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Federal investigators on Monday pieced through the charred skeleton of an under-construction apartment building in Oaklandto determine if the blaze was accidental or intentionally set.

The Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives sent a national response team to examine the fire site at 2302 Valdez Street, which caught fire early Friday and forced several hundred evacuations.

4-Alarm Fire Engulfs Building in Oakland

The four-alarm blaze engulfed what would have been a mixed-use apartment complexexpected to house 196 homes and up to 31,500 square feet of retail space upon completion next spring.

No one was injured by the fire, but at least 700 people living and working in the area around the blaze were asked to leave their homes and businesses while crews battled the flames and worked to dismantle a structurally unstable crane marred the fire.

The crane was successfully removed Saturday evening, allowing many evacuees to slowly return home.

As mostevacuees returned home Sunday, a new evacuation order was issued for a neighboring building.

About 7 p.m. Sunday, glass and debris began falling from the building at 180 Grand Ave., leading to the closure of that building, fire officials said. The evacuation order at the building would remain in place until an investigation to determine its condition, officials said.

The blaze comes on the heels of three separate fires at construction sites in the area between July 2016 and May 2017. The ATF is offering a $110,000 reward for any information leading to the arrest and conviction of the person or persons responsible for those blazes. The reward does not mention the most recent blaze.

Published at 5:49 AM PDT on Jul 10, 2017 | Updated 5 hours ago

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Federal Investigators Examine Oakland Construction Site Fire - NBC Bay Area

San Francisco Business Times

Oakland housing developers are on edge after spate of apartment fires, but determined to keep building San Francisco Business Times The threat of fires destroying apartment construction projects is keeping some developers up at night. Oakland is the middle of a housing construction boom that developers won't let up anytime soon. and more »

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Oakland housing developers are on edge after spate of apartment fires, but determined to keep building - San Francisco Business Times

RINGWOOD Ringwood School Primary Center will have a new look when it opens for students in the upcoming school year.

Tom Schwartz, director of buildings and grounds for Johnsburg School District 12, said renovations began in early June for the school that houses pre-K students through second-graders.

The project is estimated to cost about $1 million. Initial renovations include installing new carpet as well as painting classrooms, offices and hallways.

We have a really successful program where we hire our high school students for the summer to help with maintenance, Schwartz said. And what weve done is weve put together a painting crew of eight students from the high school.

Schwartz said the district is replacing the buildings windows, doors and original 1961 boiler, in which two energy-efficient units will take its place.

The Ringwood school opened in 1961 with four classes. Four more classes were added in 1971 before other additions in 2000.

Basically, three-quarters of the school as it sits today was an addition in 2000, Schwartz said. And when they did that work, they didnt do a full renovation on the original areas, so they had things left out like the sprinklers. So were catching up to what we couldnt afford back in 2000.

Schwartz said fire sprinklers will be installed this summer in the original section of the school.

Its never had them, Schwartz said. So after this project is complete, the entire school will be covered by fire sprinklers.

The technology department has upgraded the districts internet infrastructure, replacing old equipment with new switches, cabling and Wi-Fi access points.

The technology department also has been modernizing the buildings security.

Weve got security cameras going in, Schwartz said. Weve never had security cameras before at Ringwood.

Technological enhancements will include new door access controls for security purposes, a new sound system in the gym and upgraded outdoor lighting to LED.

Other school improvements include new cabinets in the pre-K area for storage purposes, repair of the gas main on the roof, installation of new toilet partitions in the washrooms and repavement of a section of the parking lot.

Were also doing a major rooftop unit, [heating, ventilation and air conditioning] replacement, Schwartz said. So were replacing four large multizone units.

Superintendent Dan Johnson said District 12 has been planning an extensive renovation project during the past few years.

The benefit of these renovations is that were going to have lasting, excellent learning environments for our kids, Johnson said. We want to thank our community for supporting all these renovations. We look forward to the kids and staff seeing the updated, renovated facilities.

The Ringwood school construction comes after District 12 renovated Johnsburg High School and the Johnsburg Elementary and Junior High campus, where third grade through eighth grade students attend. Both of those renovations were completed in August.

Those renovations allowed us to close [James C.] Bush Elementary School, so the students there moved to the [elementary/junior high campus], Schwartz said.

Schwartz said that what makes the project unique is that the Ringwood school construction is being completely managed by the school district.

We are not hiring a construction manager or construction management firm to help us, Schwartz said. So all the coordination of activities are being done in-house.

The Ringwood School Primary Center renovations are expected to be complete by early August before teachers return to start setting up their classrooms.

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Renovations underway at Ringwood School Primary Center - Northwest Herald

Heather Cunningham married into the flooring business 27 years ago. Today, she and her husband, Mike, are continuing to expand the family business, which began 45 years ago. And they are bringing the Cunningham name back to the business name.

Cunningham Flooring Direct is the new name of Carpets of Dalton Flooring America. The 13,000-square-foot showroom is the largest flooring showroom in Northern Arizona. Located at 2720 E. Lakin Dr. in Flagstaff, just west of Steves Boulevard, the showroom has an immense selection of name-brand flooring, including carpet, tile, wood, ceramic, laminate and luxury vinyl, as well as counter and vanity tops.

Throughout the last 45 years, the business has continued to grow, change and transform, but the family says one thing has remained constant the Cunninghams commitment to offering quality products, exceptional customer service and a priority to personalize every sale.

Our goal is, and always has been, to provide superior customer service and the highest quality merchandise at the best prices to all our customers, said owner Heather Cunningham. Our motto is: Get comfortable, take control, get floored!

Born in Sacramento, California, Heather lived most her life in Ohio before moving to Flagstaff. She and Mike decided to move to Flagstaff, Mikes hometown, to lead the family business. In 1972, Mikes older brother established the Carpet Barn. In 1974, as the business grew and expanded, the name was changed to Cunningham Interiors. Then, in 1995, when Heather and Mike took over operations, the business continued to expand and the name was changed to reflect the merchandise and services.

As Flagstaff changed and expanded, so did we, Heather explained about circumstances since she became one of the owners. At first, we were just simply Carpets of Dalton, and we had surprise! just carpet! Then we became Carpet Max as we added several other flooring categories. Then Flooring America, to reflect a full-service flooring showroom for the builder, homeowner and commercial client.

July 1 marked another important name change as Heather and Mike launched a new name, expanded merchandise and a new business model.

We wanted to incorporate our family name back into the business name because we want people to know that even with all the changes and growth in Flagstaff, the Cunninghams are still in the flooring business, Heather said. Flagstaff knows, the Cunninghams know flooring.

The showroom is expanding to include a selection of lighting fixtures, kitchen and bath faucets, and other home decor. Interior design services have been a mainstay through the years and the Cunninghams say they will continue and expand.

As part of the name change and merchandise expansion, Cunningham Flooring Direct will no longer employ flooring installers. Rather, Cunninghams team will work with each customer to coordinate installation with the flooring installation professional based on the product and the customer needs.

Who was your hero when you were a kid?

My grandmother. She was a tough, strong lady who had lived through the Great Depression and World War II and she had seen so much. I really looked up to her and loved her. She rode a Harley Davidson motorcycle from Maine to California and back. She was something.

What is the best advice youve ever received?

I like to read a lot so this is a hard one to pin down. I guess I would say, Live each day like it was your last. It is important to always say I love you and dont go to bed mad.

What is your favorite food?

Chocolate, hands down! It goes with wine, red meat, most side dishes and is good by itself. Yes, definitely chocolate.

If there was to be a movie about you, what would it look like?

It would be in an epic period piece about strong women, long marriages, beautiful and amazing children, and dogs Doberman Pinschers, to be exact. FBN

By Starla S. Collins, FBN

Cunningham Flooring Direct is hosting an open house and new name celebration with refreshments and music from10 a.m. to 4 p.m.,Friday, July 14, and10 a.m. to 2 p.m.,Saturday, July 15, at the Flagstaff showroom, 2720 E. Lakin Dr., Flagstaff.

Photo Caption:

Cunningham Flooring Direct owner Heather Cunningham stands in the expanded showroom filled with flooring of all kinds, home decor, light fixtures, counter tops and more.

Photo by Starla S. Collins

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Long-time Family Business Continues to Change, Grow, Expand - Flagstaff Business News

Award-winning UK carpet manufacturer, Cormar Carpets, has announced that it has made significant improvements to its Bury-based mill, as the British carpet industry success story has upgraded its loading bay facility using specialist apparatus, designed and installed by Thorworld Industries.

The two British companies have enjoyed a working relationship since 2009, when Cormar first used Thorworlds services to create a loading ramp solution, specifically designed to better enable carpet loading logistics, from mill warehouse to vehicle container.

Eight years on and Cormar, regarded as being one of the UKs select few privately-owned family carpet companies, continues its dedicated approach to investing in services, quality materials and customer commitment, as it updates and improves its onsite facilities.

At Cormar, our primary aim is to manufacture high-quality carpets and provide a first-class service to all our customers. Part of that service revolves around the effective and safe despatch of our products, explains Mike Wykes, FLT Training Officer at Cormar Carpets.

To fulfil this requirement to the best of our ability, we need access to specialist loading equipment thats been specifically designed to enable operatives to perform their loading tasks effectively, prevent stock from becoming damaged, and enable employees to stay safe at all times.

The Thorworld loading ramp we brought into our warehouse facility eight years ago, has fulfilled its role on all counts. However, a recent decision to change our loading process, and expand apparatus provision to include a docking system featuring two ramps, led us to readdress the design of our existing loading bay, and make some enabling alterations.

Mike goes on to explain that he and the team had no reservation in bringing Thorworld back-on-board to perform the required re-design of the companys loading bay facility.

Weve always found Thorworld to be a great group of people to work with, and would work with them again on any future loading bay project without hesitation. Like us, the company has a customer focused ethos. We simply explained what wed like our loading bay to do, and Thorworld came up with designs that would work.

Thorworlds plans for Cormars refurbished loading bay has involved the installation of two platforms with a Bimagrip anti-slip surface, access steps with side platforms and two bespoke, short type 10 access ramps, each with expanded metal decking and 1000mm high handrails. The equipment has an impressive 6,000kg capacity and has been specifically designed to improve access within Cormars loading facility.

Cormar will be using Thorworlds maintenance division to ensure the new equipment is professionally serviced on an annual basis, and the carpet manufacturer has also sold its original loading ramp back to Thorworld, as part of re-installation process.

With this latest loading bay installation for Cormar, we purposely designed the loading ramps to be one metre shorter. This bespoke design has helped to create additional space enabling easy vehicle access onto the ramps and allowing for greater manoeuvrability, explains Ian Langan, Technical Director at Thorworld Industries.

Cormar Carpets business has evolved considerably over the past eight years, and now, the firms loading apparatus has advanced alongside it. We hope the new bespoke design and improved capability of the equipment will serve to better accommodate the changing logistics of this impressively adaptable British firm.

http://www.thorworld.co.uk

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Thorworld loading bay solutions prove perfect fit for Cormar Carpets - Materials Handling World Magazine

NEWMAN The Newman-Crows Landing Unified School Districts maintenance team and contractors are currently working on a variety of projects at each school site in preparation for the 2017-18 school year.

This years biggest project is located in the center of Hurd Barrington Elementary, where a wing housing a library, resource facilities and classrooms is being constructed by CT Brayton and Sons Incorporated.

It just had to happen, district Maintenance Director Matt Vargas said of the project. That school is pretty full right now.

He said the project is scheduled for completion in December.

While outside construction crews tackle that high-profile project, district workers are tending to a laundry list of projects while the campuses are quiet through the summer months.

At Barrington, for example, a top-down cleaning of the campus is in full swing.

Mark Chamberlin, the lead custodian at Barrington, has been doing carpet extracting, Vargas told Mattos Newspapers. Hes greatat the end of the day he is the one who makes sure all the maintenance needs are met.

Von Renner Elementary is also receiving a full cleaning as well as new carpet in some areas.

Three classrooms are (getting) new carpet this school year, commented Vargas, as well as the office which saw some water damage this past winter.

ONYX, the company responsible for the installation of solar panels above the parking lots, has also finished their work at the Von Renner site.

They just finished installing the EV (charging) stations, which will be a great benefit to any of our school staff that drive electric vehicles, Vargas noted.

Along with the standard deep cleaning at Hunt, an added project will begin immediately after the Fourth of July holiday when crews begin painting the gym interior.

Bonita has been relatively quiet this summer in terms of projects, Vargas said.

Dave Larsen, the lead custodian, is currently doing a top-down cleaning there, said Vargas. Hes also doing carpet extraction.

Summer cleaning is also in full swing at Yolo Middle School.

One project completed late in the school year, Vargas noted, was the installation of a 20-foot screen and projector in the middle school gym.

Yolo will also receive a top-down cleaning as well as a waxing of the tile floors.

Finally, Orestimba High School students will return in August to a much brighter campus.

The big project there has been the painting, said Vargas. They are about 95 percent done.

The Warriors frosh-soph baseball team and their fans will also be able to enjoy their games in a more comfortable setting next season.

Houston Manufacturing is donating concrete where new bleachers will sit at the JV field, said Vargas. Theyre also building whole new dugouts for the field.

Fernando Vasquez and Ramon Villareal, both of Newman, with Houston Manufacturing are the project leads for the work being done on the baseball field.

Thats them as a company saying they want to give back to their community and school district, Vargas told Mattos Newspapers. Theyre giving us about $30,000 worth of work out there, it is a blessing for our student athletes and our community.

Vargas says his staff works incredibly hard to ensure the school sites are ready to go at the beginning of each school year.

At all our sites, I have to share my appreciation for all our staff, said Vargas. They go above and beyond to make our sites look great and safe for all our students and faculty.

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Summer maintenance under way at local schools - Gustine Press-Standard

Screen Porches, Sunrooms, Decks, Pergolas, and Patio Covers for Homeowners Who Want to Enjoy the Finest in Outdoor Living

From decks to retractable awnings, pergolas, patio covers, and full sunroom units, Express Sunrooms does it all. We can create an idyllic backyard environment for barbequing, entertaining guests, or simply appreciating the natural scenery around your home. Because we offer a vast array of outdoor living solutions including awnings, screen rooms, and patio enclosures we can create an outdoor space that is perfect for your lifestyle. For instance, if you want an open-air space where you can relax with family and friends, we can build a custom deck that is specially designed for your home and preferences. Or, to block bugs and intense heat, we can install a screened in porch with a thermal roof, which will keep your patio 15-20 degrees cooler on a warm day so you can relax in comfort. For the ultimate protection against inclement weather, you can choose an insulated sunroom, which you will be able to enjoy year-round.

Rest assured, no matter which type of upgrade you choose for your home whether its a sun porch, pergola, paver patio, or other outdoor enhancement we will install top-quality products that are built to last. For example, our Express Porch Panels are highly versatile structures that can be opened to serve as a screen porch or closed to become an enclosed patio, so you can enjoy a fresh breeze when you want but also protect your porch from rain, wind, and pollen. Made from maintenance-free aluminum framing, these enclosures last through the years with minimal upkeep required. Like virtually all of our products, our Express Porch Panels come backed by a lifetime warranty for your peace of mind.

As a company that has always considered customer service the cornerstone of its business, Express Sunrooms is proud to make improving your home a positive experience. We treat customers the way they want to be treated. In fact, we promise exceptional customer service through our 10 Trust Points, which set Express Sunrooms apart from other companies and make us the perfect choice when you want to transform an outdoor area of your home. For instance, our No-Risk, No-Pay Guarantee states that you will not spend a dime for your project until our work is done. You will only need to pay for your new pergola, patio awning, or porch enclosure once we have earned your complete satisfaction.

To ensure that your sunroom or screen porch installation goes smoothly, a dedicated project manager will guide your home improvement process through to completion, keeping it on budget and on schedule. Because we complete a vast number of projects every year, we have perfected a systematic approach that ensures consistent results.

Contact Express Sunrooms today to make your dreams of transforming your outdoor space a reality. We are the premier source for screen enclosures, four seasons sunrooms, custom decks, pergolas, and more.

CLICK HERE to learn about LifeRoomwhere state-of-the-art technology meets total comfort!

We are proud to be Authorized Dealers of Rain-Out Under Deck Ceiling products and accessories. For more information about Rain-Out Products and Accessories, click here: Under Deck Ceiling

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Sunrooms | Screen Porches | Decks | Pergolas | Patio Covers

In an increasingly divisive American society, its become a common trope to say we need to reach out to each other and build bridges. But its not a bridge we should buildits a porch.

Front porches unite divisions: us and other, inside and outside, private and public. They encourage us to engage in trust-building and face-to-face conversations with our neighbors. They give us a sense of security, but they also increase our willingness to engage with others. The lessons from the front porch are waiting to be reinterpreted and scaled-up in the fabric of our increasingly dense suburban and urban futures.

Extending ourselves to understand the other is inherently challenging; being open to outside ideas means we also take on more uncertainty. Front porches (or verandahs, as they are called in some cultures) allow homeowners some sense of control over their environment while also being ready to entertain new circumstances. These sheltered spaces tap into our primal desire to reside at an elevated surveillance point in order to spot nearby threats or opportunities: This concept is called prospect and refuge, and its often cited within landscape-design theory.

The front porchs ability to encourage interaction from a position of physical and personal safety is explored by Richard Thomass article From Porch to Patio:

When a family member was on the porch, it was possible to invite the passerby to stop and come onto the porch for extended conversation. The person on the porch was very much in control of this interaction, as the porch was seen as an extension of the living quarters of the family. Often, a hedge or fence separated the porch from the street or board sidewalk, providing a physical barrier for privacy, yet low enough to permit conversation.

We need to apply this mode of thought to the task of rekindling civility and unity in our day-to-day discourse. Whether between neighbors at home, colleagues at work, or even between opposing political parties, we can make more progress by situating ourselves within a safe spot as we reach out to build relationships with others (pitchers of iced tea optional). In an article written for Front Porch Republic, author Patrick Deneen summarizes that a front porch is exactly what is needed for even the largest political bodies:

For those who would stand and defend the future of the republic, a good place to start would be to revive our tradition of building and owning homes with front porches, and to be upon them where we can both see our neighbors and be seen by them, speak and listen to one another, and, above all, be in a place between, but firmly in place.

Though porches are a simple, cost-effective solution for community building on the neighborhood level, the concepts they embody havent gained traction in the larger urban-design sphere. This is because they have questionable utility in our busy lives. The people on the sidewalk whom you might hope to chat with are now cruising in their cars instead of strolling with their kids. In the American South, porches as places to cool off have been supplanted by air conditioning in living rooms. Avi Friedman, who rethinks home and community design in his book A View From the Porch, writes, If the telephone reduced the need for face-to-face contact and contributed to the erosion of the front porch, computers and smart phones became the porch.

If the telephone reduced the need for face-to-face contact and contributed to the erosion of the front porch, computers and smart phones became the porch.But this lack of modern utility is surmountable. To reintroduce the front porchs importance into contemporary life, we need make it the most indispensable room in the house. Turn it into your front-yard office with a desk and an outdoors electrical cord. Weather-proof it with solar- or wind-powered heating and cooling equipment. Blur it with the edge of your garden using a green wall. And, of course, make sure theres a permanent place for a pitcher of tea to offer any passersby.

No room for a wrap-around? Urban dwellers can devise porch-like vistas of their own. Whether its a brick stoop in Brooklyn or a sidewalk bench in Chicago, the same principles of safety-within-vulnerability can be applied to existing structures. Or, you could redesign new ones. Apartment tenants could lobby for street-level parking spaces in front of their buildings to be re-zoned as parklets, as we have seen happen in San Francisco. These small spaces could be greenified and have porches added for both residential and public use. Yet-to-be-constructed buildings could also designate a section of their street-facing spaces for micro-porches for exploratory engagement with public. This is often seen with bar-height stools in the front windows of coffee shops that face out to pedestrians, allowing for spontaneous, eye-to-eye interactions.

We can build community from places of personal security. But its not just literal front porches we need more ofwe need metaphysical ones, too. Brene Brown is an author and expert on feeling secure from the inside out. She suggests that if we want to feel more self-assured and comfortable reaching out to connect with others, we need to find the courage to be imperfect and practice gratitude. She argues that our self-acceptance leads to empathy, which is the strongest vehicle to connect with others.

That seems very porch-like: a place or way of being where you can relax and enjoy what is, while turning strangers into friends whose differences we can celebrate.

Learn how to write for Quartz Ideas. We welcome your comments at ideas@qz.com.

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Building bridges has failed to unite us. America needs to embrace the front porch instead - Quartz

It is a common feature of dining out at restaurants to see a rather ironic scene. A significant number of people will, in the middle of a conversation, grab for their phones, either to snap a picture or to check what is going on out there.

It is not altogether strange to see the phones out as the cause of no conversation at all. The quiet stillness in a restaurant, or any other public venue, can be deceiving. This silence is an observable recognition that we are not talking and communicating with the persons right there in front of us.

In her book, Reclaiming Conversation: The Power of Talk in a Digital Age, sociologist Sherry Turkle argues that modern men and women have excelled at the art of finding new ways around conversation. We talk a lot, Turkle observes, but too little in person. Social media streams put us into a kind of conversation with others, but not one that is a stable foundation for real community. Our modern technology has rendered opportunities and real places of sociality with others less likely.

A recent article in The New York Times draws much-needed attention to this question of sociality. The op-ed features a coffee shop in Toronto, HotBlack Coffee, that does not offer its customers Wi-Fi. According to the president of the cafe, Jimson Binenstock, this was to foster a public space for conservation. HotBlack Coffee is designed to be a setting for sociality and human interaction. Otherwise, he rightly argues, the cafe is simply a commodity.

The contemporary coffee shop has become, more often than not, a setting where we go to do our work, browse the Internet, listen to music, or carry out some kind of activity that entails little to no interaction with others. It can be an avenue for sociality, but typically this is not the case, nor the goal. Social relationships are thus conceived in a manner that more resembles our airports than a sphere of robust human interaction.

This lack of social interaction within the coffee shop can also be seen in other areas of contemporary American life. One can consider the issue of sociality even within the context of the architectural and cultural telos of our homes. Richard H. Thomas draws out these very implications in his 1975 essay, From Porch to Patio.

For Thomas, the design and purpose of a front porch was to connect families to the neighborhood, drawing them to see their fundamental relation to others besides themselves and immediate family members. The porch presents a vast array of opportunities to greet your neighbors or invite them in the house for continued conversation. It can also be the setting to watch children play in the street, which echoes Jane Jacobs insights regarding neighborhood safety and eyes on the street.

The unseemly porch, then, is a pretext for vibrancy and human community. As Thomas observes,

Part of the resistance toward abandoning the porch as an essential part of the home can be attributed to the primary group relationships that permeated both the large and small communities. It was important to know ones neighbors and be known by them. The porch was platform from which to observe the activities of others. It also facilitated and symbolized a set of social relationships and the strong bond of community feeling which people during the nineteenth century supposed was the way God intended life to be. (From Porch to Patio, 123).

In the early twentieth century, however, architectural design was becoming fixated on erecting homes with backyard patios. The transition was as much of an architectural change as it was cultural. Instead of the home and its inhabitants being ordered towards others, it gradually came to be understood as the sphere of the private.

Furthermore, the back patio was a context, a structural barrier for being protected from our neighbors. The consequences of such a social reconceptualization should not be understated. What something like the back patio has inculcated is a loss of the centrality of our social nature, and the need for community bolstered by strong feelings of connection.

In the opening book of his Politics, Aristotle argues that human beings are naturally social and political animals. The reasoning here is not that of instrumentality, but of essence. In other words, human beings are ontologically configured to be ordered towards sociality as essential to their flourishing, and to that of others. For Aristotle, human beings alone have the property of speech, enabling them to communicate what is just, good, or otherwise.

This truth reaffirms us being ordered towards, and in need of, others. Justice and charity are the fundamental social and political virtues, precisely because they are the only ones primarily concerned with other people. The self-sufficient man, in this context, the individual directed to no other but himself, is either a beast or a god.

Coffee shops, like front porches, are places set up to provide a partial yet real completion of human beings social yearning. Yet we must remember that our sociality is not simply given for us only to fulfill the demands of justice. Instead, we come together to talk, laugh, socialize, and commune with others in response to something more than need. It is ultimately in friendship that we come together, in speech, reveling in the goods of this life that can be shared among those we call friends.

Without this, we will remain individuals, with little attachment to our places, neighbors, and the community as such. Robert Nisbet, in his prophetic book The Quest for Community, rightly predicted that modern democracy cannot survive without a new laissez faire grounded in robust social groups and associations. This is all the more reason we need sociable coffee shops and front porches, places we can be refreshed by companionship and establish social relationships and the strong bond of community feeling.

Brian Jones graduated from the Franciscan University with a B.A. and M.A. in Theology. He is currently a PhD student in philosophy at the University of St. Thomas in Houston, Texas . His works have been published in New Blackfriars, Crisis, Catholic World Report, The Imaginative Conservative, and Catholic Social Science Review. He is married with three daughters.

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When Socialization Shifts From Front Porches To Coffee Shops - The Federalist

The first stage of demolition work is underway at the former Hydro Aluminium Kurri Kurri smelter.

MOVING FORWARD: Hydro Kurri Kurri managing director Richard Brown and CMA Contracting project manager Mick Lawrence.

The redevelopment of the former Hydro Aluminium smelter site near Kurri Kurri has taken a significant step forward, with the first stage of demolition works underway.

CMA Contracting was appointedprincipal contractor for the project in April, and commenced works to demolish the smelter infrastructure last week.

The first stage of demolition will includemost of the buildings on site and is expected to be completed by late 2018.

But it will could a few more years before the smelters iconic chimney stacks disappear from the localskyline.

The stacks and water towers are part of the second stage of demolition and remediation, which is still undergoing assessment for approval.

Buildings with potential for reuse andthosestoring waste materials, and below-ground infrastructure are also part of the second stage.

The chimney stacks will be part of the second stage of demolition, which is still undergoing assessment.

The chimney stacks and water towers will be part of the second stage of demolition, which is still undergoing assessment.

The chimney stacks will be part of the second stage of demolition, which is still undergoing assessment.

Rezoning of the 1900-hectare site is also under assessment.

Hydro has applied to rezone the predominantly-rural site to accommodateabout215 hectares for employment activities, 180 hectares for residential development, and around 1300 hectares for conservation purposes.

Rezoning proposals were endorsed by Cessnock and Maitland councils in 2015 and received gateway approval with conditions in March 2016.

One of the conditions was the requirement for a flood study by Maitland City Council that takes into account the Testers Hollow area.

The flood study is expected to be complete in early 2018, andoverall the rezoning process is expected to take up to three years.

The smelter ceased production in November 2012 and was permanently closed 18 months later.

Hydro Kurri Kurri managing director Richard Brown saidwhile the start of demolition was an exciting milestone, its still early days.

A lot of preparation has to go into it its a comprehensive process.

An aerial view of the Hydro site. Video: REGROWTH Kurri Kurri

The Hydro project team welcomesfeedback and questions fromlocal residents, business owners or other stakeholders.

Phone1800 066 243, emailcommunity.kurri@hydro.comor write toHydro Aluminium Kurri Kurri, PO Box 1, Kurri Kurri NSW 2327 with our inquiries.

April 28, 2017:Demolition work at Hydro due to start in May

April 12, 2017: Call to move new hospital

August 11, 2016: Hydroprogress on public display

March 29, 2016:Hydroproposal progresses

September27, 2015: New plan for Hydro smelter waste

September 8, 2015:Smelter waste may be recycled, if feasible

August 18, 2015:Ideas sought for tribute to smelter

August 22, 2014:HydroKurri reveals plans for on-site contamination cell

July 2, 2014:Hydroassesses options for site remediation

May 14, 2014:New opportunities for KurriHydrosite

March 12, 2014:KurriHydrosite in prime position

March 12, 2013:Options considered forHydrosite

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Demolition work begins at former Hydro Aluminium Kurri Kurri smelter - Cessnock Advertiser