Home Builder Developer - Interior Renovation and Design

WELLSBURG - At a time when many churches are striving to fill their pews and pinching their pennies to pay the bills, building a $1.9 million addition at Brooke Hills Free Methodist Church may have seemed like a giant leap of faith.

And the Rev. Bryce Grieco, church pastor, admitted there was some hesitation initially by church members who said the Ohio Valley is facing tough economic times.

"I said, if that's true, then wouldn't this be a great testimony to God," said Grieco. "God wants opportunities like that. He wants people to step out in faith and show his glory."

EXPANSION COMPLETED Members of Brooke Hills Free Methodist Church celebrated the completion of a $1.9 million expansion with a special service and breakfast Sunday. Discussing the addition are, from left, the Rev. James Jobes, superintendent of the Pittsburgh Conference of the Free Methodist Church; the Rev. Bryce Grieco, the churchs pastor; and the Rev. David Roller, bishop of the Eastern Area of the Free Methodist Church. -- Warren Scott

But the decision to expand the church on Washington Pike by 16,900 additional feet wasn't based solely on the assumption that more space will draw more people.

The church already had an average attendance of 240 people between its two Sunday morning services. Because the church's former sanctuary had seating for 110, one of the services had been moved to the multipurpose center used by the church for recreational activities and dubbed the Christian Life Center.

Grieco said the styles of the two services - one contemporary with music performed by a small band, and the other more traditional - also dictated the need for two gatherings. But elements of the two have been merged and thanks to the addition of a 440-seat sanctuary, the entire church congregation can worship together.

The Rev. Steve Roller, bishop of the Eastern Area of the Free Methodist Church, said the project wouldn't have been possible without "visionary leadership, people who believe it will happen and support from the community."

Before a commitment to construction was made, a campaign was launched by the heads of 26 families in the church, including co-directors John and Beverly Cook, with the help of TLC Ministries of New Castle, Ind., a professional fundraising organization.

It included several rallies, a 24-hour prayer service and more than 100 home visits.

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Church has grown in numbers and size

Monday, October 22, 2012

ADDITIONAL 23 trained and certified workers in Iloilo province received their tool kits from the Technical Education and Skills Develoment Authority (Tesda) on Monday.

The turn-over of tool kits held at the Provincial Capitol lobby was part of the Tesda Specialista Technopreneurship Program (TSTP), which is the agencys holistic approach to skills development.

ILOILO. A recipient receives his appliance repair services tool kit from Governor Arthur Defensor Sr. at the Provincial Capitol lobby on October 22. (ECGarcia/Capitol News)

Check our new look and tell us what you think.

The tool kits include appliance repair services with seven recipients, massage therapy wellness with 10 recipients, and welding services with six recipients.

To recall, Tesda also gave tool kits to 60 recipients from Iloilo in March this year.

Governor Arthur Defensor Sr. thanked the Tesda for helping the workers and the youth develop skills thats they can use to earn a living.

He said the Provincial Government always allocates counterpart funds for the Tesda programs in recognition of its usefulness and importance in uplifting the lives of the people.

ILOILO. The recipients of massage therapy wellness tool kits pose with Governor Arthur Defensor Sr. after receiving their tool kits at the Provincial Capitol lobby on October 22. (ECGarcia/Capitol News)

Originally posted here:
23 more Iloilo workers get tool kits

SAN ANTONIO- You can call it a personal vendetta or a streak of bad luck for a man whose appliance and repair shop burned down last Sunday. Now exactly one week later another one of his appliance shops was broken into.

A 1300 pound steer named Kenmore was taken. He has since been located but that's not the end of the cattle heist.

What we do typically is some evenings we let him free range around the property, but we have a security fence perimeter around here and we have video surveillance at all times. And we've never had a problem around here, explained Rudy Madrid, Kenmores owner.

Rudy's stroke of bad luck started last Sunday. Thats when his other appliance shop located along 9800 block of Marbach went up in flames. Just days after the fire Rudy realized the copper wiring had been stolen from the building.

In the end, Rudy said it appeared as if Kenmore was too much for the thieves to handle since they cut him loose. Kenmore is safely back home and unharmed. But, as a precautionary measure his owner has hired a security grounds keeper to keep an eye out on Kenmore and the appliance shop.

See the article here:
Stroke of bad luck for business owner who suffers a fire, then theft

The city of Columbia has issued a violation notice to contractors for the Brookside on College student apartment building at College Avenue and Walnut Street for working on the site after-hours without an extended work permit.

Tenants at the apartment complex recently received emails from Brookside saying the company had obtained a permit to do after-hours construction work to prepare for a second round of move-ins to the site last week, but the city said no such permit existed.

City Manager Mike Matthes said in an email sent Friday to North Central Columbia Neighborhood Association President Pat Fowler that the city would issue a violation notice to the developers for the project.

Matthes said in the email that news coverage of the after-hours construction work "was a surprise for us, and we are responding."

He also said Community Development Director Tim Teddy would be preparing a notice of violation.

The Odle family, the developers for the 273-bed student apartment building, originally planned to have Brookside on College ready for all residents by this fall.

That plan was derailed in May, though, when a portion of the building was heavily damaged by a fire for which the cause remains undetermined.

The developers were issued an after-hours work permit for the site shortly after the fire to allow crews to conduct cleanup work. However, city officials said no such permit had been issued for more recent work at the site.

The tenants whose apartments were not ready by August were provided temporary housing at Stephens College as work continued on the complex.

Craig Van Matre, the Odles' attorney, said the developers plan to have all 273 tenants moved into the apartment building on the northwest corner of College and Walnut by the end of the month. He said crews could still be completing some items as tenants move in but that the work should not interfere.

Original post:
City cites Brookside for violation

SAGINAW, MI It has been four years since Saginaw native and CBS Television executive David Strouse bought the 131-year-old building at314 S. Hamilton in Saginaw's Old Town district.

Monday, Strouse held the long-awaited ceremony dedicating the renovated TheHamilton Apartments building, which will house nine loft-style apartments.

During the ceremony, Strouse anthropomorphized the building, calling it the "hero" of the story and talking of how it sheltered businesses through the years.

"Sadly, during her second 50 years, our hero received very little in return for all she had given," he said. "If this is not a resurrection, it is certainly a resuscitation. Because our hero was at the end of her rope and had very little time left."

Strouse said preserving the historic valueof the building, constructed in 1881, was the main reason he took on the more than $700,000 in renovations necessary to ready the building for renters.

"I saved it to prove to myself and others that it could be saved, and because it was the right thing to do," he said. "This building and others like it are a part of our cultural heritage. They will never be replaced because they cannot be replaced. When they are gone, they are gone forever."

A crowd gathered along Hamilton Street for the ribbon-cutting Monday. They were then invited up to tour the nine apartments on the second and third floors of the building.

John Meyer, the construction architect overseeing the project, joined the ceremony via speakerphone from his vacation in Maui, Hawaii.

"The apartments in The Hamilton Apartments are most exciting and creative in design," Meyer said."Restoration of a historic building such as this preserves and strengthens our heritageand the historic district of Saginaw."

The group wound through the two floors of apartments, whichvaried in size and layout. All thoseopen for the tour featured highceilings, long windows looking out over the river and Saginaw River and preserved elements of the historicbuilding like wooden support beams.

Read this article:
Old Town Saginaw loft-style apartment building on Hamilton opened in public ceremony

The future of a Lackawanna Avenue property that lies in Little Falls but is surrounded by Woodland Park remains uncertain now that a Passaic County Superior Court judge has invalidated a zoning ordinance for it.

Woodland Park sued Little Falls last year after its township council passed an ordinance that would have zoned the triangular property of just less than one-acre for a three-story, 18-unit apartment building. Woodland Park claimed that the ordinance zoned the property, which is wedged in between Notch Road and Route 46 on the Woodland Park side of the highway, specifically for the proposed developer, Daibes Enterprises, and against the public good.

The decision finds the ordinance invalid only because it does not specify the minimum number of affordable housing units to be included.

"While Little Falls had legitimate reason for the adoption of the ordinance, the ordinance's express language did not guarantee the construction of affordable housing units," wrote Judge Garry Rothstadt.

Mayor Keith Kazmark said that he understands Little Falls' need to satisfy their affordable housing requirement and need for ratable properties, but hopes Little Falls officials would understand the land is on Woodland Park's side of Route 46. He said they pled with the Little Falls council to not pass the ordinance.

"We were concerned about the integrity of the neighborhood as were the neighbors in that area," he said. "They are all significant lots with single family homes."

Woodland Park borough attorney Albert Buglione said his municipality is pleased with the ruling.

"The implications are very positive from the borough of Woodland Park's perspective in that the ordinance has been declared invalid in that the zoning for that area has been declared null and void that the project will not be built as constituted," he said.

Little Falls, however, could simply redraft the ordinance to include a minimum number of affordable housing units.

"We would hope that they didn't do that without first inviting Woodland Park to a joint work session meeting to attempt to map out a mutually beneficial plan for that property," he said. "If they were to summarily redraft that plan we would respectfully submit there are a number of areas where we can attack that plan."

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Plans for proposed 18-unit apartment building in Little Falls put on hold

Comment

Attention all smokers: Youre probably going to want to just start working from home, OK?

On Monday, the Toronto Board of Health adopted a report from the citys medical officer, Dr. David McKeown, that called for the city to extend its existing smoking bans to include outdoor patios, building entrances, hospital grounds and sports fields. For good measure, the board also decided to tack on a few extra places: civic squares and bus shelters. Public consultations into a potential ban are expected in the next few months.

I have never smoked cigarettes. Growing up as an asthmatic, cigarette smoke was something I learned to avoid. That aversion lasted longer than the asthma. And though I opposed, on libertarian grounds, the government banning smoking in bars or in smoking areas of restaurants, I was forced to reconsider while travelling in the United States several years ago. I stepped into a bar where the air was blue with smoke. It was disgusting.

So lets say, for the sake of argument, that we agree smoking indoors anywhere but in a private home should be banned. Risks of second-hand smoke and all that. OK. What about smoking in civic squares or on patios? You know, places that are outside?

We know that patios are one of the main places where young people and people who are trying to quit smoking are exposed to smoke, Dr. McKeown told reporters. So, it makes sense to look at it. There is a good case for taking a look at patios.

You know what else makes sense? For people who are trying to quit smoking to avoid places that might tempt them. Sorry to play the slippery slope card, but why is this any different than shutting restaurants lest they tempt dieters? If anything, obesity is a greater public-health issue than smoking. There are more obese Canadians than smokers, after all.

Dr. McKeown went on to add that smoking in public helps normalize smoking. Well, good heavens. We cant have that. Our bar patios must be kept free to do what they do best: Normalize sitting around in shirtsleeves in the evening chill, drinking beer by the pitcher and eating chicken wings and chili nachos.

Look I get it. Smoking is bad. It kills you, but not before costing the healthcare system a pretty penny. And youngsters are impressionable. Monkey see, monkey buy a pack of Players, monkey later die of esophageal cancer. Its terrible. A reasonable case can be made to protect people from second-hand smoke, or children from being unduly exposed.

But so long as cigarettes are a legal product, maybe its time to acknowledge that if someone wants to catch a smoke while walking across a civic square or standing next to a baseball diamond, they have a right to do so.

Here is the original post:
Matt Gurney: As long as cigarettes are legal, we’ve got the right to smoke them

The City of Toronto is a big step closer to banning smoking on restaurant and bar patios, as well as public squares, the butt-littered entranceways to public buildings and all hospital grounds.

The health board voted unanimously Monday to launch consultations on extending the current ban for the first time since 2009, when areas around city playgrounds, splash pads and wading pools were added to the no-puff list.

Councillor John Filion, chair of the health board, said he hopes consultations with the public, restaurant and bar owners and others can wrap up by the end of the year, and will help produce recommendations for council in 2013.

But Filion (Ward 23, Willowdale) called restaurateurs worries that a patio ban will hurt their businesses not a credible argument. He made it clear that, no matter the feedback, his board will push council to expand the ban.

There is very broad public support for going further than we have, he told reporters. I dont think theres much doubt that the board of health will adopt some new measures; its just which those are, how soon they take effect, what are the exact parameters.

Dr. David McKeown, the citys medical officer of health, said diners and restaurant staff get unhealthy doses of second-hand smoke on patios, while clusters of smokers normalize tobacco use and influence teens who might start smoking and smokers who would like to quit.

Wayne Williams said on the patio of a downtown Jack Astors that such a ban would not bother him.

Im a smoker, but I dont mind that because it imposes on people, said Williams, 52, who would cross the street to puff. Its a bad habit Im an anti-smoker even though I smoke.

But outside Bier Markt on The Esplanade, 30-year smoker Shahab Gonbadi, 45, asked: Are they going to tell us that we cant smoke in our homes next?

Its outdoors, and they can split the patio into a smoking and non-smoking section if they want to do anything.

Read more from the original source:
Toronto health board moves toward restaurant patio smoking ban

Finding a good place to light up will be more difficult if Toronto expands the city's smoking ban.Toronto the Good is already a bad place to be a smoker, and a proposal to further limit acceptable smoking areas could soon make it even worse.

The city's board of health announced on Monday that it will consider a proposal to further expand its smoking ban next year.

The Canadian Press reports that the proposal would prohibit smoking on uncovered restaurant patios, public sports fields, and areas near hospitals, bus stops, public squares and doorways.

These, combined with current off-limit areas, would leave Toronto smokers huddled near underpasses, in provincially-registered smoking areas and, perhaps, bobbing along the Don River in kayaks.

Toronto already has a bylaw prohibiting smoke from playground areas, wading pools and splash pads, but the meat of the city's smoking limitations come from province.

[ Related: California city bans smoking in multi-family homes ]

The Smoke-free Ontario Act prohibits smoking in or near private schools, common areas in condo and apartment buildings, nurseries and day cares, sports arenas and any other enclosed public space or workplace.

The Act was updated in 2010 to include partially- and fully-covered restaurant and bar patios, the thinking at the time being, "Let the smokers sit in the open air where they won't bother anyone."

According to CTV News, Dr. David McKeown, Toronto's chief medical officer, said extending the ban to more public spaces would limit smoking's negative effect on society.

"Smoking in public places does two things: it exposes non-smokers to second-hand smoke which we know has a negative impact on health," McKeowan said. "Secondly it normalizes smoking. When young people see a crowd of people enjoying themselves it reinforces the notion that smoking is OK."

Original post:
Toronto mulls expanding smoking ban in public spaces

Q. Our condominium is about 30 years old. Some of the first floor units have installed small patios. I read in your column that owners cannot use common ground for their own. But over the years our board has looked the other way and ignored such patios. Recently, a new owner complained about the construction of one such patio because her neighbors cooking smoke was coming into her unit. She questioned why other units were allowed to have their own patios since the documents do not allow private use of the common grounds. The directors took an attitude of leave us alone and live with the smoke.

Since the board is neglectful in enforcing the rules, we are beginning to have a patchwork of violations. Many homes have patio furniture, large flower pots, grills and smokers, and some have awnings and umbrellas. The board takes a do as you please attitude. Since the owners do not want the job and problems, most of the violators continue to break the rules. I ask why these people get reelected.

R.W., Clearwater

Until your owners understand that they have an obligation to others in the community to serve, you are going to have the same problems. Someone in your condominium must step up and begin to try to organize and convince others to take on the duties by becoming candidates or you will never recover. Some must say that they are not happy with the current board and they want to go back to the basics and start enforcing the rules. Maybe that person is you. Why not start knocking on doors and ask neighbors if they are happy with the current boards actions? The greatest privilege members have is to become a candidate and serve their fellow neighbors. Yes, it is a duty but it is a privilege.

Q. Our condominium board has raised some fees, but not all. When we ask why it is changing some and not others, members say that the old fee schedule was not fair. They said the larger units are worth more and use up more of the condominiums services. They say units that are worth more since they are larger should shoulder more of the responsibility to pay more. We now have a class warfare pitting smaller units against larger units. It has divided our condominium and we do not know how to correct the issue. What is wrong with our board and members?

G.G., Orlando

The association must be operated by the rule established in the documents and statutes. The board does not have the right to just change the budget collection fee schedule because they appeal to one group and not the other. Fee payment percentages are published in the documents, as in other official papers. I assume that there are more smaller than larger units and this board is seeking to be reelected by catering to the majority. However, this action is improper and you will have to either file a written complaint with the state or sue the board. It is a difficult problem, but you must take action to have your rights. A majority cannot rule the few. Q. Our newly elected board has appointed two unit owners as finance officers to consult with the board. They were not elected as directors. Is this appointment proper and if one or two of the directors meets with these officers, is it considered a board meeting?

R.Z., Tampa

The board is allowed to seek advice from professionals or non-professionals. They can hire outside guidance or seek volunteers from the members to provide oversight and advice. Even if they were not elected as directors, they can be named as an officer, vice officer or a committee member. Directors may meet with the appointed officers and it would not be considered a board meeting as long as a majority of the elected directors are not in attendance. At a board meeting these appointees do not have a vote, but can provide reports or advice to the directors. These appointed or contracted people can even be compensated.

Write to Condo Line, Richard White, 6039 Cypress Gardens Blvd., #201, Winter Haven, FL 33884-4115., or e-mail CAMquestion@cfl.rr.com. Include name and city.

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Board ignores illegal patios