Posted: Tuesday, March 11, 2014 12:00 am

New Galt McDonalds sign to be discussed By Jennifer Bonnett/News-Sentinel Staff Writer Lodi News-Sentinel |

The McDonalds drive-thru restaurant under construction at Twin Cities Road and East Stockton Boulevard has requested to erect a 90-foot freestanding sign. It will be discussed at this weeks Galt Planning Commission meeting.

If approved, there will be room on the sign for a future tenant that will share the McDonalds driveway. The shared sign will prevent another one from being constructed, which could clutter the area off Highway 99, according to city staff.

Nearby signs, including Chevrons and the Galt Village Center, are each 100 feet tall.

The Planning Commission meeting is open to the public and begins at 6:30 p.m. Thursday in the city council chambers at City Hall, 380 Civic Drive, Galt.

Posted in News on Tuesday, March 11, 2014 12:00 am.

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New Galt McDonalds sign to be discussed

SAN FRANCISCO -- Someone who doesnt live or work in the area around 6th and Mission might walk past the Mint Mall and miss the tiny JT Restaurant. But around the neighborhood there are many, from elderly residents to construction workers to Filipino and Latino families, who know the business not only for its home-style chicken and pork adobo, but also for its vital role as a community space.

At the center of it all is the owner and chef, Tess Diaz-Guzman, who is called Mama Tess by those who know her.

Im proud because everybody calls me [that], she says, laughing. I have a lot of nephews and nieces, but [many are] American.

Diaz-Guzman, 55, owns JT Restaurant in the South of Market neighborhood in San Franciscos central city area, with her husband Juan, whom she married in 2010. Formerly a butcher and originally from the province of Laguna in the Philippines, she came to San Francisco 13 years ago, shortly after her first husband passed away.

Her brother already lived in San Francisco and had started the Filipino restaurant in the 1990s. Diaz-Guzman and Juan took charge of it a few years ago, renaming it JT Restaurant (the initials for Juan and Tess).

Business is community hub

In SoMA, residents who are over age 65 and living alone make up over 10 percent of the population, and more than a third of them are living below the federal poverty line. The citys rising rents are squeezing nonprofit social service providers and small businesses that often times serve as a safety net for low-income seniors and families.

James Chionsini, an organizing director with the nearby advocacy organization Senior and Disability Action, says that small businesses like JT Restaurant are particularly important for seniors who are living alone. If you live in a small room, you need a community place.

Places like Tesss are an access point, he says. They provide the community with ways to survive. Many in the community affectionately call her the Mayor of SoMA, he said.

The space is used for gatherings. For instance, the West Bay Pilipino Multi-Service Center nearby has brought seniors there to sing karaoke, Diaz-Guzman says. She meets elders when she caters for community centers like West Bay, as well as Centro Latino in the Mission, and organizations like Chionsinis have used her space for receptions.

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San Franciscos Mama Tess Serves Filipino Elders Taste of Home, Community

AMERICUS Students at Georgia Southwestern State University will be able to Eat Mor Chikin when a new Chick-fil-A restaurant opens this summer inside the Canes Den in the Student Success Center.

Construction is expected to begin in May on the new restaurant which will be operated by Aramark, the universitys food service provider.

Were excited to begin construction of this new Chick-fil-A restaurant, which is something our students have been asking for as a dining option, said Shane Collins, Food Service Director, Georgia Southwestern State University. We had this space available and knew Chick-fil-A would be a good fit right in the heart of campus.

In October 2013, students took a GSW Dining Services (Aramark) survey selecting restaurant chain preferences. Chick-fil-A was the overwhelming favorite having received 51 percent of the vote. Boars Head deli was second. The new restaurant will feature a Chick-fil-A/Boars Head combination.

The new Chick-fil-A location will serve the original Chick-fil-A Chicken Sandwich, Chick-fil-A Nuggets, Chick-fil-A Chargrilled Chicken Sandwich, Chick-fil-A Waffle Potato Fries, Chick-fil-A Grilled Market Salad, Chick-fil-A Fruit Cup, freshly squeezed Chick-fil-A Lemonade, ice tea and a variety of soft drinks.

The hours of the new restaurant will be as follows: 10:30 a.m. to 10 p.m., Monday through Thursday; 11 a.m. 8 p.m., Friday, and 10:30 a.m. 2:30 p.m. Saturday. As with all Chick-fil-A locations, it will be closed on Sunday. The restaurant will be open to students and the public.

Chick-fil-A is the largest quick-service chicken restaurant chain in the United States with 1,797 locations in 39 states and annual sales of more than $5 billion. The chain has almost 260 licensed locations on college and university campuses and inside businesses complexes and airports.

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Chick-fil-A announces future GSW location New restaurant inside Student Success Center expected to open Aug. 1

By ELAINE KURTENBACH AP Business Writer

TANOHATA, Japan (AP) - Tens of thousands of people on Japan's northeastern coast who were left homeless in the March 2011 tsunami are shivering their way through yet another winter in cramped temporary housing, with perhaps several more to go.

Reconstruction plans are taking shape after three years of debate and red tape, but shortages of skilled workers and materials are delaying the work. In areas such as Tanohata, a fishing town of 3,800 along a scenic stretch of craggy cliffs and forests, less than a tenth of the new housing has been built. Overall, the figure is less than 8 percent completed, and less than a quarter of projects started.

As Japan's over-stretched construction industry begins gearing up to build venues and revamp aging infrastructure for the 2020 Tokyo Olympics, shortages of skilled carpenters and heavy equipment operators as well as cement and other materials, are frustrating residents and local officials.

"It's just cold, so very cold," Shio Hironai, 53, said of the hut that has served as home since the 20-meter (65-foot) wave slammed into one of the town's tiny coves. "And the roof is caving in. It has been all along."

Japan on Tuesday marks the third anniversary of the earthquake, tsunami and nuclear disasters known as 3.11 that killed 15,884 people and left 2,636 unaccounted for on its northern coast. The country has struggled to rebuild tsunami-hit towns and to clean up radiation from the nuclear crisis. It has earmarked 25 trillion yen ($250 billion) for reconstruction through to March 2016. About 50,000 people from Fukushima are still unable to return home due to concerns over radiation.

Hironai, a former fish factory worker who now helps assemble fishing lures in a workshop set up to provide jobs after the disaster, said she hopes to finally move into a new home by May. "The carpenters are just too busy. We had to find a new company to do the work."

In Tanohata and many other places in Iwate prefecture and elsewhere, groundwork is still not finished for most of the homes due to be rebuilt. Further to the south in Otsuchi, crews work until dark, rain or shine, leveling land for public housing units, a few here, a few there - wherever land can be cleared away from the most hazardous areas along the seaside.

As the 370 districts planning to resettle residents on higher ground gradually start building, competition for manpower and materials is intensifying.

The priority placed on big infrastructure such as sea walls is slowing the rebuilding of homes and communities while failing to address the region's longer term decline as younger residents leave and the population shrinks and ages, said Shun Kanda, director of the Japan 3.11 Initiative at Massachusetts Institute of Technology.

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Construction crunch slows Japan tsunami rebuilding

The Department of Healths intrepid crusaders, who for a second time stripped the great, 3-Michelin-star restaurant Per Se of its A rating this week, wont likely peel away a single customer.

Devotees of chef Thomas Kellers cuisine from Hong Kong, Paris and Abu Dhabi who booked months in advance wouldnt care if city inspectors claimed to find live tarantulas swarming over tables.

Nor should they. Neither should New Yorkers who know anything about the Ministry of Mouse-Dropping Enforcements rotten inspection system a long-running joke that was inflated to Public Nuisance No. 1 by former Mayor Michael Bloomberg and showing no signs of being rationalized by Mayor de Blasio.

By my calculations, the Health Department deploys 19 times more inspectors proportionately for restaurants than the Department of Buildings does for buildings one for every 160 eateries compared with one for every 3,075 structures.

While we read about fatal wall collapses, construction accidents and elevator mishaps, the last time I checked, no one has yet been killed by defective meat loaf.

The idea that no handwashing facility in the food prep area, one of Per Ses sins, imperils the dining millions is far-fetched anywhere: most restaurant kitchens are so small that the food prep area might be all of six feet from the bathroom sink.

Its criminally ludicrous at Per Se, which is immaculately clean by any English-language definition.

You could probably eat off Per Ses floor, observed celebrated Regency Bar & Grill chef Dan Silverman, a view widely shared by restaurant professionals flabbergasted by the situation.

Per Se was also penalized for hot food held below 140 degrees and cold food held over 41 degrees.

The temperature rules are inimical to first-class cuisine and ignorant of modern cooking techniques.

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Citys restaurant grades all about fines not health

LIBERTY TWP.

Pies & Pints, not your average pizza joint, is the first restaurant tenant to be announced for the future Liberty Center.

The pizzeria, with arguably the best craft brew program around revealed plans Friday to enter the Cincinnati market with the Butler County location. Co-owner and President Rob Lindeman said the five-restaurant and growing pizza business has signed a lease at the mega retail center.

Liberty Center, in the early stages of construction in Liberty Twp., is the name of the approximately 1.4 million-square-foot mixed-use shopping, office and residential complex planned for the intersection of Ohio 129, Interstate 75 and Liberty Way. Its scheduled to open in September 2015, according to developers.

We have an executed lease and will be going into the project when it opens, Lindeman said.

Were a small mom-and-pop company that really prides itself on high quality, great tasting pizza, he said. We try to provide the most flavorful, most unique pizza.

Liberty Center is being built by Columbus-based developer Steiner + Associates, the same developer of Easton Town Center in the Columbus-area and The Greene in Beavercreek. The projects first phase is expected to be a more than $300 million investment encompassing 65 acres.

Its being developed by one of the premier developers in the country, Steiner. Weve known those folks for a period of time. They saw the product in Worthington, liked it, and we got a great location in the center, Lindeman said.

Pies & Pints was founded in 2003 at original storefront Fayetteville, W.Va. The craft pizza and beer venture has since expanded to Charleston, W.Va.; Morgantown, W.Va.; Worthington, Ohio, and Beavercreek at The Greene. Lindeman said a sixth restaurant is opening this year in Lexington, Ky.

The Greene location opened in August 2013. The yet-to-open Liberty Center pizza place will be comparable to the nearby Dayton-area restaurant with 60 to 65 full- and part-time employees, Lindeman said. Pies & Pints at The Greene has seating for approximately 150 people, and sells 22 bottled beers with 35 rotating beer taps. A similar size restaurant and offering can be expected in Liberty Twp.

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Pizza restaurant named for Liberty Center development

National Restaurant Association Logo.(PRNewsFoto/National Restaurant Association)

WASHINGTON, March 7, 2014 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ --The National Restaurant Association's Chief Economist Bruce Grindy analyzes the February jobs report:

"The economy rebounded from its winter slump to post respectable employment growth in February, according to preliminary figures from the Bureau of Labor Statistics. Overall, the economy added a net 175,000 jobs in February on a seasonally-adjusted basis, up from gains of just 84,000 and 129,000 in December and January, respectively.

"While February's increase is an improvement from the sluggish gains of the previous two months, it still remains short of the average monthly gains of more than 200,000 jobs registered during all of 2013. Still, February's payroll gains outstripped expectations, and suggest that the downtick in growth was more related to the weather than a softening in the overall economy.

"Job growth in February was led by the professional and business services sector, where the 79,000 net jobs added represented the sector's strongest gain in 12 months. The construction sector and healthcare and social assistance sector both added 15,000 jobs in February, while manufacturers added a net 6,000 jobs.

"For its part, the restaurant industry continued to make solid contributions to the economic recovery. Eating and drinking places added a net 21,200 jobs in February, the 48th consecutive monthly gain for a total of more than 1.2 million jobs.

"Looking forward, restaurant operators' outlook for the economy remains a mixed bag. In the National Restaurant Association's February 2014 Tracking Survey, only 29 percent of restaurant operators said they expect economic conditions to improve in six months. This represented the 7th consecutive month in which fewer than 30 percent of restaurant operators expected the economy to improve in six months.

"Twenty percent of February respondents expect economic conditions to deteriorate in the next six months, while the remaining 51 percent expect economic conditions to remain generally unchanged in the months ahead."

Read more from the Economist's Notebook and get additional analysis of restaurant industry trends at http://www.restaurant.org/research.

Founded in 1919, the National Restaurant Association is the leading business association for the restaurant industry, which comprises 990,000 restaurant and foodservice outlets and a workforce of more than 13.5 million employees. We represent the industry in Washington, D.C., and advocate on its behalf. We operate the industry's largest trade show (NRA Show May 17-20, 2014, in Chicago); leading food safety training and certification program (ServSafe); unique career-building high school program (the NRAEF's ProStart); as well as the Kids LiveWell program promoting healthful kids' menu options. For more information, visit http://www.restaurant.org and find us on Twitter @WeRRestaurants, Facebook and YouTube.

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Restaurants Continue to Support Economic Recovery, though Outlook Remains Mixed

FRANKLIN TWP. Another Mexican-themed restaurant is possibly on its way to Greene County.

With the addition of Don Patron Mexican Grill highly anticipated, the Greene County community recently received more news about another possible expansion in eating choices in the area.

Franklin Township supervisors on Feb. 24 gave conditional approval for plans of constructing a Taco Bell restaurant, which is expected to be built in front of the Greene Plaza next to the Wendys restaurant.

The plans for the construction of a Taco Bell were presented earlier and went through the review process of the township planning commission.

Charter Foods North LLC of Talbott, Tenn., will be constructing the Taco Bell, according to the supervisors.

The plans include a 2,465 square-foot restaurant on the lot that was formerly the site of the Amerilube and include a parking area with 21 spaces.

The conditional approval came with 16 conditions that needed to be met in order to pass. Requirements for approval include: agreeing to conform to the Americans with Disabilities Act in regard to parking; receive a highway occupancy permit if a new sanitary sewer line is installed, which will require work on Route 21; the developer identifies the location of storm lines already existing; provide signs for traffic circulation through the driveway, propose outside lighting that would not create a glare on properties near the establishment and indicate erosion and sedimentation controls.

Access into the future restaurant will be through the Greene Plaza parking lot where Big Lots and other stores are located.

Construction is scheduled to begin in the spring, and the Taco Bell restaurant is slated to be open by fall.

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Taco Bell coming soon to Greene County

Carls Jr. store manager Jay Richards stands in front of the restaurant, which opened Jan. 31 in the Olympic Village shopping center in Gig Harbor.

JON MANLEY/GATEWAY PHOTO

Carls Jr., a restaurant franchise in the Olympic Village shopping center, opened for business on Jan. 31. Its owned by Jim and Susan Richards, whose oldest son, Jay, is the general manager.

Jay Richards said business is booming.

Business is great, he said. Were very busy.

The restaurant has a unique layout with seating on two stories. On a clear day, customers get a nice view of Mount Rainier.

We had a really narrow building, so, in order to get the seating that we wanted, we decided to go up to a second floor, Jay Richards said. That got us a bit higher so that we could have the view of the mountain, and we just wanted to create a unique space up here, something that was different than what people had seen before. I think weve done that.

Richards said he used the upstairs seating area as his office while the restaurant was under construction.

I just didnt want to leave it, he said.

Richards added the only complaint customers have had about the upstairs seating area is that its too small.

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Carls Jr. opens to warm reception at Olympic Village

The new "chickee" hut at the Marker 4 restaurant is nestled in between the restaurant and another Fisherman's Wharf building. Property owners do not need to file permits with the city or county if they have a member of the Seminole or Muskogee tribes build the hut, thanks to an exemption in Florida's Building Code. (March 4, 2014) Photo by Shelby Webb

VENICE - When it comes to tiki-type huts, the hands that build them can make the difference between a city violation and a no-hassle construction job.

The city of Venice issued a stop-work order against the owners of Marker 4 Restaurant at Fisherman's Wharf after officials learned the owners had commissioned a large hut without requesting a building permit.

But once the city realized what type of a hut it was, they immediately rescinded their order.

The structure, known as a "chickee" hut is exempt from Florida Building Codes when it is built by members of the Miccosukee or Seminole tribes of Florida.

Vince LaPorta, director of the Venice Building and Code Enforcement Department, said he encounters the structures at least several times a year.

"A lot of contractors try to build these huts without permits," LaPorta said. "But they're not Seminoles. They would have to be licensed through the tribe."

On his desk sat a license faxed to his office by the Seminole tribe, detailing how the project-leader for the Marker 4 chickee project, Alex Antunez, is a member.

Antunez, owner of Seminole Tiki Huts, said his company builds more than 300 of the thatched-roof structures each year out of cypress logs and sabal palm fronds.

"The huts have been being built residentially for 50 years," Antunez said. "But before then, it was a means of refuge in the Everglades from alligators and all that good stuff."

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Venice Marker 4 restaurant adds tiki-type hut