The last time the city asked residents to vote on a quality-of-life bond, the voters cooperated, easily passing all four propositions in 2000.

Twelve years later, as the city prepares to ask El Pasoans to vote on a new $655 million to $835 million bond, just about every project listed on the 2000 bond issue -- minus a parking garage at the zoo -- has been completed.

It is because of that success that the mayor and other city officials are willing to go to the voters again. The 2000 bond showed that the city could hold the line on taxes and still achieve its goals, Mayor John Cook said.

The proposed November 2012 bond referendum, while bigger in dollars and projects, is needed to create a longer-lasting economic impact on the community

"The combination of signature projects with neighborhood projects and basic infrastructure is what really makes this strong," Cook said.

Unlike the 2000 bond, which was worth $141 million, this year's bond could carry national implications as it calls for a multipurpose arena and sports stadiums. The 2012 bond proposal also carries money for the zoo, infrastructure and neighborhoods.

But the centerpieces are the stadiums, which won't be built unless there's a commitment from a team to make El Paso home.

"There's no reason that those events and shows that are going to Phoenix or even Las Cruces can't come to El Paso if we have the right facilities," said Rick Horrow, president of Horrow Sports

His national company has been hired to help develop a plan to spur economic development in the region, something that was not done in 2000.

Most of the money from the 2000 bond issue was spread among four city departments: Parks and Recreation, the library, the zoo and history museum. The library bond issue, was the most popular, passing with 77 percent of the vote, according to El Paso Times archives.

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12 years later, money for new upgrades in El Paso sought

The Fire Departments EMS station on 23rd Street, proposed additions to the Chelsea Hotel. Permits for local street fairs and national budget issues were among the topics discussed when the full board of Community Board 4 (CB4), including 10 new board members, gathered at Fulton Houses Auditorium on April 4 for their monthly meeting.

Before the meeting began, Manhattan Borough President Scott Stringer arrived to present outgoing member Ed Kirkland with an official certificate of appreciation for his years of service to CB4.

The Proclamation Im going to give tonight to Ed Kirkland, whos always been someone who pointed the way on so many issues, the mayor cannot give. Andrew Cuomo cannot give this Proclamation, only I can do this, said Stringer. Whereas Ed Kirkland has served on the board of CB4 for 29 years and played a lead role in just about every important matter from the High Line to Hudson Gardens and the Hudson River Parkand whereas we are sad he will step downI hereby proclaim April 4, 2012, as Ed Kirkland Appreciation Day in the borough of Manhattan.

Im just glad it wasnt on April 1st, said Kirkland to laughter. Its time. I know its time. I want to thank all of you with whom I worked andthank you for this Proclamation.

Ed sets the standard for community reform, between his work with Chelsea Market and Waterfront issues, and will continue to help give you all the resources you need to handle these issues, said Stringer.

Kirkland will stay on the board in a consultant capacity, with Board Chair Corey Johnson noting, It is a loss not to have him on the board of CB4, but we will recruit him as a public member.

Ed Kirkland is one of the most prominent, well respected and irreplaceable community activists that CB4 has ever been blessed with, echoed Johnson. He is one of the foremost experts and activists on preservation, not just on the West Side but throughout the entire city, and about four years ago almost single-handedly helped secure the West Chelsea Historic District, which is just one of many accomplishments he has under his belt as board member for 29 years. We are saddened by him leaving the board, but happy he is staying on as a public member and helping us when we need his expertise.

EMS STATION DEBATED

Board member Brett Firfer led the session of the meeting dealing with the site selection and acquisition of property at 512 West 23rd Street for the Midtown West EMS Station. David Harney, chief of staff of the Deputy Fire Commissioner for the Bureau of Technology and Support Services, explained that the NYFD would like CB4 to support their move to obtain a lease at their temporary location. Joining him were Captain James Foley and Police Chief James Murley.

When the [St. Vincents] hospital closed, the five units and 15 tours that served the area disappeared, said Harney. The Fire Department assumed control of those tours. The problem is simple. We do not have the facilities [for this].

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CB4 honors Ed Kirkland, welcomes new additions

Misfortune has had a way, over the years, of creeping into the lives of those who took up residence at the Bloomfield estate in Radnor.

Consider the fate of George H. McFadden Jr., who made his money in cotton and spent it remodeling the place in the 1920s as a lavish, 16th-century-style French chteau. He met his end years later by electrocution, while enjoying a sweat in the mansion's steam room.

Before him, New York socialite Albert Eugene Gallatin struggled at the turn of the 20th century to keep his country home on what was once an expansive 37 acres - even as entitled relatives drained his family's 200-year-old financial trust dry.

Now, more than two weeks after fire engulfed the $5.2 million, Trumbauer-designed mansion on South Ithan Street, a new generation of Main Line elites - including the wife of a national talk-radio personality, the son of a deceased top Democratic donor, and a Canadian business mogul - is left fighting over value in the ruins.

Fire investigators last week ruled out arson as a cause for the blaze, which originated April 4 in electrical wiring stapled to a basement wall.

Flames reached a dumbwaiter and rocketed three floors up the shaft - past floor-length windows with wrought-iron railings, past lavish furnishings decorating its 19 bedrooms, eventually creating an oven under the structure's slate roof.

While no one was injured, only a burned-out shell of the 22,000-square-foot mansion remains.

"I just don't see any way it can be restored without jeopardizing the original integrity of the building," said Steve Pendergast, a board member of the Radnor Historical Society. "If they rebuild it now, the cost per square foot would be astronomical."

Who will shoulder that burden or make the decision to abandon the house remains unclear - clouded by a legal fight over its most recent sale and a rent-to-own agreement that split Bloomfield's equity between landlord and tenants.

And in that Main Line tradition of keeping scandal to a whisper, none of the players is talking.

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Misfortune haunts Radnor's Bloomfield estate

If you think the plastic fixtures that light up steps and stairs around the house are plain at best, ugly at worst, you're not alone.

Gary and Dana Butler, who have been making lighting fixtures for the housing and commercial markets since they bought a small manufacturing facility in Newport Beach in 1986, certainly do. Or did.

(As a side note, the Butlers were the subject of one of the first It's Your Business columns I wrote back in September 1988. At that time their company was called Aggressive Lighting. They also had Light Adventure, a retail showroom in Costa Mesa that they closed in 1997. Now their company Kane Shrader, named for their son, makes unique lighting fixtures designed by Gary, and a separate company Jayne Young converts old copper pots into unique lighting.)

When the 2007-2009 recession slowed their business, Gary decided he could design something more attractive than the step lights at their Coto de Caza home. He created an onyx stone cover that Dana says even she can install.

"I'm not that savvy with tools, and I can put this on in five minutes," she says.

Neighbors Joe and Marci DuBois loved the lights when they saw them at the Butlers' home. Their enthusiasm quickly moved into the formation of a new business, The Cover Company LLC in Rancho Santa Margarita, to make and sell what the two couples named Designer Step Light Covers.

The step lights can be used for indoor staircases or outdoor patio steps.

"Marci was the driving force," Dana says. "She begged us to make the step lights commercially. Gary said no because he had his hands full."

Gary, who has made lighting for more than 25 years, oversees production, having the parts made in Lynwood and powder coated in Santa Ana. The onyx stone is cut in Huntington Beach.

"We're doing it very grass roots," Dana says. "It's all made in the United States. We've ground the prices down as much as we could to discourage foreign competition. Sales are online only right now... and Joe and Marci do the packaging and shipping in their garage."

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O.C. firm invents solution for ugly lighting

The Thornton kitchen after its listing agent and an Ace Hardware owner gave its cabinets face-lift. (The Denver Post | handout)

What if your kitchen's surfaces were never expected to have a 50-year life span?

The listing agent for a home in Thornton faced exactly that problem. But she had seen a product at a trade show that intrigued her.

So Kirsten Chapman called public-relations client Ann Cummiskey, who owns the Ace Hardware store in Greenwood Village, and enlisted her to test whether a few people with very basic skills could do a cabinet makeover.

Buyers who viewed the Thornton house said its solid '90s kitchen lacked excitement.

"It was kind of all over the place," Cummiskey said of the room. "Yellow walls and off-white walls, and it had those light oak cabinets that were kind of generic in homes from the last 10 years. So it needed

The kitchen before. It also got fresh paint on the walls and a new matching microwave.

When you're talking kitchen cabinets, though, change can cost big bucks. "There just wasn't $15,000 in equity in this home to tap," Chapman said. Refacing still costs in the low thousands.

But ... paint your own cabinets?

"It's kind of intimidating for most people," Cummiskey said. "They say, 'Will it really look OK?' We said, 'Let's give it a try.' And it changed these plain, builder-grade cabinets into something that looked like furniture."

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DIY cabinet face-lift is affordable, easy

BIRMINGHAM, Alabama -- Seven months after assembling a roster of builders and architects for a $64 million baseball stadium downtown, Mayor William Bell's administration wants to change the design team by eliminating two local architects.

A draft amendment to the project agreement, obtained by The Birmingham News through a public information request, shows the deletion of Giattina Aycock Architecture Studio and Hoskins Architecture.

The document had been set for a vote by the five-member Public Athletic, Cultural and Entertainment Board on Thursday, but the meeting was canceled, with board chairman Robert Jones citing the need for more information on the proposed changes recommended by the mayor's office.

Several City Council members said they now have questions and serious concerns about the project's stability and will discuss the issue at a Budget and Finance Committee meeting Monday.

The baseball park's design team includes GA Studio and Hoskins Architecture of Birmingham, along with Dallas-based HKS Architects, a nationally known stadium builder. The project developers are Corporate Realty Development and Brasfield & Gorrie.

"It's our job to raise issues about it to make sure it's done properly," Jones said of the contract amendment. "I had no knowledge of it until I got the proposal."

Reasons for the proposed changes remained unclear Friday.

Officials with Giattina declined to comment, citing ongoing client relations. Efforts to reach Hoskins Friday evening were unsuccessful.

The council last August voted overwhelmingly to approve the leases and land swap agreements needed to build the ballpark and a Negro League museum near Railroad Park. But even those who voted for it are saying now they are left in the dark when it comes to details of the project.

Councilman Steven Hoyt on Friday sent Jones a letter asking him to appear before the Budget and Finance Committee Monday to present an update. Council members say they want to know the ramifications of a design team change.

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Birmingham Mayor William Bell wants 2 architects off baseball stadium team

CHARLIE GATES

Architects rebuilding Christchurch think a new government task force will accelerate the rebirth of the city centre.

The task force, known as the Christchurch Central Development Unit (CCDU), has 100 days to develop a blueprint for the rebuild of central Christchurch.

Architects believe the rebuild has not yet begun in earnest, but hope it will kick in early next year.

David Hill, of Christchurch practice Wilson and Hill Architects, said the task force needed to provide certainty.

"There is a lot of interest in the rebuild, but it is still very much in a holding pattern. It is probably to do with the uncertainty about the inner city," he said.

"I think [the new unit] is a positive step forward. Since the council recovery plan went to Cera [Canterbury Earthquake Recovery Authority] there has been almost four months of silence and uncertainty, but this is a positive step forward.

"There is a great opportunity out there."

Warren & Mahoney managing director Peter Marshall said the task force needed to quickly identify where major assets would be built in the city centre.

"What will really move us forward is when major building works like the convention centre and the sports hub are under way, and when there is a critical mass and commitment by institutions, investors will follow. Those big moves haven't been made yet," he said.

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Deadline drives city rebirth forward

By LOIS PUGLIONESI Times Correspondent

HAVERFORD After 30 years as a reclamation site, the former Llanerch Quarry officially became a construction site on Wednesday, when the upcoming Quarry Center broke ground.

Standing amid 30 acres of bare brown earth with a bulldozer in the background, the property owners and developers, staff from IMC Construction, and commissioners President Bill Wechsler gathered to dig the first shovelfuls of dirt.

If all goes well the townships largest shopping center will open for business in time for Christmas. Located at Township Line Road and West Chester Pike, adjacent to Kohls, the Quarry Center will provide 250,000 square feet of retail space, including a 46,400-square-foot Giant Food Store and 150,000-square-foot Lowes home and garden center. Panera Bread, Supercuts, Visionworks and Chipotle Mexican Grill will occupy retail spaces between the two anchor stores. Negotiations continue with prospective tenants for two remaining pad sites.

With stone facades indicative of the area and an arts-and-crafts style, the center will sport an upscale architectural theme and provide shoppers a pleasant environment to conduct their everyday shopping, said Eric Mallory, principal of Eureka Ventures and partner in Quarry Center LP.

The conversion of this property from an operating quarry to a landfill, then to a first-class shopping environment, is a prime example of urban in-fill development, Mallory added, noting that its central location is good for the community and the environment.

A new connector roadway that provides alternate access through West Chester Pike will also improve the immediate road network, Mallory said.

Owner David Crockett Jr. said he hopes to have infrastructure installed and turn site pads over to large tenants in August.

With landfill operations under way since 1984, its been a long time coming, Crockett said.

Its a great day for the township, Wechsler said about developing a property that has lain fallow and caused controversy for years. Its been a hole in the ground and its going to be a shopping center, a tax revenue generator and generate employment.

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Haverford Twp. breaks ground for new shopping center at quarry

(MENAFN) Abu Dhabi's major developer Aldar confirmed the lease of more than 50 percent of retail space at Yas Mall, which will be Abu Dhabi's largest shopping centre when completed, Arabian Business reported.

Aldar said that its has agreed with five of the UAE's leading retail groups including MH Alshaya, Landmark Group, Dubai Holding Group, RSH (Middle East) and Liwa Trading Enterprises.

Aldar added that Yas IKEA is already open and performing well, and ACE Hardware is set to open in the third quarter of this year.

Aldar Properties said retailer interest was "proving strong" in the 235,000 sq m mall project, which is slated to open at the end of 2013.

With 10,000 covered car parking spaces, Yas Mall will be the second biggest shopping destination in the UAE after Dubai Mall.

The Yas Mall project's main contract, worth USD544.5 million, was awarded to Six Construct, a unit of Orascom Construction.

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More than 50% of Abu Dhabi's Yas Mall leased: Aldar

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE April 20, 2012

Ashland Inc. to transfer a portion of its North American middle market commercial assets within its Water Technologies business to Rochester Midland Corporation

COVINGTON, Ky. - Ashland Inc. (NYSE: ASH - News) today announced that its subsidiary, Hercules Incorporated, conducting business as Ashland Water Technologies, has entered into a definitive agreement to transfer a portion of its middle market commercial business assets to Rochester Midland Corporation (RMC). The business to be transferred includes roughly 5,000 customer locations, with total annualized revenues of approximately $15 million. Financial terms of the transaction were not disclosed. Under the agreement, RMC will have the right to make and sell Ashland water treatment products into the North American commercial market. Going forward, Ashland and RMC will be working together to provide high-quality, innovative products and services to this segment.

"The transfer of this portion of our North America commercial business to Rochester Midland is consistent with our decision to focus more on heavy industrial markets, while maintaining our long-standing commitments to our commercial customers," said Paul Raymond, president, Water Technologies. "We believe Rochester Midland is well positioned to serve these customers and grow this business to realize a greater return for both companies, and we look forward to working with them."

"We look forward to a long-term relationship with Ashland Water Technologies in multiple areas of mutual interest in our markets and geographies," added Harlan Calkins, Rochester Midland chief executive officer.

The transaction is expected to close by early May, subject to fulfillment of certain conditions. The parties have agreed to work together to ensure a seamless transition with no disruption in customer service.

Approximately 70 employees who currently work in the business are being transferred. RMC has committed to offering jobs to all of these employees.

About Rochester Midland Founded in 1888, Rochester Midland is a leading manufacturer of specialty chemicals for food sanitation, industrial cleaning and water treatment as well as housekeeping and restroom care programs. Rochester Midland is the leader in Green Housekeeping and their programs utilize third party certified, bio-based cleaning products, along with education and training programs for workers and building occupants. Rochester Midland is committed to developing sustainable solutions for health, productivity and the environment.

About Ashland Water Technologies Ashland Water Technologies is a leading global producer of papermaking chemicals and a leading specialty chemicals supplier to the pulp, paper, commercial and institutional, food and beverage, chemical processing, mining and municipal markets. Its process, utility and functional chemistries are used to improve operational efficiencies, enhance product quality, protect plant assets and help ensure environmental compliance.

About Ashland Inc. In more than 100 countries, the people of Ashland Inc. (NYSE: ASH - News) provide the specialty chemicals, technologies and insights to help customers create new and improved products for today and sustainable solutions for tomorrow. Our chemistry is at work every day in a wide variety of markets and applications, including architectural coatings, automotive, construction, energy, food and beverage, personal care, pharmaceutical, tissue and towel, and water treatment. Visit ashland.com to see the innovations we offer through our four commercial units - Ashland Specialty Ingredients, Ashland Water Technologies, Ashland Performance Materials and Ashland Consumer Markets.

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Ashland Inc. to transfer a portion of its North American middle market commercial assets within its Water Technologies ...