Facing new challenges in an election year, U.S. union tradeswomen attending a second annual conference earlier this month in Sacramento reviewed anti-union measures on ballots across the U.S. and vowed to unite to slow attrition. The conference, co-sponsored by the AFL-CIO’s Building and Construction Trades Dept. and the California State Building and Construction Trades Council (SBCTC), attracted women craft workers from 26 states and Canada as well as Namibia, Curacao and Switzerland. With 100 fewer attendees than last year, 520 came to the 11th annual meeting for state tradeswomen.SBCTC spokeswoman Debra Chaplan, also a member of Teamsters’ union Local 853,
A 464-unit high-rise apartment complex, Los Angeles’ largest residential development project since 2008, broke ground this week in the mid-Wilshire district near Koreatown. Rendering courtesy of Jerde Partnership The Vermont apartment complex The $200-million The Vermont project is being built by local developer J.H. Snyder Development Co. The architect is Jerde Partnership and the general contractor is J.H. Snyder Contracting Inc.Washington Capital Management, which manages investments for union pension funds in Washington State, is the lead equity investor in the project. Snyder, a regional residential and retail builder, also infused equity into the project. At the end of 2011, JP
An $8-million steel-reinforced replacement bridge over San Mateo Creek at Trestles Beach in northern San Diego County opened last week as the northbound Amtrak Pacific Surfliner No. 769 train rumbled by. Photo by Brett Shoaf The new San Mateo Creek Bridge San Diego Association of Governments (SANDAG), the project manager, says the design engineer on the project was HDR, Inc., and the joint venture general contractor was FLATIRON West/Herzog Contracting Corp.North County Transit District purchased the tracks in the northwestern-most corner of San Diego County in 1992 from the Atchison Topeka and Santa Fe Railroad. The aging 858-ft wooden post-and-beam
AGC of California held its annual Spring State and Division Board Meetings and Conference earlier this month at the Monterey Plaza Hotel in Monterey. More than 150 AGC members and guests from across the state were in attendance, in additional to nearly 60 AGC student chapter members from seven chapters across the state. The two AGC Division Boards of Directors tackled a range of topics during their quarterly meetings. During a combined session, the divisions heard an update on funding and lending practices and what changes are facing the industry from Nancy Tillman of EAST-WEST Bank, while Dennis Huie and
Despite record-breaking rainfall, the 2012 Fresno Construction Career Awareness Day (CCAD,) sponsored by AGC of California, scored a record of its own of 1,100 students from 30 local high schools – the highest number of students and schools to ever participate in the Fresno CCAD. Held last month at the Fresno Fairgrounds, the CCAD event provided an excellent forum for high school students to learn about various career paths and the training and education necessary in the construction industry. In addition to the rain, the event also brought in a record number of exhibitors and sponsors with 25 different companies,
The California High-Speed Rail Authority Board last week certified the final Environmental Impact Report/Environmental Impact Statement for the Merced-to-Fresno section of the high-speed train project. Related Links: The final EIR/EIS reports are available on the High-Speed Rail website Final High-Speed Rail EIR Report Issued for Merced-Fresno The authority says it now anticipates starting construction in late 2012 or early 2013. The authority also chose a north-south route and station locations for Merced and Fresno.The Merced-to-Fresno high-speed train section is approximately 65 mi long and will follow a route known as the “hybrid” alternative, according to the authority. This alignment was
A division of the Sares Regis Group of Northern California was selected as owner representatives for the long-planned, $500-million Moscone Convention Center expansion project in San Francisco. The San Francisco Tourism Improvement District (TID) hired the division, SRGNC CRES LLC, to help in the selection of an architectural/engineering team to design the project.“The architectural/engineering contract has an RFQ that was distributed on April 6 and the due date for proposals was May 4,” says Lynn Farzaroli, senior manager of the TID/Foundation, San Francisco Travel Association.“Sares Regis’ division will help in the selection of the architectural team that is due for
The American Institute of Architects, San Francisco chapter, has named 25 projects as winners of its annual Design Awards competition. Related Links: Winning projects are featured online at AIASF's website. Projects were honored in Architecture, Interior Architecture, Energy & Sustainability, Historic Preservation, Unbuilt Design and Special Achievement categories. Each award was divided into three subcategories – Honor, Merit and Citation.The winners were revealed last week at a gala held at the Julia Morgan Ballroom in San Francisco. Craig Dykers, senior partner and director at Snøhetta, led the evening as master of ceremonies.Award highlights in the architecture category this year include:Honor Award:
Follow-up discussions between the city of Sacramento and the owners of the National Basketball Association’s Kings franchise for the construction of a new arena complex at the Railyards redevelopment site ended April 27 with no agreement. Related Links: Sacramento Arena Construction Deal Apparently Dies at New York Meeting The Kings have one year left on its Sacramento contract and the owners, the Maloof family, indicated in local news reports that it has no intention of selling the team and has no solid plans to move it as yet, but will not be supporting the proposed entertainment and sports complex project.Joaquin
In the first of a series of seismic shake-table tests to gauge the effects of major earthquakes and fire on a hospital’s non-structural components and systems, a five-story specimen and its contents came through with flying colors. The excellent performance on April 17, attributed to the specimen's base-isolation system, came as no surprise to researchers at the University of California, San Diego, who are conducting the tests. Photo courtesy of UCSD The five-story specimen building sits on a base-isolation system. Photo courtesy of UCSD A Jacobs School engineer works on the base-isolation system. The tests simulated shaking from the 1994
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