PITTSBURG -- It took a mad dash to the finish line by both contractors and teachers, but a new-look Heights Elementary School is ready to make its much-anticipated debut.

Contractors were busy painting doorways, adding wiring and computers and getting two-story school up and running in time for school to start Wednesday. Meanwhile, teachers were feverishly unpacking boxes and preparing inside their new classrooms.

"Everybody's trying to get the basics all ready. Nobody moves everything in all at once; it takes some time to settle in. But, overall everybody is really excited," Principal Laura Francis said.

"As a teacher you have to be flexible and be able to roll with the punches," added fourth-grade teacher Linda Sturgis, a 20-year teacher at the school. Sturgis was busy sorting through stacks of books stacked on the students desks.

"To be able to move out of portables and back into an actual big classroom, I know I'm excited about it. I'm sure the kids will be too," she said.

It was a year ago that F&H Construction started work on the $28.4 million project to replace one of Pittsburg's oldest schools. The face-lift couldn't have come at a better time, Francis said, noting how the 60-year-old site had a pipe leak at the end of the past school year that left a third of the campus flooded.

Also, each classroom had a separate heating and air conditioning system, which worked erratically.

"These kids deserve this," said Yolanda Orozco, entering her fifth year as the school's kitchen manager.

Some of the features in the new school include a twice-as-large multipurpose room, lots for space for storage, new computer labs and audio and video equipment, and safer pickup and drop-off for parents.

"Parents will be a whole lot happier," Francis said.

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Pittsburg: New Heights Elementary readies for debut

A feisty 82-year-old Uptown woman was hauled to court for spray-painting a fence built by her next-door neighbor a high-ranking federal prosecutor as part of a raging dispute over the property line between their brownstones.

Great-granny Sylvia Kordower-Zetlin has been warring with Arlo Devlin-Brown, the newly appointed chief of the Public Corruption Unit in the Manhattan U.S. attorneys office but prosecutors say she crossed the line when she tagged the backyard fence that separates the properties on W. 113th St.

The octogenarian was arrested June 22 and charged with making graffiti.

Its an ongoing dispute, Assistant District Attorney Justin Chung said at the criminal court arraignment Wednesday. The defendant was going onto what the complainant believes to be his property and refuses to stop coming over.

Thats why the fence was put up in the first place, Chung added.

Devlin-Browns wife, Daniela Kempf, says the senior citizen has been harassing her family incessantly, turning their idyllic Morningside Heights yard into a minefield.

We have a beautiful home and we would enjoy it a lot more if she werent making our lives hell, said Kempf, a professor at Barnard College.

She takes pictures of us whenever we come outside, added Kempf, who lives with Devlin-Brown and their children, ages 7 and 5. She gets on a ladder (and) yells, Bastards! Bastards!

Kempf said the fence was erected entirely on her familys lot but Kordower-Zetlins lawyer told the criminal court judge she was simply preserving the boundary lines.

This is an absurd allegation, said the lawyer, who is also her son-in-law, Jonathan Reiter. My client was completely in the right. The fence is actually partially on the defendants property and she marked that fence . . . to prevent the complainant from acquiring prescriptive rights by adverse possession of her property.

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EXCLUSIVE: Woman, 82, arrested for spray-painting fence

I must admit I was slow to consider Drywall as a viable alternative to internal brick walls, and by general discussion I realized I am not alone; so allow me to share what I have learned so far to possibly help you change your mind.

We in Trinidad and Tobago have in many ways been conditioned into believing that building with bricks and mortar is the only way to build if you want quality and that alternative building methods give a lesser product and are to be frowned upon.

Well folks, this is definitely no longer the case and one of the alternative construction methods that have been perfected to give a classy finish is in fact dry walling.

In Trinidad and Tobago, are a number of companies that supply materials that can be used and choosing the correct materials for your application is all important. It is however very important to get this process done well because some homeowners have had disappointing results with dry walling because the wrong materials and specification have been used in construction or because incorrect construction methods have been used. I think however that so much information is now available, and the skill sets developed enough to mitigate against recurrences of these negative results.

The big advantage that dry walls have over brick walls is that they are lightweight and thus do not need any foundations or strong support structures when building on a suspended slab or floor structure and there is no mess. Construction is quick and drywalls can be easily erected by a professional contractor or a Do It Yourself enthusiast.

Drywalls are also easy and quick to remove without mess or dust as is the case with brick walls.

You can choose straight or curved walls, add character with arches or recesses. There is no problem with fixing items like pictures or mirrors as there are suitable fasteners readily available from various suppliers. The finish is smooth and apart from having to fill in the joints with fiber tape and mud (or a similar product), it is ready for painting.

Dry walls can be just as soundproof as brick walls, are an effective fire barrier, and have good insulation qualities. Framing can be either in timber or using lightweight metal studs. Dry walls are thinner than brick walls and thus have an advantage where space is a problem. The speed and ease of construction coupled with the cost of materials and labour make dry walling a good financial option when compared to conventional brickwork.

There are, however, a definite number of dos and donts when it comes to drywall construction and it is most certainly not just a case of buying a pile of materials and knocking up a wall. But as I said before, this information is available from a number of suppliers. Dry walling is a viable alternative to brick walls and its versatility makes it a good option to consider. Thanks for Connecting

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Contractors Corner Drywall vs. Brick wall: Weighing in

JENNY DeHUFF, Daily News Staff Writer dehuffj@phillynews.com, 215-854-5218 Posted: Monday, August 18, 2014, 3:01 AM

STRAWBERRY Mansion residents will be the benefactors of three Philadelphia Housing Authority projects within 24 months.

The neighbors say they want and need the housing but they want to make sure they have a say in how it's done.

City officials broke ground on the first development Tuesday: the Oakdale Street Apartments, on a longtime vacant lot in the north end of Strawberry Mansion. Twelve units will be built on Oakdale Street near 28th, across from the Widener Library. The three developments will result in a total investment of about $30 million.

City Council President Darrell Clarke, PHA president Kelvin Jeremiah and nearly a dozen others pitched their shovels in the dirt and gave it a toss Tuesday, ceremonially ringing in the start of the undertaking.

Early on, a 12-member task force was assembled with the intent of having full community involvement and participation in the awarding of contracts for the job, from initial construction to plumbing to painting and all the way down.

Dale Corp., a construction-management firm based in Glenside, Montgomery County, was the lowest and most qualified bidder, Jeremiah said. Dale will oversee the project's development, but some members of the task force - half PHA and City Council staff and half neighborhood residents - are skeptical about whether their voices are being heard.

"The approach on this one could have been better," said Tonnetta Graham, of the Strawberry Mansion Community Development Corp.

"You have to remember that this is a very old community and a lot of our residents have something to say about what happens."

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Strawberry Mansion on deck for new affordable housing

By Gregg Hennigan, The Gazette

IOWA CITY Iowa Citys police chief wants more regulations on taxis to improve public safety, but some owners of taxi companies are protesting the financial effect that would have on them.

I dont know why the city controls all this. This is my own business, said Rafat Alawneh, who runs Number One Cab. It doesnt seem like we have freedom.

The recommendations from Police Chief Sam Hargadine come after a series of alleged assaults on women by Iowa City taxi drivers last fall and winter.

In addition to that, Hargadine said its not uncommon for cabs to be used in crimes or drivers to be victims themselves.

Taxi companies, however, are not always able to provide timely and accurate information on vehicles and drivers, he said. As an example, Hargadine said during the assault investigation last winter, officers spent more than 200 hours tracking down drivers and compiling information because the business owner did not know who all of his drivers were.

Many companies hire drivers as independent contractors. They use their own cars under the companys name rather than being actual employees of the business. In fact, when recently asked by the city, many owners could only guess at the number of drivers they had, Hargadine said.

As of Friday there were 94 vehicles from 10 companies registered as taxis in Iowa City, although that increases daily as the busy football season and cooler weather approaches, City Clerk Marian Karr said.

Hargadine is recommending companies be required to hire drivers as employees of the business and own the vehicles. He also wants:

l Companies to have unique color schemes so people can better identify to which company a cab belongs.

Link:
Iowa City police seek more taxi rules after sexual assaults

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Rosie Smith with a tile paitning of Rodney Legg earlier this year.

Tom Wright, Reporter Sunday, August 10, 2014 7:40 AM

AN ARTIST has hit out at the thoughtless destruction of a piece of artwork she donated to Weston General Hospital.

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Rosie Smith gave a ceramic tile painting of Weston promenade in 1993 only to now find out by chance it was destroyed last year, despite a contract with the hospital saying it must inform her if any damage was sustained.

It was displayed in the Quattock Unit but during renovation work last year appears to have been discarded.

Mrs Smith raised her concerns with the hospital board, which has since told her it will investigate with the contractors what happened.

She only realised what happened to her painstaking creation, when she paid a visit to the ward recently.

Mrs Smith said: I am hugely distressed at the thoughtless destruction of a piece of artwork that I feel to have been amongst my best.

The lost painting represents over four months of work. Its unbearable to think it ended up in a builders skip.

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Distress caused over hospital painting destruction

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Photo by Cliff Buchan Terry Tolzmann is the man in charge at Tolzmann Painting. He is carrying on the tradition started by his father, Ray Tolzmann, and his grandfather, August Tolzmann. Here, he paints the fascia board on a boathouse on Manitou Island in White Bear Lake.

When it comes to painting as a profession, some are cut out for it; others are not.

Around Forest Lake and Wyoming, the Tolzmann family is now in its fourth generation of family members who have made their living by painting and paper hanging. Its a family tradition that goes back more than 100 years.

Officially, 2014 marks the 100th anniversary of the familys involvement in the trade, but it probably started even earlier, said cousins Terry Tolzmann and Brian Tolzmann. Records from residential directors published in St. Paul in 1905 lists August Tolzmann, their grandfather, as a painter and paper hanger.

Family history also speculates that August Tolzmann was working in the profession, possibly as early as 1900 in St. Paul when he was 19.

No matter the number of years, it is clear painting is in the Tolzmanns blood and in particular in Terry Tolzmanns blood. He is the owner and operator of Tolzmann Painting today, a continuation of the business founded by his grandfather. It has been a business that has seen a host of Tolzmann men joining the ranks, but on scales that differ widely.

An early start

It was an early start in the business for Terry Tolzmann, the son of Ray Tolzmann. Terry was a sophomore in high school here in 1972 when he first took his turn with a paint brush.

He recalls his fathers command clearly to this day: Come on, schools out. You are coming with me, Ray Tolzmann barked to his son.

It was OK with me, Terry said. It was work. I helped him every summer after that.

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For Tolzmanns, a century of painting