Preparation to bring down Supertech Twin Towers in Noida is in its final stage. With the Supreme Courts deadline drawing near, Noida Authority convened a meeting last week to discuss the status of the pre-demolition structural audit report.

On May 17, the top court had fixed the demolition for August 21, with a cushion that ends on August 28, the last date for completion of the demolition process keeping in mind the extension order. Edifice Engineering, a Mumbai-based firm, is overseeing the demolition process.

The demolition of the towers, located in Sector 93A, was initially supposed to take place on May 22. The Supreme Court had on August 30 last year, directed the demolition of the towers Apex and Ceyane in Supertechs Emerald Court for violating the minimum distance requirement between the two buildings.

According to reports, around 10,000 holes have been drilled from the basement to the top floors of the towers which will be charged with explosives, amounting to nearly 4,000 kilograms.

According to Utkarsh Mehta, partner, Edifice Engineering, the entire demolition will take place within 9-10 seconds which will cause a dust balloon as high as a 60-storeyed building. The company says it is prepared to save nearby buildings from the pollution that will be caused by using water jets, fire tenders and fountains.

The two towers have been completely covered with black and white Jio Textile Fibre to prevent the debris from scattering in nearby areas. Surrounding safety features, including containers in Emerald Courts basement and filling the basement with debris, and safeguarding the gas pipelines have been put in place.

In the Supertech case, the technique of implosion is being used in which the structure will collapse unto itself with the debris collecting in open space.

South Africa-based Jet Demolition, which is providing its expertise on the demolition process, is the same company which was responsible for the Bank of Lisbon demolition, hailed as one of the biggest projects with nearly 900 kg of explosives.

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4,000 kg explosives to bring down Noida Supertech Twin Towers within 10 seconds: Demolition process explained - DNA India

Fox News hosts have begun calling for the wholesale destruction of the K-12 public school system in a drastic escalation of the networks yearslong campaign against teachers.

Laura Ingraham claimed on her Thursday night broadcast that a lot of people are saying it's time to defund government education or at least defund it by giving vouchers to parents, adding, And I think that just has to happen. Greg Gutfeld similarly declared that private school vouchers are needed because public schools are a destructive system, and he described the National Education Associations teachers as the KKK with summers off during a discussion earlier that day on The Five.

Conservatives have long sought to undermine public education, and proposals to eliminate the Department of Education and strip the public treasury bare with private school vouchers are staples of Republican campaigns. But education policy was not a priority for President Donald Trump, and that debate slipped to the background during most of his tenure.

Fox and its allies have waged an opportunistic assault against public schools and teachers in the years since. Their calls to defund government education mark a strident new phase in that effort and if Republican politicians follow their lead, the party will be courting disaster. The public school system serves nearly 50 million children, and polls show parents overwhelmingly approve of the job their childs school is doing.

Foxs new calls to tear down the public school system comes just two years after the network argued that lack of in-person instruction in public schools was a calamity that was hurting viewers children. At the time, many state and local governments had shuttered their public schools, seeking to slow the spread of COVID-19.

Fox responded to those efforts by denouncing teachers and their unions, arguing that public schools provided an essential service for students and their parents that should not be infringed upon, regardless of the cost in COVID-19 cases and deaths. The networks hosts scoffed at the notion of spending more money to try to make classrooms safer from the virus.

Ingraham, for example, said in July 2020 that teachers unions were the culprits behind closed schools, explaining: This is unbelievable. This is like child abuse at some point. From a medical and a common sense standpoint, the decision to put kids back in school should be a slam-dunk yes.

As the pandemic waned, Fox hosts changed their focus from arguing that lack of instruction was hurting students to arguing that their instruction itself posed a threat. Public school teachers, previously scapegoated as villains for purportedly not wanting to teach, became the villains because of what they were purportedly teaching.

In 2021, Fox personalities and their fellow right-wing propagandists began obsessing over discussions of race in public school curricula, which they dishonestly described as critical race theory. The pundits warned that teachers who taught this critical race theory would warp the minds of American children and brainwash your child. Working alongside right-wing think tanks, activist organizations, and politicians, they sought to turn racial anxiety into political energy to win elections for Republican candidates and pass laws changing how race was taught in schools.

The right soon began lumping critical race theory together with public school curricula on LGBTQ identity. By the spring of 2022, the networks personalities had whipped themselves and their viewers into a hateful frenzy targeting LGBTQ teachers and students.

See original here:
Fox hosts have started calling for the demolition of the public school system - Media Matters for America

January 24 hearing set following LA Superior Court Judge ruling

By Dolores Quintana

The Santa Monica Bayside Owners Associations (SMBOA) petition to temporarily halt the demolition of Public Parking Structure 3 has been granted for now.

Los Angeles Superior Court Judge Michelle L Beckloff, who previously granted SMBOAs petition for a temporary restraining order, also issued this preliminary injunction to the group in this case. The injunction does not compel the City to continue to operate Parking Structure 3, on 4th Street between Arizona Avenue and Santa Monica Boulevard. Both the City Council and The California Coastal Commission oppose this petition that seeks to block demolition of the structure to build new and affordable lower-income housing on the property.

Justice Beckloff wrote in the ruling, Based on a balance of the likelihood of success on the merits of the parties competing harms, the court finds Petitioner has demonstrated entitlement to a preliminary injunction during the pendency of the litigation. as quoted by The Santa Monica Lookout. SMBOA is required by the judges rulings in their favor to post a bond of $150,000 to cover the damages that could be awarded to the City if the plaintiffs lose the suit by Jan 24 at 5:00 p.m. or they will forfeit the temporary injunction relief.

Then on Jan. 28, the court will hold a hearing to make any changes to the bond amount based on the arguments that both sides present on the matter. Judge Beckloff wrote that the hearing will also set trial on the petition on an expedited basis.

This ruling came only days after the City Council agreed to engage EAH Inc. in an exclusive agreement to build the sustainable affordable housing on the site of Parking Structure 3 with the units aimed towards housing unhoused residents of Santa Monica. City Officials said that EAH was identified as the developer to head this project based on the teams depth of experience in the areas of permanent supportive housing, larger developments, supportive services, and property management. as quoted by The Santa Monica Outlook.

EAHs proposal states that they would be responsible for the construction of the new housing and then would be in charge of the management of the property ensuring that all residents would be supported with services to ensure housing retention and good-neighbor actions, according to City Officials quoted by the Santa Monica Lookout. City officials further stated that The unique needs of the households occupying the supportive housing component of the development would be addressed by intensive case management services. As the development concept is further refined, supportive services will be designed to align with the needs of the residents.

The City Council also issued the directive to their staff and the developer to continue to work collaboratively on ways to move the affordable housing forward as quickly as possible. on the same day that they approved EAH as the developer for the project.

In fact, Mayor Sue Himmelrich made clear her views on the subject and said, Our region suffers from a dearth of affordable housing, and we in Santa Monica are committed to improving the crisis and getting people into housing that can be the foundation for stability. We arent waiting for private development to lead the way. We are leading by making available a precious resource that makes it possible - land. This is a project that addresses the biggest needs of the day, including homelessness, affordability, and equity, and reflects our communitys values, Himmelrich said.

The centerpiece of SMBOAs argument is that the City of Santa Monica and its business owners cannot afford to lose the 337 parking spaces in Parking Structure 3. The Citys response is that the rebuilding of Parking Structure Six replaced that potential loss. SMBOAs lawsuit further alleges that the California Coastal Commissions ruling to grant permission to the demolition erred in granting the permit because the legal requirement wasnt met. according to the groups legal counsel.

Judge Beckloffs ruling countered that assertion by saying that the dispute before the court as presented by the Petitioner is somewhat confused because it fails to specifically address any alleged legal error or abuse of discretion. Judge Beckloff did agree, however, that the petition has sufficiently demonstrated [that] the City considered the demolition of PS 3 only in the context of rebuilding without its reconstruction.

City spokesperson Constance Farrell said, A final ruling is not likely on the merits until April, depending upon the final briefing schedule, which will be determined by the Court on January 28.

Original post:
Preliminary Injunction Granted to Halt Demolition Of Parking Structure 3 - SM Mirror - Santa Monica Mirror

JEFFERSON CITY, MO. -- Democrats are saying Republicans are dragging their feet in raising state workers' wages to $15 an hour.

Missouri employs more than 50,000 state workers and they are among the lowest-paid in the nation. The governor has given lawmakers a deadline of Feb. 1 to give employees a cost-of-living adjustment, but the legislation seems to be at a standstill.

During his State of the State address last week, Gov. Mike Parson called the economy "strong" thanks to Missouri's response to the pandemic.

"With a historic budget surplus and federal dollars coming into our state, we want to build on our past momentum to capture even greater opportunities for the future of Missourians," Parson said Wednesday. "We took a commonsense approach to the pandemic, never shut our businesses down, and have always had a conservative and balanced budget."

That $5.4 emergency supplemental budget includes a proposal to pass a 5.5% cost-of-living adjustment and $15 an hour minimum pay. Those increases are expected to cost $91 million this year and $218 next year.

"We just got to get competitive and really got to fill some of these jobs out there," Sen. Dan Hegeman, R-Cosby, said. "Up my way, we have the Cameron Veterans Home that's only half capacity because they can only half-staff. There is a need to fill those jobs."

Two weeks ago, the House Budget Committee heard the legislation, which started to get the ball rolling on passing the increase, but since then, silence.

"I suspect there is some Republicans in-fighting over supporting it," said Rep. Peter Merideth, D-St. Louis.

"We might actually have to fight to defend the governor's proposal, a usual position for us to be in."

Read the original:
NEW VIDEO: Demolition project to make way for new CoxHealth clinic - KOLR - OzarksFirst.com

Last summer, then-Dayton Mayor Nan Whaley and City Manager Shelley Dickstein submitted a letter to the Treasury asking it to expand qualifying expenses to include blight removal, repairing sidewalks, property acquisition and community infrastructure investments.

The Treasury received more than 1,500 responses from cities and organizations across the nation about its spending eligibility guidelines, and many asked for changes and additions to the rules.

Whaley and Dickstein also urged the Treasury to allow communities to use rescue funds to construct public safety facilities, support and redevelop existing business districts and assist businesses, especially those owned by minorities or that are located in underserved communities.

A vacant and falling apart home in north Dayton. CORNELIUS FROLIK / STAFF

A vacant and falling apart home in north Dayton. CORNELIUS FROLIK / STAFF

The Treasury recently released its final rule, which the federal government and other groups say provides broader flexibility and more clear and simple eligibility rules.

The changes in the final rule provide greater certainty in many areas where the (National League of Cities) and its members sought clarity, and will help cities, towns and villages have more confidence as they spend their (State and Local Fiscal Recovery Funds) funds, said Clarence Anthony, CEO and executive director of the NLC.

The final rule says eligible projects include improvements to vacant and abandoned properties through demolition, rehab, remediation of environmental issues and other investments.

The final rule also says funds can be used to help small businesses that have been impacted by the pandemic with loans, grants, technical assistance, counseling or other services.

Dayton has proposed spending about $15.8 million of its rescue funds to demolish about 850 housing units and $18.7 million on repairing, rehabbing and constructing new housing.

A pedestrian walks by vacant and deteriorating properties in north Dayton. CORNELIUS FROLIK / STAFF

A pedestrian walks by vacant and deteriorating properties in north Dayton. CORNELIUS FROLIK / STAFF

The city also plans to put $7 million toward a fund for loans for first-floor businesses in its business districts, and it also expects to offer $3.1 million to Black- and brown-owned businesses for capital investments.

The final rule provides broader flexibility in response to over 1,500 public comments, including comments that the city submitted, Shannon said. The final rule enumerates several eligible uses not explicitly contained in the earlier interim rule.

Shannon said city staff are still reviewing the entire 437-page final rule document to determine if all of the proposals in the Dayton Recovery Plan are eligible.

Read more:
Dayton cleared to spend millions in federal funds on demolition - Dayton Daily News

EVERETT Within a couple of years, Compass Healths Broadway campus could be transformed into a modern center for acute behavioral and mental health needs.

The Everett-based agency is finalizing designs for a four-story building as part of a multi-phase redevelopment. Plans for the 72,000-square-foot facility include a 16-bed inpatient evaluation and treatment center, a 24-hour crisis triage center with 16 beds, room for outpatient services, and office space.

About 130 behavioral health and medical employees are projected to treat 1,500 people annually in the new space.

It will enable our behavioral health professionals to keep community members engaged in treatment, prevent crises from escalating, and help stabilize clients well-being, Compass Health CEO Tom Sebastian said in a news release, so they can stay on track to achieve their goals for housing, employment, contributions to their communities and overall recovery.

Compass Health estimates building the facility will cost $50 million.

The current building between 33rd and 34th streets is a vestige of past use. Part of the building was a long-term care site for Bethany of the Northwest.

To make room for the new facility, Compass Health will have a contractor tear down the current building, including the 1920-built brick exterior section on the north end of the block.

City of Everett staff are reviewing the projects land use permits, spokesperson Kathleen Baxter said. Those must be approved before construction permits, which also include demolition work, can begin.

About 150 employees who work at the Broadway campus will be relocated during construction, Sebastian said. New or temporary sites are identified for most, he said.

Some will be in the first-floor office space at Andys Place, an 82-unit permanent supportive housing facility on the same block as the Broadway campus.

Others will take vacant space at other Compass Health facilities in Snohomish County or in new leased space in downtown Everett. Details on the latter were not finalized, but Sebastian said employees whose clients and work are based in Everett will stay in town.

It will be an immediate improvement, Sebastian told The Daily Herald. Anybody moving out of that building is moving into a better space.

All staff are expected to have new work sites by spring, when the agency aims to begin demolition. Compass Health doesnt expect significant disruption in client service and treatment, except for some limitations during moving days.

In the footprint of the old building, Compass Health envisions two more phases for development. Phase 2 includes a 16-bed involuntary treatment facility and a 16-bed crisis triage center.

Theres also a two-level parking garage with 28 stalls, according to permit application documents. But the size and number of parking spots could change, Sebastian said. Theres also parking for 20 bikes in the plan.

So far the state has committed $21 million toward construction, with the rest being made up by major donations and an upcoming capital campaign. Bonds could cover any any funding gap.

Beyond that, more permanent supportive housing could follow in Phase 3, after the early successes of Andys Place, which opened in May.

Phase 3 is in early concept work, Sebastian said.

City records show Compass Health is looking at a seven-story mixed-use building with 74 housing units in 41,200 square feet, an outpatient clinic and administrative offices.

Sebastian said he hopes the success of Andys Place helps Compass Health garner public support for more housing that has 24-hour staffing.

If we can show this can work I think we can overcome what some quarters may feel, Sebastian said.

Another 36 parking spots and 14 bike spaces are included.

Phase 3s exact size and use depends on the communitys needs at the time of its development, Sebastian said.

Ben Watanabe: bwatanabe@heraldnet.com; 425-339-3037; Twitter @benwatanabe.

Correction: An earlier version misstated the size of the Phase 2 building, which is planned for 72,000 square feet.

Gallery

Compass Healths Broadway campus occupies two facilities, including one built in 1920, in Everett. They could be demolished this spring to make way for a new four-story, 82,000-square-feet facility. (Olivia Vanni / The Herald)

Looking northwest, a rendering of the proposed Compass Health Broadway Campus Redevelopments next phase, an 82,000 square feet building with a behavioral health clinic with a 16-bed inpatient center and a 16-bed crisis triage center. (Ankrom Moisan Architects)

A rendering of the Compass Health Broadway Campus Redevelopment looks southwest at the building. The facility is planned for 82,000 square feet with a behavioral health clinic with a 16-bed inpatient center and a 16-bed crisis triage center. (Ankrom Moisan Architects)

More:
Demolition eyed in spring for Compass Health Broadway campus | HeraldNet.com - The Daily Herald

Built between 1956-1981 in central Bratislava, the Istropolis House of Trade Unions was originally designed to host Communist Party congresses. Designed by Ferdinand Konek, Ija Skoek, and ubomr Titl, the main building is a monolith of grey marble. Step inside, however, and youll find a patchwork of amenities: a cultural and congress centre, an office tower, a science centre, a theatre, an atrium, and a fountain.

The socialist-era building was constructed on the back of another structure, Berchtolds Palace. Built in 1832, the palace was demolished just as Istropolis was finished.

Now, history is set to repeat itself, and Istropolis itself is now set for demolition. The structure will be replaced by a new project, New Istropolis: a glass tower designed by the Dutch firms KCAP and CITYFRSTER. The new hub will encompass a cultural centre, as well as office spaces, residential buildings, a congress hotel, and an adjacent garden. Architects plan to maintain some elements of the old centre by keeping the artworks and repurposing some materials, such as the marble facade of the existing hall and the tropical timber panels.

Nevertheless, the demolition has been criticised by The Association of Slovak Architects, among others, who consider Istropolis key to Bratislavas history and culture. A petition denouncing Istropoliss destruction has been signed by almost 11,000 people. As of yet, however, developers plans remain unchanged, and demolition works have already started.

Excerpt from:
The end of Istropolis: the modernist Slovak landmark doomed to demolition | Concrete Ideas - The Calvert Journal

Land Bank gets state funds for eyesore demolition

FREMONTTo spruce up some of the city's neighborhoods and eliminate blight, Mayor Danny Sanchez had hoped to start an ambitiousbuilding teardown program in 2020.

COVID-19 derailed the mayor's plans.

But now Sanchez and city officials hope, with help from a new Sandusky County Land Bank-administered program, they can tear down 10-12 dilapidated houses this year.

Brian Woods, the land bank's coordinator, saidThursday the land bank was awarded $500,000 in grant funds through the state's Building Demolition and Site Revitalization Program for residential buildings and $1 million for commercial sites.

Beacon of light: Port Clinton Lighthouse keeps growing stronger, preserving historic local icon

Thestate program is designed to provide grants for the demolition of commercial and residential buildings and revitalization of surrounding properties.

Blighted, vacant or abandoned structures are eligible for demolition.

Woods stressed theprogram is for all of Sandusky County's cities, villages and townships, as well as individual landowners.

He said the land bank heard about the state program in December.

The land bank held a meeting with city, township and village officials within Sandusky County to explain the program and its process.

Cities, villages and townships will give the land bank a list of qualifying structures.

Woods said municipalities must file a nuisance order against blighted properties.

Bridge project: Creek Bend Farm bridge project gets boost from Clean Ohio grant

Earlier this month, Fremont City Council approved an ordinance to authorizeSafety Service Director Kenneth Frost to enter into a contract with the Sandusky County Land Bank for removing, repairing, or securing defective, abandoned, deserted, or open and vacant buildings or other structures within the City of Fremont.

Jim Melle, the city's law director, said the city hadbeen working to get money to take down dilapidated buildings and homes.

Frost released a list this week to the News-Messenger of 14 houses the city has identified as blighted.

All of the homes are listed as vacant.

Some of the owners, like the one of a house at 504 Morrison St., live out-of-town and owe several thousand dollars in back taxes.

Six are identified as a "public nuisance," with the others falling under "owner agreement" or "to be determined."

Frost said, with the owner agreement sites, city officials have spoken with the owners and received verbal permission to raze the properties.

"We're ready to roll on these properties," Frost said.

With properties identified as public nuisances, the city has to follow Ohio Revised Code statutes and give appropriate notice to property owners before it can be demolished.

Sanchez said at the council's Jan. 6 meeting the city is approachingowners of blighted buildings and trying to acquire those properties.

"We think it may be a stress relief for some of these property owners that are behind on their taxes," Sanchez said.

The mayor said the city's goal is to not use general fund money for acquisition or demolition unless it's an absolute emergency.

Woods said theland bank has agreements in place with Fremont and most of the county's cities, villages and townships.

He said eight individual land owners have already submitted requests to the land bank to demolish blighted, vacantstructures on their property.

There also have been applications submitted to demolish two vacant commercial properties, Woods said.

One of the commercial sites is the old Atlas building on Ohio 20 near Woodville.

"That's been an eyesore for 20 years," Woods said.

The other commercial site is on property on North Street in Fremont near Dickinson Street.

"We're excited about it," Woods said of the new program. "It gives us different avenues we've never had to help communities with their blight."

Landowners with questions about the program and eligibility can contact the land bank at 419-334-6414.

dacarson@gannett.com

419-334-1046

Twitter: @DanielCarson7

Read more:
Fremont hopes to get moving soon on blighted home teardown program - The News-Messenger

Jim Whelan was once described as "the most destructive man in Melbourne".

Over almost a century, the demolition firm he set up in the 1880s pulled down thousands ofbuildings, including some of the largest and grandest ever built in the city.

Before his death in 1938, when his sons took over the business and kept it going through a third generation right up until the early 1990s, Jim was said to have pulled down more than 1,000 buildings by his own hand.

But perhaps ironically, as the structures were pulled apart piece by the piece, the act of destruction led to some buildings being fondly remembered in a way they had never been while standing.

The firm made money from salvaging and selling off the materials from the demolition, so crews were scrupulous in taking apart the old buildings.

Inevitably, Jim's Brunswick scrap yard became a treasure trove that told the story of Melbourne and its growing pains, with periods of rapid expansion and changetempered by protractedlulls, like the one brought about bythe Second World War.

Author Robyn Annear, who researched and wrote a book about the family, said despite being associated with all the demolitions, in some ways the Whelans were "into heritage before heritage was a thing".

The family nameand the signs that boasted the firm's work became so ubiquitous thatthey entered the lexicon of the city's residents.

Jim wasin his 20swhen he made the tripto Melbourne from his western Victorian hometown of Stawell, in 1884.

By the time he reached his 60s, the small-scale operation he had started, mainly to turn a profit fromsellingmaterial salvaged in demolitions, had expanded enormously, and he had developed a considerable profile and a nickname to match.

An article in the 1929 edition of the The Weekly Times described him as, "a big man with a stoop".

"Whelan the Wrecker is themost destructive man in Melbourne," the article read.

"Though living in continual danger from falling debris, Whelan the Wrecker never gets worried."

The article went on to describe 11 serious accidents he survived, including being "smothered underan avalanche of bricks from a falling wall" and abrick falling from a height of 45 feet (13.7 metres) onto his head.

A few years earlier, in 1921, a member of his demolition crew had chiselled words into a stone wall that firmly stuck: 'Whelan the Wrecker is here'.

At its height, the firm had 100 employees, all extremely skilled and often working in treacherous situations long before worksitesafety standards were developed.

A 1932 article in The Herald describedthe firm's work demolishingthe Stewart Dawson Building to make way for the Manchester Unity Building that now stands as a celebrated art deco structure on the corner of Collins and Swanston streets in Melbourne's centre.

A crew of 15 experienced wreckers wastasked with pulling the iron roof off thefive-storey building, built in1884, and they had 18 days to finish the rest of the job.

Jim was quoted describing his starwreckers including JackThorpe, whose skills earned him the moniker, The Cat.

"There was a time when I wouldn't go 10 feet in the air myself," Jim reportedly said.

"When you go higher, you begin to lose your nervousness."

He downplayed the difficulty of the work he had gained recognition for.

"Pulling down is nothing," he said. "It's the taking away that wants careful organising."

Ms Annear said by the 1960s, watching demolitions taking place in the CBD by Whelan crews was a popular pastime, like a "free circus act".

"They played up to that, because these were the days when you didn't have to work with scaffolding and lots of protective gear," she said.

The researcher, who remembers watching the crews work as a girl, said the men would be high up on top of freestanding walls knocking out bricks with sledgehammers.

"People just couldn't get enough of that," she said.

"They would flock at lunchtime to eat their sandwiches and watch them do their high-wire act.

"Right from their really early days, Whelans really played up to that."

She said their antics were regularly featuredin the city's newspapers.

"I'd read about them in the papers, about the possibility of all sorts of treasures they'd uncovered and their acrobatics and so on," Ms Annear said.

"They just seemed like glamorous archaeologists or something to me as a child."

Over the decades,the slogans plastered across signs at the firms job sites, 'Whelan the Wrecker is here' or 'Whelan the Wrecker was here' crept into people's conversations.

"They had that great name that almost had a musical quality to it," she said.

Ms Annear said the name Whelan became a colloquialterm forsomeone or something messy, clumsy, or chaotic.

"You'd walk into your kid's bedroom and say 'oh Whelan the Wrecker was here!'" she said.

"It was really just part of Melbourne's language."

When the imposing graniteColonial Mutual Life, or Equitable Building, was opened in 1896, those who had designed and built it imagined it would define the corner of Elizabeth and Collins streets for many generations to come.

Instead, the hulking structure, wrapped around an iron frame, was brought down by Whelan the Wrecker less than 100 years later, in the early 1960s.

By this time, the next generation of Whelanswasrunning the business and young Jim, named after his father, was said to have calledthe 14-month job of dismantling the Colonial Mutual Life Building asone of the toughest the firm ever faced.

Ms Annear said that the demolition of the building that "everybody said was meant to last for thousands of years" actually brought its story to life.

She said many accounts point to the building being a "fairly dark, brooding, monolithic thing" at the corner of the two major streets.

"It was a landmark, but it wasn't especially beloved," Ms Annear said.

"It became so again only in the act of disappearing."

The involvement of the Whelans didn't always mean complete demolition.

In the firm's early days, in 1913, the Whelans were tasked with dismantlingone of Melbourne's earliest buildings so it could be put back together on a new site.

A foundation stone was laid for St James Old Cathedral in1939, but a few decades on, a flurry of construction fuelled by the wealth the Gold Rush brought to the city meant the small church was out of place and overshadowed in its central city location

As Jim and his workers pulled the building apart, they numbered each slab of stoneso the church could be put together again at a site on King Street, opposite Flagstaff Gardens, where it remains today.

The last relative at the helm of the wrecking business, Myles, died in 2003, and before then he donated many materials acquired by the family over the decades for preservation.

The business itself quietly went bankrupt during the early 1990s recession, a year shy of a century, with a legacy of having leftMelbourne completely transformed.

"In their promotions of the jobs they were doing, the things they were pulling down, they focused with such loving detail on how beautifully made the buildings were," Ms Annear said.

"They treasured and respected the quality of the buildings and the fixtures, which they then went on, of course to sell that's how they made a lot of their money.

"But they really had an eye for history and the bricks and mortar of Melbourne that made it a special place."

Ms Annear said rather than lamenting the loss of particular buildings, her research has led her to believethat their demolition providedan opportunityto appreciate and understand the past.

"I have this idea that nothing is ever really lost if we remember and celebrate those things," she said.

"I don't mean, by that, to justify the wholesale pulling down of everything and anything.

"But just that we do have to let go of some thingsand let the city grow and change, not necessarily for hard-edged economic reasons, but just because that's what cities do.

"That's how cities continue to survive and it's the difference between a city and a museum."

Link:
'Whelan the Wrecker is here': The demolition firm that transformed Melbourne over a century - ABC News

The former White Lakes Mall spent years falling apart.

Still, Topeka city officials didn'tseek to have it demolished.

They waitedin hopes it would berehabilitated, saysMike Haugen,director of the city's property maintenance unit.

"We would much rather see properties be rehabbed and remainviable," he said.

Then fire seriously damaged the former mall 13 months ago, at a time of rising public support for demolishing it.

The city's mayor and council voted last year to raze the building, and the city administration is "working through the process" to have that done this year, said Gretchen Spiker, the city's communications director.

More: White Lakes Mall was to be destroyed in 2021. Here's why not, how arson case was resolved.

The city of Topeka currently plans to raze 14 buildings in coming months.

Built in 1964, the former mallat 3600 S.W. Topeka Blvd. is the second youngest of the 14 buildings setto be razedby Topeka's city government.

Spiker recentlyprovideda list of those buildings in response to a request from The Capital-Journal.

That list evolves constantlyand sometimes increases by as many as four properties in one week, Haugen said.

In addition to the White Lakes Mall, the list currently contains the following:

The house at 828 N.E. Monroe, which Shawnee County Appraiser's Office records say was built in 1887.

The building at 1016 S.W. 17th, which appraiser's office records say was constructed in 1890.

The fire-damaged house at 218 S.W. Topeka Blvd., built in 1900.

The fire-damaged house at 1600 S.W. Clay, built in 1910.

The house at 1418 S.E. Lake, built in 1920.

The house at 415 N.E. Strait Ave., built in 1930.

The house at 611 S.E. Market, built in 1930.

The house at 1216 N.W. Harrison, built in 1932.

The house at 635 N.E. Poplar, built in 1940.

The house at 1900 S.E. Michigan Ave., built in 1951.

The fire-damagedhouse at 1008 S.E. Powell, built in 1972.

The fire-damaged house at 2619 S.W. Murrow Court, for which the date of construction is not listed on the website of the appraiser's office.

And the vacant former business building at 911 N. Kansas Ave., built in 1920.

More: Developers want to turn NOTO building with collapsing roof, floors into rock-climbing site

Its owners hopeto savethe building at 911 N. Kansas Ave., where the roof has fallen in and its second and third floors are collapsing.

But the Topeka City Council tentatively plans Feb. 8 to consider authorizing the demolition of that structure, which is estimated to cost$200,000, according to a document in the packet for the agenda posted online Friday on the city's website.

The mayor and council plan to discuss but not act on the matter at their meeting Feb. 1, according to that document.

More: Next-door neighbor concerned about building falling apart in Topeka's NOTO district

One reason the building at 911 N. Kansas Ave. hasn't been torn down is because of thehigh cost of doing that, Haugen said.

The city generally budgets $200,000 to $400,000 annually to razebuildings, he said.

Haugen said he seeks to be a good steward of those funds.

They tend torunout quickly, considering the average cost to raze a house is $15,000 to $25,000, and sometimes higher, he said.

The White Lakes Mall and the buildings at911 N. Kansas Ave. and 1016 S.W. 17th are consequently "budget busters" expected tocost considerably more than averageto demolish, Haugen said.

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The investigations that lead todemolitions are conducted by the city's special structures unit, which was created in 2016 to address properties deemed unsafe, Spiker said.

The primary goal of the unit is to encourage owners to rehabilitatethe properties, make them safeor remove them through demolition, she said.

"In each of these cases, the owner has an opportunity to bring forth a plan for repair, and if the plan is viable, the special structures unit will work with them to accomplish the goal," Spikersaid. "Ultimately, a hearing officer determines if the demolition process should proceed, or if the owner has presented a viable plan to rehab the property."

The special structures unit includes positions for nine inspectors and one supervisor, with five of those currently being vacant, Haugen said.

He encouraged anyone interested in applying to fill one of the vacancies to go to the city's website. Starting pay is $19.31 for a property inspector I and $20.49 for a property inspector II, that site says.

The city last year demolished 19 properties,Spiker said.

The process to raze a house takes six months to a year, on average, Haugen said.

As of Dec. 31, 2021, the special structures unit had inspected a total of 1,207 properties for potentially unsafe conditions, Spikersaid.

She said 179 of those properties were rehabilitated by their owner, 162 demolished by their owner and 142 demolished by the city.

Of the other cases, no violation was found in 306 andthe case was closed for various reasons in 364, while 54 cases remain open, Spiker said.

The owners of properties for which the special structures unit pursues demolition sometimes save those buildings by successfully rehabilitating them, Haugen said.

Locations where that's happened include710 SW. Polk, 1117 S.W. Saline, 1908 S.W. Van Buren and 5811 S.W. 20th, he said.

Haugen voiced concern that publiclysharing the list of houses slated for demolition might bring an increased potential for fires and criminal activity to occur at those addresses, due to the vulnerability of the structures.

Houses on the demolition list tend to be vacant, with homeless people often spending the night there and sometimessetting fires, he said.

More: Four houses have burned within 250 feet of Topekan's home. Area looks like a 'war zone.'

Severe fire damage is already present at several houses on the current list, Haugen said.

For the city to convince an administrative hearing officer to have a house demolished, he said, the city must demonstrate thatthe cost to repair the propertyamounts to more than 30% of its value, at which point the law considers the propertyto be unsafe.

But any house that's been destroyed by fire has already exceeded that standard by being declared a total loss, Haugensaid.

He encouraged the public to call 785-368-3161 or to use the city's SeeClickFix application to report to the city any potential violations of itsproperty maintenance codes.

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These 14 buildings have been declared unsafe and are set for demolition by Topeka's city government - The Topeka Capital-Journal