johnson College, said the college will be offering its first class in pipe welding next week tailored to techniques needed by the natural gas industry. The college also will offer a class for advanced welders to prepare for certification in a specific style of welding demanded by the industry.

The college's welding program had been defunct since 2001, because of declining enrollment, but the multitude of pipes and fittings that will be laid by the industry in the coming years yields greater demand for skilled welders, she said.

"They need welders," Ms. Allison said. "We want to give someone the fundamentals and give them the opportunity to find a job."

On South Philly Block, a Legal Fight Over Parking

2010-07-06T12:32:00.000-04:00

The Philadelphia Inquirer

Road worrier: Bobby Lemons contends permit parking on McKean Street curbed business at his store. He led an unsuccessful counter-petition he says was sandbagged by his councilman.

It's about fairness, says the woman affectionately dubbed the mayor of McKean Street.

It's about politics, gripes an adversary down the block.

It's about democracy, contends the councilman who green-lighted it all.

It's about - what else? - parking in South Philadelphia.

In March of last year, the 900 block of McKean Street became one of more than 800 areas designated for permit parking by the Philadelphia Parking Authority, allowing neighborhood residents who buy a $35 annual sticker to park on the street at all hours and limiting other vehicles to two-hour parking between 7 a.m. and 10 p.m. Previously, drivers faced no such restrictions.

On these facts, all parties seem to agree. On the rest? Conservatively, permit parking lies somewhere between bureaucratized travesty and model of efficiency - validated in a vote marked by fraud and intimidation or stringent adherence to due process.

"Individuals love it. They all renewed their permits," said resident Norma Russo, thumbing through a yellow envelope of petitions and PPA letters on her kitchen table, next to the biscotti jar.

"We had a perfect, beautiful block here," said Bobby Lemons, plopping a manila folder of the same files on his corner store counter, next to the cigarette dispenser. "I just want my life back."

It started in the summer of 2008 when Russo - "our mayor," says neighbor Diane Colanero - proposed a permit system. Among the reasons: Teachers from nearby Bok Technical High School, according to residents, often parked on the 900 block so administrators would not notice vehicles missing from the school lot if teachers ducked out early.

The ordinance - for which votes were taken by door-to-door petition of block tenants - passed, 26-7, crossing the PPA's 70 percent threshold for implementation. Lemons was the most vocal dissenter, saying the two-hour limits would hinder his business, with fewer passersby parking on the block of his convenience store. (Lemons lives next to his business, nearly a block's length from Russo.)

Immediately, he appealed the result to the PPA and Frank DiCicco, his councilman. Some signatures were forged, he alleged, while a handful of Chinese and Vietnamese residents were told their cars would be towed if they did not sign.

"I told them I don't like it," said Steven Zheng, whose address was on the original petition. "But she said, 'We need to sign. We need to sign.' "

Russo insisted she had taken a translator, who lives on the block, to any homes that required one. The forgery issue, she said, arose when a man's cousin posed as a tenant and signed his relative's name.

And the car-towing rumor? According to Russo, it began when a neighbor asked what would happen if she did not buy a sticker and continued to park on the block for more than two hours at a time.

"You'll continually get tickets," Russo recalled saying. "If you don't pay for tickets, it's like anything else. Your car will be towed."

Lemons led a counter-petition - 20 names in all - prompting DiCicco to call for a vote by secret ballot in January 2009.

"You sign it, for or against, and it's kept secret by me," DiCicco said.

In March 2009, each property received a notice from DiCicco's office calling the tally inconclusive and announcing the start of an eight-month trial period.

Nearly twice that time has passed, and the sign still stands. No one has heard from the city or PPA since.

"It may have been a tie," DiCicco said.

Lemons contends the permit system gained approval as a political favor. On a speakerphone call with a PPA official last year - broadcast for customers to hear (and corroborate) - Lemons says he was told DiCicco's office had directed the PPA to push for permits. "They love it," Lemons theorized. "It's revenue for the city."

DiCicco and the PPA deny taking the initiative in this - or any - permit case, though the city is required to approve the installation of new signs once the PPA determines that a block has secured 70 percent approval.

"Residents request it," PPA spokeswoman Linda Miller said. "They call to say they're having problems with people parking on their block."

McKean Street's example, atypical as it may be, underscores a slew of quirks in permit procedure. Petitions require only one resident of a household to sign, regardless of how many drivers live there. Ten homes are listed on both the August 2008 petition for permits and a March 2009 list of those opposed. While some initial supporters changed their minds, the dueling petitions also reveal different signatures attached to the same address - daughter for, father against; yea from one spouse, nay from the other.

Michael DeMatteo, owner of Mike's Car Care on the east end of the street, says his business productivity has been hindered by the need to "play car jockey" with customers' vehicles every two hours. He also carps that he cannot buy a permit because his car is registered to his New Jersey home.

"I think that's unfair," DiCicco said. "But I don't make the state laws."

The boundless trial period is a final point of contention from Lemons' corner. Russo, for her part, says the system has existed for long enough that no official follow-up validation is required - like a common-law marriage.

She also says permits appear to alleviate parking congestion. Some neighboring blocks have taken notice of the half-empty sidewalks and followed suit.

"Before March, you would never see a spot," said Jean Hill, whose 1200 block of Dickinson Street approved permits three months back. "The $35 is not that big of a deal."

For Lemons, though, it's about the principle.

"I'll rip $35 up in the street. Our rights were violated," he said, face clenching. "Is this America?"

Pittsburgh Home to Harness Sunlight

2010-06-27T14:01:00.002-04:00

Philly dot Com

PITTSBURGH - When Michael Merck's Pennsylvania remodeling crew is finished, sunlight that once streamed through dusty cracks in a vacant East Liberty home will strike a solar panel array capable of generating enough energy to support a family of five.

At least, that's the goal the owner of West Penn Energy Solutions set for himself in a novel bid to transform a deteriorating 100-year-old shell of a house into a Zero Energy Home , a "green" living space that produces as much energy as its occupants consume in a year.

"We want to show that we can take this great example of Pittsburgh housing stock and convert it into something as energy efficient or more energy efficient than what people are building new," said Merck, 32, of Regent Square.

Work began in March on the North St. Clair Street home and could be finished by year's end.

Merck hopes to sell the five-bedroom house for about $265,000. He'll list it for sale soon before it's finished in case a buyer wants his company to customize it.

Since minimal air will be able to enter or escape, Merck will use special wall paints and wood stains that emit little or no toxic gas. Rain barrels outside will catch water to irrigate the lawn and garden. Solar-thermal panels mounted atop awnings over two master bedroom windows will block some sunlight, yet catch enough to heat a water tank in the basement equipped with a 400-gallon reservoir. Sun-heated water will flow to showers, sinks and the wood-floored home's radiators.

Merck said the annual cost for electrical service and heating the home will be less than $300.

One drawback: No air conditioning, but a ventilation system will bring in cool, fresh air and exhaust stale air. A single window-mounted air conditioner could cool the entire house, if the owner installed one, he said.

"This really is Michael's dream and his initiative to do a net-zero energy house, and it's one of our core principles, so we're happy to be working with him on this Pennsylvania home remodeling project," said Nate Cunningham, director real estate for the nonprofit East Liberty Development Inc.

ELDI owns the house, but it has worked out a unique business deal with Merck and with two other developers: father-and-son-team Albert and Chas Suter and, separately, Thomas Bencho, who are renovating homes on North Euclid Avenue and Beatty Street, respectively.

The nonprofit purchased the vacant homes typically in economically depressed or crime-prone areas , and gave the small developers an option to renovate and sell them for a profit. Cunningham said ELDI is slowing creating a market for higher-priced homes with the goal of creating a mixed-income neighborhood of homeowners and renters.

"What we liked about them was they're not making us pay anything up front," Chas Suter said. "When we go to close with a buyer is when we pay them for the house and we pay a finder's fee."

The Suters are the first to nearly complete renovations to a house on North Euclid. Theirs is not a net zero-energy house. They preserved a stick-and-ball staircase, pine wood floors and created a master suite. The asking price is $239,900.

"It allows them to continue their mission of bringing homeownership back to East Liberty, and it allows Pennsylvania remodeling contractors with limited resources to renovate a property ... and sell it," said Coldwell Banker real estate agent Holly Sisk, who is working with the Suters.

Cunningham said a real estate market analysis shows there are few who own homes worth between $150,000 and $300,000 in East Liberty. ELDI is changing that.

Three of six homes on North Euclid that ELDI helped to build are sold or under contract. Each falls in or above that price range. People want to live near the improving Penn Avenue corridor, he said, which offers easy access to Whole Foods, Border's, Trader Joe's, a planned Target, and other retail and commercial gems.

ELDI has nine more homes it could offer to small developers.

"We are getting the pioneers now, but we are seeing a pick up in momentum from home buyers," Cunningham said.

Hershey Modernizes, Tells Workers to Hit the Highway

2010-06-15T15:20:00.000-04:00

Forbes

Hershey said late Monday it is planning $250 million to $350 million in capital investments to improve and expand its facilities, while at the same time cutting 500 to 600 jobs as part of its overhaul.

Hershey said it will expand its West Hershey facility to takeover production from its 100-year-old plant at 19 East Chocolate Avenue. The job cuts will be the result of improved efficiency in production. Hershey will also make improvements at an administrative and distribution facility in Hershey.

Hershey said the project, which it calls its Next Century program, will incur charges of $140 million to $170 million over the next three years.

As of 2014, ongoing annual savings will total $60 million to $80 million.

Hershey also said it is looking for 2010 net sales to rise 6%-7%, with earnings per share for the full year of $2.31 to $2.38, including $0.14 to $0.16 in charges per share.

The candy maker competes with Krafts Cadbury, privately held Mars and Switzerlands Nestle.

State Submits Plan for High-Risk Health Insurance Pool

2010-06-07T22:38:00.000-04:00

Philadelphia Inquirer

Pennsylvania's Insurance Department announced Wednesday that it had submitted a plan to achieve one of the provisions of the new national health-overhaul legislation: creation of a special insurance program for people who can't buy insurance because they're already sick.

People with preexisting conditions such as heart disease, cancer, or major mental illness would be able to buy into the proposed high-risk insurance pool for about what healthy people would pay, up to $5,616 a year.

The problem is that those payments, plus $160 million in federal funding through 2013, can provide insurance for only about 5,100 people in a state where 800,000 are uninsured. State officials do not know how many people can't buy insurance because of health problems.

"The unfortunate reality is that there are more folks that need the program than what the state can afford to cover," said Melissa Fox, a spokeswoman for the state Insurance Department.

The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services has said it would decide by July 1 whether to approve the plan, said Shelley Bain, policy director for the department. Bain said the program likely would not begin accepting applications until the fall, although the plan calls for the state to begin taking applications as early as August. Members of the pool will be selected on a first-come, first-served basis.

States had the option of letting the federal government administer their high-risk pools or creating their own programs. Thirty-five states already had high-risk pools.

"We believe that we know more about what the people of Pennsylvania need than the federal government does," Bain said.

New Jersey submitted a proposal last week. It already requires insurers to offer plans to people with health problems, but said cost was a problem. It suggested modifying its current insurance system to make use of the federal funding. It didn't specify a proposed cost for people to participate in the program.

Pennsylvania's proposal calls for charging individuals with incomes below 200 percent of the federal poverty level $168 a month. People who make more would pay $468 a month.

The state will seek insurers to administer the plan in much the same way they manage medical payments for self-insured private companies.

Bain said members of the high-risk pool would receive coverage comparable to typical policies in the state. The proposal calls for a $1,000 deductible within a defined network and $10,000 if subscribers go to out-of-network doctors or hospitals. There would be significant cost sharing, including $30 copays for specialists and $20 copays for generic drugs. Patients would be responsible for 20 percent of the cost of many services after paying the deductible.

Abortion was a controversial issue during the overhaul debate. The proposal would not cover elective abortions, although it would cover medical problems resulting from elective abortions.

The program will be available to citizens, nationals, and people who are lawfully present in the United States who have not had insurance coverage in the previous six months and who can prove one of the following: that they have a preexisting condition, that insurance has been denied them because of a preexisting condition, that they can get insurance only if their preexisting condition is excluded, or that coverage was quoted at a "substandard rate" due to a preexisting condition.

Shale-Gas Producers Obey New Pennsylvania Rules Early

2010-06-01T17:47:00.000-04:00

Bloomberg / Business Week

Shale-gas producers told Pennsylvania regulators most of them are already complying with new regulations for protecting aquifers that aren’t scheduled to be adopted until October.

Thirty-five shale-gas producers, members of the Marcellus Shale Coalition, also agreed today to work with the state to develop better tests, record-keeping and drilling procedures to prevent methane gas from contaminating groundwater.

“We want a world-class regulatory environment and a world- class industry environment in Pennsylvania, since we have a huge opportunity in front of us,” Ray Walker, chairman of the coalition and a senior vice president at Fort Worth, Texas-based Range Resources Corp., said today in an interview.

The state Environmental Protect Department called energy companies to Harrisburg today to make sure they understand proposed rules for cementing metal casings around their wells. The meeting came after the state last month ordered Houston- based Cabot Oil & Gas Corp. to cap three wells with defective casings in the northeastern corner of Pennsylvania.

“Cabot is an example of what can go wrong,” John Hanger, the state’s environmental secretary, said in an interview before today’s meeting. “Their drilling led to gas migrating from the drill sites to people’s water.”

Pennsylvania is home to much of the Marcellus Shale, a formation that may hold 262 trillion cubic feet of recoverable natural gas, making it the largest known deposit of the heating and power-plant fuel, according to a U.S. Energy Department estimate. Today’s meeting was intended in part to instruct companies accustomed to drilling in southern states like Texas on how Pennsylvania’s geology differs, Hanger said.

‘Zero-Impact Drilling’

“There’s no such thing as zero-impact drilling,” Hanger said. “We’re in the business of maximizing the benefits, which are considerable, and minimizing the costs.”

Cabot drilled 50 Pennsylvania wells in the Marcellus Shale last year and planned 81 wells this year, according to a March 22 investor presentation by the Houston-based company. The wells without proper casings, located in Dimock Township, caused gas to migrate into groundwater, Hanger said.

Drill bits descending toward gas-bearing shale are surrounded with three concentric rings of metal casings that are cemented in place to protect surrounding aquifers.

Under the new Pennsylvania rules, companies will have to use thicker pipes and stronger cement as they drill wells thousands of feet below ground, said Tom Rathbun, a spokesman for the Environmental Protection Department. Gas producers also will be required to rapidly notify state and local authorities when gas migration occurs, he said.

Cabot Order

The state also ordered Cabot to stop drilling in Dimock Township for a year, provide equipment for removing methane from groundwater at 14 homes near its wells and pay a $240,000 fine.

Cabot has made “significant” progress in complying with the state order, Chief Executive Officer Dan Dinges said in an April 27 statement. The company said it accepted the order without agreeing that it caused the gas migration.

“Cabot is committed to working with Secretary Hanger to ensure we have the best regulations for Pennsylvania,” company spokesman George Stark said after today’s meeting.

Water contamination at Dimock has drawn the attention of environmental groups opposed to drilling and the use of hydraulic fracturing to extract gas from shale formations. Drillers inject a mixture of water, sand and chemicals at high pressure to bust open shale and unlock gas deposits.

The new Pennsylvania rules will require companies to disclose the chemicals they use during fracturing, said Kathryn Klaber, president of the Marcellus Shale Coalition.

Bubbling Water

Victoria Switzer, 57, a retired schoolteacher who lives within 1,300 feet of three Cabot wells in Dimock, said she had so much methane in her well that her water bubbled like Alka- Seltzer. Methane blew an eight-inch concrete slab off the top of neighbor Norma Fiorentino’s well on Dec. 31, 2008, she said.

Along with Fiorentino and other neighbors, Switzer is suing Cabot for negligence.

“We were unwilling participants in a grievously-gone-wrong experiment in rapid industrialization of a pristine natural area,” Switzer said.

“What we’ve done here is put up the drilling rigs before we had the regulations in place. It’s ridiculous.”

Vilsack Confident Farm Programs will Help Pennsylvania

2010-05-25T10:02:00.000-04:00

Pittsburgh Tribune-Review

Meeting with regional anti-poverty strategists at the Greater Pittsburgh Community Food Bank in Duquesne, U.S. Secretary of Agriculture Tom Vilsack shrugged off mounting Congressional criticism of his farm programs while applauding local efforts to feed tens of thousands of hungry Pennsylvanians.

Flanked by his wife, Christie, Vilsack, a former Iowa governor, also told the planners that the federal government was prepared to spend heavily to prop up the price of milk but declined to say how much he thinks a Congress reeling from budget deficits should buy. With Pennsylvania dairy farmers now getting less than $1.25 for a gallon of milk — below the cost of producing it — producers predict more family firms will go bust without federal help.

Agreeing that it was a "stressful time" for dairy farmers, Vilsack, 59, who grew up in Squirrel Hill, said prices might have stabilized had producers not increased the size of their herds, flooding the market with milk. He wants to forge a national dairy policy to level out the peaks and valleys of milk pricing and hopes to receive "sometime in 2010" a list of recommendations from a special advisory committee holding ongoing meetings.

Vilsack continues to spar with mostly GOP congressmen in farm states over the direction of federal agriculture policy. Last week, House Agriculture Committee Republican leader Frank Lucas of Oklahoma blasted Vilsack's emphasis on nontraditional farm issues such as regional food systems, organic vegetable cultivation, community gardens and other initiatives as threats to turn rural America into "bedroom communities."

GOP U.S. Senators John McCain of Arizona, Saxby Chambliss of Georgia and Pat Roberts of Kansas, the ranking Republican on the powerful Senate Agriculture Committee, wrote Vilsack last week accusing his "Know Your Farmer, Know Your Food" program of helping "small, hobbyist and organic producers whose customers generally consist of affluent patrons at urban farmers markets" instead of traditional producers who grow most of America's food.

"Well, it's really an unfortunate circumstance," Vilsack told the Trib. "These senators have not taken the time to understand and appreciate our 'Know Your Farmer, Know Your Food' program."

Calling their letter "inappropriate" because they "didn't take the time to find out" key parts of the program such as trimming the distance traditional livestock ranchers need to drive their herds to slaughter, Vilsack said he would continue to promote community gardens, farmers markets and other initiatives as a means to find new markets for all producers.

Pa. Newspapers' Layoff Notice Called 'Procedural'

2010-05-17T00:40:00.000-04:00

Associated Press

PHILADELPHIA — Employees of Philadelphia's two major newspapers have been sent a letter warning of possible layoffs, but the lenders who won the newspapers at a bankruptcy auction last month say the notice is "procedural" and no such action is planned.

The letters, sent Friday on letterhead of The Philadelphia Inquirer and Philadelphia Daily News, say the new owners "will continue as the employer of all employees" but also note that the letter would serve as notice under a federal law that requires employers to give 60 days' notice in the event of mass layoffs.

"The letter is a procedural letter. It was agreed they would send it out up at the auction in New York," said Robert Hall, named chief operating officer by the new owners. "The old company goes out of business that day and we start anew."

"Our intention is still exactly the same as it was before," Hall said. "There will be no massive layoffs when we take over the company."

Creditors last month won a frenzied bankruptcy auction for the two newspapers and their website over a local group's bid. Greg Osberg, who has been named publisher and chief executive officer, has said he expects the sale to close in late May and hopes to complete contracts with the newspapers' unions by the end of June.

In a note accompanying the letters, outgoing publisher Brian Tierney said he was sending them "with a heavy heart, but at the direction of the prospective owners."

"Issuing this kind of ... notice does not happen in every sale," Tierney said. Such notices weren't issued when the previous owner, Philadelphia Media Holdings LLC, bought the newspapers nearly four years ago, he said.

Dan Gross, a Daily News columnist and president of the union that represents newsroom and advertising employees, said he had been assured that no job cuts are planned at the newspapers, which have about 4,500 full-time and part-time workers.

"They reiterated their commitment to offering employment to all current employees," Gross said.

Gov. Ed Rendell said a company lawyer had given him similar assurances and told him the letters were required because of "an entity change."

Rendell said he would have no problem if there were no layoffs or unilateral reductions in wages and benefits, but "if they unilaterally offer ... wages at 75 percent or 50 percent benefit cuts, that would be absolutely wrong and a betrayal of the process."

Philadelphia Hosts Nation's Finest Young Legal Eagles

2010-05-12T01:07:00.000-04:00

Philadelphia Inquirer

After the witnesses had been grilled, the evidence entered, and the defendant himself had taken the stand in a dramatic, if theatrical, bid to win acquittal, it all came down to closing arguments.

Prosecutors contended a web of circumstantial evidence led inescapably to the conclusion the defendant had committed aggravated assault when a flash mob gathered on Independence Mall. The defense attorney countered that the charges against high school student Maddox Hale were more guesswork than police work.

"It is the prosecutor's task to prove a crime beyond a reasonable doubt - what you saw today was only doubt," said Matt Caponigro, of South Bend, Ind., who led the defense team.

In the end, though, the jurors kept the verdict to themselves - at least for a little while.

That's because the case was fictional, part of a national mock-trial competition playing out in Philadelphia on Friday and Saturday, with the Pennsylvania Bar Association as its host. The winners were to be named only at the end of the competition Saturday evening.

The mock trials were conducted in City Hall courtrooms and the Criminal Justice Center, which hummed with students, family members, and lawyers.

About 750 students from 41 states, the Northern Mariana Islands, Guam, and South Korea competed in 89 mock trials to see who thought fastest on their feet, made the most powerful arguments, and had the most unshakable command of the legal issues.

Each of the teams had finished first in state competitions. Lawyers from around the country volunteered to judge, write case materials, or to help out in other ways. Among the jurors in the final round was Judge Marjorie Rendell of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit.

Representing Pennsylvania was Scranton Preparatory School. Mendham High School in north Jersey represented New Jersey.

The pressures of the last few weeks have been intense.

"The teams are spending 20 hours a week preparing for this; it really is a journey for the teams that make it," said one of the organizers, Jane Meyer, a lawyer and clerk for Dauphin County Judge Jeannine Turgeon.

The case centered on the fictional high school senior, a rabble-rouser with a revolutionary bent who made it his mission to undermine the authoritarian principal of John Peter Zenger High School, a troubled inner-city school near Independence Hall.

The case draws much of its inspiration from the Revolutionary War era. For added measure, Meyer and others who wrote the case material, including Paul Kaufman, an assistant U.S. attorney in Philadelphia, crafted a tortuous fact pattern open to multiple interpretations.

The facts, as outlined in the case materials, were these:

School principal Carter Braxton took over in 2007 promising to restore order after a period of violence and gang activity. He banned gangs, greatly increased the number of security guards, installed security cameras, and sharply restricted movement of students in the building.

The students chafed under the new discipline, none more so than Maddox Hale, who, during debate club meetings, fulminated against the principal.

As part of his campaign of agitation, Hale organized a student rally across the street from the school on Feb. 27, 2009.

Days before the rally, an anonymous message was posted on a social-networking Web site called Jitter urging students to join the rally and begin pelting security guards with rock-filled snowballs when Hale, in a speech, uttered the legendary words of John Paul Jones, "I have not yet begun to fight."

Hale and another student were arrested when the event played out as advertised.

To some expert outside legal observers, the thin skein of facts tying Hale to the snowball throwing or urging others to act violently made the prosecution case a bit of a stretch.

"My first instinct would be that in Philadelphia, of all places, where the Constitution enshrined the right of free speech, this is a perfect example of someone exercising that right," said Robert C. Heim, chairman of the litigation department at Dechert L.L.P. "He can't be held responsible for the wayward acts of some unnamed person."

Hale, according to the case material, took his revolutionary role so seriously that he adopted Revolutionary-era speech.

In the first round, David Kern of the South Bend High School team, played the role of Maddox Hale with exaggerated theatricality, fulminating about his constitutional rights in a convincing, colonial-era accent, and explaining that he had wanted to peacefully pursue his dispute with the principal by running for student body president.

"I decided to follow in the footsteps of Washington, Jefferson, and Lincoln," he testified in a booming voice.

It was a passionate performance, for sure. But under the terms of the competition, he would have to wait until the awards dinner Saturday night to find out whether he had been acquitted.

Pennsylvania Fireworks Store Owner Recalls Bombing-Suspect

2010-05-09T04:08:00.000-04:00

NY Times

Around 12:30 on a Monday afternoon about seven weeks ago, Faisal Shahzad pulled into the parking lot at the Phantom Fireworks store in Matamoras, Pa., said Bruce Zoldan, the owner of the company.

Mr. Shahzad hopped out of his vehicle and walked into the 20,000-square-foot store, Mr. Zoldan said, offering an account of Mr. Shahzad’s visit based on a review of security videos and conversations with employees.

The company requires every customer to register with a database, used for marketing purposes. Mr. Shahzad showed a clerk his Connecticut driver’s license, but, when signing a registration form, he inverted the order of his name, writing his first name as Shahzad and his surname as Faisal.

Mr. Shahzad, clad in jeans, was the only customer in the store, and he spent 30 to 45 minutes browsing in the aisles, calmly examining various types of fireworks. There were about 20 clerks in the store, and he declined an offer of help from an assistant manager in the aisles.

Mr. Shahzad eventually took his items to a cashier. He asked a few questions — the nature of which Mr. Zoldan would not disclose, saying the Federal Bureau of Investigation had asked him not to — headed back into the aisles and returned with more merchandise.

Mr. Shahzad eventually settled on a package of M-88 Silver Salute fireworks, a Phantom Fireworks brand that sells for $10.99 for a 36-count box. He also bought a red canister-type firework that, when ignited, flies several feet into the air and bursts into colors while emitting popping sounds.

A small red cylinder, sawed in half, would later appear in a photograph of an F.B.I. technician scouring Mr. Shahzad’s home in Connecticut after the failed Times Square car bombing last weekend.

The M-88 firecrackers are about an inch and a half long and an inch in diameter. Each contains roughly 50 milligrams of explosives, about the size of one-quarter of an aspirin, which Mr. Zoldan said was the maximum allowed in consumer fireworks.

Mr. Shahzad spent several minutes chatting with the cashier and returning to the aisles before settling up with his purchases, about five items, including the M-88s, and leaving the store.

If Mr. Shahzad hoped that M-88 fireworks would ignite one another, he was in error. The M-88s are about 98 percent paper, Mr. Zoldan said, and each fuse has to be ignited individually.

“He certainly didn’t know what he was doing with the igniter part,” Mr. Zoldan said by telephone Wednesday from the company’s headquarters in Youngstown, Ohio.

“One going off won’t set off another one; that’s why they’re legal for consumer firework sales,” Mr. Zoldan said. “He miscalculated. Thank God.”

Mr. Zoldan said he was driving back from the Kentucky Derby with his son on Saturday when he learned about the attempted bombing on the radio. He called the chief of national security for the company, Bob Kroner, who Mr. Zoldan said was a retired special agent for the F.B.I.

“Bob, I have a gut feeling that if those fireworks were consumer fireworks, they could be Phantom Fireworks,” Mr. Zoldan said.

Mr. Kroner contacted the F.B.I. and got a call back about 18 hours later asking the company to identify its eastern Pennsylvania showrooms. The F.B.I. also identified the firecrackers used in the attempted bombing as M-88 Silver Salutes.

The company, which operates 55 pyrotechnic stores across the country, looked through its intake records and found Mr. Shahzad’s name. On Tuesday, the company found the security video showing him making his purchases and, while the cashier was ringing him up, gazing calmly in the direction of the security cameras.

Pennsylvania Races Clock to find 30,000 Jobs

2010-05-09T04:05:00.000-04:00

Philadelphia Inquirer

At Keepsake Carpets in North Philadelphia, technician Robert Ringgold binds mats. His boss wants to hire a sales force through Way to Work, which could lead to permanent jobs for them.

As enticements go, bottled water and oatmeal raisin cookies, even very good ones, don't seem too alluring. But Patrick Bokovitz, the executive director of the Chester County Workforce Investment Board, had something better than refreshments to offer 35 local employers crammed into a meeting room Thursday outside West Chester:

Expand your workforce now, Bokovitz told them, and the federal government will pick up most of the tab.

Starting next week, Pennsylvania will pump $78 million of federal stimulus funding, plus an additional $19.5 million of its own money, into Way to Work, a statewide subsidized-job program.

The federal money, funneled through the state's Department of Public Welfare, will underwrite wages of up to $13 an hour for adults and minimum wage for youths.

The goal is to employ 20,000.

Whether that will actually happen remains to be seen, because the program requires a tight turnaround.

The money goes away Sept. 30, and Pennsylvania is already late in implementing a program that some other states, including Delaware, started a year ago.

That means Pennsylvania has to recruit employers for all of them, answer many complicated questions about who is eligible for the jobs, and tackle some thorny issues, such as whether employers who had planned to hire and advertised an opening can now use the money to finance that same position.

Then, the job-seeker needs to get on the job and get in some weeks of paid work before the program expires Sept. 30 and the government stops paying the bill.

The hope is that this will encourage companies on the cusp of hiring to take the plunge, expecting that, as the economy improves, many of the funded jobs will become permanent.

Anthony Hudgins, for example, would like to use the funds to staff a sales force to sell personalized rugs manufactured by his company, Keepsake Carpets, in North Philadelphia. If the sales force succeeds, it will lead to permanent work for the employees, he said, and require him to hire more manufacturing help.

That, in turn, will help to relieve unemployment in Pennsylvania, which stands at 9.4 percent, with 582,000 out of work.

"In Pennsylvania, 30,000 have already burned through their unemployment benefits," said Sharon Dietrich, an employment lawyer with Community Legal Services Inc., of Philadelphia, and a major advocate for the program.

"Right now, this is the best answer we can give them," she said. "It's critically important that we develop as many opportunities as possible for desperate people to feed their families.

"My assessment is, it is going as well as it can be given how much had to be done and how quickly," she said, acknowledging that the program was complicated and logistically challenging.

Funding comes from Pennsylvania's share of $5 billion in stimulus money funneled through the Temporary Assistance for Needy Families program, the nation's main welfare program.

Of the $5 billion - which, if unused, goes away - Pennsylvania was eligible for $359.8 million. So far, it has received federal approval for plans to spend $46.1 million and is awaiting approval for $59.7 million more. The money can also be used for other types of assistance.

By contrast, Delaware has already been approved to spend its entire allocation of $8.4 million. New Jersey has approvals for $154.2 million of its $202 million share.

In Pennsylvania, "the biggest challenge is to develop as many work sites so people can get work," Dietrich said. "That is our focus right now."

Philadelphia has the biggest load, seeking to provide subsidized jobs for 5,000 teenagers, 3,500 adults in one program, plus an additional 1,500 through a related welfare-to-work program.

"We know we have a ticking clock through Sept. 30," said Jennie Sparandara, the city's director of human capital investments. "We're going to do everything in our power to get employers engaged."

One tactic the city plans is to use staffing agencies.

"We haven't selected the firms yet," said Andrew Rachlin, deputy chief of staff for the city's commerce department. "Whoever we partner with has to have the capacity to move quickly to identify large numbers of job slots" through their existing connections with area employers.

The city itself plans to hire 500, with the Philadelphia Workforce Investment Board and the Philadelphia Workforce Development Corp. pledged to find other slots.

Strictly by coincidence, the Bucks County Workforce Investment Board and Bucks County CareerLinks sponsored a job fair Wednesday in their Bristol office.

"This couldn't have happened at a more opportune time," said CareerLinks director Norman Brewer, who buttonholed the 31 employers in his lair for four hours.

SEPTA recruiter Jim Barnshaw didn't need to be sold. "I want it," he said. He sees it as subsidized training, especially for SEPTA's new fleet.

Frank Carey, executive director of the Delaware County Workforce Investment Board, promises coffee and doughnuts for the 200 county employers he has invited to a workshop next week at the Delaware County Chamber of Commerce building in Media.

Like Bokovitz, Carey can finance 65 jobs for adults. In Montgomery County, Gerald Birkelbach is scrambling to find good jobs for 30 people.

"We have some well-meaning organizations who would want to take somebody on, but they need to have meaningful work for months, not just for two weeks," said Birkelbach, executive director of the Montgomery County's Workforce Investment Board.

Elizabeth Walsh, who heads Bucks County's Workforce Investment Board, said employers might worry that a welfare-funded program would provide only untrained and inexperienced workers.

Not true. "Let me tell you, honey, with this economy, the face of [welfare] has changed, and there are skilled people out there," she said.

There are some tricky issues. Employers that have laid off staff in the last six months cannot use subsidized workers to refill those jobs.

Even among workforce executives, there seems to be some confusion about whether these workers can be used to fill open positions. The state advises that "local workforce investment areas must be vigilant to ensure that . . . funds are not simply subsidizing activity that would have occurred in the absence of the subsidy."

Nor is the program free. "The reimbursement is for gross wages only," Walsh explained. Employers need to pick up federal and state taxes and provide supervision - costs that could add 15 percent to 25 percent per hire.

Pennsylvania Schools Under Heavy Scrutiny by Senate

2010-04-28T10:48:00.000-04:00

Examiner

The Disability Rights Network and The Arc of PA have posted a survey to look for families who have had children abused in our Pennsylvania schools :

“Senator Fontana, together with 33 co-sponsors, has introduced Senate Bill 1243 which would ensure greater protections for children who are the victims of abuse by school employees in Pennsylvania. Current PA law provides that if there is a case of suspected child abuse in which the alleged perpetrator is a school employee, there is no requirement to report that abuse unless it rises to the level of a “serious bodily injury” which is equivalent to the loss of a limb or an organ that stops functioning, sexual abuse, or sexual exploitation. ChildLine does not have responsibility for referral or initial investigation of those cases; rather it is local law enforcement that investigates and the process is entirely different from that for any other caretaker who is suspected of child abuse. The bill would delete the specific subsection that applies only to school employees and instead, include school employees in the general provisions of the Child Protective Services Law to ensure that all suspected cases of child abuse by persons responsible for a child's welfare are treated the same. The Disability Rights Network and The Arc of PA strongly support Senate Bill 1243 and are seeking family and advocate input that would help move this legislation forward.”

The legislation comes at an interesting time when the use of Restraint and Seclusion in schools is under heavy scrutiny in the U.S. Until now, Pennsylvania has taken a back seat approach to what constitutes lawful use of restraint and seclusion to children with disabilities. The law has stated that it may be used “to control acute or episodic aggressive or self-injurious behavior [and] may be used only when the student is acting in a manner as to be a clear and present danger to himself, to other students or to employees, and only when less restrictive measures and techniques have proven to be or are less effective.”

Even so, there has been little enforcement of this law. There also has been little a family can do when restraints are being misused as a form of punishment. Because the restraint laws fall under Pennsylvania Education Code, Chapter 14, Special Education Services and Programs, the only recourse a family has is a Due Process hearing in front of a state appointed hearing officer. No formal legal sanctions are ever decided in these cases and no criminal charges are ever pursued by the state.

Senate Bill 1243 could open the doors to better protections for students with disabilities in our PA Schools. If an employee is using restraint and seclusion to punish a child, this could be construed as child abuse, especially if injury occurs. Additionally, it sends a message that abuse will no longer be tolerated regardless of the abusers status or credentials within a school system.

While this bill may not protect children from psychological abuse, it may be the starting point to holding school employees as responsible as parents in ensuring our children are treated humanly in our school systems.

Pennsylvania Ships Prisoners out of State

2010-04-27T22:44:00.000-04:00

UPI

Pennsylvania is transferring thousands of inmates out of state to deal with overcrowding conditions nearing crisis proportions, prison officials say.

The program has sent 1,633 prisoners to Michigan and Virginia, which have contracts with Pennsylvania to accept its prisoners, The Philadelphia Inquirer reported Monday. A further 467 will be moved by the end of April, officials said.

Pennsylvania has experienced a rise in its prison population for decades, but the population has increased dramatically in the past five years, and corrections officials say four new prisons under construction will be filled as soon as they open in 2013.

Opponents of the program say shipping prisoners out of the state is not the way to solve the problem.

"This business of sending people out of state is not only a tremendously expensive strategy of dealing with the problem," Bill DiMascio, executive director of the Pennsylvania Prison Society, said, "it will do little to alleviate dangerous overcrowding in the long term."

The society, a private non-profit advocating for improvements to the criminal justice system, wants alternatives to imprisonment, such as community-based treatment for low-level, non-violent offenders, the Inquirer reported.

Pennsylvania Limits Appliance Rebates

2010-04-26T16:46:00.000-04:00

The Times-Tribune

Pennsylvanians will miss out on federal rebates for energy-efficient kitchen appliances offered through the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act. However, those replacing furnaces, water heaters or boilers can cash in.

The program - created to give Americans an incentive to dump old, inefficient appliances in favor of new, efficient ones - is funded by the federal government but administered by states. In Pennsylvania, qualifying products must be purchased on or after April 21 and are only available for residents of single-family homes.

Pennsylvania's Department of Environmental Protection opted to limit the $11.9 million of rebates to non-electric heating equipment such as water heaters, boilers and furnaces. The move has the Keystone State's appliance dealers miffed, but heating contractors and plumbers will likely be pleased. To qualify for the rebate, equipment must be professionally installed.

State officials said they wanted to focus the rebates on equipment delivering the greatest energy savings. Pennsylvania is one of just a handful of states to not include appliances in the program.

"We took a different course than other states and opted for greater energy savings," said DEP spokesman John Repetz. "A new refrigerator will save you a few dollars on your bill, but if you replace a water heater or a furnace - it means major, ongoing savings."

Other states, however, such as Michigan, New York, New Jersey and Ohio, allow consumers rebates of up to $200 on appliances, including refrigerators, ovens and washing machines.

Mr. Repetz noted that Pennsylvania utilities offer appliance rebates. However, those rebates are not as generous as the ones funded under the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act. For example, PPL's rebate, which expires at the end of May, offers $50 for a refrigerator and $75 for a washing machine.

David Voitek, manager of Voitek TV and Appliance in Exeter, said the state's decision to limit the rebate denies consumers the savings they would have received on their utility bills, and denies his business the traffic it would have seen from the incentive.

"This is like taking money away from people," he said.

Mr. Voitek and other independent appliance dealers are offering their own version of the popular Cash for Clunkers rebate program to try to make up for the state's heater-only rebates.

However, Harvey Sachs, senior fellow of the American Council for an Energy Efficient Economy, said Pennsylvania's approach may maximize the economic impact of federal dollars since the state requires professional installation and local labor.

"Using this money to have local home remodelers install a furnace or water heater has a greater economic impact than a do-it-yourselfer throwing a new clothes washer in the back of the SUV and hooking it up himself," he said.

The DEP notes that heating makes up more than half the energy consumption of the average Pennsylvania household. Home heating accounts for 43 percent of total energy use and water heating, 15 percent.

Rebates for furnaces and boilers range from $200 to $500. Water heater rebates are either $100 for a conventional unit or $200 for a tankless model.

The Turnpike's Losing Battle

2010-04-23T17:08:00.002-04:00

The Philadelphia Inquirer

Pennsylvania toll-road officials pushed a failed plan to save themselves. Now what?

The state transportation funding plan known as Act 44 suffered a huge blow last week, when the federal government again declined to authorize the Interstate 80 tolls the act depends on.

The Pennsylvania Turnpike Commission helped create Act 44 for one reason: to kill Gov. Rendell's proposal to lease the turnpike to a private operator. A lease of the turnpike would have eliminated the Turnpike Commission (or merged it into the state Department of Transportation) and thereby closed a playground of mismanagement, patronage, and corruption.

In recent months, former turnpike chairman Mitchell Rubin has pleaded guilty to obstructing a federal investigation of an alleged no-show state contract, and former vice chairman Timothy Carson stepped down amid revelations that he had been involved in two drunken-driving accidents in official vehicles.

Turnpike CEO Joe Brimmeier, meanwhile, was either asleep at the switch or turning a blind eye to these abuses of power by his colleagues. The Turnpike Commission has reportedly been under investigation by the state attorney general as well as the FBI.

Act 44, in essence, was a shell game designed to borrow billions against the turnpike and place a high-risk bet that the federal government would turn I-80 over to the Turnpike Commission. The commission not only helped craft the legislation; it also lobbied for it by assuring legislators that the I-80 tolling plan was sound.

Two very different federal administrations - Bush's and Obama's - have now looked at the tolling application and rejected it. There appears to be some debate as to why, but perhaps no prudent policymaker wants his or her legacy to be giving an interstate highway to the Turnpike Commission, which is known throughout the transportation community as a corrupt and ineffective manager of the existing toll-road system.

To fight the lease, turnpike representatives suggested that it was actually a sale (despite the fact that the commonwealth would have retained title to the road), that turnpike employees would be fired (even though all union contracts were required to be honored under the terms of the lease), that the tolls would shoot up (even though the lease capped increases), that the legislature would have no control (although it would have had greater control and accountability under the terms of the lease), and that, if the United States went to war with Spain while a Spanish firm was running the turnpike, the commonwealth would lose control of the road (even though the state had already lost control of the rogue turnpike agency). One law enforcement official even announced that the turnpike could not be used for emergencies under the lease.

In total, turnpike officials spent millions of toll dollars lobbying lawmakers to endorse a high-risk and now failed effort to toll I-80 - a scheme that almost everyone knew had no chance of succeeding.

This was all part of an obsolete organization's bizarre, self-serving attempt to cling to power.

After months of debate, the clock ran out on the lease proposal and $12.8 billion that would have been handed over at its signing. And these funds for transportation would have come to the commonwealth debt-free, unlike the Act 44 funds.

Also gone were $5.5 billion in capital improvements guaranteed under the agreement, as well as at least $3.3 billion in taxes to be paid by the new turnpike operators.

This is what the Pennsylvania Turnpike Commission fought against: money and jobs for the people of Pennsylvania. And what did it deliver in return, besides more than $2 billion in debt?

Employees were laid off during the holidays. Tolls shot up, with no caps or fixed schedule for future increases. And the commission went back to business as usual, except for the occasional investigation by federal and state law enforcement officials.

Voters should stop and think about what has happened here. The Turnpike Commission is still clinging to power. Which elected officials will stand up and promise to end its history of corruption and ineptitude?

It's time to stop thinking about the big-spending executives running the turnpike and start thinking about the hardworking men and women who are paying taxes and tolls in the state. It's time to eliminate the Pennsylvania Turnpike Commission and look at innovative ways to attract investment and improve the infrastructure of the commonwealth so that Pennsylvania can compete in the global economy.

Exide Technologies Closing Two Facilities in Pennsylvania

2010-04-14T13:33:00.002-04:00

Recycling Today

Company will keep its battery recycling plant in Pennsylvania opened.

Exide Technologies announced operational changes at two of its three lead-acid battery facilities in Reading, Pa.

The company will close its formation and distribution center operations in a phased approach starting June 7, 2010. The completion of the closing depends on a number of factors, including site maintenance, schedules and order fulfillment, clean-up and closure procedures. Exide Reading’s formation and distribution capacity will be absorbed by other Exide locations.

The Exide Reading battery recycling operation will not be affected.

“More specifically, the decision is a result of the slowdown in the economy, the related impact on original equipment and aftermarket lead-acid batteries markets, and the necessity for Exide to rebalance and optimize its production and distribution footprint,” says Bruce Cole, president of the Transportation Americas operating division of Exide.

Exide Technologies operates a total of six battery manufacturing assembly facilities in the United States.

Federal Funding Flow to Philadelphia Schools

2010-03-23T21:40:00.000-04:00

Philadelphia Inquirer

The School District of Philadelphia was celebrating a windfall in federal funding this week.

The Department of Labor announced Wednesday that it had awarded the district $25 million to reduce violence and improve educational outcomes at four neighborhood high schools on the state's list of "persistently dangerous" schools, based on the number of violent incidents and assaults reported over several years.

And U.S. Sens. Arlen Specter and Bob Casey announced that the Treasury Department and Department of Education had awarded the district $145.4 million in construction bonds that will help it obtain low-cost financing to upgrade and repair facilities.

"The Philadelphia School District has 320 buildings, and the average age is 63 years," said Michael J. Masch, the district's chief business officer. "We have a backlog of deferred maintenance of several billion dollars, and anything our partners can do to lower the cost of borrowing to make the repairs is welcome."

The Labor Department grants are going to Fels, Olney West, Frankford, and Edison High Schools. Each will receive $6.27 million for a range of projects including adult volunteer mentors, anti-bullying efforts, peer mediation, and alternative learning strategies.

The schools will work with the Philadelphia Workforce Investment Board and the United Way of Southeastern Pennsylvania.

"While 'persistently dangerous' is not, on its face, a positive distinction, it merits significant funding for these four high schools so that they get the resources they need to bend the curve on high dropout rates and low academic achievement," Specter said.

The district also submitted applications for three other eligible high schools - South Philadelphia, Martin Luther King, and Strawberry Mansion - but the Labor Department did not select them, said Courtney Collins-Shapiro, the district administrator who oversaw the applications.

The federal No Child Left Behind Act requires states to designate schools that are "persistently dangerous" and to allow parents to transfer their children to other schools. All 25 schools on Pennsylvania's list are in Philadelphia.

Range Resources Poised for Pennsylvania Expansion

2010-03-22T08:49:00.001-04:00

Pittsburgh Business Times

Local commercial real estate sources say they believe Texas-based Range Resources Inc., one of the first companies to enter the region to explore the Marcellus Shale for natural gas, is preparing for a gusher of an office expansion here.

The company, which leases about 100,000 square feet of office space in the Southpointe business park in Canonsburg, has asked several real estate companies for proposals on building a new regional headquarters of between 150,000 to 200,0000 square feet, according to Charlie Case, a principal of Scalo Case Development Inc., which manages one of the buildings Range occupies.

Case said Range requested a proposal for a new building from him and others a few months ago but that he has yet to receive a response. The company originally asked for a proposal for a 150,000-square-foot building and later increased it to 200,000 square feet, Case said. Case, who negotiated the leases with Range for one of its offices, said the leases are for two-to-four-year terms, suggesting the company will need to make a decision soon.

“I’d imagine they’d have to make a decision in the next year,” Case said, estimating it could take two years for such a project to be get permitted, designed and built. “How much space they need long-term is also up in the air.”

Stone Ridge Country Inn in Bucks County, Pa.

2010-03-16T02:53:00.000-04:00

The Washington Post

New Mexico artist Ann Templeton stepped softly across the spotless concrete floor, careful not to break the concentration of the eight painters in the art studio. We were painting landscapes from photographs clipped to mahogany floor easels. Apart from the ping of raindrops hitting the window -- the reason we were working indoors that morning -- the only noise I could hear in the Bucks County Pennsylvania, studio was the scratching of paintbrush bristles on canvas.

Until Jackie Walker arrived.

The owner of the Stone Ridge Farm Country Inn burst through the studio door like a lit bottle rocket. "All right, everybody," she said in her booming, sandpapery voice. "Coffee break."

I paused. Did I, a city dweller living near an always-busy firehouse and late-night bars, really want to drift away from the rare silence I'd found inside the art studio on Walker's farm? Then I remembered from the day before what was waiting in the kitchen of the 19th-century dairy-barn-turned-inn just across the gravel driveway: Oversize, moist muffins, just plucked from the oven and exploding with fat blueberries. Ramekins of creamy butter. Hefty mugs of perfectly brewed coffee.

Easy decision: The creative process could wait.

Once the dairy barn of Nobel Prize-winning author Pearl S. Buck, the inn sits within walking distance of the historic estate, outside the town of Perkasie, where Buck penned many of her 1,000 writings. Creative inspiration is ingrained in these surroundings -- one reason Walker decided to turn an old machinery garage into an art studio and offer workshops seven months out of a year.

"The scenery around here really inspires you," said Walker, a Chicago transplant and accomplished oil painter who shows her work at area galleries. "The stone farmhouses, the barns, the Delaware River. I think if I were still living in Illinois, I wouldn't be so inspired."

Walker purchased the 1818 farm a quarter-century ago. After renting out the double-story barn for years, she and her husband plotted a major renovation to convert it and the adjoining horse stables into a bed-and-breakfast, which opened in 1999.

"I was afraid someone would want to buy it one day and would tear it down," she said.

It's a good thing no one did, as I learned during a five-day stay there late last summer, when I participated in a Templeton-led plein-air painting workshop, looking to expand my painting subjects beyond the ubiquitous fruit-and-napkin still lifes I set up at home.

The inn's walls are of coursed fieldstone, and original hand-hewn beams cross the soaring ceiling in the parlor. The building is filled with the requisite overstuffed chairs, antiques, Oriental carpets atop planked floors and coffee tables piled with art books and magazines.

The 10 guest rooms are similarly decorated, with simple furnishings and an inviting, well-worn feel. Most rooms have access to a deck that runs the length of the building and face either an English-style garden filled with whimsical sculptures or the pasture, where six horses graze.

As true to character as the inn and its rooms are, however, the studio is the picture of modernity. Walker designed it to be top-notch. It's the only art studio I've ever been in where all the easels are functional, the taborets don't wobble and the shelves of still-life objects aren't covered in dust. Walker's art adorns the walls. Perfectly positioned windows pull in natural light.

The inn is not just a respite for those who sign up for three- or five-day workshops with such nationally acclaimed artists as Templeton. It's also a great base for exploring Bucks County's small museums, historic mills and many covered bridges.

We spent several days traveling to picturesque outdoor painting spots within 30 minutes of the inn. One day we drove, caravan-style, along curvy country lanes and across the Cabin Run Covered Bridge before arriving at the historic Stover-Myers Mill. On the National Register of Historic Places, the mill dates to 1800 and at various times produced flour, livestock feed and lumber. Its textured stones and burnt-red walls made a lovely subject for a painting, but it was just one of many to choose from here.

Most of my fellow artists staked a claim on roadside spots within sight of a massive red barn across the street. I found a nook along Tohickon Creek, set up my easel and spent hours dabbing away at an acrylic-on-canvas rendering of the water and surrounding trees.

Later, a few of us took a late-afternoon outing to visit art galleries in Lambertville, N.J., and have dinner along the canal in New Hope Pennsylvania. No matter where we went, we were surrounded by art.

Once I returned home, though, I relegated the five paintings I'd done that week to storage under my bed. I'll be the first to admit that they're not my best work. But as is the case in so many creative pursuits, the process, not the final product, was the point.

Bill Shouldn't Uproot Families

2010-03-15T01:39:00.000-04:00

The Gloucester County Times

Should New Jersey's public employees live in the state? State Sen. Donald Norcross, D-5, of Camden, thinks so, introducing a bill last week that would require all public employees who work in new Jersey to live in New Jersey.

The residency requirement would cover state, county, and municipal employees as well as public authorities, agencies and the educational system, including state colleges.

"If you want a paycheck from New Jersey, you should live here and pay your taxes here," says Norcross, D-5 of Camden. "It is blatantly unfair for our public employees to collect salaries and benefits from the taxpayers of New Jersey while paying taxes to another state."

Philosophically, the measure makes sense. Some municipalities and counties in New Jersey already have residency requirements.

Practically, though, Norcross' bill needs more real-world consideration. In fact, it would be a better bill if it were prospective. That is, make a move to New Jersey a condition of employment for new hires, and for current public employees who change public-sector jobs.

Under the legislation as proposed, S-1730 would give current public employees who live out of state an overly generous 2 years to establish a principal residence in New Jersey. New employees would be required to establish New Jersey residency in just four months.

Allowing the extra time for current employees to make the move is necessary because of the distressed housing market, the senator explained: "I want to do this in a way that will not create any needless hardship."

Trouble is, requiring employees to uproot spouses and settled families can be a hardship in itself. We're talking about requirements that kids change schools, sports teams, etc., and that people sell their homes just to keep jobs they already have.

What about a couple living in, say, Bucks County Pennsylvania, where one partner already has a job in Pennsylvania with a residency requirement, and the other works for the State of New Jersey? The proposed rule would mean one partner would have to quit his or her job or they'd have to live separately.

It's doubtful that making families split up is what Norcross intended. Why not "grandfather" New Jersey workers who stay in their current jobs? And, split the difference on the move-in grace period for everyone else. Make it one year, enough time to get out of a rental lease, or to sell a house.

That still leaves the issue of tax justice. Norcross is right that public employees who stream across the bridge pay significantly less in property taxes, and may pay lower income taxes.

Our state's taxpayers should be able to get some benefit from "grandfathered" interstate commuters who take a public paycheck. If it's legal, what about a non-resident surcharge on these employees' health benefit contributions, or some kind of "payment in lieu of taxes"?

State workers are already being asked to make a number of sacrifices on behalf of a distressed state budget. A forced sale of their homes should not be one of them.

More Than 50,000 Lose Power After Storm

2010-03-14T11:35:00.000-04:00

Fox 29 News

More than 50,000 people outside Philadelphia and in central New Jersey are without power on Sunday after a nasty storm with high winds hit our area.

The storm heavily damaged part of Bucks, Montgomery, Ocean and Monmouth counties.

PECO says 32,000 residents in Bucks county have outages. A handful of outages was reported at non-PECO suppliers in the Pennsylvania suburbs.

More than 20,000 people in Monmouth and Ocean counties, about 650 in southern New Jersey and about 200 in Delaware.

The storm, which battered parts of Pennsylvania, New Jersey, New York and Connecticut on Saturday with gusts of up to 70 mph, struck about two weeks after heavy snow and hurricane-force winds left more than a million customers in the Northeast in the dark.

More than 500 passengers on a New Jersey Transit train were stranded for six to seven hours because of power supply problems, spokesman Dan Stessel said Sunday. Amtrak service between Philadelphia and New York was suspended for hours before limited service was restored, spokesman Cliff Cole said.

In Atlantic City, the horizontal arm of a boom crane plunged 47 floors at the Revel Casino construction site. Debris went flying and crashed through the driver's side window of a police cruiser; the officer suffered minor injuries.

Parts of southern New Jersey say nearly 4 inches of rain, while nearly 3 inches fell near Philadelphia.

Winds topped 40 miles per hour in some areas. One gust was clocked at 67 miles per hour at Philadelphia International Airport.

At Merion Station, strong winds and rain caused a tree to fall on top of a Septa R5 regional rail train. It

Passengers on the train say the weather has made using the rail line almost impossible. About two dozen people were on the train at the time.

Flooding and strong winds are caused problems in parts of Bucks County.

The normally calm Tookany Creek looked more like a raging river. The Neshaminy Creek was also expected to flood.

Flood warnings are in effect for the Schuylkill River and other local streams and rivers.

Delaware River Deepening to Commence

2010-03-03T02:07:00.000-05:00

Delaware Online

The first stage of a multi-year, $310-million deepening of the Delaware River main shipping channel will start early next week, the Army Corps of Engineers reported this afternoon.

Corps spokesman Edward Voigt said the agency plans “nothing extraordinary” when a contractor begins cutting the shipping channel to 45 feet from its 40 foot depth at a starting point near the Chesapeake & Delaware Canal.

A Nofolk-based company already is at work dredging away silt that has made the current channel bottom shallower than the 40-foot minimum depth along a 12-mile section between the Delaware Memorial Bridge and the canal.

“They’ll just go further down,” Voigt said.

Port and shipping interests said the deeper channel is needed between Philadelphia and the Atlantic Ocean to keep local ports and businesses competitive with others along the Atlantic.

Remaining sections of the 103-mile channel will be deepened over the next three years.

Work will begin, however, in the shadow of three separate court challenges.

New Jersey and a coalition of environmental groups have sued to block the dredging in two actions filed in New Jersey’s U.S. District Court. The environmental organizations also are appealing Delaware’s loss of a similar federal court challenge late last month.

Delaware Department of Natural Resources and Environmental Control Secretary Collin P. O’Mara said late Thursday talks are continuing with the corps on an agreement in lieu of a permit on state environmental protection priorities during the work.

A federal judge agreed to let work on the first section start without a formal Delaware underwater construction permit, over state objections that the dredging was entirely inside Delaware and subject to state environmental protection laws.

Critics have charged that the corps failed to meet or ignored a range of environmental protection requirements in pursuing the deepening.

Recent purchase of air pollution reduction “credits” cleared the way for work to begin on the $310 million project, said Edward Voigt, spokesman for the agency’s Philadelphia regional office. Details on the cost and number of credits purchased were not immediately available.

Federal Clean Air Act terms required puchases of credits to offset increased pollution emissions during the dredging work. The credits are sold by the ton by other businesses or activities that have reduced or eliminated other types of air pollution.

Philly Flower Show Goes Global

2010-03-02T01:00:00.000-05:00

Delaware County Times

If ever there was a year to think spring, it’s this snow-shock winter and offering a sense and scents of well-being this weekend is the Philadelphia International Flower Show.

A Philadelphia tradition begun in 1829, the floral show now annually draws tens of thousands seeking the warmth of blooms and buds, awesome and winsome displays, interwoven music and great ideas for the gardener or anyone looking for what to do with that backyard dirt patch or empty corner.

For 2010, the message is a worldly one, as the show officially adds International to its name and is themed “Passport to the World.”

The flower show will run from Saturday, Feb. 28 to Sunday, March 7 at the Pennsylvania Convention Center.

Philadelphia Horticultural Society President Jane Pepper, a Delaware County resident, has said there are several firsts for the show, including offering downloadable tickets online.

Pepper, who is bowing out as president after 29 years of leadership, also pointed to a Family Fun Pack, which offers families a package price and savings.

The PHS president has promised this show will offer great entertainment with support from the Philadelphia Zoo and upbeat music, a solid educational base, and an emphasis on sustainable living and being “green” —- a point to which the PHS has always been committed.

By the way, Pepper’s departure will not go unmarked. A PHS gardeners group that goes by the name of “Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club” will salute the retiring president with a tribute garden that was to be unveiled just before Saturday’s opening day.

Pepper is not the only Delaware County thumbprint on the show. Major exhibitors Williamson Free School of Mechanical Trades, Stoney Bank Nurseries, J. Downend Landscaping and OuterSpaces Inc. will all show their incredible handiwork.

And as if that were not enough, Lansdowne’s own musical duo of Brazilian music, Minas, will be featured throughout the show. Orlando Haddad and Patricia King will offer a taste of Brazil with their unique South American sound on the Explorer’s Stage.

Looking back, looking ahead

Visitors to this year’s worldly presentation will experience Amazonian splendor and some colorful surprises.

Guests will be greeted by a 28-foot-high hot-air balloon, covered in more than 79,000 dried flowers, that towers over the Explorer’s Garden. The Victorian-era display, filled with varieties of plants like those collected through the remarkable Wilkes Expedition (1838-42) and more recent finds from Longwood Gardens, Morris Arboretum, the University of Pennsylvania, and the U.S. Botanic Gardens, harkens back to the show’s roots as a showcase for new plant discoveries.

Giant pads of floating Victoria water lilies and blooms introduced to America at early shows will fill the much larger-than-life cases throughout the display. Daily musical performances include classical and contemporary Indian dance led by celebrated Bollywood choreographer Rujuta Vaidya.

Six Showcase Gardens take visitors on a trek to an Indian wedding, with soaring palm trees, golden columns entwined with jasmine, lotus-filled pools and elaborate ropes of marigolds.

From here, 100,000 flower bulbs will bloom in an authentic Dutch canal garden created by Robertson’s Flowers. Working with design colleagues from South Africa, the American Institute of Floral Designers (AIFD) will provide a tangible artistic presentation of the Zulu culture. Hand-thatched huts, live drummers, a chandelier of floral birds, and sculpted wildlife provide an enchanting entry to a walk-through display that invites visitors to inspect tribal headdresses and masks that depict the vivid colors and patterns found among the native people.

Deep into the dense ficus growth of Brazil’s Amazon jungle, visitors will encounter a plunging waterfall, indigenous plants such as heliconias and bromeliads, and a hungry caiman created by Burke Brothers Landscape Design. Officials of the Philadelphia Zoo will bring the display to life with “Rainbows in Flight,” demonstrations that feature the skill and natural beauty of tropical birds.

Singapore, the “Pearl of Asia,” will be represented by Waldor Orchids in a luminescent tribute to the orchid. The tiered fountains and formal design are inspired by Singapore’s renowned botanical gardens.

The rugged beauty of New Zealand will be captured by Stoney Bank Nurseries of Glen Mills in three designs that depict traditions of the native Maori and the alluring plant life found in exotic New Zealand. The Aura Garden, with its thermal pools and sculpted dragon created by artist Greg Leavitt, presents an appropriate setting for the native plants of this northern island. Giant tree ferns, hand-carved Maori tikis and flax rope complement the landscape that includes a bog Garden of English and Scottish tradition, and the Kiwi Garden, which showcases New Zealand’s popular calla and Casablanca lilies.

An event for the world

“Passport to the World” is a truly a grand celebration of the world’s flowers and gardens and an appropriate debut for the newly renamed Philadelphia International Flower Show, the oldest and largest indoor show of its kind.

“The Flower Show’s new title raises it up on the world stage, and it is an invitation to gardeners everywhere to join us in Philadelphia for this fabulous show that does so much to highlight the best of horticulture and design,” said Pepper.

The change reflects the increasing participation in recent decades of horticulturists, designers and partners from other nations. Since the 1980s, the show has welcomed presentations by gardening experts from Asia, Europe, Africa, Canada, Mexico and the Caribbean.

But the show is not just about flowers.

The show draws in fashion with a whole category showing off elegant dresses inspired by many countries and created by fashion students at the Art Institute of Philadelphia.

Visitors should plan in advance to attend any of the more than 150 gardening presentations held throughout the week, as well as dozens of educational displays that explore the most popular new trends for home gardeners.

Learning to garden from the experts is a highlight of the visitor experience. Students, faculty and professional horticulturists explore a variety of today’s trends in gardening and sustainable landscapes in exhibits, including “green walls,” vertical and roof-top gardens.

Shopping is a mainstay of the show, and this year a whole crop of new vendors will offer visitors a chance to take home memories of the show. The Marketplace offers an array of products to get the garden started; the Flower Show Shoppe has keepsakes in celebration of the show theme; and the World Bazaar provides exotic crafts and gifts for the well-traveled shopper.

What about food you ask?

This year, a Dessert and Coffee Bar is offered by Sweet Streets on the Show Bridge. In the Grand Hall, the Pa. Wine and Spirits Store will offer an expansive, international selection at the Wine & Spirits Garden and will include free tastings served by the vendors. DiBruno Bros. also will hold court in the Grand Hall with an authentic Italian menu.

Wynn Outlines Plan for Foxwoods Casino

2010-03-01T07:56:00.000-05:00

Philadelphia Inquirer

Stephen A. Wynn, chairman of Wynn Resorts, said yesterday that he would go to Harrisburg Wednesday to outline to the state Gaming Control Board his plans for a Philadelphia casino that he said would be "the cutest casino you have ever seen."

Wynn discussed for the first time his ideas for reviving the Foxwoods project in South Philadelphia during a conference call with stock analysts after the release of the Las Vegas company's year-end results.

Wynn Resorts confirmed Tuesday that it had signed a letter of intent to take control of developing and running the struggling Foxwoods Casino project. But the deal is contingent on approval from Pennsylvania gaming regulators. The Foxwoods project is at risk of losing its license for repeated delays since winning one of the city's two slots licenses in 2006.

Wynn said he would not build a hotel on the Columbus Boulevard site but would focus on developing a "straightforward casino" and not a "destination resort." The original plan for Foxwoods called for eventually building a hotel on the site.

He only offered a general idea of what he had in mind, saying it would be a one-story casino with two or three levels of parking on either side.

Asked how much Wynn Resorts would spend on the waterfront site, Wynn did not directly answer, saying only it would not be "an earth-shaking number."

He said he had spent "eight to nine hours a day" for the last several weeks trying to work out the details of developing a Philadelphia casino.

"I'm happy to say we're feeling very good about it," Wynn told analysts. He said the building "will not look like slots in a box."

"It will have all the bells and whistles of a good-looking casino," including 3,000 slot machines, table games, a poker room, an Italian restaurant, a steak house, and an Asian restaurant, he said.

Wynn, 67, was enthusiastic about the project site on Columbus Boulevard and that it was blocks from the Italian and Vietnamese neighborhoods of South Philadelphia.

Wynn called its proximity to Society Hill and the Walt Whitman Bridge "a dandy."

He said the area was "all full of my old friends - the Italians and Jews and every conceivable type of ethnic group that likes to play craps and gamble - and they're only 10 minutes away."

"I love the proximity of the Vietnamese neighborhood, and I'm going to put in a Vietnamese restaurant for them," he said.

If regulators approve the project, Wynn said, he hoped to be "out of the box as quickly as we can."

He said he knows the region, having operated the Golden Nugget casino in Atlantic City from 1980 to 1987.

"We dominated the Atlantic City market," he said. "We love the South Jersey market and we like Philadelphia."

He said the company's Las Vegas properties could benefit from ties to Philadelphia.

Yesterday, Wynn Resorts reported 2009 net income of $20.6 million on revenue of $3 billion.

Wynn Resorts would take over developing and managing the project from the Mashantucket Pequot tribe, which operates the flagship Foxwoods Casino in southeastern Connecticut. The tribe, as well as local investors, would maintain an interest in the project, but not a majority stake.

The project has faced intense neighborhood and political opposition. The investor group tried to move the project to Center City but failed. Regulators in August ordered them to use the original waterfront site.

Storm Covers Northeast with Another Wet Blanket

2010-02-26T11:40:00.000-05:00

NY Times

Thousands of people were without power and dozens of school districts — including all New York City public schools — were shut down on Friday morning as a lumbering late-February blizzard roosted over New York and lashed the region with driving snow.

The slow-moving storm — the third major snowstorm of the winter — was expected to dump as much as 20 inches of snow in New York City by Saturday morning, with forecasts of 30 inches of snow for the city’s northern suburbs in Orange County. The storm left wind-whipped snowdrifts of a foot or more throughout the city, and transformed Broadway into a cross-country ski track.

More than 1,000 flights in and out of New York area airports were grounded, and the city’s more than 1 million students got another snow day. Snow-loaded trees fell onto cars, roads and power lines, blocking traffic and cutting off electricity throughout the region. One man was killed Thursday afternoon when a snow-laden tree limb fell on him.

New Jersey Transit trains and buses were reporting delays throughout the state, and several towns had reports of fallen trees that in some places that were impeding traffic.

By Friday morning, the snow was still piling up across much of southern New York and New Jersey, and forecasters warned of blizzard-like conditions through Saturday morning.

“It hasn’t been advancing to the Northeast at all,” said Matt Scalora, a meteorologist with the National Weather Service in Upton, N.Y. “It’s pretty stationary.”

As a low pressure system off the coast turned slowly northward and circulated over much of the region, the rain changed into snow, and winds kicked up to 35 miles an hour in the Philadelphia region. Philadelphia has already surpassed its snow record for the winter with the back-to-back storms earlier this month. The new storm was expected to add 7 to 12 inches to the 73-inch tally this season.

“It’s nice to see when it first starts, but just like everybody else, we’re tired of it,” said Capt. Kenneth Coalson of the Chester Township police in the Philadelphia suburbs.

On Thursday afternoon, Pennsylvania officials had reduced the maximum speed on I-476, the Northeast Extension, to 45 m.p.h. because of deteriorating conditions. And at 6 p.m., the state imposed a general ban on that entire roadway for tractor-trailers because of expected whiteout conditions. In the New York area, the accumulation varied greatly from west to east. Heavy, wet snow fell all day in Manhattan, with more than six inches accumulating in Central Park. One man, Elmaz Qyra of Brooklyn, was killed in the park when a snow-laden tree limb fell on him just before 3:30 p.m., the authorities said.

By the end of the storm, forecasters say Central Park could receive as much as 12 inches of snow.

Beyond the city, in Orange County, N.Y., the National Weather Service said as much as 20 inches of snow could fall by Saturday. In West Milford, N.J., one foot had already fallen by 5 p.m., and the area, forecasters said, could receive another eight inches.

In New York, where emergency crews were scrambling to repair downed power lines throughout the day, about 5,400 customers were without power as of 9 p.m., a spokesman for the New York State Electric and Gas Corp. said. About 1,300 of those customers were in Orange County alone.

Meanwhile, parts of Long Island, with warm air coming off the Atlantic keeping the precipitation mainly in the form of rain, received no more than two inches of snow by 5 p.m. Totals on the South Fork might not reach two inches for the entire storm.

While delays and cancellations were light at John F. Kennedy International Airport, Newark Liberty International Airport felt the brunt of the weather, reporting nearly 600 cancellations. Heavy rain at Logan International Airport in Boston were causing 85 minute delays.

“This is an incredibly slow moving storm,” said Brandon Smith, a meteorologist for the National Weather Service in Upton, N.Y. “It’s literally going to sit over us for the next two days.”

Recent warmer weather and rain had meant that Philadelphians had finally seen the last of the old snow that fell in February. At least they know what to expect.

Captain Coalson of the Chester Township Police said his officers would be out handling accident reports on Interstate 95, and issuing citations for certain recalcitrant snow shovelers. Local laws prohibit the common practice of pushing or dumping shoveled snow in the street for passing plows to deal with; fines for violations can range from $25 to $600. “We don’t enforce it until two, three days down the road,” Captain Coalson said.

Some residents try to reserve for themselves the curbside parking spots outside their homes that they have laboriously cleared of snow by leaving folding chairs in the spots when the car is not there. “We will collect the chairs and throw them out,” Captain Coalson warned.

Staying put might be the answer, since travel seemed to be deteriorating in the Northeast, making travel difficult.

Complicating matters for Amtrak service along the busy Northeast Corridor was a fatal accident believed to be unrelated to weather. A high-speed Acela train from Boston bound for Washington struck two pedestrians on the tracks nine miles south of Philadelphia at 10:28 a.m. Thursday, said Tracy Connell, an Amtrak spokeswoman. Ms. Connell said both people died, but that she did not have any more information.

Four mainline tracks were closed while the accident was investigated, and service was not fully restored until 1 p.m.

PennDOT: Stimulus Cash Boosts Roadwork, Jobs

2010-02-19T15:35:00.001-05:00

Philly Burbs

Projects in New Hope, the Newtown area and I-95 are receiving millions in federal cash.

KING OF PRUSSIA - Despite record snowfall this winter and plow blades wearing out, PennDOT is right on schedule with 30 projects in Southeastern Pennsylvania that are being funded with $257.7 million in federal stimulus money.

Bucks County has been awarded more than $24 million for projects and Montgomery more than $94 million.

At a press conference Thursday in King of Prussia, Pennsylvania Department of Transportation District 6 Executive Lester C. Toaso said 18 of 30 projects funded by the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act are under way. The recovery act was signed into law a year ago.

Gov. Ed Rendell said stimulus money "works" and has put people to work.

During August, September and October, more than 5,000 people statewide were working on stimulus-funded projects, PennDOT officials said.

"Without that investment, those people likely would have been without jobs, drawing jobless benefits and helping to slow down an economy in desperate need of stimulus," Toaso said Thursday.

Of the 30 projects in District 6, four are completed and eight will start when the weather breaks, Toaso said.

"Our aim since early last year was to move AARA projects into construction as quickly as possible to help create jobs and inject those federal funds into our economy," Toaso said. "These special federal funds also helped us move important projects into construction that would not otherwise be under way at this time."

The federal windfall is earmarked for the five-county Philadelphia region that includes Bucks, Chester, Delaware, Montgomery and Philadelphia.

Total cost of the 30 projects is $348.4 million with $91 million coming from other federal funding sources, PennDOT officials said.

One area of concern being addressed is crumbling bridges. Statewide, 133 structurally deficient bridges are being replaced. Of that number, 39 are in the five-county Philadelphia area, according to PennDOT. Of that number, 23 are in Montgomery County. None in Bucks are being repaired with stimulus money.

As outlined by PennDOT assistant press secretary Gene Blaum, stimulus projects in Bucks County are:

Newtown/Lower Makefield/ Upper Makefield: $1.3 million to improve Stoopville Road between Rosefield Road and Route 532 and between Stoopville and Lindenhurst roads. Crews are installing landscaped median islands at several locations, new traffic signals at Route 532 and Highland Road, and a new flashing warning device at Creamery Road and Linton Hill Road. The project is due to be completed in June.

Bucks state highways: $981,925 to reconstruct 247 curb ramps along eight state highways. Work was completed last month.

New Hope: $517,612 to build a pedestrian walkway. Construction begins next month. Borough officials designed the walkway to connect visitors to the business district. The path will begin at the municipal parking facility and extend to the western bank of the Delaware Canal and on to the historic New Hope-Ivyland train station. The asphalt walkway will be 6 feet wide and 1,078 feet long. The project should be complete by June.

I-95: $21.7 million to install electronic warning monitors and cameras along the interstate. The project covers 19 miles between Broad Street and I-676 in Philadelphia and between Academy Road and Route 1 in Bucks and Philadelphia. The project will pay for 17 new closed circuit television cameras, 10 message signs, 54 travel time readers and 40 incident detectors.

Stimulus funding projects in Montgomery County include:

Upper Providence/Limerick: $12.2 million to improve a 4.5 mile section of Route 422; work began in May. Crews are improving Route 422 from a half-mile east of the Route 29 (Collegeville) interchange to 1,500 feet west of the Royersford Interchange.

Upper Merion: $10.5 million to construct new ramps to connect westbound I-76 with the intersection of Henderson and South Gulph roads. Work is expected to end in June 2012.

I-476: $71.7 million to rebuild 3.2 miles of I-476 including bridges between I-76 and the Pennsylvania Turnpike's Mid-County Interchange in West Conshohocken and Plymouth. Work is expected to end in late 2012.

Philadelphia Airport's $45M Expansion Opens Today

2010-02-16T10:50:00.000-05:00

Philadelphia Inquirer

A $45 million expansion to Terminal E at Philadelphia International Airport, where Southwest Airlines Co. has its gates, opens to passengers today.

Mayor Nutter will be on hand, as will officials from the airport and Southwest Airlines, for a ribbon cutting and dedication in a central rotunda of the terminal.

The improvements are part of a $300 million makeover to Terminals D and E that began several years ago, after the arrival of Southwest, the nation's largest low-fare carrier.

Southwest invigorated travel when it came here in May 2004, reducing fares on routes where it competed, particularly with US Airways Group Inc., the region's dominant airline.

With the growth of Southwest, which began with 14 flights to six cities and now operates 54 nonstops a day to 18 destinations - and more flights by discount carrier AirTran Airways - there was a pressing need to renovate Terminals D and E, airport officials said.

A fan-shaped extension at the end of Concourse E adds seven gates for aircraft, a 500-seat passenger waiting area, a mini food court with new concessions, and a 350-foot curved-glass wall.

The improvements do for Southwest, AirTran, United, Delta, Continental and Air Canada - all of which fly out of D and E - what a $139 million makeover to Terminals B and C did in 1998 for US Airways.

About a fourth of Philadelphia passengers depart and arrive in D and E.

Southwest, Philadelphia's second busiest carrier, acted as general contractor for the Terminal E face-lift, the latest phase of a multistage project.

It is the airport's largest construction project since the International Terminal opened in 2003.

In December 2008, a 204,000-square-foot "connector" building opened - wedged between Terminals D and E - with a 14-lane passenger security checkpoint, a mall with 10 shops, and a view of the airfield. (Previously there were four security lanes in D and four in E.)

This Friday, a new D-E baggage-claim building with nine carousels is scheduled to open and connect the existing bag-claim areas for Terminals D and E.

In May, an automated bag sorting system with high-technology explosives-detection machines that screen bags at a rate of 750 an hour will be completed on a floor below the D-E passenger screening. After testing, the system should be ready for use in the fall.

By the end of 2010, passenger ticket counters will be replaced in Terminals D and E, to include 23 additional counters and new escalators and stairs.

These changes mean passengers can now walk from Terminal A - where international flights come and go - all the way to Terminal E without having to go through security screening more than once.

The $300 million tab for the entire project will be paid by airport revenue bonds funded by the airlines, federal grants, and passenger facility charges, which are fees of up to $4.50 imposed on departing passengers to use on Federal Aviation Administration approved projects.

Looking to the future, the airport wants to revamp Terminal F, where nearly 400 commuter and regional jet flights depart daily. That $100 million project would link Terminal F to E so passengers would be able to walk from A to F - the full length of the airport - after going through security only once.

Little Guys Win Big

2010-02-15T21:50:00.000-05:00

Philadelphia Daily News

Citizens group savors its rescue of Burholme Park

Burholme Estate

NOT FAR FROM the clamor of Cottman Avenue, where sandwich shops, hair salons and professional offices dot a bustling corridor, there is a wooded spot in Burholme Park with a creek running through it.

When city officials agreed to carve out some 20 acres of the lush, green park so that the nearby Fox Chase Cancer Center could expand, a group of ordinary residents took a stand. They wouldn't let the park go. Not without a fight.

Among them were a couple of retired school teachers, a onetime corner grocer and a former telephone line technician who loves to hike and cross-country ski.

They formed Save Burholme Park, but they weren't very popular. They were dubbed "tree huggers" by some and a "ragtag group" by a zoning lawyer.

No one thought they had the slightest chance against the high-powered attorneys and politicians who supported the cancer center.

Yet, last month, after losing an appeal in Commonwealth Court in December, Fox Chase announced it was dropping its efforts to build inside the park.

Jean Gavin, a retired fifth-grade teacher, and an outspoken leader of Save Burholme Park, was elated.

"We're living on seventh heaven!" Gavin said. "I didn't expect that. I thought they would fight until hell froze over.

"They have had the money to spend. We've had none. We've been fighting them only on good will and determination."

The activists had gone up against Gov. Rendell, former Mayor John Street, Mayor Nutter, Councilman Brian O'Neill and most members of the now-defunct Fairmount Park Commission who had backed the expansion plan.

But the "little guys" won.

"They bought the very best law firms. They've had the best of everything," Gavin said. "We've had one lawyer [Samuel C. Stretton] pro bono. No one would have given two cents on our winning!"

"Usually big money wins," added Frank Neumann, 94, a longtime park supporter. "But we didn't give up. We sort of had faith. But it was slim."

Burholme Park stretches over 65 acres at Cottman and Central avenues. It includes the Ryerss Mansion and Museum, a popular sledding hill, a golf range, baseball fields and a densely wooded area to the west that sharply slopes down to a stream that feeds into Tacony Creek. The park seems worlds away from the congestion of Cottman Avenue.

"It was always a refuge," said Marlene Sellers, another retired teacher in the group. "I couldn't imagine all those buildings there.

Citing cramped conditions and an explosion of new cancer patients over the years, Fox Chase, at Central and Shelmire avenues, wanted to build as many as 18 buildings in the center of the park over the next 20 years.

"Their argument was that we'd still have the mansion and the library and the sledding hill. But the whole essence of the park would have been destroyed," Sellers said. She is also secretary of Friends of Ryerss, a volunteer group that supports the mansion.

Robert Waln Ryerss, a 19th-century lawyer and philanthropist, gave most of the park to the city in his 1895 will "for the use and enjoyment of the people for ever."

The gift included the family's Victorian-era mansion, which resembles an Italian country villa. Robert's father, Joseph Ryerss, a shipping and Tioga Railroad tycoon, built it in 1859.

Now a library and museum filled with Asian art and other objects travel-loving Ryerss family members collected, the mansion is on the National Register of Historic Places. It sits high atop a gently sloping hill. From it, one can see the Center City skyline.

In March 2008, City Council gave its blessing to a deal first worked out with the Fairmount Park Commission to lease 19.4 acres of the park to the cancer center for at least 80 years. The center had first asked for nearly 39 acres.

But Gavin, Sellers and the other park lovers went to Philadelphia Orphans Court to challenge the deal.

"What disturbed me was there was a will," said Sellers. "But no one in the city, none of the politicians, not one of the institutions in power tried to protect the park.

"They were supposed to safeguard the park for the people."

She asserted that the center officials "assumed it was theirs to take. It was a kind of arrogance of power."

City officials said they were worried the cancer center would move out of the city and take an estimated 4,000 jobs with it.

And Fox Chase supporters noted that wills had been broken before. They pointed to Stephen Girard's will, which set up Girard College as a free boarding school to "poor white orphan males."

Fighting City Hall

The "ragtag" group, many of them retired, began their fight for the park at a community meeting at the Fox Chase Elementary School not long after the center announced it needed to expand into the park in late 2004.

That first meeting was pretty much evenly divided between neighborhood residents who agreed with the expansion and those opposed.

But at later meetings, such as those of the Fox Chase Homeowners Association, Jean Gavin said she was often told to "shut up." But she was determined to be heard.

A turning point came when Gavin got a telephone call from Mary Tracy, executive director of SCRUB, the Public Voice for Public Space, who had earlier helped Gavin remove illegal billboards from the Rhawn Street Bridge. Tracy had heard about the plans to build inside the park.

Gavin asked Tracy, "Can you help us find a lawyer?"

Tracy brought Stretton to Gavin's home on Rhawn near Verree, and soon the other activists in Save Burholme Park began meeting there.

When they knocked on doors to get petitions signed, they often were told they were wasting their time.

"It's a done deal, it's a done deal," or "You can't fight City Hall," Denise Kirk, who lives across the street from the cancer center, said people told the group.

Besides Gavin, Neumann, Kirk and Sellers, the group's core leaders included Fred Maurer, a retired telephone technician and hiker and Tim Kearney, a candidate for state representative in the 172nd District.

The activists said some neighbors accused them of being against cancer research, or that they didn't care about people who needed jobs at the center.

"We were not against the cancer center, we were for the park," Sellers insisted.

"I have cancer myself," said Neumann, who played in the park back in the 1920s.

'Old-fashioned activism'

The activists did more than gather petitions and knock on doors.

Stretton, the attorney, said the group members "got materials for me, they lined up witnesses and gave me a lot of history about the park and went back to old books and gave me old sources and opinions."

He especially credited Tracy, of SCRUB, and Maurer and Gavin of the park group.

Maurer, 74, spent hours researching the case in the Jenkins Law Library in Center City.

"They are very dedicated people, some of them living on fixed retirement incomes, and they helped me immensely," Stretton said. "They stood up to correct something that they thought would be a detriment to the community if the park was taken."

"It's an old-fashioned citizen activism and it's dying away. It's dying away," Stretton said.

Stretton first won in Philadelphia Orphans Court in December 2008 when Judge John W. Herron ruled in a 61-page finding that the state's "public trust doctrine protects every square foot" of the park.

Fox Chase had hired lawyers from two of the city's most powerful law firms.

First, Amy B. Ginensky and a team of lawyers from Pepper Hamilton represented the center in Orphans Court.

When the center appealed to Commonwealth Court in 2009, it hired James Gardner Colins, of Cozen O'Connor, a former president judge of Commonwealth Court, to plead its case before that very same court.

Fox Chase will consider its options for expansion over the next few months, said Tim Spreitzer, the center's spokesman. Officials will decide whether to build taller on top of existing buildings or whether to "split the campus," by having its hospital and research facilities at different locations.

The center needs to expand because "cancer is expected to surpass heart disease as the number one cause of death by 2011," he said.

But one thing is for sure, according to Spreitzer:

"The center is absolutely committed to Northeast Philadelphia on a long-term basis."

Murtha's Widow Urged to Run for Husband's Seat

2010-02-15T21:36:00.000-05:00

USA Today

Joyce Murtha for Congress?

The Pennsylvania papers are reporting that the widow of Rep. John Murtha is being urged to run in the May special election to fill the remainder of her husband's term. The 77-year-old Democrat died a week ago of complications from gall bladder surgery.

Murtha spokesman Matthew Mazonkey told the Pittsburgh Tribune-Review: "While people have been mindful that this is a difficult time for the family, many have called to suggest Joyce as the perfect person to hold her husband's seat."

One possible candidate, former state treasurer Barbara Hafer, said she would support Murtha's widow.

"She would be a tremendous choice," Hafer told the Tribune-Review. "She is a wonderful woman, an excellent speaker. If that is what she wants to do, I would heartily concur."

Murtha will be laid to rest tomorrow at Grandview Cemetery in Johnstown, Pa. Former president Bill Clinton, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, and Defense Secretary Robert Gates will be among those attending the funeral services, the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette reported today. The White House will be represented by White House chief of staff Rahm Emanuel.

About 1,200 mourners paid their respects Sunday at a funeral home in Westmont, Pa., the Post-Gazette reported. Among them were Ohio Democratic Reps. Zack Space and Charlie Wilson, and Pennsylvania Gov. Ed Rendell.

Rendell -- who also served two terms as mayor of Philadelphia -- called Murtha "the best ally I ever had" in Washington.

"No one is irreplaceable, but he was the most impactful political figure in Pennsylvania for the last 50 years," Rendell told the Post-Gazette.

The Post-Gazette said Joyce Murtha "had no comment on politics Sunday as she concentrated on greeting the hundreds paying their respects to her husband."

Another Winter Storm Hits Philly

2010-02-10T12:48:00.002-05:00

KDKA News

PHILADELPHIA (AP) ― Air travelers are being forced to make other plans with nearly all flights canceled at Philadelphia International Airport due to snow and ice.

The National Weather Service issued a blizzard warning for Philadelphia and its suburbs for all day Wednesday, as another 10 inches or more of blowing snow is possible.

Some detoured air travelers are flocking to Amtrak trains at Philadelphia's 30th Street Station.

Forty-year-old New Hampshire resident Scott Collins had been in the city for a sales meeting.

His flight back to Manchester on Wednesday night was canceled, so he was waiting for a train to Boston instead. He says he'll have to rent a car once he gets there and drive home.

Virtually all flights at the airport have been canceled through Thursday morning.

29th Annual Philadelphia Home Show Preview

2010-01-09T13:11:00.000-05:00

philly 2 philly

Got the Winter Blues and looking to spruce up the bathroom, redo the kitchen like you've always wanted, or maybe even venture into green technology at the house?

If so, the 29th Annual Philadelphia Home Show is the perfect place to find answers, advice and fresh ideas.

The show, which starts Saturday and runs though Jan. 24, will be held at the Pennsylvania Convention Center and is a great place to find out what's new in home decor, remodeling trends and more.

Over 500 experts in fields related to inside and outside of the home will be on hand to offer information and more than a thousand examples of the latest products will be shown including everything from pools and spas, greenhouses, fencing and landscaping, to window treatments, interior design, antiques and carpeting.

"More so than any year before, the 2010 Show offers a variety of design experts, giving Philadelphians access to virtually every element of home design," said Alyson Caplan, show manager of the Philadelphia Home Show for Marketplace Events. "Here you have access to all you need for any home improvement project and the expert knowledge you can't find anywhere else."

The annual show is one of 27 consumer home shows, Marketplace Events puts on throughout North America, which attracts a total of 14,000 exhibitors and one million attendees in all.

This year's event will feature some of the stars seen on the popular home makeover shows including Philadelphia-born Paul DiMeo of "Extreme Makeover: Home Edition" and John Gidding of HGTV's "Designed to Sell" and "Curb Appeal."

DiMeo will be kicking off the nine-day exhibit on Saturday from 10a.m. to 3 p.m. Not only will he be available to offer money-saving tips for home and bathroom remodeling in Pennsylvania, but he'll be sharing some behind-the-scenes details of the popular show during afternoon sessions.

Another special guest, and one who works with fashion of the body more than fashion of the home, is Christopher Straub of Lifetime's “Project Runway” who appeared in season six of the show. Straub will be at the Home Show on Jan. 22 from noon to 4 p.m. to offer ways to incorporate fashion into home decorations.

And Gidding, who has experience in both architecture and urban design, will be making two appearances toward the end of the event, on Jan. 23 and Jan. 24.

Another highlight this year, includes the Designer Rooms set-up, where attendees can walk through and be inspired by staged rooms to see how some of the city's media personalities would decorate their homes as they team up with Pennsylvania home remodeling experts.

For example, 6 ABC's Jamie Apody will have an eco-friendly living room to explore, while Comcast Sportsnet worked with Klazmer-Eiseman Interiors to design a room that the Philly sports fans will love.

Keeping up with the growing trend of "Going Green" a special area of the exhibit will be The Green Zone where some of the latest eco-friendly products from local companies will be featured.

The Marketplace is a new section this year -- an area in which shoppers can find products for the home at good prices.

Every day of the Home Show will be filled with seminars to help bring inspiration and innovation into the home. Starting this weekend, some of the sessions include how to harvest rainwater for the garden, getting started on kitchen remodeling, and lessons on furniture restoration.

Aside from samples of cabinets and floor tiles, there's also some tasty treats from local vendors. Tony Luke Jr. will be showing how to prepare his cheesesteaks on Tuesday, and Chaddsford Winery will be offering samples on Wednesday and Thursday.

Admission for adults is $12 or $9 when purchased online. Tickets for kids ages 6 to 12 are $3 and those 5 and under are free.

The World Meets In . . . Pittsburgh

2009-10-06T17:48:00.005-04:00

From eTaiwan News

When leaders from the Group of 20 nations met in Pittsburgh on Thursday, they found a city that has resurrected itself.

From the roof of the city's convention center - one of the G-20 venues - the dignitaries look out on the Allegheny River and perhaps see kayakers on a waterway that used to be a dumping ground for industry. And if the visitors are able to walk the streets, they might hear jazz or Mozart - without a smoke-belching stack in sight.

Yes, even though the football team is called the Steelers, city officials want the world to know that steel is no longer Pittsburgh's raison d'etre. The city with a sooty past is now exporting its medical technology. In rivers where waste used to abound, bass tournaments are now held.

Even as the United States struggles to exit the recession, the city boasts it has 25,000 unfilled jobs.

"People hear 'Pittsburgh,' and they think an older town; they think a dirty town," says Mayor Luke Ravenstahl, who proudly calls himself the youngest mayor of a major U.S. city. "And, of course, that's not the case."

High-tech innovation

In a statement Sept. 8, President Obama explained why he wanted to hold the G-20 summit in Pittsburgh. "As a city that has transformed itself from the city of steel to a center for high-tech innovation - including green technology, education and training, and research and development - Pittsburgh will provide both a beautiful backdrop and a powerful example for our work."

Obama knows the city well, having visited it often last year during Pennsylvania's Democratic primary, which he lost to then-Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton. While campaigning in Pittsburgh, Obama got a tour of the David L. Lawrence Convention Center, proudly touted by city officials for its LEED Gold certification from the U.S. Green Building Council.

The facility, which hosts G-20 meetings, uses natural light to illuminate much of the floor space. It can turn off the ventilation and let in outside air for about 50 days of the year.

Most of the building's components were built within 500 miles of Pittsburgh. Yet another green feature: a rooftop herb and vegetable garden, which is used by chefs preparing food for events in the facility.

"This building was intended to be an example and a catalyst for future green efforts in the region," writes Mary Conturo, executive director of the Sports & Exhibition Authority, which owns the center, in an e-mail.

On Thursday, the visiting dignitaries dined at Phipps Conservatory and Botanical Gardens, an elegant greenhouse that melds glass artwork with exotic plant life.

It was built in 1893 by Henry Phipps, one of Andrew Carnegie's business partners. The facility is described by its executive director, Richard Piacentini, as "an excellent example of the old Victorian mind-set that there were no limits to the amount of resources we could use and the amount of pollution we could produce."

But today, this place is more about conservation with a drought-resistant lawn, natural heating and cooling, and the purchase of clean-energy offsets to account for all the power usage.

"We have tried to make the facility more sustainable within the historic nature of the building," Piacentini says.

Pittsburgh is developing an "emerging conscientiousness" on green issues, says architect Christine Brill, who works on urban design and landscape. For example, the city is starting to value open space, she says.

"The idea is to take back open industrial spaces and repurpose them - perhaps build greenways and trails so people can get around the city in a green kind of way," says Brill, a partner in Studio for Spatial Practice in Pittsburgh. "A lot of people have left the city. Greening might be a way to bring them back."

This is not to say Pittsburgh is the paragon of environmental correctness. According to a May report by the Brookings Institution in Washington, Pittsburgh ranked 34th among the 100 largest metropolitan areas in terms of its carbon footprint.

"While Pittsburgh is doing a lot of proactive things, is being creative with green-energy innovation and building a cleaner economy, you can't discount that their energy is coal-produced - and that elevates the carbon footprint of every household," says Mark Muro, a fellow for the Metropolitan Policy Program at Brookings.

Gateway to the West

Pittsburgh has a history of reinventing itself. In the 18th century, the city became known as the "Gateway to the West" because vessels could proceed down the Ohio River to the Mississippi, says Andrew Hannah, an adjunct professor of entrepreneurship at Carnegie Mellon University (CMU) in Pittsburgh.

"But the opening of the Erie Canal changed that, since goods from Europe no longer needed to go through Pittsburgh," he says.

Instead, in the early 1800s, Pittsburgh became an industrial center, thanks to Carnegie and Henry Clay Frick. Industrial giants such as Alcoa and U.S. Steel flourished.

But in the 1980s, the U.S. steel and manufacturing industries crashed. Large Pittsburgh-based companies, such as Westinghouse, stumbled into bankruptcy. The city had been the third-largest hub in the U.S. for corporate headquarters, but after large employers such as Rockwell International moved out, it had fewer than 10 Fortune 500 headquarters.

In January 1983, unem-ployment in Pittsburgh was more than 18 percent, with some 212,400 people out of work.

"When the steel industry all but collapsed, we in this city had no choice but to reinvent ourselves," Mayor Ravenstahl says.

Now, Hannah is CEO of a company that's an example of the new Pittsburgh.

Plextronics makes an ink that can efficiently conduct electricity. The chemical can be used to make inexpensive solar panels or extremely thin light fixtures.

A CMU professor, Richard McCullough, devised the ink and teamed up with Hannah seven years ago.

Their company is in a research park that includes other companies spun off as a result of other professors' discoveries. "The universities today are driving industry," Hannah says.

This is not to say the "old Pittsburgh" has just gone away. One steel mill is still within the city limits.

And 100,000 manufacturing jobs are still in the region, points out Dennis Yablonsky, CEO of the Allegheny Conference, which encourages economic development.

But Yablonsky sees the G-20 meetings as an opportunity to showcase the city's progress and maybe entice more businesses. "We hope to attract corporate executives and say to them, 'Look at Pittsburgh,'" he says.

While Pittsburgh may show that cities can recover, Yablonsky says, it can't be done overnight. "In Pittsburgh's case," he says, "it's a 30-year transformation story."

Casino Industry Working For Pennsylvania, More To Open

2009-06-14T23:33:00.004-04:00

Story from the Delaware County Daily Times

CHESTER — The new chairman and executive director of the Pennsylvania Gaming Control Board gave their nearly three-year-old industry a clean bill of health during an interview Friday at Harrah’s Chester Casino and Racetrack.

The state’s ninth casino will open in Pittsburgh in August and the first casino in Philadelphia is expected to finally arrive in spring 2010, according to PGCB Chairman Gregory C. Fajt, 54, of Pittsburgh.

Fajt, along with PGCB Executive Director Kevin O’Toole and board Commissioner Gary Sojka, were given a tour of Chester’s casino by Harrah’s General Manager Vince Donlevie Friday morning.

Fajt, a 54-year-old from Pittsburgh, served as Gov. Ed Rendell’s chief of staff for two years before taking control of the state’s gaming board. Fajt said that even in its infancy, the state’s casino industry has greatly benefited Pennsylvanians.

“The gaming industry overall has generated $1.5 billion over the last two years in property taxes,” Fajt said. “It’s generated 8,000 living-wage jobs for Pennsylvanians.

“It’s created another 7,200 jobs in construction for the eight casinos that are up and running right now,” he said. “It’s given millions and millions of dollars to the host communities that have the casinos within their boundaries.”

Regarding the latter, he cited the 200-300 employees at the Chester facility who are city residents and others from surrounding areas.

Fajt said the industry has been a tremendous boon to the horse-racing industry. With the increased purses coming from slot machine revenue, people have come to the state to both breed and race their horses here because the purses are higher, he said.

“So we think that gaming when properly regulated — and we have set that regulatory bar very high in Pennsylvania — we think it’s a win-win-win for our citizens.”

Gov. Rendell signed the bill legalizing casinos in July 2004. The state’s first casino at Mohegan Sun at Pocono Downs in Luzerne County opened Nov. 14, 2006, with harness racing.

Harrah’s Chester Casino has raked in a ton of cash since it opened in January 2007, although in recent months there have been declines in revenue.

For the fourth month in a row, the gross terminal revenue of the waterfront racetrack/casino on the former site of a shipyard is down. In May of this year, it declined 6 percent compared to May 2008, but so did that of two other casinos: Mount Airy Resort & Casino, which saw a 9.7 percent decrease, and Presque Isle Downs & Casino, where revenue was off 4.5 percent.

Revenue at Harrah’s Chester was down 2.47 percent in April compared to the same month last year. In March, Harrah’s took in 7.36 percent less revenue. In February, revenue dropped 1.89 percent.

Even so, slot machines in the state generated $178.4 million in May — a nearly 18 percent increase over revenue generated by gaming in May 2008.

The casino ranked third in gross terminal revenue this fiscal year to date among the eight current casinos with $301.4 million. Philadelphia Park in Bucks County had the most revenue with $335.5 million and The Meadows outside Pittsburgh finished second with $245 million.

The total gross terminal revenue for all casinos for the fiscal year to date is $1.6 billion, according to the latest PGCB figures through June 8.

In wagers received for the fiscal year to date, Philadelphia Park again topped the list with $4.7 billion, followed by Harrah’s Chester, $3.7 billion, and The Meadows, $2.9 billion.

The PGCB chairman said the casinos, like many other segments of the economy, haven’t escaped the effects of the recession.

“As with all businesses, the gaming business is not recession-proof,” Fajt said. “Gaming is entertainment for people and just as restaurant, cars, movie theaters feel the pinch when there’s a recession, so does the gaming industry.”

But the overall picture for Pennsylvania gaming is “a great picture” and revenues are up, he said.

“It’s happening the way we thought it would happen,” Fajt said. “We are taking money away from border states. People aren’t going to Atlantic City — they’re staying in Pennsylvania. They’re not going to New York, they’re staying in (Pennsylvania). They’re not going to West Virginia, they’re staying in western Pennsylvania.

“The governor when he was pitching this bill said there’s no reason for Pennsylvanians to fund education in New Jersey, or roads and bridges in West Virginia,” Fajt said.

“Let’s keep that money home; let’s use the money for property-tax relief — and that’s exactly what’s happening,” he said.

As the economy tightens, people don’t want to travel as far, instead of traveling to Atlantic City, he said.

With the opening last month of the Sands Casino in Bethlehem, Northampton County, and the proposed opening of the Sugar House and Foxwoods casinos in Philadelphia, there would be five casinos in the four-county region. When asked whether this would siphon customers away from Chester or vice-versa at the other locations, Fajt said the market will dictate whether there’s too many casinos in this area.

In these tight credit times, there are people out there lending money to these casinos, Fajt pointed out.

“And they are a lot smarter than you and I on the financial side of things,” he said. “They would not be lending money to build casinos if they didn’t think that there was a longtime prospect for casinos — especially in these tight times when credit is tough to come by.

“So the fact that the credit markets are saying they think that long-term gaming has a future in Pennsylvania, I think bodes well for the state,” Fajt said.

There is the possibility of the addition of table games at casinos in the future, he said.

House Majority Whip Bill DeWeese, D-50, of Greene County, is once again drafting legislation that would allow table games in Pennsylvania casinos. A spokesman for Rendell said the governor currently believes it is too soon to expand gaming beyond the slot machines.

However, Rendell has favored legalizing video poker machines in bars and clubs to fund tuition relief for students at state universities and colleges.

Fajt said there are “serious discussions” in Harrisburg on whether to add table games to Pennsylvania’s casinos.

“I think we’ll know the answer to that, whether that passes or not, before the Legislature breaks for the summer,” he said.

They are in budget negotiations now with a June 30 deadline, which usually extends beyond that, he said.

The Senate wants to pass a reform bill for the state gaming act, but the House on the other hand is pushing table games, said Fajt.

“I think it’s a 50-50 prospect right now,” he said.

The PGCB is “very happy” with where the Harrah’s facility is right now, in view of nearby competition such as Delaware Park, Fajt said.

“They are exceeding the numbers that they based their projections on,” he said. “They are exceeding the numbers that we based their projections on.

“So we think they are doing a great job here and it’s a first-class facility,” Fajt said.

Fajt, who was appointed to a three-year term that expires July 2011, earns a salary of $150,000 a year. Kevin O’Toole, of Harrisburg, oversees an agency of 275 employees and earns $180,000.

Philly Mural Honors Local Tuskegee Airmen

2009-06-14T23:26:00.002-04:00

Roger Terry, one of the original Tuskegee Airmen has died at the age of 87 in Los Angeles. He was one of 300 African-Americans who received the congressional gold medal in 1997 for World War Two service.

The news comes, coincidentally, as the city of Philadelphia's 3,000th mural was being dedicated on Sunday at 2pm in West Philadelphia - a tribute to the Tuskegee Airmen.

KYW's Karin Phillips reports the wall-sized mural is on 39th Street facing south toward Chestnut and, in a series of blues, greens, and browns, shows the African-American airmen performing their many tasks. A lot of it is three dimensional. Sixteen-year-old Melanie Johnson of the Girard Academic Music Program (right) especially liked working on that part of the project:

"It's like a plane coming out toward you and the propellers, we worked on that. And on the propellers (it) has different symbols that we think that they fought for. Like on the one that I worked on, there were chains and a lock and war tags and things."

Students from the Philadelphia School District, working with a muralist, researched the project and interviewed local Tuskegee Airmen, who's images are also displayed inside the Rotunda at 40th and Walnut Streets.

Seinfeld Comedy Contest Sponsored By Kimmel Center

2009-06-14T23:20:00.003-04:00

Story from the Daily Journal

The Kimmel Center for the Performing Arts, Broad and Spruce streets, Philadelphia, will host a standup comedy contest June 16 in the center’s Commonwealth Plaza to celebrate Jerry Seinfeld’s performances which are scheduled for June 19 and 20 at the Academy of Music in Philadelphia.

Contestants may sign up at 5:15 p.m., and the contest will be held from 6 to 7:15 p.m. The first 75 people to sign up will take the stage to perform one minute of their favorite Seinfeld bit for the chance to win a prize.

Participants will be judged on dress, delivery, comedic timing and choice of material.

Contest will also award prizes for winners of: Seinfeld trivia and best character lookalike.

Prizes include: First, four tickets to see Seinfeld at the Academy of Music and a $200 gift card for Ruth’s Chris Steakhouse; second, four tickets and a $50 gift card to Helium Comedy Club; third, intern at Kramerica Industries; and fourth two tickets to “Spring Awakening” at the Academy of Music June 23.

For contest information, visit http://www.kimmelcenter.org/mail/yadayada.html.

For tickets to Seinfeld’s performances, call (215) 893-1999 or visit
www.kimmelcenter.org.

Letterkenny Projects Could Receive Stimulus Money

2009-04-01T16:17:00.002-04:00

Story Posted at PublicOpinionOnline

GREENE TOWNSHIP -- Federal economic stimulus money could add nearly $5 million to a list of projects already under way at Letterkenny Army Depot.

Prior to the passage of the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act, five construction projects worth more than $40 million were moving along at Letterkenny -- everything from a missile electronics shop to a child care center.

The arrival of stimulus checks would fund six additional projects -- more office space at the vehicle shop, improvements to a missile shop, better handling of hazardous waste, three houses, improvements to two existing homes and an industrial wastewater line.

"We've had projects before, but never this many at one time," said Glenn Trego, deputy director of Letterkenny public works. "It hasn't been this busy since I've been here. I started here in 1981."

Most of the projects are to be under way this year, all within two years.

Rodney Gettig, director of Letterkenny's public works, is not worried about finding enough contractors.

"That won't be a problem," Gettig said. "We have several contractors that work for us."

The stimulus funding has moved quickly, he said. Just a couple of days after the bill was signed, Letterkenny was asked to submit projects within a day. Gettig drew from a list of priority projects ready to go.

Less than three weeks later, U.S. Sens. Arlen Specter, R-Philadelphia, and Robert Casey, D-Scranton, announced some of the projects for Letterkenny.

Their list did not include three projects on the list that Gettig submitted.

The Army tells him stimulus money will be coming to pay for all of them:

- $749,000 to add a second floor to the main administrative space at Building 350. The construction should move offices out of the production area.

- $749,000 to alter a missile maintenance shop.

- $200,000 to repair the bathrooms and install new furnaces at the commander's home and the sergeant major's home.

Specter and Casey announced $3 million for three stimulus projects:

- $1 million to build three houses for military personnel.

- $1.25 million for sewer line from the generator shop (Building 37) to the industrial wastewater treatment plant at the other end of the industrial area. The contract is to be awarded in August. Letterkenny stopped using the existing 37-year-old pipe when it was found to be leaking, according to Letterkenny Deputy Commander John Gray. When parts currently are steam-cleaned, the water drains to a 20,000-gallon vat. The vat is pumped into a truck that hauls the water to the treatment plant.

- $749,000 to expand and enclose a hazardous waste staging area. The construction would free up space in Building 350 where hazardous materials are stored temporarily, Gettig said. The hazardous waste includes paint chips, old solvents, solvent-coated rags and leftover paint.

"I don't have any of (the stimulus money) yet," Gettig said. "All I know is what I asked for."

Here are depot projects already in the works and funded through sources other than the economic stimulus package:

- Lobar Construction, Dillsburg, won the $11.4 million contract in February to construct an Army Reserve Center. Site work has started on the project costing a total of $15 million. Completion: June 2010.

- A design contract was awarded in February to put wider doorways on ammunition igloos. The construction contract for the $7.5 million is to be awarded in September. Completion: October 2010.

- A $10.5 million theater readiness facility is under construction. Patriot missile electronics will be tested there in October. More than 100 people are to work there in September 2011. The mission transferred to Letterkenny as a result of base realignment in 2005.

- A $4.9 million Child Development Center has funding approval from the Army and Congress. The center on Georgia Avenue could care for 144 children of depot employees.

- Improvements to the industrial wastewater plant costing $2.75 million would bring the depot into compliance with environmental regulations. The design/build contract was awarded in September, Gray said. The contractor is testing biological treatments before starting construction in late spring. In November 2006 Letterkenny's industrial discharge water violated accepted levels for suspended solids and oxygen depletion. Within two months, Letterkenny and the Pennsylvania Department of Transportation had developed a plan to correct the problem.

Landmark Cherry Hill Mall Receives Face-Lift

2009-03-23T17:50:00.003-04:00

Original Article at Courier Post

Cherry Hill Mall, the oldest enclosed shopping center east of the Mississippi, is poised to show off a glamorous $218 million makeover.

The 48-year-old mall has undergone a cosmetic face- lift, as in marble corridors, wood-wrapped columns and leather seating groups, as well as voluptuous enhancements, as in a wildly anticipated Nordstrom and a bistro row of restaurants.

"We think the work we've done at Cherry Hill will make it a trophy property," said Joseph Coradino, president of services for Pennsylvania Investment Trust (PREIT), owner of the iconic shopping center.

In a challenging retail climate, the project is the most expensive and expansive mall redevelopment PREIT has taken on. Coradino said the upgrade was necessary in order to maintain Cherry Hill's status as South Jersey's marquee mall.

"The pieces of the mall were solid but time had passed it by," he said. "It was dreary, run-down and utilitarian."

Nathan Isbee, an analyst who covers PREIT for Baltimore-based Stifel Nicolaus, said Cherry Hill has built a powerful customer base over decades.

"Even before the redevelopment, it was the best mall in PREIT's portfolio," he said. "Most of the dominant malls in any market are older malls that have evolved."

The key component of Cherry Hill's transformation is the opening of a 138,000-square-foot Nordstrom on Friday. Nordstrom will anchor the two-level, 144,000-square-foot Grand Court with a soaring atrium, skylights and an opulent mosaic floor in a cherry blossom motif.

Retailers will include a 12,000-square-foot Urban Outfitters, to debut in July, as well as J. Crew, expected to launch in April. Coach, the Gap, Steve Madden, American Eagle and Johnston & Murphy will expand their existing stores and relocate to the wing.

There are a few nips and tucks, as well. The food court, relocated to the JCPenney wing, is leaner, down to 10 planned eateries from 13.

To enhance customer service, mall managers have cross-trained security personnel to double as ambassadors of goodwill, Coradino said, "giving directions, helping customers carry packages to their cars."

Governor Rendell: Philadelphia Needs To Get Its Casinos Going

2009-03-17T11:28:00.003-04:00

From KYW News Radio 1060

As the fight over Philadelphia’s casinos drags on, Pennsylvania governor Ed Rendell is warning that he would have to “weigh heavily” any legislation that would cut off Philadelphia’s share of tax relief funded by slots revenue.

Rendell prefaced his remarks on Monday by saying that he took a vow after leaving office as mayor of Philadelphia not to comment -– either negatively or even too positively -– about goings-on in the city.

But he admits he’s disappointed at Philadelphia’s two casino projects’ failure to launch:

“And if the legislature came to me with legislation saying, ‘Philadelphia’s not cooperating, they’re not participating, they’re dragging their feet, and we’ve all done our bit -– the counties and municipalities are all up and running –- why should Philadelphia get any of the tax relief?’ I would have to weigh that heavily.”

The governor says he would not simply veto such legislation just because of his ties to Philadelphia, although he adds he’s hopeful that there will be action soon to break the logjam over the city’s slots venues.

Invest in the kitchen to survive a troubled economy

2009-01-08T10:13:00.005-05:00

Original post by: The Courier Press

Wondering where to invest your money in a shaky economy? The answer could be as close as your kitchen.

Remodeling the kitchen means more than new cabinets - it can enhance the value of your home. But like most investments, there are tips to follow and traps to avoid. The key to a successful kitchen remodel, experts say, is planning. An effective way to improve the value of your home is to invest in Hamilton Beach Appliances. Hamilton Beach is a trusted name in kitchen appliances and they are always developing new and improved Hamilton Beach Kitchen Appliances.

"I can't emphasize enough on the planning of the kitchen project. The better the planning of the project, the less issues and delays you will run into during construction," says Johnny Chao, a certified kitchen designer in Tustin, Calif.

The first step is to hire an interior designer or certified kitchen designer - without them, mistakes can be costly.

"I've seen million-dollar homes where you can't open the refrigerator door all the way because it bumps into the kitchen island," says Louise Farrar-Wegener, principal owner of Tigard, Ore.-based Z-3 Design Studio. "Or the dishwasher is not placed correctly, so you can't stand comfortably and load and unload it."

Not only can an interior designer help you avoid such pitfalls, they can also help you plan your budget. If you live in a Charlotte Condo, then you should also consider upgrading your kitchen.

"People need to be careful to not over-invest in a kitchen or they will never recoup the investment," Chao says. "The average amount to spend in a kitchen remodel is between 12 percent to 18 percent of the value of the house. If you spend more than 18 percent of the value of the house, your investment return begins to diminish. If you go below 12 percent, you will begin to lose value of the kitchen due to inferior workmanship or product." In order to combat this, invest in Kitchen Design and for the bathroom, Bathroom Design. Aslo make sure your bathroom is a safe bathroom with Bath Safety Products.

When considering a contractor, seek recommendations from friends or designers. Contact the contractor's clients and ask how well they liked the contractor's work.

Another planning tip: Check out magazines and Web sites for appealing kitchen designs, then hop in the car.

"To really feel the quality of the product, visit a showroom and physically touch the product," Chao suggests. Improving the value of your home can be as easy as investing in Organic Lawn Care of Natural Lawn Care.

When it comes to cabinets, Farrar-Wegener says, "the long-lasting trend is wood cabinetry, specifically maple and cherry woods, but we are seeing birch and beach becoming popular. The big thing with cabinetry is to get the best you can afford. And be sure the style is appropriate with the architecture of the house. If you've got a limited budget, there's some very nice laminate cabinetry coming on the market now, such as Wood Mode and Canyon Creek."

"When looking for cabinetry that has a strong resale value, make sure you select a 'neutral' wood and color," Chao suggests. "Maple, alder and cherry are popular wood species. Neutral-tone finishes are safe, like linen to dark mocha. People need to be able to imagine themselves using the kitchen. Special colors and finishes may not work with most people."

And as kitchen appliances go, Farrar-Wegener says, bigger is not necessarily better.

"Do you really need a six-burner stove?" Farrar-Wegener asks. "Unless you're cooking for 14 people or [you're] a budding cookbook author, most people don't need those kind of things."

Farrar-Wegener suggests Energy Star appliances, as well as induction cooktops for your stove, which are more efficient than electricity or gas.

"Another thing people might want to consider is having a water filtration system installed at the sink rather than having water delivered," she says. "It's less costly and much friendlier to the planet in the long run."

"I strongly encourage clients to test the new appliance that they are interested in," Chao says. "Almost all 'pro' style appliance dealers will offer free demonstration or classes. The other good source is Consumer Reports. Good, quality appliances will always be on the top of the list and it's a good indication of the longevity of the machine."

For countertops, Chao suggests the homeowner ask him/herself what is more important: maintenance or look? Granite benefits from the beauty of natural stone, as well as being resistant to scratches, heat and impacts. The drawback is care and maintenance, as all stone products need to be sealed.

Quartz countertops, on the other hand, do not have to be sealed and some combinations, like Silestone and Caesarstone, are just as resilient as granite, but without granite's natural look. Recycled glass countertops are also becoming more popular, Farrar-Wegener says.

Keep in mind, Chao says, that "trends come and go, and it's best not to design the kitchen following a trend if you are planning to sell the house later."

Perhaps the best reason to go ahead with a kitchen remodel, if you have the funds, is that it can be more costly to wait.

"Prices of materials and appliances are going to go up, not down," Farrar-Wegener says. "Suppliers have a lot of inventory they are trying to move, so there's a lot of deals to be had, especially with appliances. The real estate market is going to turn around. It is going to come back. Why not put that money in your home, where you know you are going to get it back? Who knows what the stock market is going to continue to do?"

RIDC plays big part in economic development

2008-12-18T16:54:00.004-05:00

As posted by: Pittsburgh Live

Donald F. Smith is joining a regional economic development corporation as president, but that doesn't mean he'll disconnect completely from the two universities where he's been director of economic development since 2002.

Smith is leaving the joint post he held for the University of Pittsburgh and Carnegie Mellon University to become president of the Regional Industrial Development Corp. of Southwestern Pennsylvania sometime in January.

Still, Smith likely will continue to deal with Pitt, CMU and other schools that foster development of spinoff companies.

The RIDC historically has played a key role in development of some of the commercial buildings that served the needs of the universities themselves as well as firms developed by students and faculty, and outside companies looking to move close to the schools.

For example, the corporation partnered with CMU on buildings including the Software Engineering Institute in Oakland and the Collaborative Innovation Center on the school's campus.

Smith played a role in development of the innovation center, the only building in the world with Intel, Apple and Google employees under one roof.

"I believe that the RIDC can still be a resource for the universities," Smith said.

With the universities attracting more than $1 billion a year in research dollars and helping to spawn spinoff companies, officials have estimated that more than 1 million square feet will be needed to house such firms over the next 10 years.

That's one of the reasons why the city's Urban Redevelopment Authority announced plans to develop up to nine buildings at the Pittsburgh Technology Center in South Oakland.

The RIDC has considered building an addition to its 2000 Technology Drive building at the Pittsburgh Technology Center, where Cleveland developer Ferchill Group's $46 million Bridgeside Point II is under construction.

And the RIDC is general partner in Almono LP, a nonprofit partnership of four local foundations that teamed in 2002 to buy the 178-acre former LTV Steel site in Hazelwood. A $400 million development that could create 2,400 jobs and include housing, commercial space, community amenities and green space is planned there.

One of Smith's tasks will be to help choose a master developer for that property, which could be a location for companies looking to move close to the Oakland universities.

The Pittsburgh Zoning Board of Adjustment on Thursday will review plans to put nine parking spaces on a lot at 44th and Calvin streets in Lawrenceville for The University of Pittsburgh Medical Center's Children's Hospital. The board will review Atallah Khali's request to put 10 parking stalls at the rear of a three-story, 12-unit apartment at 343 McKee Place, Oakland. Brandy Mangham will seek approval for a child care center for up to 12 children at 52 Grape St., 30th Ward. Pennsylvania American Water wants to use 640 square feet in a one-story building at 317 Knox Ave., Knoxville, for chemical storage abutting its existing pump station.

Construction activity for the year in Pittsburgh reached $891 million through October; 201 permits valued at $102 million were issued, the Bureau of Building Inspection said. The largest permit was $30 million for a six-story parking garage at Bakery Square, 6425 Penn Ave., East Liberty. Although permits for only four single-family houses were issued, they brought the totals for the year to 157, compared to 67 for all of 2007.

The Green Building Alliance and its executive director, Rebecca Flora, will review the latest local and national green building initiatives at the alliance's annual meeting at 7:30 p.m. Wednesday at the Regional Enterprise Tower, 425 Sixth Ave., Downtown.

A Rite Aid pharmacy has opened at 7345 Saltsburg Road, Penn Hills. It has more than 11,000 square feet. The company plans to open about 85 stores nationwide this fiscal year.

A sales center has opened for the 28-unit Residences condominiums at Three PNC Plaza, Downtown. Howard Hanna Real Estate Services operates the center and said three of the units have been sold.

Daniel Friedson, along with artists, law students and volunteers, has opened an arts and entertainment incubator in the former PNC Bank office at 6000 Penn Ave., East Liberty. Friedson, who runs the Community Economic Development Clinic at the University of Pittsburgh School of Law, said most activities are offered on Saturdays. The incubator offers low-cost facilities and space for performing artists.

Urban Homesteaders in Allegheny County will receive a $94,710 agriculture planning grant from Commonwealth Financing Authority for the Blackberry Meadows Farm Commercial Kitchen/Farmers Market in Fawn Township. The Pittsburgh History and Landmarks Foundation will receive an $83,000 agriculture planning grant for the Farmers' Markets in Washington and Westmoreland counties.

One of Bernardo Katz's former properties in Beechview has been sold. S&T Bank foreclosed on, then acquired, in June 1550-54 Beechview Ave. Clement M. Okoye purchased it for $180,000, according to a deed filed in Allegheny County. The property includes a one-story bank building, three-story mercantile apartment building and one-story mercantile building.

A community shopping center at 560 Route 51, Pleasant Hills, has been sold to Progress CL LLC, in care of Superior Realty Group of Brooklyn, N.Y., for $3.75 million, according a deed filed in Allegheny County. Robert I. Glimcher of Glimcher Venture Holdings Inc. was the seller; Goldy Rabinowitz signed for Progress, part of Highfield Two Associates LLC.

Mall Vacancies Grow as Retailers Pack Up Shop

2008-10-13T10:40:00.002-04:00

Shopping Venues See Uninhabited Rate Reach 8%, But Not All Is Bad in Commercial Sector as Apartment Rents Rise

Vacancy rates at U.S. malls and shopping centers continued their steep rise in the third quarter as slumping sales forced retailers to close stores.

Malls are seeing their highest vacancy rate since 2001, according to data released by real-estate-research firm Reis Inc. For shopping centers, the rate is the highest since 1994.

In contrast, the apartment market, particularly Philadelphia apartments, remained one of the most healthy real-estate markets in the third quarter, benefiting from the struggling home-sales market. Many would-be buyers, unable to get mortgages or worried about the darkening economy, are renting apartments instead.

In the top 79 U.S. markets, apartments posted a slight increase in the vacancy rate to 6.1%, up from 6% from the previous quarter, and a rise in rents of roughly half a percentage point, according to Reis.

Shopping centers and apartment buildings fall in the category of commercial real estate, which has fared better in the credit crisis than residential. Until recently, most commercial landlords had struggled with the financing drought, but the so-called "fundamentals" of their properties -- vacancy rate, rent and expenses -- remained healthy.

Now that is changing. In the retail sector, vacancy rates have climbed and rent increases have slowed for the past year. The vacancy rate at malls in the top 76 U.S. markets rose to 6.6% in the third quarter, up from 6.3% in the previous quarter, to its highest level since late 2001, according to Reis.

For strip centers and other open-air shopping venues, the vacancy rate climbed to 8.4% in the third quarter from 8.1% in the second quarter. That marks the highest rate since 1994, according to Reis. Meanwhile, retailers' closures outpaced new leases by 2.8 million square feet in U.S. strip centers in the third quarter, the third consecutive quarterly net decline. It is the first nine-month period of so-called negative net absorption since Reis started tracking the data in 1980.

The combined vacancy rate for malls and strip centers in the third quarter was 8%, up from 7.8% in the second quarter. Vacancy tends to be higher in strip centers during economic slowdowns because they have more independent, local tenants, which are more vulnerable to drops in sales than are the national retailers found in malls.

Still, the economic slump has taken its toll on national retailers. Among those that have closed stores in recent months are Starbucks Corp., Dillard's Inc. and Linens 'n Things Inc. More closures likely are on tap, as retailers such as Circuit City Stores Inc. struggle with dwindling sales.

"Almost every retailer has slowed their expansion by 50% to 70% for 2008," said David Brinbrey, chairman and chief executive of the Shopping Center Group, an Atlanta retail brokerage.

Retail landlords are hurt directly by slumping sales because many of them have leases that, in addition to base rent, give them a small portion of payments based on the tenant's sales growth. And retailers feeling the pinch from the shopping slowdown increasingly are asking for rent concessions.

Landlords have little choice but to give breaks to solid tenants. "Chances are, if they're a good merchant, we're going to work with them to get them through this bad time. There's no reason to have an empty space," said Rick Caruso, chief executive of Caruso Affiliated, which owns 10 high-end shopping centers in Southern California.

Sam Chandan, Reis's chief economist, noted that the growing weakness of retailers can be seen in the decline of retail jobs, which have fallen by more than 250,000 nationally in the past year. "Apart from declines in automobile dealers and parts sellers, the last month's declines are broad-based, including department stores, food and beverage retailers, furniture, and electronic and appliance stores," Mr. Chandan said.In the apartment sector, the vacancy increase has been more gradual. But the scarcity of job opportunities for recent college graduates has sapped a primary customer base for apartments, analysts say. And some people who are losing their jobs are moving in with family and friends.

Some foresee rent increases stalling or declining in the coming months as other economic indicators sour. "As unemployment rises, it will be harder for these [apartment] companies to push rent in terms of renewals and new leases," said Michelle Ko, an analyst with UBS Securities LLC.

Analysts report strong apartment occupancy and rent growth in markets including San Francisco, Boston, San Diego and the Pacific Northwest. Rents and occupancy have suffered in boom-bust markets such as Phoenix and Orlando, Fla. But some previously strong apartment markets, namely New York and Charlotte, N.C., might suffer from the loss of financial jobs amid the banking shakeout.

By: Kris Hudson
Wall Street Journal; October 6, 2008

Philadelphia's Commercial and Apartment Rental Markets Red Hot

2008-10-08T12:37:00.004-04:00

The Lofts at Logan View pictured to the left. One of Center City Philadelphia's most popular residential addresses.

Philadelphia's commercial real-estate and apartment leasing market is holding steady in the midst of the growing economic carnage. Philadelphia's office market, more than the suburbs', has benefited from a steady growth mixed with very little supply.
Historic Landmarks reports that their Philadelphia Apartments have one of the lowest vacancy rates in years. Apartment, retail and warehouse vacancies are at or below averages for the 54 major metro areas as recently audited and surveyed by Real Capital Analytics, a New York-based research firm.
To be sure, the geographic proximity of the region to the crisis on Wall Street -- with Philadelphia about two hours south of Manhattan, give or take -- is a concern among some Philly area's real-estate professionals. As with most markets globally, sales of retail and apartment buildings have slowed since the credit crunch began in the summer of 2007, however the market for Philadelphia apartments remains red hot.

The Philadelphia metro area, home to about 5.1 million people, saw continued growth in its education and health-services sector. And so far overall job growth has remained in the positive territory as of July compared with the year-earlier period, albeit just barely at 0.1%, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics.

For now, the new luxury lofts and urban condo style apartments offered by Historic Landmarks are at or near capacity with many waiting lists forming. Historic Landmarks has medical student apartments and grad student apartments in some of Philadelphia's most in-demand neighborhoods. Historic offers lofts and Center City apartments, Parkway apartments, University City apartments and Old City apartments.

Many Philadelphia apartment brokers have been asking for rents in the Manhattan-esque $40-per-square-foot range which still seems a little too rich for the City of Brotherly Love.
Historic landmarks apartment buildings and historic building renovation and preservation projects remain true to the city's past architectural leanings and Philadelphia's great historical past. Demand is high for urban living in luxury lofts and upscale Philadelphia apartments.

To Tour any of our Philadelphia apartments and historic buildings in downtown Philadelphia call: 877-563-6754.

City's Property Market, at Least, Defies Curse

2008-10-08T12:33:00.002-04:00

Some sports fans in Philadelphia feel their teams are victim of a real-estate curse.

That is because none of the city's major professional teams -- the Phillies, Flyers, Eagles and 76ers -- have won a championship since before 1987, when Malvern, Pa.-based Liberty Property Trust's One Liberty Place rose above a statue of William Penn that tops City Hall. Mr. Penn's hat previously set the bar for the city's skyline.

The American Commerce Center, shown in renderings, would change the look of Philadelphia's skyline.

Fortunately, Mr. Penn doesn't seem to have focused his chagrin on the real-estate market.

So far the Philadelphia area's commercial real-estate leasing market has held steady in the midst of the growing economic carnage. The city's office market, more than the suburbs', has benefited from "steady, unspectacular growth married with little supply," says John Gattuso, senior vice president and regional director of Liberty's urban development group.

While the metropolitan area's office vacancies rose to 14.5% in the second quarter (and rents are expected to decline slightly in the second half of the year), they are still below the national average of 15.6%, according to Boston-based Property & Portfolio Research, a real-estate research firm. Apartment, retail and warehouse vacancies rose in the second quarter but held at or below averages for the 54 major metro areas surveyed by PPR, while rents were still rising in all but the retail sector.

To be sure, the geographic proximity of the region to the crisis on Wall Street -- with Philadelphia about two hours south of Manhattan, give or take -- is a concern among the area's real-estate professionals. As with most markets globally, sales of office, retail and apartment buildings have slowed since the credit crunch began in the summer of 2007, although sales of office buildings valued at $5 million or more this year through August fell just 14% compared with last year's period. That is better than a 77% drop nationwide over the period, according to Real Capital Analytics, a New York-based research firm.

The Philadelphia metro area, home to about 5.1 million people, saw continued growth in its education and health-services sector. And so far overall job growth has remained in the positive territory as of July compared with the year-earlier period, albeit just barely at 0.1%, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics.

For now, the new 975-foot-tall glass-encased Comcast Center tower that officially opened this year seems to reflect the market's strengths. Designed by Robert A.M. Stern Architects, the building has created a buzz with a 25-foot tall high-definition video screen in its lobby.

The building also has leased all of its roughly 1.2 million square feet of office space, much of it as the new headquarters of cable giant Comcast Corp., says Liberty Property's Mr. Gattuso. It has also done so despite skepticism early on from some brokers who said asking rents in the $40-per-square-foot range were too rich for the City of Brotherly Love, Mr. Gattuso said.

That success may be encouraging other developers. One project planned near the Comcast Center is the American Commerce Center. If built, it would rise about 1,500 feet high and include office, hotel and retail space, according to Peter Kelsen, an attorney for Philadelphia-based Hill International Real Estate Partners LP, which is developing the project.

Citing Hill's joint-venture relationship with a large pension fund, Mr. Kelsen said he's confident the group will have the financing. Developers also need some preleasing commitments and for the city to remove a height limit on the property, he says.

The scale is just one of the project's striking elements. New York firm Kohn Pedersen Fox Associates' design includes a glass facade and futuristic-looking cutouts as well as a lower section that abuts a higher tower that together look something like a chair. "It's not going to be very colonial," Mr. Kelsen says, referencing the city's past architectural leanings.

There's even hope that the tall-building curse may soon vanish. The new Comcast Center gave a nod to Mr. Penn by welding a small statue of the city's founder to one of its beams.

By: Maura Webber Sadovi
Wall Street Journal; September 24, 2008

Renting Makes More Financial Sense Than Homeownership

2008-09-29T13:23:00.002-04:00

I have something un-American to confess: I rent an apartment, despite having enough money to buy a house. I plan to keep renting for as long as I can. I'm not just holding out for better prices. Renting will make me richer.

I normally write about stocks for SmartMoney.com, but the boss asked me to explain to readers my reason for renting. Here goes: Businesses are great investments while houses are poor ones, so I'd rather rent the latter and own the former.

Stocks vs. Houses: Returns

Shares of businesses return 7% a year over long time periods. I'm subtracting for inflation, gradual price increases for everything from a can of beer to an ear exam. (After-inflation or "real" returns are the only ones that matter. The point of increasing wealth is to increase buying power, not numbers on an account statement.) Shares have been remarkably consistent over the past two centuries in their 7% real returns. In Jeremy Siegel's book, "Stocks for the Long Term," he finds that real returns averaged 7.0% over nearly seven decades ending 1870, then 6.6% through 1925 and then 6.9% through 2004.

The average real return for houses over long time periods might surprise you. It's zero.

Shares return 7% a year after inflation because that's how fast companies tend to increase their profits. Houses have their own version of profits: rents. Tenant-occupied houses generate actual rents while owner-occupied houses generate ones that are implied but no less real: the rents their owners don't have to pay each year. House prices and rents have been closely linked throughout history, with both increasing at the rate of inflation, or about 3% a year since 1900. A house, after all, is an ordinary good. It can't think up ways to drive profits like a company's managers can. Absent artificial boosts to demand, house prices will increase at the rate of inflation over long time periods for a real return of zero.

Robert Shiller, a Yale economist and author of "Irrational Exuberance," which predicted the stock price collapse in 2000, has recently turned his eye to house prices. Between 1890 and 2004 he finds that real house returns would've been zero if not for two brief periods: one immediately following World War II and another since about 2000. (More on them in a moment.) Even if we include these periods houses returned just 0.4% a year, he says.

The average pundit, planner, lender or broker making the case for ownership doesn't look at returns since 1890. Sometimes they reduce the matter to maxims about "building equity" and "paying yourself" instead of "throwing money down the drain." If they do look at returns they focus on recent ones. Those tell a different story.

Between World War II and 2000 house prices beat inflation by about two percentage points a year. (Stocks during that time beat inflation by their usual seven percentage points a year.) Since 2000 houses have outpaced inflation by six percentage points a year. (Stocks have merely matched inflation.)

Stocks vs. Houses: Valuations

But while stock returns have come from increased earnings, house returns have come from ballooning valuations, not increased rents. The ratio of share prices to company earnings (the price/earnings ratio) has remained relatively steady. It's about 16 today, close to both its 1940 value of 17 and to its 130-year average of about 15. Not so, the ratio of house prices to rents. In 1940 the median single-family house price was $2,938, according to the U.S. Census, while the median rent was $27 a month, including utilities. That means the ratio of prices to annual rents was 9. By 2000 the ratio had swelled to 17. In 2005 it hit 20. We can adjust for the size of dwellings, but it doesn't make much difference. The ratio of single-family house prices to three-bedroom apartments is 19. In SmartMoney.com's home town of Manhattan, where more detailed data is available, the ratio of condo prices per square foot to apartment rents per square foot is 22.

Two main events have caused house valuations to inflate since World War II. First, the government subsidized housing by relaxing borrowing standards. Prior to the creation of the Federal Housing Authority in 1934 house buyers who borrowed typically put up 40% of the purchase price in cash for a five- to 15-year loan. By insuring mortgages, the FHA permitted terms of up to 20 years and down payments of just 20%. It later expanded the repayment periods to 30 years and reduced down payments to 5%. Today down payments for FHA loans are as low as 3%. Aggressive lenders offer loans with no down payments or even negative ones so that house buyers can borrow the full purchase price plus closing costs. Some require little documentation of income, assets or ability to pay.

That means more Americans can win loans for homes, and they can win them for far more expensive (larger) homes than their incomes previously allowed. Two-thirds of American households own homes today, up from 44% in 1940, even though the percentage of Americans living alone has tripled during that time. The ratio of house values to incomes has risen 260% in just under four decades.

A second event helped boost house demand in recent years. Share prices plunged in 2000. The Federal Reserve, fearing that the decline in stock wealth would cause consumers to stop spending, reduced the federal-funds rate, the core interest rate that determines the cost of everything from credit cards to mortgages, to 1% by the summer of 2003 from 6.5% at the start of 2001. Since most of the cost of financing a house over 30 years is interest, monthly house payments shrank and demand for houses soared. In some markets a string of big yearly increases in house prices led to panic buying.

Stocks vs. Houses: Conclusion

For house returns over the next 20 years to match those over the past 20, the government and private lenders would have to "up the ante" by relaxing borrowing standards further. Given the recent attention paid to swelling foreclosures, that seems unlikely. I suspect real returns will turn negative over most of the next two decades, but that house prices won't necessarily dip. Since 1963 they've done so in only two years, vs. 18 for stocks. That's because homeowners mostly just stick it out rather than sell during soft markets. But if house prices remain flat, they produce negative real returns due to the creep of inflation. According to calculations made by The Economist in the summer of 2005, house prices would have to stay flat for 12 years with annual inflation at 2.5% for the ratio of prices to rents to fall from its 2005 perch to merely its 1975 to 2000 average.

So to sum up why I rent: Shares right now cost 16 times earnings and over long time periods return 7% a year after inflation. Houses right now cost 19 times their "earnings" and over long time periods return zero after inflation. And they look likely to return less than that for a while.

On the following page I've tried to anticipate and address questions and objections.

Questions/Objections
"You can't live in your stocks" or "Renters throw money down the drain."

Rent is the cost of owning shares with money you would otherwise spend on a house. Houses have ownership costs, too: taxes, insurance and maintenance. Rent costs about 5% of house prices each year if we apply the price/rent ratio of 19. House incidentals often cost around 2%. If you have $300,000 and a choice between spending it on a house or shares, you'll pay $6,000 a year in incidentals if you buy the house or about $15,000 a year ($1,250 a month) in rent if you buy the shares. But the shares will return $21,000 a year after inflation while the house will return zero. (My numbers work out even better than these. I pay a smidgen less than $1,250 a month for rent, while house prices in my neighborhood are far higher than $300,000.)

Note that houses and shares have transaction costs, too. Home buyers pay around 1% in closing costs when they buy and 6% in broker commissions when they sell. Share buyers pay $10 trading commissions, which are negligible for buy-and-hold investors.

"House buyers get tax breaks."

So do share buyers, but both are a bad deal. The interest on loans for houses (mortgages) and shares (margin balances) is tax-deductible. But the rates are almost always too high. A big house loan presently costs 6.1% interest while a big stock loan costs about 9%. For the returns, we can forget about inflation because it helps debtors while hurting investors, making it a wash for those who borrow to invest. Still, nominal returns of 3% for houses and 10% for stocks aren't high enough to justify those rates. The tax breaks aren't really breaks at all. Moreover, a majority of homeowners don't claim them. Their incomes are low enough to make the standard deduction a better deal.

"What about the pride of home ownership?"

It's not for me. I define ownership as no longer having to pay for something and being able to do as I please with it. I own my coffee maker. House owners must pay taxes each year even when their mortgage payments are done. In certain markets they can't even make changes to the houses they've paid for without seeking the approval of others. Personally, I feel the pride of ownership for shares of businesses, and I'm proud to occupy a nice place while leaving the burden of poor returns and maintenance to someone else.

"You seem to knock government housing subsidies, but they've helped many Americans afford homes."

My inner socialist agrees. My other inner socialist worries that the government has effectively raised prices to the point where the middle class can't afford houses, or buries itself in debt to own them. My inner capitalist is too busy watching shares to care about house prices. My inner conspiracy theorist notes that while politicians tout the social benefits of homeownership none mentions its tax benefits to the government. I pay no taxes on the overall value of my stock portfolio, just on my cashed-in gains and collected dividends. But Americans pay taxes on the full $11 trillion worth of housing they own plus the $10 trillion worth of it they're still paying off.

"Houses are bigger than apartments."

True, and both can be rented. A third of renters live in single-family houses. I prefer an apartment for now. I like not having to fill it with stuff. I like using a fifth of the energy of the average American. I like being 20 minutes from work and (this is unique to New Yorkers) not having owned a car in 10 years. I like not stressing over whether to get the marble countertops or the imported tiles or the 52-inch flat screen. I'm not especially frugal; I spend a teacher's salary each year on restaurants and travel. But I guess I'm too busy or lazy right now to bother with a big house and its innards.

"Are you saying I should sell my big house and rent an apartment instead?"

No, unless you have more space than you need and moving wouldn't be disruptive to your family, and you want to cash in on recent housing gains, make more money over the next couple of decades, use less energy while simplifying your life, and you don't mind seeming odd to friends. In which case, yes. But really, I'm not trying to win anyone over. Strong demand for houses keeps my rent cheap.

"Renting is for poor people."

True. But it's for rich people, too. The average renter makes about $34,000 a year, but while the percentage of renters declines after incomes exceed $20,000 and rents exceed $600 a month, it jumps again once incomes top $150,000 and rents top $1,200 a month. In other words, poor people rent modest apartments for lack of choice. Middle-income people buy houses. High-income people, presumably with a dose of financial savvy, often rent nice apartments instead of buying.

"You say houses return zero. But I've made a fortune on my house in recent years."

I'm referring to inflation-adjusted returns over long time periods, absent external boosts to demand. You're referring to gross returns over a short time period that combined lax borrowing standards and ultra-low interest rates. Over the next 20 years I believe houses will return zero or slightly less after inflation and that stocks will return 7%.

"So you're never going to buy a house? What about raising a family?"

I might buy one eventually, but the longer I can put it off the more I'll get out of the shares I'll have to sell to afford it. I'm 34 now with a fiancée and a fish. I'm going to try to rent for at least 10 more years. If I have kids I'll probably move into a big apartment or a house once they reach running-around age. I'll rent, most likely.

By: Jack Hough
Yahoo! Real Estate; September 26th, 2008

City's Property Market, at Least, Defies Curse

2008-09-29T13:18:00.002-04:00

Some sports fans in Philadelphia feel their teams are victim of a real-estate curse.

That is because none of the city's major professional teams -- the Phillies, Flyers, Eagles and 76ers -- have won a championship since before 1987, when Malvern, Pa.-based Liberty Property Trust's One Liberty Place rose above a statue of William Penn that tops City Hall. Mr. Penn's hat previously set the bar for the city's skyline.

The American Commerce Center, shown in renderings, would change the look of Philadelphia's skyline.

Fortunately, Mr. Penn doesn't seem to have focused his chagrin on the real-estate market.

So far the Philadelphia area's commercial real-estate leasing market, particularly Center City Philadelphia apartments, have held steady in the midst of the growing economic carnage. The city's office market, more than the suburbs', has benefited from "steady, unspectacular growth married with little supply," says John Gattuso, senior vice president and regional director of Liberty's urban development group.

While the metropolitan area's office vacancies rose to 14.5% in the second quarter (and rents are expected to decline slightly in the second half of the year), they are still below the national average of 15.6%, according to Boston-based Property & Portfolio Research, a real-estate research firm. University City Apartments, retail and warehouse vacancies rose in the second quarter but held at or below averages for the 54 major metro areas surveyed by PPR, while rents were still rising in all but the retail sector.

To be sure, the geographic proximity of the region to the crisis on Wall Street -- with Philadelphia about two hours south of Manhattan, give or take -- is a concern among the area's real-estate professionals. As with most markets globally, sales of office, retail and apartment buildings have slowed since the credit crunch began in the summer of 2007, although sales of office buildings valued at $5 million or more this year through August fell just 14% compared with last year's period. That is better than a 77% drop nationwide over the period, according to Real Capital Analytics, a New York-based research firm.

The Philadelphia metro area, home to about 5.1 million people, saw continued growth in its education and health-services sector. And so far overall job growth has remained in the positive territory as of July compared with the year-earlier period, albeit just barely at 0.1%, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics.

For now, the new 975-foot-tall glass-encased Comcast Center tower that officially opened this year seems to reflect the market's strengths. Designed by Robert A.M. Stern Architects, the building has created a buzz with a 25-foot tall high-definition video screen in its lobby.

The building also has leased all of its roughly 1.2 million square feet of office space, much of it as the new headquarters of cable giant Comcast Corp., says Liberty Property's Mr. Gattuso. It has also done so despite skepticism early on from some brokers who said asking rents in the $40-per-square-foot range were too rich for the City of Brotherly Love, Mr. Gattuso said.

That success may be encouraging other developers. One project planned near the Comcast Center is the American Commerce Center. If built, it would rise about 1,500 feet high and include office, hotel and retail space, according to Peter Kelsen, an attorney for Philadelphia-based Hill International Real Estate Partners LP, which is developing the project.

Citing Hill's joint-venture relationship with a large pension fund, Mr. Kelsen said he's confident the group will have the financing. Developers also need some preleasing commitments and for the city to remove a height limit on the property, he says.

The scale is just one of the project's striking elements. New York firm Kohn Pedersen Fox Associates' design includes a glass facade and futuristic-looking cutouts as well as a lower section that abuts a higher tower that together look something like a chair. "It's not going to be very colonial," Mr. Kelsen says, referencing the city's past architectural leanings.

There's even hope that the tall-building curse may soon vanish. The new Comcast Center gave a nod to Mr. Penn by welding a small statue of the city's founder to one of its beams.

By: Maura Webber Sadovi
Wall Street Journal; September 24, 2008

Converting Instead of Constructing

2008-09-05T12:39:00.005-04:00

Condo conversions take a slower pace today, but the trend still exhibits reasonable revenue potential.

Condo conversions make economic sense in expensive housing markets like Washington, D.C., Philadelphia and Miami, among others where converted rentals remain the best option for entry-level buyers. Companies like Apartment Investment and Management Co. (AIMCO), CityView and J.A. Reinhold Residential look to capitalize on the for-sale trend.

Jeffrey Reinhold expects the conversion trend to stay hot for a long time to come. The CEO of Philadelphia-based Historic Landmarks for Living even formed a separate company to focus just on this niche. J.A. Reinhold Residential aims to solely turn multi-family rentals into condos for sale. The new firm’s initial purchase included five apartments in the area for about $88 million, two of which are being converted into a $55 million to $60 million process. Reinhold’s 110 unit Locust Point will see $9 million in upgrades or approximately $100,000/unit, which would sell from the mid-$200,000’s to mid $400,000’s. The 108 unit Lofts at Logan View will get $7 million in renovations. A one-bedroom could sell for more than $270,000, while the two bedroom could fetch $450,000 or more. Reinhold believes his affordable luxury product will appeal to first-time homebuyers who wish to live in the city but cannot afford the high home prices. The strategy works well for the company since it bypasses land and construction costs to build in such a central location. Another bonus; no oversupply worries because the area isn’t overbuilt and enjoys a robust economy.

Historic Landmarks for Living owns and operates nearly 2,000 apartments in urban areas and is able to provide Baltimore Apartments, St. Paul Apartments, Minneapolis Apartments, Chicago Apartments and Philadelphia Apartments. As a private company it doesn’t look for a fixed IRR. Reinhold remains on the search for suitable investment opportunities to purchase an asset. He keeps his options open to convert the company’s existing portfolio as favorable market conditions dictate.

As the CEO of Historic Landmarks for Living, the company responsible for rehabbing and managing some of Philadelphia’s most interesting rental properties, Jeff Reinhold knew there was an abundance of historic buildings in Philadelphia that could be converted into sophisticated luxury homes.

Yet in the current housing market in Philadelphia, many condominiums are geared toward a wealthier demographic, leaving little choice for young professional homebuyers who want to stay in Center City. For Reinhold, the lack of affordable condominiums presented a new opportunity.

“As the market was starting to appreciate in price, we were starting to see homes and condos inching up towards the $700,000 to $1 million range — prices the -first-time homebuyer really couldn’t afford,” says Reinhold. “In front of me was this great niche waiting to be created.”

Last year, Reinhold launched a new residential real estate company called J.A. Reinhold Residential. The concept was simple: Take well located multi-family properties and turn them into for-sale condominiums. Because the units would be conversions and not new construction, Reinhold could offer the properties at a lower price point, making them accessible to the first-time homebuyer. The first two properties J.A. Reinhold Residential has converted are the Lofts at Logan View at 17th and Callowhill streets and Locust Point at 25th and Locust streets on the Schuylkill River in desirable Fitler Square and adjacent to Schuylkill River Park. Both buildings are conveniently located, with the Lofts at Logan View situated by the Parkway’s museums and minutes away from the Center City business district, and Locust Point set equidistant to both Center City and University City. The sales of offices at both properties are now open with fully furnished models. The properties are being renovated inside and out. Locust Point and Lofts at Logan View are beautiful examples post-industrial architecture, with features like 13- to 17-foot timbered ceilings, exposed brick walls and dramatically tall windows showcasing striking views of the city. The units themselves have been renovated with the high-end details common to luxury condominiums, such as granite countertops, Decora cabinets and hardwood flooring. Pricing at Locust Point, which also boasts 70 parking spots, begins in the high $200,000s for a one-bedroom condo.

“At that price points you would generally have to look for something south of South Street or in Northern Liberties— it would be difficult to find a condominium within walking distance of Center City,” says Reinhold.

A longtime Center City resident himself, Reinhold found his work extremely satisfying, and particularly enjoys the creativity that goes into re-imagining existing architecture. Reinhold eventually hopes to expand the company to other cities, and believes that his conversion model is fulfilling an unmet need in the real estate market. “I know that people really appreciate living in historically significant properties,” Reinhold says. “With our company we’re taking what are already tremendous buildings and doing something truly different — restoring them at a luxury level that is still affordable.”

Apartment Buildings Affected By Declines in Housing Market

2008-08-21T15:04:00.003-04:00

Job-Loss Worries Pressure the Sector; Rent Rates Decline

For the past year, apartment buildings have been one of the few bright spots in the real-estate industry as people forced out of the home-buying market by foreclosures or the credit crunch have turned to renting.

But now the specter of job losses is beginning to spread the gloom into that sector as well. As would-be renters are doubling up in apartments or moving in with friends and families, rents and occupancy rates are beginning to fall in many cities. Some cities, however, have not been affected nearly as much. For instance, the rental markets for Philadelphia apartments and Minneapolis apartments remain strong.

"In many markets, our new prospects are beginning to resist the current and increasing levels of market rents we've enjoyed over the past quarter," David Neithercut, chief executive of Equity Residential, told investors during this month's earnings call. While the Chicago-based apartment owner, one of the largest in the U.S., reported an increase in funds from operations of 1.5% last quarter, it lowered its estimates for comparable-property revenue growth.

'Shadow Market' Competition

Investors have been buoyed by the thousands of Philadelphia apartment rentals that have entered the market in the past year, including buyers locked out of the for-sale housing market and those who defaulted on their mortgages. The one downside of the housing crisis for apartment owners has been the "shadow market," made up of unsold homes that owners have put on the rental market.

But that competition isn't nearly as big a problem as job-loss trends. "A lot of folks think it's the shadow market that's softening rents. It's really a jobs issue," says Richard Campo, chief executive of Camden Property Trust. The Houston-based REIT saw rents fall 1.4% last quarter from a year earlier in Phoenix. Arizona shed some 87,000 jobs in June and July. Meanwhile, rents are up in cities such as Houston, where job growth remains strong and where Camden saw 4% rent growth last quarter. Nationally, the apartment owner expects to see rental growth of 2.5% this year, compared with 4.1% growth in 2007 and 7.4% in 2006.

The biggest impact from job losses could be seen in cities such as Charlotte, N.C., and Atlanta, which haven't seen large shadow markets develop. "That group in the middle is starting to show signs of slowing," says Haendel St. Juste, an analyst at Green Street Advisors Inc. "When you look at the markets that are starting to slow, it's spreading beyond the markets that were burdened by housing."

That led to disappointing second-quarter results at Mid-America Apartment Communities Inc., a Memphis, Tenn., REIT with 42,000 rental units. The company reduced its 2008 revenue forecast by 1% and saw year-over-year revenue growth for the second quarter fall to 2.6% from 3.8% last year. The results surprised some investors because Mid-America has long been considered to have one of the least-volatile portfolios. Analysts blamed the declines, in part, on a weakening economy across the Southeast.

Atlanta-based Post Properties Inc., meanwhile, announced that it canceled its planned 300-unit apartment building in Charlotte and delayed three Florida projects.

Cap-Rate Problems

For investors, concerns about falling rents and rising vacancy has resulted in a decline in prices for apartment buildings. The "capitalization rate," which measures the relationship between the price and cash flow of properties, dropped one-quarter of one percent from the second quarter of 2007 to second quarter of this year, according to Real Capital Analytics Inc., a real-estate research firm. The cap rates are now at levels last seen at the end of 2004, the firm says.

The decline in prices has led to a pickup in sales activity. Real Capital Analytics reported last month that sales in June were "well above" recent months' figures, with $5.5 billion already having closed or in contract in the third quarter compared with $8.7 billion in sales in the second quarter.

Apartment-building sales already were far outpacing deals involving other commercial property, such as office buildings and strip malls. The availability of credit from government-sponsored Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac has buoyed values and fueled new deals. Turbulence at the mortgage titans, which together with Ginnie Mae hold 35% of the mortgage debt on multifamily housing, riled apartment owners last month as investors worried about the fate of Fannie and Freddie. But those worries dissipated as the housing bill signed into law last month made the government's implied guarantee of Fannie and Freddie's $5.2 trillion in mortgage securities more explicit.

"There is seemingly no limitation to how much production we can sell to them," says Peter Donovan, who heads up CB Richard Ellis's multihousing group. "I think the market is maybe a little surprised by that."

Indeed, Fannie Mae announced last month that it would increase its commitment to buy loans on multifamily housing of up to $5 million to provide additional liquidity for rental housing. Fannie said it invested $20 billion in multifamily housing in the first half of the year. While that is down 25% from $27 billion in the first half of 2007, the number of total deals has fallen by 45%. Multifamily also remains a safe investment so far this year: Delinquencies on Fannie- and Freddie-backed multifamily loans in the first quarter were just .09% and .04%, respectively.

By: Nick Timiraos
Wall Street Journal; August 20, 2008

Earthlink Bids Philly Adieu

2008-06-26T18:43:00.002-04:00

Barring last-minute heroics, EarthLink will end its municipal Wi-Fi work in Philadelphia in June as part of its effort to get out of the muni Wi-Fi business.

The Philly deployment had less than 6,000 subscribers and the city government had bowed out long ago. EarthLink, which has said it has spent more than $20 million on the deployment, has filed a federal lawsuit asking that its future responsibility be limited to $1 million as specified in its original agreement with Philadelphia.

EarthLink has been turning over its muni Wi-Fi networks to city governments or otherwise extracting itself from various deployments since late last year. It recently pulled out of New Orleans and turned over networks to Corpus Chisti, Texas, and Milpitas, Calif. Other deployments, in San Francisco and Sacremento, never got beyond the planning stage.

That leaves Anaheim, Calif., as its last Wi-Fi deployment. It's still negotiating its exit there with city officials.

New CEO Rolla Huff has refocuces the company on its ISP business, receiving judos from Wall Street for putting it on the road to profitability.

This may put a damper on some who use free Wi-Fi networks frequently. Many apartments, lofts, and other living communities provide free wireless, and soon, may be losing the privaledge. If you are looking for free wireless in downtown Philadelphia, head to the Packard Motorcar Building. Historic landmarks is proud to offer free Wi-Fi it the common area of the building.

Suburbs a Mile Too Far for Some

2008-06-23T17:38:00.002-04:00

Historic Landmarks See an Increased Demand for Urban Lofts

Abandoning grueling freeway commutes and the ennui of San Fernando Valley suburbs, Mike Boseman recently found residential refuge in this Southern California city. His apartment building straddles a light-rail line, which the 25-year-old insurance broker rides to and from work in Los Angeles.

Richard Wells is more than a generation older but was similarly attracted to the Pasadena apartment building. The British-born scientist retains what he calls a European preference for public transportation despite his nearly 30 years in California. Plus, he said, the building's location means, "I can walk to a hundred restaurants, the Pasadena symphony and movie theaters."

Messrs. Boseman and Wells embody trends that are dovetailing to potentially reshape a half-century-long pattern of how and where Americans live: The driveable suburb -- that bedrock of post-World War II society -- is for many a mile too far.

In recent years, a generation of young people, called the millennials, born between the late 1970s and mid-1990s, has combined with baby boomers to rekindle demand for urban living. Today, the subprime-mortgage crisis and $4-a-gallon gasoline are delivering further gut punches by blighting remote subdivisions nationwide and rendering long commutes untenable for middle-class Americans.

Just as low interest rates and aggressive mortgage financing accelerated expansion of the suburban fringe to the point of oversupply, "the spike in gasoline prices, layered with demographic changes, may accelerate the trend toward closer-in living," said Arthur C. Nelson, director of Virginia Tech's Metropolitan Institute in Alexandria, Va. "All these things are piling up, and there are fundamental changes occurring in demand for housing in most parts of the country."

Christopher Leinberger, a visiting fellow at the Brookings Institution and a developer of walkable areas that combine housing and commercial space, describes the structural shift as the "beginning of the end of sprawl."

Recipe for Reurbanization

Todd Zimmerman, a housing consultant and an early advocate of pedestrian-friendly community planning known as New Urbanism, said demographic and cultural factors explain a big part of the trend. Baby boomers and millennials are the country's two biggest generations, with some 82 million and 78 million people born during their respective eras. Both flocks are leaving their nests and finding that higher-density urban housing fits their lifestyles.

"Millennials and baby boomers are in perfect sync. They are at a stage where they both want the same thing," said Mr. Zimmerman, a co-managing director at Zimmerman/Volk Associates Inc. in Clinton, N.J. He said the populations of Americans in their 20s and in their 50s are rising and will add eight million potential housing consumers by the time their numbers peak in 2015. "You've got a recipe for reurbanization on a dramatic scale," he said.

While baby boomers may be looking to downsize their homes and simplify their lives in urban condominiums, millennials often look to cities as a way of rebelling against the suburban cul-de-sac culture that pervaded their youth, Mr. Zimmerman said. That is no different than past generations of twentysomethings, but the numbers of millennials are larger.

Even families who sought the suburbs or were priced out of cities now have an economic imperative to find their way back closer to town. Transportation is the second-biggest household expense, after housing, and suburban families face a relatively greater gas burden. At the same time, distant suburbs, or exurbs, where housing growth was predicated on cheap gas, have experienced the biggest declines in home values in the past year, according to a May report by CEOs for Cities, a nonprofit group of public- and private-sector officials that seeks to promote urban areas. "The gas-price spike popped the housing bubble," said Joe Cortright, the report's author.

The demand for housing near urban centers isn't going to snuff out suburbs overnight. Several satellite towns around cities continue to lure jobs and are reinventing themselves with their own city centers. About half of the walkable urban areas that Brookings's Mr. Leinberger identified in a recent survey are located in suburbs, though generally close to major cities.

A Challenge for Cities

While high gas prices are a boon to New Urbanism and other "smart-growth" planning concepts, in practice such mixed-use projects often are harder to execute -- from acquiring local approval to securing Wall Street financing -- than the traditional suburban tract-housing model. The challenges for cities are considerable, from investing in public-transportation systems to creating incentives for developers to accommodate the new urban housing demand.

Cities such as Denver, Charlotte, N.C., and Portland, Ore., are making investments in public transportation and spurring the construction of symbols of the new housing era: multifamily residential and retail complexes at or next to transit stations. Reconnecting America, a nonprofit group committed to transit-oriented development, estimates that the number of households near transit stations will soar to 15 million by 2030, from six million now.

Even in the auto mecca of Southern California, attitudes are changing, and transit-oriented development is gaining traction along subway, light-rail and commuter-train lines serving Los Angeles. In Pasadena, an apartment and retail complex built around the Del Mar light-rail station is doing brisk business. Some 95% of the 347 units are rented, the highest occupancy rate since the building opened two years ago, said Dave Brackett, executive vice president of Archstone, which owns the building.

Fuel-Efficient Fun

Mr. Boseman, the insurance salesman, found his way to Archstone Del Mar Station from Encino, to the west in the San Fernando Valley. The 75-minute commute from Encino to downtown Los Angeles tried his patience and lightened his wallet. "I'd go through a tank of gas every four days," he said.

After a year, he and his girlfriend decided to move to downtown Los Angeles. They rented a renovated loft, and dumped one of their two cars to avoid the expense and parking hassle. But the area wasn't lively enough at night, so they looked along public-transportation lines for their next apartment.

Pasadena, home to the Rose Bowl, is a leafy city with stately houses and a thriving shopping area in a reinvigorated old downtown. Archstone Del Mar Station is near the commercial center, and a 26-minute ride on one of Los Angeles's metro lines. With a train change, Mr. Boseman is at work within 35 minutes from his doorstep. He also takes the light rail into Los Angeles on weekends for entertainment events. With his car use limited to Saturday and Sunday at most, he said, "I'm filling it up once a month."

Mr. Wells, too, got rid of one of his cars after moving into Archstone Del Mar Station 10 months ago, and "my aim is never to use the car I kept," he said. The 71-year-old scientist reckons he has saved 500 gallons. Last week, he moved out of the apartment building -- but not far. For the same rationale, he bought a condo at the next light-rail station along the metro line.

In Los Angeles's central Koreatown neighborhood, developer Urban Partners LLC last year opened a 449-unit apartment building with 36,000 square feet of retail space atop a subway station. Twenty percent of the units are rented at below-market rates in an effort to provide affordable housing without an "hour or two commute," said Dan Rosenfeld, an Urban Partners principal.

With more than 30 U.S. cities that have or are developing commuter-rail systems, demand for mixed-used, mixed-income projects is bound to increase, said Mr. Rosenfeld. But even with an emphasis on public transport and walkable urban neighborhoods, one staple of American culture is so entrenched that it is bound to take years to reverse.

"We never reduce the amount of parking at our developments. People still want their cars," he said. "Nothing would make us happier than to reduce the expensive underground parking."

by Jonathan Karp
Thursday, June 19, 2008provided byWSJ

City of Brotherly Love is Named Best for Grads

2008-06-17T17:35:00.002-04:00

Historic Landmarks Plays Key Role Providing Urban Lofts For Grad Students in Historic Neighborhoods

Joey Hyde, a 25-year old physics grad student at the University of Pennsylvania, likes living in downtown Philadelphia because he can get around without a car, make spontaneous plans with friends or his fiancée for a night on the town, and enjoy a great meal at his favorite upscale Cuban restaurant for half of what it would cost in Manhattan.

“Philadelphia is pretty livable for people my age,” says Hyde, a Florida native who moved to the city at 22 after completing his undergrad degree in Pittsburgh. “It’s a lifestyle like New York’s, but much more affordable. People here can bunk up together like in Brooklyn if they want, but real estate is a lot less expensive than in New York.”

Hyde’s assessment sums up new findings from Apartments.com and Careerbuilder’s CBCampus.com job site, which today released their list of the top 10 most affordable cities for young college grads. The survey ranks Philadelphia at the top of the list, based on research criteria including the population of people age 20 to 24, the number of entry-level job openings suitable for new grads, and the average cost to rent a one-bedroom apartment.

According to the data, the average price of a one-bedroom apartment in Philadelphia is $962, 58 percent less than the $1,562 monthly rent on a one-bedroom in New York. And, if the survey is correct, there are plenty of jobs available for young workers both in and beyond college.

Finding a place, and finding a job

Of course, many factors play in to a young adult’s choice of where to live—and cities around the country have struggled for years to offer both lifestyle amenities and compelling job opportunities, and in a setting that’s affordable to younger workers.

According to Carol Coletta, president and CEO of Chicago-based research organization CEOs for Cities, roughly two-thirds of young adults consider where they want to live first, then consider how they’ll earn a living.

“Jobs aren’t always the first thing young people are looking for in a city,” she says. “They want a city that’s clean and attractive, offers the lifestyle they want, is safe, ‘green’ and with outdoor amenities, and that has the kind of housing they like. Lastly, they want a city that will enhance their professional reputation.”

However, given the current fragile economy, new graduates may need to consider their employability more carefully as they scope out potential cities. Grads this year face stiff competition now.

“Employers are proceeding with caution as they wait to see how the nation’s economic situation unfolds,” said Brent Rasmussen, chief operating officer at CareerBuilder.com.

According to CareerBuilder research among 3,147 hiring managers at major employers, 58 percent plan to hire recent college graduates this year, down from 79 percent during 2007. The pay isn’t great: Most employers (42 percent) plan to pay salaries below $30,000; 32 percent will pay $30,000 to $40,000 range; 15 percent will pay $40,000 to $50,000; and 11 percent will pay more than $50,000.

Personal versus practical concerns

While housing availability is important to new grads, so too is the opportunity to participate in key industries. The list of top cities includes some usual suspects — Boston, a hub for research and academia; New York, the financial and media capital; Dallas and Houston, where energy and big business thrive.

Frontrunner Philadelphia, along with other cities on the list, has been working to enhance its reputation among younger workers and prevent the “brain drain” that happens when young adults graduate and leave. Phil Hopkins, vice president of research at Select Greater Philadelphia, a regional marketing organization, says his organization and the non-profit group Campus Philly are both working to retain and educate young adults and college grads about local career options before they hit the job market.

“New York is the undisputed financial capitol of the U.S. Washington D.C. is the political capitol,” says Hopkins. “Our strength is in pharmaceuticals and life sciences. There are 85 pharmaceutical companies within an hour and a half of the center city.”

His job, he says, is to make sure students are aware of this.

Nice homes – for now, anyway

Cities focus on attracting young workers both because younger workers are more entrepreneurial and because, once they hit 30, they often land in life circumstances — marriage, home ownership, parenthood, caring for aging parents — which can slow their mobility, says Coletta.

Hyde, who’ll earn a doctorate and get married by the time he graduates from an Ivy League college, isn’t necessarily loyal to Philadelphia. Asked if he wants to work there once he’s completed his education said “Not particularly.”

“The nice parts of Philly are really nice. But the bad parts are awful,” he says. “It’s the flip side of cheap real estate.”

But for a certain type of Gen Y renter, Philadelphia, particularly University City apartments, will offer just the right mix of job and lifestyle options.

Hopkins, the Select Greater Philadelphia executive, says that his son, a 24-year old working at insurer AIG and living with his parents to save money, is now debating whether to move to the New York area or stay closer to home. Because he wants to buy a home, he has no options in Manhattan—and few options in nearby New Jersey cities.

“He can’t afford the monthly payments in Hoboken, Jersey City, or Manhattan,” Hopkins says. “So now he’s thinking about Philadelphia.”

By: Jane Hodges
MSNBC contributor; April. 29, 2008

Turnpike Deal Gets Bumpy

2008-05-28T12:39:00.001-04:00

Abertis-Citi Encounter High Costs and Potholes for Infrastructure Investors

America is definitely becoming a mecca for deal-hungry infrastructure funds. Whether investors in this burgeoning asset class making the pilgrimage to these shores will find redemption, however, is far from certain.

A consortium led by Spanish transportation and highway operator Abertis has offered $12.8 billion to operate the Pennsylvania Turnpike for 75 years, edging out local heavyweight Goldman Sachs Group in the process. Moreover, the final price was 20% more than Abertis, along with a Citigroup fund and a minor Spanish partner, had offered in the first round of bidding. From the looks of it, Abertis and Citi have stretched themselves to the limit.

The total size of the deal, which includes a cushion for working capital, will be $14.5 billion, of which about 60% will be funded with debt. In less shell-shocked markets, a toll road might support as much as 80% debt. But with the credit crunch, Abertis and Citi may need to tap several segments of the markets for the $8.5 billion they need.

The high price and modest leverage make the expected return on the partners' $6 billion of equity look unexciting. Abertis expects a low double-digit annual return. Some people who have analyzed the deal think returns could come in under 10%. Either way, most infrastructure investors look for 12% to 15% -- much less than, say, private-equity funds, but enough to compensate for operating risks, a long time horizon, and constraints on prices -- in this case, toll increases will be capped at the higher of inflation and 2.5%.

Abertis wanted a foothold in the U.S., where plenty of investors are eyeing infrastructure assets. If the deal is approved by Pennsylvania's legislature, the turnpike will bring the Spanish group another strategic benefit as well, extending the average life of its portfolio of toll-road concessions from 18 to 28 years. Citi's fund managers, meanwhile, get to put a big chunk of money to work and stake their claim to future deals. Goldman's bid fell about 5% short. Being trumped at the finish might seem unlucky. But with Abertis and Citi now set for rather meager returns, the investment bank may yet wind up a lucky loser.

By: Fiona Maharg-Bravo & Una Galani
Wall Street Journal; May 21, 2008

Brakes Put On for New Malls

2008-05-28T12:36:00.001-04:00

Retailers' Demand for Space Wanes as the Credit Crisis Reins in Consumer Spending

Retail construction, which surged in recent years amid easy financing and robust consumer spending, has lost momentum as retailers curtail growth plans and lenders remain stingy.

Many of the largest U.S. developers of malls and shopping centers have reacted to retailers' waning demand for space by postponing by a year or more some of their projects. Other venues will be built piecemeal as leasing progress allows. Still others have been canceled before the start of construction.

The slowdown comes as consumers rattled by the credit crisis rein in spending, causing retailers to rethink their previously aggressive expansion plans. Among the national chains that recently pared their growth plans are J.C. Penney Co., Chico's FAS Inc., Starbucks Corp. and Home Depot Inc. At least partly because of the spending lull, nearly 6,500 U.S. stores are expected to close this year, the highest tally since 2001, according to the International Council of Shopping Centers.

Standing in the way of a recovery are deep-seated problems such as depleted home equity and high personal-debt levels. "We believe it is going to be harder for consumer confidence to come back quickly until some of these issues are resolved," J.C. Penney's chairman and chief executive officer, Myron Ullman, said Monday at the shopping-center council's annual trade show here.

The mood at the five-day conference, which attracted nearly 50,000 attendees and is slated to conclude Wednesday, is cautious. "I'm not afraid for '08 [results]," said Michael Glimcher, chairman and CEO of Glimcher Realty Trust, which owns 23 malls. "Where you get nervous is thinking about '09. Retailers are clearly opening fewer stores, and they're being more aggressive" in negotiations with landlords.

Developers, in turn, are hitting the brakes. This year, they are expected to complete retail projects totaling 136.4 million square feet in the top 54 U.S. markets, says market researcher Property & Portfolio Research Inc. But, next year, newly completed projects will amount to only 70.9 million square feet, reflecting the construction slowdown initiated in recent months. In comparison, the average annual production from 1998 to 2007 was 122.7 million square feet.

Pennsylvania Real Estate Investment Trust, or PREIT, which owns 55 malls and shopping centers, has altered plans more than once because of waning demand from tenants. The developer had lined up Target Corp. and Home Depot to anchor its $73 million Monroe Marketplace shopping center to be built in Selinsgrove, Pa. But Home Depot, which hadn't signed a lease, recently backed out, so PREIT is building only half of the project, with the rest put on hold. Similarly, PREIT recently canceled plans for a shopping center in suburban Chicago.

Massive projects backed by big-name developers are no exception. Real-estate tycoon Stephen M. Ross's Related Cos. recently postponed portions of two enormous mixed-use projects in Los Angeles and Phoenix. Dallas billionaire Thomas Hicks opted this month to redraft plans for his 1.3 million-square-foot, $500 million Glorypark mixed-use development in Arlington, Texas, after a partner's efforts to land department store Dillard's Inc. for the project failed and financial backers balked. Mr. Hicks now sees Glorypark spanning a more modest 400,000 to 500,000 square feet, perhaps hosting more entertainment-focused tenants than retailers. He still plans for the first phase to open by 2011. "It's going to happen," Mr. Hicks said. "But I can't control the capital markets."

A growing list of national retail developers has pared construction plans. Developers Diversified Realty Corp., which owns 740 retail properties and has $650 million of projects in development, has cut this year's development spending by 20%. General Growth Properties Inc., which owns more than 200 regional shopping malls, has cut $600 million from its four-year development budget, now $1.5 billion.

Others, such as shopping-center developers Regency Centers Corp. and Weingarten Realty Investors, plan to do more "phasing" by building projects in segments as new tenants warrant it. Macerich Co., which owns 72 malls, will phase the construction of two shopping centers near the Phoenix site targeted as the eventual home of its Prasada mall. "It's testimony to the fact that we're not going to build something until it's ready to be built" as dictated by market demand, said Macerich CEO Art Coppola.

Some retail developers point to benefits amid the economic slowdown. The lack of financing means fewer new projects are surfacing to compete for land and tenants. Additionally, as economic conditions have damped construction prospects, many of the largest retail landlords are seeking to buy cash-strapped development projects unable to land financing. "We see this as a huge opportunity, but we think the deal terms that are available are only going to get better," said David Oakes, chief investment officer at Developers Diversified.

By: Kris Hudson
Wall Street Journal; May 21, 2008

Comcast's Surprise

2008-05-01T12:58:00.003-04:00

Philadelphians have been giving good reviews to the numerous architectural flourishes in the city's first new skyscraper in 15 years, the headquarters of cable giant Comcast Corp.

The lobby features a 120-foot-tall winter garden and artwork titled "Humanity in Motion" by Jonathan Borofsky. Atop steel poles that crisscross the lobby are fiberglass-and-Kevlar figures of people frozen in mid-stride.

Meanwhile, there's a three-flight glass stairway connecting the executive floors and a 400-seat employee cafeteria overlooking the city skyline. It's named Ralph's Cafe, after Ralph Roberts, who founded the company in 1963.

But there's one more design surprise being saved for the building's official opening in a few weeks: The entire back of the lobby will be a huge video wall, a company spokeswoman says. It will feature special artistic programming rather than be tuned to any of Comcast's channels. The wall is a "fun gift to Philadelphia," the spokeswoman says.

Wall Street Journal; April 30, 2008

Good Enough Equals Great in Commercial Real Estate

2008-04-28T13:31:00.002-04:00

Sometimes average isn't so bad, especially amid economic uncertainty.

Several commercial real estate industry observers have issued reports in recent days, examining how the Chicago market is faring. What they found in general: Chicago real estate markets and Chicago Loop apartments may not be outperforming, but neither are they in distress.

Studley, which specializes in representing tenants in commercial real estate transactions, found the overall Chicago market for office space to be healthy for landlords but, in recent months, beginning to tilt in favor of tenants.

For Class A office properties, "total rent, $42.11 [per square foot], posted its fourth consecutive year of increase," Studley said, adding that owners asked for higher rates in 2007 during the peak of the investment sales market.

But that could change.

"As vacancies and rental rates flattened toward the end of 2007, the market could see a turn toward a tenant-favored environment as rental rates fall and concessions rise, especially in non-trophy buildings," Studley said. Concessions include anything from office improvements to free rent.

Moody's Investor Services had its own take on various types of Chicago commercial real estate. Moody's described the city's central business district as having a moderate number of vacancies, weaker than New York or San Francisco but stronger than Dallas or Philadelphia.

Chicago's suburban office markets improved, according to Moody's, but supply still remained on the high side. For industrial properties, Chicago was graded as having a moderate amount of vacant space.

Cushman & Wakefield recently noted a nationwide slowdown in office demand.

"The combination of three straight months of employment declines and broad economic uncertainty caused a mild slowdown in leasing activity in the first quarter," said Maria Sicola, executive managing director and head of research for Cushman & Wakefield.

But the Chicago central business district vacancy rate wasn't much changed, the company said.

"The vacancy rate remained relatively flat during the quarter at 12 percent, up from 11.9 percent at the end of the year," it said.

Nationally, office vacancies rose from 9.7 percent at the end of last year to 9.9 percent in the first quarter.

Ellis chosen as marketer: CB Richard Ellis has been chosen to handle marketing and leasing for Northwest Village, a mixed-use project at the northwest corner of Interstate Highway 90 and Illinois Highway 53 in Rolling Meadows. The real estate giant cited the project's close proximity to Woodfield mall.

When complete, Northwest Village is expected to offer 500,000 square feet of retail space, 1,000 resident units, two hotels and office space.

Amcol's move: Amcol International Corp. will be occupying a 72,000-square-foot international headquarters and lab at the southwest corner of Forbs Avenue and Higgins Road in Hoffman Estates. Amcol will move in during the third quarter of the year.

Amcol, which is publicly traded, offers a wide range of specialty mineral products.

Second-Home Buyers Go Condo

2008-04-28T12:02:00.002-04:00

Vacation Houses Lose Out In a Weak Market; Coping With Pool Rules

The second-home market is in a slump. But one type of vacation property is still showing signs of life: condos (see Ballantyne Condos & Matthews Condos.

A new National Association of Realtors study estimates that sales of vacation homes in 2007 fell 31%, to 740,000, from 2006. But sales of condos dipped only slightly -- down 2.8% -- while sales of detached homes dropped 38%. The upshot is that condos cornered a substantially larger share of the vacation-home market last year: 29%, up from 21% in 2006.

Condos, including South Charlotte Condos, are selling better than single-family vacation houses for a number of reasons. They don't require their owners to maintain lawns, trim shrubs, paint the exteriors or replace roofs -- increasingly important concerns to an aging population. Condo communities also tend to offer amenities such as pools and clubhouses. And condos usually are cheaper to buy, and easier to resell, than houses.

Yet the prices of vacation condos haven't held up. Median prices fell almost 10% to $180,000 last year from the year before, while prices of single-family second homes remained flat, says the Realtor group. Part of that decline reflects the general downturn in the housing market, but the price pressure on condos also comes from investors who bought units in resort markets during the real-estate boom and now are trying to get rid of them. While the price-cutting is bad news for existing condo owners, it can make the units seem like relative bargains to buyers compared to houses.

Tod Phelps and his wife, Shelly, are among the second-home buyers attracted to condos. The couple since 2001 have owned a three-bedroom house on Beech Mountain, N.C., a 2½-hour drive from their primary home in Greensboro, N.C. But Mr. Phelps, an information-technology executive, says he is tired of spending weekends cleaning gutters and painting doors, and paying at least $3,000 a year to have people mow the lawn, weed flowerbeds and plow the drive in winter. "I didn't expect it to be as much trouble as it was," he says. Now the couple plan to sell the house and replace it with a "ski-in, ski-out" condo in the same community.

Condos are also making inroads in vacation spots where they've rarely been seen before, including beach villages along Lake Michigan. Some of these are attracting a new type of buyer used to an urban environment. Mary Morrissey, a government policy consultant in Chicago, and her husband recently bought a $350,000, two-bedroom loft at the Vineyards, a converted winery in Harbert, Mich. It features such downtown design elements as concrete fireplaces and window seats, exposed ductwork and soaring ceilings. The unit is much more open, light and fun than the usual cramped cottages found in the area, Ms. Morrissey says, and the contemporary style was the main reason they were attracted to it. "We never even thought about buying a single-family home," she says.

And in some places, such as Hawaii, prices have risen so high in recent years that condos are the only viable choice for many buyers. Maui broker Georgina Hunter says $1 million buys a two-bedroom condo in a resort with golf, pool and fitness center, but isn't enough for a single-family home. Since acquisition costs are so high, many buyers look to rent out their places when they're not vacationing there. Here condos also have the edge: Local zoning allows most condos to be rented for a short period, while most houses must be rented for at least 180 days. "You just get more bang for your buck," Ms. Hunter says.

But condos aren't popular in every second-home area. In New York's Hamptons, people prefer detached houses because they offer a yard, extra rooms and privacy -- "exactly what New Yorkers often lack in their primary residences," says Rick Hoffman, East End Regional vice president for the Corcoran Group brokers.

Condo living also can require an attitude adjustment as owners contend with close-by neighbors and live under a condo association's rules. Wayne Zawila, an Orlando, Fla., futures trader, paid $619,000 a little over a year ago for a three-bedroom weekend getaway in Daytona Beach, Fla. He thought the fourth-floor condo would be more secure and easier to manage than the Galena, Ill., lakefront house he used to own, which he once drove to at 3 a.m. because he was worried the pipes had frozen. But though condo life can be more carefree, at least when it comes to security and exterior maintenance, it's not rules-free. Mr. Zawila sometimes chafes under communal regulations he's never had to deal with before, like the one that bans him from smoking cigars while lounging in the pool. "It drives me nuts," he says.

Because many affluent second-home buyers like the common ownership and upkeep of exterior elements but still want a detached house, some builders are combining them in "condo homes." That setup attracted Sue Anne Davidson-Kalkus, a retired antiques dealer in Rome, Ga., and her husband, Tony, a retired Army colonel, who were married last year. A few months ago they listed her four-bedroom vacation retreat on 10 acres on Lookout Mountain, Ga., for $1 million and started searching for an easy-care vacation condo in the $600,000 range in New England, nearer to Mr. Kalkus's grown children. But after owning a custom-built place, Mrs. Davidson-Kalkus found the apartment-style condos she looked at to be "very ordinary." So the couple has just inked a deal to buy a detached, two-bedroom condo home at Winnapaug Cottages, a 35-acre development in Westerly, R.I. Their $300-a-month homeowner's fee covers landscaping, garbage collection, snow removal and exterior maintenance. "This is the best of both worlds," she says.

By JUNE FLETCHER
April 18, 2008; WSJ

Builder's open house draws bonanza of brokers

2008-04-24T12:05:00.001-04:00

To Long & Foster agent Mary Blair, yesterday's brokers' open house at the Links in West Chester seemed "just like the old days."

"There was excitement about something new, a buildup to a big event - something really special," said Blair, who works out of the real estate firm's Devon office.

That was just what builder John Benson, of the Benson Cos. in Malvern, was hoping to hear.

"We have always been known as a single-family builder, and I wanted to introduce brokers and agents to the fact that we've been shifting to multifamily," said Benson, a third-generation builder.

Yet with so many existing and new homes on the market and sales of both down locally as a result of last summer's subprime crisis, Benson decided he had to do something extraordinary to get brokers - and, ultimately, buyers - talking about his townhouses.

The homes' golf-course views, fine finishes and amenities weren't going to be enough. Nor would the spectacular spread of food for which such events are known. What was needed was something the brokers would remember.

Prizes. Big ones. Just for showing up.

Blair took her chance, dropping her business card into a fishbowl perched on a knee wall near the entrance to the Brentwood, the four-story model for the 12 townhouses that comprise the Links.

In several hours, three cards would be drawn from that bowl, and the winners would share $10,000 in cash. One would get $5,000, two would get $2,500 each.

There was a lot of competition. More than 300 brokers and agents representing the region's major real estate companies (Weichert, Keller Williams, Century 21, ReMax, Prudential Fox & Roach, to name a few), as well as a few lenders, dropped their cards into the fishbowl during the five-hour open house.

The turnout was a lot larger than anyone - Benson, his sales manager Alison Richter and Janet Rubino, the Long & Foster vice president who worked with them on the event - had expected.

"We printed 500 brochures," Rubino said as she reached for another stack. "Maybe we'll have enough."

Food, they definitely ran out of, and the caterers called their office three times for more, she said.

"We never expected that we'd get so many," Benson said. "I'm encouraged because this kind of turnout is a rarity these days."

A typical brokers' open house draws 30 to 50 people, especially in Philadelphia, where things are closer together and agents can walk from event to event.

But Amy Cass of Prudential Fox & Roach's West Chester office was not at all surprised to see the crowd.

"A gourmet lunch is always a big draw," said Cass, who stopped by for a look at the townhouses, which start at $709,000.

And the prizes - if there are prizes at an open house - are "usually a couple of hundred dollars at the most," said Art Herling, Long & Foster's regional vice president.

Besides a shot at the cash, agents will receive bonuses for bringing in multiple buyers ($2,500 for the second, $5,000 for the third).

Just about every agent managed to get past the fishbowl and the kitchen, Rubino said, spending 15 minutes on average touring the townhouse before picking up a brochure on the way out.

Judith Alignon, office manager for Weichert Realtors in West Chester, accompanied her agents to the open house, but not, she said, for the prizes.

"Managers should be aware of the market inventory and trends," Alignon said. "Visiting open houses with their agents is one of the best ways to do that."

Cass said she was intrigued by the description of the townhouses and had to see them for herself.

"The layout is really cool, and the fact that they have elevators is ideal for 55-plus [buyers] without being limited to that group," she said.

"I also was pleased to see that there were garages, which is something we don't have a lot of in the borough. They were also in the rear of the houses, which means it isn't the first thing you see when you drive up."

But wasn't the prize drawing a factor in her coming?

She said it wasn't - and she didn't think she had a chance at winning: "There were a lot of cards in the bowl."

By: Al Heavens
Philadelphia Inquirer; April 23, 2008