Home Builder Developer - Interior Renovation and Design

Could Richmond turn streets into open dining spaces like herein Alexandria? Image by Joe Flood licensed under Creative Commons.

With demand for parking down 90% across America, business leaders and city officials alike have begun repurposing empty streets and vacant parking stalls into outdoor seating and public parklets. Except in Richmond. Over the three years of the citys parklet permitting program, not a single application has even been submitted.

But with COVID-19 related closures in full swing and restaurants desperate for revenue, could now be the perfect moment for Richmond to refashion its car-centric public space into patios and parklets?

Everywhere to park, nowhere to go

With the number of American lives lost to the novel coronavirus fast approaching 120,000, the need for strict social distancing to prevent its further spread has become painfully clear. While the pandemic has taken a toll on nearly all aspects of normal life, the experience of dining out has been particularly pressed to adapt to these challenging times.

In Virginias current Phase 2 of managing the virus, restaurants may allow patrons to sit inside but in limited numbers and unprecedented circumstances. Interior dining rooms may not exceed half their capacity while parties must remain six feet or more away from each other. The food industry turns a notoriously tight profit margin as is, so with inside seating cut by half how is a restaurateur supposed to get ahead?

For thousands of business owners across the country, the answer to this conundrum has been to look outside. Eight decades of car-centric city planning has gifted (or cursed) nearly every establishment in America with an overabundance of parking right out front, whether on the street or in a dedicated lot. With nowhere to safely go during the pandemic, the vast majority of those spots have been left empty for months.

To help their food scenes survive these hard times, cities across the world have closed their streets to cars and opened them for people to sit, dine, and enjoy the fresh air. One might expect vibrant metropolises like Miami or New York City to be leading the way, but many of the most ambitious cities have included more modest candidates such as Cincinnati which released plans to convert 25 streets into outdoor seating. Even suburban Maryland has gotten in on the action with a streamlined streatery program.

Its exciting to see other cities spring to action to provide more outdoor space for dining and recreation during the pandemic, especially cities you wouldnt expect like Cincinnati and Tampa, said Max Hepp-Buchanon, Venture Richmonds Director of Riverfront & Downtown Placemaking. Theyve converted parking to spaces for people so that residents can continue to enjoy their city during a time of crisis by eating outside.

As Richmonds eclectic food scene has powered the citys rise onto tourism to-do lists, one has to wonder why local government has yet to make space for one of our top assets. With some area restaurant owners worried they may have to close up shop permanently in two months time if they cant seat more customers, could now be the perfect moment to copy other cities plans and open Richmonds streets to its restaurants?

A survey question about open spaces from the Richmond 300. Image by Richmond 300.

Cafs over cars

According to 1st District City Councilmember Andreas Addison, the demand from the food industry is there. Business owners have been reaching out to me to help them add patios or sidewalk seating, but the challenge we have in Richmond is that parking requirements cause people to become possessive. If we take parking away, some worry that itll be hard for people to get to businesses even if new patios create more space for the actual business, he said in an interview.

Despite the familiar tetchiness any attempt to rework parking for private vehicles into more public spaces habitually triggers, 9th District City Councilmember Dr. Mike Jones believes it would be worth it if the move helps save Richmonds beloved restaurants.

Business owners livelihoods are locked into the health of our communities, he said. As someone who drives a very big car, I would give up on street parking to help out our restaurants. Can we give up some of our on street parking to make sure they have the space they need to function? I would support a resolution to make that happen!

Addisons office has been working behind the scenes to try and streamline the Citys parklet permitting process through which such parking to patio conversions would happen; however, currently the city charter requires each application be reviewed by the City Planning Commission as well as the Urban Design Committee before any changes can take place.

We wanted to introduce an ordinance to eliminate the reviews on parklets and waive the $350 permitting and $150 renewal fees, but we had to push pause on that unfortunately, said Daniel Wagner, Addisons Liaison.

With vocal support from Richmonds Director of Economic Development who has asked interested businesses to submit their request for more patio seating through the Citys RVA Strong assistance platform, Addison hopes much of the process can be fast-tracked, including the Department of Public Works formal application.

With many restaurants terrified by the prospect of permanent closure within two months time, Councilmember Jones is calling for fast action: If were truly pro-business, then we need to explore some of these things that may make us uncomfortable but will help keep our restaurant scene alive. This cant be a 60-90 day affair. This needs to happen quickly within the next 30-45 days. Speed and government arent usually synonymous, but this is something weve got to get done as soon as possible.

If Petersburg can do it

Nearly perfect proof that a quick remedy to the current dining crisis is possible lies just a half an hour south of Richmond in Petersburg the much-panned crown jewel of Virginias Tri-Cities. Within a matter of weeks, the Cockade Citys administration, city council, and business community came together to open historic Old Towns Sycamore Street as an outdoor dining promenade.

With charming string lights and more than 40 socially-distanced tables available to patrons, this stretch of town between Bank Street and Bollingbrook has come alive with an energy as close to pre-pandemic life as possible. Twenty tables are reserved for three restaurants along the corridor (Alibi, DJs Rajun Cajun and Longstreets) while the other half are open for diners to sit at as they see fit. By placing all tables 10 feet away from one another, the City hopes to provide a safe space for local businesses to flourish.

After facing a complete shutdown for two months, local business owner DJ Payne appreciates the reprieve. This has drawn a lot of people down here and helped our business come back quicker and faster, he said. Im now doing the same level of sales I did last summer.

To keep up with his freshly booming business, Payne has had to hire three servers, a bartender, and two more kitchen staff essentially a doubling of his workforce. Despite the summer sun, he says Old Towns 40 tables stay full from 11 am to 11 pm.

I havent spoken with one person yet who has said anything negative about this, said Payne in an interview. Everyones excited that Petersburg has brought back space in which we can hang out, grab a drink or a meal, and enjoy the fresh air. We should have done this a long time ago. Were working with the mayor and city council to make this permanent. Nobody misses driving down that block of the street anyway.

Can Richmond replicate the success?

Addison for one believes Richmond can catch up to its southerly sister city. People are starting to realize there may be an opportunity here, and its my hope that we can take this chance to become a more walkable, bikeable city, he said. The biggest thing we need to do is to get the proof of concept on this idea out there so we can help people to better understand the advantages and hurdles of these changes.

A mural in front of Brewer's Cafe in Richmond. Image by Hamilton Glass.

With his experience organizing Richmonds 2019 Park(ing) Day in which 20 parking spaces were converted into temporary parklets by some of the citys top architecture and engineering firms, Hepp-Buchanon hopes he can help. Last Septembers celebrations were a good demonstration of how businesses can expand the space for their customers to sit outside and eat, he said. We need to do everything we can to lower the barrier to entry on the implementation of parklets. Id like to partner with local businesses to shepherd the first parklet through so we can work with local officials to figure out how we can make it as easy as possible to expand this program.

If the City can work with business owners to restore parking for private vehicles back to public space, Jones bets the move could prove a boon to Richmonds restaurant scene, regular residents quality of life, and even to the towns artsy reputation. I would love to see the creativity that would result from this, he said. We could have projects like the mural AJ Brewer put in front of his caf all over the city. People are going to transform spaces with art and furniture, and I think the city could actually become more alive than its ever been.

Wyatt Gordon is Greater Greater Washington's Virginia Correspondent. He's a born-and-raised Richmonder with a master's in Urban Planning from the University of Hawaii at Mnoa and a bachelor's in International Political Economy from American University. Previously he's written for the Times of India, Nairobi News, Civil Beat, Style Weekly, andRVA Magazine. You can find him on Richmond's Northside.

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Could Richmond transform parking into patio seating to save its food scene? - Greater Greater Washington

Council agrees to waive the $1,200 encroachment fee so restaurants can set up patios to comply with social-distancing measures

The Town of Midland is hoping patios will be a way for both the public and restaurants to findsome joy during the pandemic.

Council opted to approve the move this week after staff presented a report created onthe province guidelines around phase two of reopening. The move will see the town waive the $1,200 encroachment feeas well as fees related to building and fire inspections. This provision is available to local food and beverage businessuntil October 15.

During discussions at Wednesday's meeting, Coun. Bill Gordon said he wondered if the same provision could be made available to retailers around town.

"This program is awesome," he said."I just request one modification that I want this made available to every business in Midland. This is a short program and it ends in October."

But that suggestion was quickly nixed by staff.

"Unfortunately, the regulation is pretty clear that it must be adjacent to the restaurant so that will not be feasible at this point," said municipal law enforcement officer Jim Reichheld.

Gordon, however, persisted.

"I just want to make sure we level the playing field," he said."I know this is in suggestion to the province's opening of patios for restaurants. Can we not just add on this and open it up to everybody and let sidewalk sales and whatnot happen?This could be the difference between them giving up and keeping going through the summer."

Coun. Cody Oschefski said he could see that being of benefit to some retailers downtown.

"I support the motion and I like councillor Gordon's idea as well," he said."I had a business owner reach out to me with their business next to a restaurant and they were wondering if they could offer their space to their next door neighbour for a patio.I'm just wondering if we canmake an avenue available to downtown businesses to offer their space."

From there, town solicitor Amanpreet Sidhu spoke up to explain the legalities of the matter.

"It's a really great suggestion," he said, addingperhaps council could give administrative staffa bit more time to take another look at the regulation.

"This policy is in direct response to phase two. We don't see similar changes to the retail side and we want to be cautious in trying to make changes so we don't run afoul of any other provisions."

Sidhu said that while he can understand that councilwants businesses to be successful and survive, he would bea little hesitant to say yes or no.

"When your admin looked at drafting this bylaw, it was specifically considering the provincial provisions," he said."We haven't considered other options. We don't wantto provide advice to council that may come back and harm us. (But) we will certainly look into it."

Mayor Stewart Strathearn agreed with staff.

"We could have a special meeting to allow for that if we can," he said. "Right now, we would be remiss to having put in all this effort and then go against the province and health unit."

Glen Canning, owner of The Elegant Gourmet, said he welcomed the move.

"I support that wholeheartedly," he said."I'm happy to see this change. It is a good move and it should make the town more enojyable regardless of circumstances."

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Patios coming to Midland just in time for summer - OrilliaMatters.Com

After what seems to have been a lifetime in quarantine, Chicago is ready for Recess! Today, the West Loop restaurant and bar officially kicks off summer with the debut of an expansive 14,500-square-foot patio. Who would like a little fresh air, a whole lot of sunshine and an ice-cold cocktail?

Recess, located at 838 W. Kinzie in the West Loop, features multi-level outdoor space comprised of shipping containers turned into bars, cabanas and food stations.The patio opens this week as Mayor Lori Lightfoot begins the process of re-opening businesses in Chicago.

The menu includes elevated pub fare, a wide selection of frozen drinks, craft cocktails, beer and wine. The bars signature water cooler drinks are offered table-side, as well as classics like the Southside and original cocktails such as The Aldermans Choice, made with tequila, peppered watermelon syrup and lime. Recess also offers fros, available in new flavors rotating weekly. On weekends, brunch service includes bottomless mimosas, a killer Bloody Mary and delicious fare featuring locally sourced ingredients.

Recess opens at 4 p.m. on weekdays, and at 11 a.m. on Saturday and Sunday. Reservations are recommended, but not required.

All safety guidelines and procedures to prevent the spread of COVID-19 will be strictly followed by Recess staff and enforced for all guests. Those guidelines include proper 6-foot distancing between tables (maximum of 6 guests) and a choice between single-use or digital menus available via QR code. Masks must be worn at all times except while seated at the table. Staff are following rigorous sanitation practices and will have their temperature checked before and after every shift.

More info: https://chicagoinrecess.com/

About Recess

Recess serves good times and zero red tape in Chicagos West Loop. The casual bar is home to the neighborhoods largest outdoor patio, offering guests a lively, communal atmosphere complemented by live music, delicious drinks and craveable bar food. Recess and City Hall are a joint venture between Atomic Hospitality, creator of six-time Michelin Bib Gourmand honoree Untitled Supper Club and event venues Morgan MFG and Artifact Events, HAM Hospitality and 8 Hospitality Group.

Link:
New bar Recess claims to have largest patio in Chicago - WGN-TV

Restaurants around Seattle are beginning to reopen during phase 1.5, which allows for 25 percent capacity indoors and 50 percent outdoors, in addition to other COVID-19-related safety guidelines from Washington state. Now, Eastlake Bar & Grill is attempting to take things a step further by introducing enclosed tents on its patio.

The plastic greenhouse-like structures, which debuted last week, are open at both ends and come outfitted with some lights. They arrive a few weeks after the grill along with sibling restaurants Greenlake Grill and Lake Forest Bar & Grill opened for curbside takeout. According to the restaurant, the staff is still asking guests to take proper safety precautions when walking through common areas, waiting for their table, and using the bathrooms.

In Washington, all tables and chairs both indoors and outdoors must be separated by six feet of distance. Guests arent required by law to wear a mask, but Gov. Jay Insee has said restaurants can refuse service to diners who dont wear face coverings. Even though Seattle did not reopen dining rooms as early as some other cities, COVID-19 is still a continuing threat. To date, there have been 8,722 confirmed cases in King County alone and 591 deaths.

As restaurants around the country and the world reopen, some have implemented unusual efforts to create more separation between diners, like the Eastlake Bar & Grill enclosures. In Columbia City, Hawaiian-Korean restaurant Super Six also set up an outdoor tent separate from its regular patio for seating. And Eastlake Bar & Grills director of operations Brendon Cook said the tents were inspired by something they saw happening in Norway via social media.

We are considering ordering a larger, taller tent for larger parties, says Cook. This would be a year round option for our guests.

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Eastlake Bar & Grill Sets Up Two-Person Tents on Its Patio - Eater Seattle

Bird's eye view of Heliogen's Lancaster, CA test facility.

Bill Gates calls it the 75% Problem.

Greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions from power plants only account for 25% of total, and electrical generation is one source of GHG emissions for which cheap renewable sources are well-suited.

If we dont radically reduce the remaining 75% of emissions, we could carpet Arizona in wall-to-wall photovoltaic (PV) panels and still not do enough to bring down atmospheric CO2 levels.

The trouble is that the remaining three-fourths of emissions are mostly generated through large-scale industrial and agricultural processes that lie at the core of virtually every product we enjoy in our modern lives steel, glass, concrete, grains, beef, plastics, chemicalsthe list goes on and on.

These end products or their essential inputs can only be manufactured by using very high temperatures; with current processes, the only way to generate the heat required is by burning fossil fuels.

This situation leaves us with the mother of all quandaries:

Either we destroy the capacity of the planet to sustain our complex human civilization or we give up the fruits of our complex human civilization to preserve the planet for some schmoes we will never meet.

When faced with this kind of a quandary, the only solution is to think outside the box.

Ive got it! Why dont we tie industrial production to a process that can scale really quickly, like Moores Law!

In fact, one of the most inventive, entrepreneurial engineers ever to come out of CalTechs annual crop of incredibly inventive, entrepreneurial engineers Bill Gross, founder of the first tech incubator, Idealab has already followed the chain of logic above and come to the same Moores Law epiphany. He and the company he founded to operationalize his Eureka moment, Heliogen, is well on the way to implementing a solution that holds enormous potential for mitigating climate change.

If Gross and Heliogen are successful in their ambitious plans, we will all have a chance to continue enjoying the fruits of a modern, industrial life using heat generated solely by renewable resources.

Heliogens secret is the application of recent advances in computing power, imaging systems, and artificial intelligence to the field of Concentrated Solar Power (CSP).

A Brief Guide to CSP

Different CSP configurations exist; the type most analogous to Heliogens system has the great name of Solar Power Tower.

(See also my 2019 article about another company GlassPoint Solar for a look at a trough CSP configuration.)

CSP installations do not absorb solar energy like PV panels instead, they concentrate the suns light at a specific point using mirrors. Solar power tower installations are some of the most beautiful and elegant industrial facilities I can imagine, with a meticulously arranged, dish-shaped array of large mirrors, called heliostats, that silently reflect the suns light at a focal area on the central tower.

Aerial view of the Crescent Dunes Solar Energy Project, a 110 megawatt plant near Tonopah, Utah.

Pipes running to the top of the tower and back allow molten salt to flow into an area at the heliostats focal points. The concentrated light rays heat the molten salt before moving it into an insulated tank where it can be stored until it needs to be used, for example, to create steam to run a generator.

These CSP installations operate on what engineers term an open-loop control system, just like your kitchen oven.

Your oven buzzer rings when the time you initially set runs out, whether the oven contains a 14-pound lump of turkey sashimi or if your roast is well on its way to becoming a cubic zirconia. The oven receives no information about the doneness of the dish, so cant make adjustments to the heat or the cooking time.

Similarly, heliostats in a CSP installation are programmed to move according to precise calculations of where the sun should be in the sky, but do not receive information about how accurately their rays are hitting the tower.

In a world where there were no earthquakes, wind, dust storms, or clouds, an open-loop control system would work just fine. In the world we live in, these kinds of environmental factors mean that heliostats are never positioned exactly right; since they dont receive feedback from the tower about where their beams are hitting, they cant compensate for the environmental factors throwing them off.

A view of the central tower at the Ivanpah Solar Power Facility in the Mojave Desert. The tower area ... [+] illuminated by the heliostats is about three stories tall.

Because the light from the heliostats is not perfectly concentrated, current CSP installations can only generate temperatures up to around 650 degrees Celsius. This is sufficient for some industrial applications, but for the really polluting activities manufacturing steel, glass, concrete, and hydrogen the CSP temperature ceiling is about 400-900 degrees lower than what we need.

Heliogen CSP

Gross realized that by turning a CSP installations open-loop control system into a closed-loop one, he could concentrate the suns rays much more precisely and, in so doing, generate much higher temperatures.

Heliogen CSP arrays take advantage of:

In other words, Gross has designed Heliogen so that its technology can ride the wave of Moores Law rather than being stuck on the plodding development path associated with civil engineering projects.

The efficacy of the Heliogen CSP design is evident from photos of the companys test installation in Lancaster, California.

A view of the solar power tower at Heliogen's Lancaster, California test facility. The area ... [+] illuminated by the heliostats is about the size of a basketball hoop.

The Heliogen heliostats are so precisely focused using the closed-loop control system that the sunlight is concentrated in the small circle on the tower seen in the photo above. The total area at which the reflected sunlight is concentrated in a Heliogen system is about the size of a basketball hoop. Compare that to the focal area of a conventional CSP system, which is about the size of a New York City brownstone.

Heliogens phenomenally accurate focusing is made possible by cameras mounted on the tower that monitor the angle at which the heliostats are pointed and by a few powerful but off-the-shelf GPUs that use proprietary software to make real-time adjustments to the position of the heliostats.

Gross told me that the system hit 1,000 degrees Celsius immediately after the team flipped the switch on its first test run and that, after a bit of tweaking, the test installation is now capable of hitting 1,500 degrees Celsius precisely the range that the most polluting industrial applications require.

Potential Impact

While all the articles covering Heliogen Ive seen so far talk about the potential to carry out cement manufacturing, the thing that excited me when I started researching the company was the potential to split water to manufacture hydrogen.

Cement is heavy and hard to move. Heliogen stores heat energy in stone, another medium that does not immediately bring portability to mind. However, hydrogen is the lightest element and is easily transportable as long as one is careful with it. It can easily be converted into useful, energy dense chemicals as well.

Completely aside from my conversations with Gross, I have been struck by the number of reports that have crossed my desk lately opining about the hydrogen economy of the future. At present, 95% of hydrogen is produced using a process called steam reformation which burns copious amounts of fossil fuels. The fact that Heliogen sees a pathway to manufacture essentially unlimited amounts of hydrogen without burning a single fossil fuel molecule is an unalloyed positive for society.

This allows civilization the chance to maintain a high standard of living while getting the Keeling Curve headed in the right direction.

Next Steps for Heliogen

Heliogens announcement in late 2019 that it had generated temperatures of 1,000 degrees Celsius using its CSP system garnered a flood of requests from firms around the world. Gross told me that, out of this initial group, he hopes to go live with three major pilot projects within the year. The aggregate revenue potential for Heliogen when each of these pilots are built out totals billions of dollars.

I still have a few technical questions out to Gross and his team and, even though Im excited about the wonderful potential Heliogens technology represents, am also conscious of the immense complexities involved in novel and ambitious engineering projects.

In addition to discussing his stunningly ambitious plans for Heliogens future growth, Gross and I spent time talking about the current state of climate change investing and, unsurprisingly, he had some terrific insights. I will be writing up my interview notes and publishing to this column very soon.

Its clear that Bill Gross knows, as I do, that humanity faces a challenge of the gravest nature and that our only chance is to embark on a paradigm shift with boldness, creativity, and passion.

Intelligent investors take note.

See more here:
Idealab Founder Bill Gross Plan To Solve The Mother Of All Quandaries - Forbes

(Photo credit: Borut Planinc)

Zagrebs Art Park opens this weekend with concerts and events from 19-21 June 2020.

Zagreb, 18 June 2020 After recently reviving hundreds of meters of walls in Zagrebs Opatovina park by turning them into small works of art with the signatures of several local artists, organisers of Art Park are announcing a new summer season.

The fifth edition of the successful art project returns to Ribnjak Park, which will once again become a unique open-air street art gallery.

Visitors will have the chance to check out Cowboys, guns and feminism by Marin Remi, Carpets for chill by Tihomir Krklec Africa and Red Sonja by Boris Bare from all four corners of the park, as well as the installation Planet or Plastic?, which consists of five sculptures made from donated plastic bags.

(Photo credit: Borut Planinc)

For the fifth year of Art Park, we have artistically selected women and cowboys for you. We have chosen the inimitable Marin Remi as the main set designer, who will arrange the central part of the park, and he is also signing this years label for the Art Park beer, which is being brewed for us again by Pivovara Medvedgrad. The pleasant atmosphere will be created by colourful carpets, which will be originally woven by Tihomir Krklec Afrika with colours, while Red Sonja will rest on the side and make sure that everything goes well. This year we want to deal with ecology and recycling as much as possible, and on this track, in collaboration with sculptor Ivo Gapari, the installation Planet or Plastic? was created, which consists of sculptures made from donated plastic bags that the drugstore chain dm withdrew from sale. Also, recycled materials were used for the construction of this years Art Park, and we want to develop this idea in the future, said Boris Bare, one of the organisers of the Art Park and artistic director of the project.

(Photo credit: Borut Planinc)

(Photo credit: Borut Planinc)

The opening weekend at Ribnjak will, in addition to celebrating its birthday, will also mark the entry into the summer part of the year and World Music Day.

On Friday, June 19 from 6 pm, visitors will enjoy a selection of music by Jeff Jarunski and Kuna.

(Photo credit: Borut Planinc)

On June 20, starting at 8.30 pm, Ljetno kino will perform at Ribnjak and take everyone present to the sea, and the atmosphere before the concert will be additionally warmed up by Agregat Sun. All those interested, young and old, will be able to attend a free art workshop led by Melita Omeragi OMart.

(Photo credit: Borut Planinc)

Since the number of participants is limited, registration is required via [emailprotected] World Music Day, June 21, is reserved for the young and talented musician, author and street musician Matej Magdi, better known as Matt Shaft. From 7 pm onwards, he will spice up a light Sunday in Art Park on Ribnjak with fine electronic violin sounds.

After the opening weekend, Art Park on Ribnjak will remain open for socialising every day, from noon to 11 pm, until September 6, 2020. Visitors can expect numerous workshops for large and small, music and film evenings and collaborations with Animafest and film Frooom Kids School, Yoga Space morning yoga classes, Green Action activities, table tennis lessons, swing on the Reading Swing, regular and favourite Flea Market and much more for all generations.

(Photo credit: Borut Planinc)

The project is supported by the Tourist Board of the City of Zagreb, the City of Zagreb, and sponsors of the festival such as Pivovara Medvedgrad, Pipi, Badel, Jamnica, JUB boje, Graffitishop.hr, HSM informatika, Acer, dm, Next Bike, Fraktura, Floraart.

(Photo credit: Borut Planinc)

More information is available on the website or the official http://www.artparkzagreb.com FB / IG pages.

Original post:
Art Park celebrating 5th birthday at Zagreb's Ribnjak this weekend - Croatia Week

Crookstons Grand Theatre, like many businesses throughout the area, was closed during the COVID-19 pandemic by Executive Order of Governor Tim Walz in March. While Walzs order allowed theaters to begin reopening last week, the Grand Theatre took extra time to order movies and finish some work inside.

Bo Brorby said the staff have been doing a lot of painting, cleaning, and sanitizing the theatre during the closure. Additionally, local artist Trey Everett is creating a new movie-themed mural inside the lobby. Since weve been closed down for the last few months everybody knows weve been selling snacks on the weekend, said Brorby. Inside, weve been doing a lot of remodeling. We basically painted all of side one. We painted all the walls, railings and everything going down and then all the stadium seating walls. We took all the railings off sanded and stained them. Weve got all the carpets and seats shampooed and have been sanitizing them. We got some new light coverings on the sides of the stage. We painted inside side two and the outside of side two painted also. And then weve got a special project going on in the lobby with a mural going up on the wall.

The Grand will reopen Friday afternoon with showtimes at 1:30 p.m., 1:45 p.m., 4:00 p.m., 4:15 p.m., 7:00 p.m., and 7:15 p.m. Were going to be bringing in older movies for the first month or so were open, said Brorby. Were picking a bunch of great older movies that everyone seems to enjoy, fun movies to see in the theatre. Were starting with showing the Secret Life of Pets and Shrek during the day. And then, at night for the 7 p.m. shows were showing the original Fast & Furious, and Smokey and the Bandit. Each week were going to be bringing in a variety of movies. Were going to be charging $3 (for tickets) until we start bringing in new movies. Thats hopefully looking like the middle of July new movies will start coming out.

Theatre capacity is currently limited to 25 percent, which Brorby said is about 60 moviegoers for side one and 20 for side two. Coming in were going to make sure our lobby doesnt get too many people in it, so well keep the crowd low in the lobby, said Brorby. Theatres have to run at 25 percent capacity starting off here, so well be closing off every other row so no one will be in front or behind you. Then, youll sit with your group and have 2-3 seats in-between (groups). Side one we can only have about 60 people, side two we can only have about 20 people in. Were hoping well be in high demand and be pretty busy. Everybody seems pretty excited.

Brorby added that the blocked off rows would be rotated between shows as an extra precaution. After the show, well clean off seats and rotate the rows, said Brorby. So, when people sat in those rows, well block those off for the next show. We installed hand sanitizer right where you walk in, weve got a bottle by the counter, and another one in the lobby. So, we have hand sanitizer all over the place, so well be keeping up with all the guidelines the governments issued.

The Grand Theatre is planning to offer a mix of kids movies and cartoons during the day with action movies, dramas or comedies at night until new movies start to become available. The Grand Theatre will also provide private showings for people. To inquire about a private showing reach out to The Grand Theatre on Facebook or call 281-1820.

Excerpt from:
CROOKSTON'S GRAND THEATRE WILL REOPEN FRIDAY WITH SPECIAL MOVIE LINEUP - kroxam.com

(TNS) - When the coronavirus pandemic arrived in Phoenix, it felt like a call to duty for nurse Karen Garcia.

"I've never felt more needed at my job than right now," she said.

She works 12-hour shifts at Valleywise Health Medical Center tending to the gravely ill, dozens of whom she has watched die, all the while knowing that her mask, gown, gloves and face shield are no guarantee that she won't become infected and take the virus home to her family.But her biggest fear hasn't been the virus.It was the U.S. Supreme Court.

Garcia, 30, is among roughly 700,000 so-called Dreamers who came to the United States as children, grew up without legal status and were allowed to stay under the Obama-era policy of Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals, better known as DACA.

Their fate came to rest with the court, which Thursday rejected the Trump administration's plan to repeal the protections, saying it did not provide adequate justification.

"The uncertainty, the waiting, it's been difficult," Garcia said. "I'm just relieved the waiting is over and I can focus on my work."

In one powerful sense, the coronavirus pandemic had come to illuminate what immigrant rights activists and much of the public have regarded as the injustice of trying to end protections for DACA recipients.At least 27,000 DACA recipients, like Garcia, work in healthcare, and many have spent the past few months attending to patients with COVID-19, which has killed more than 118,000 people nationwide.A majority of those medical workers live in Arizona, California or Texas three states where the rate of new infections is accelerating.

"They are our frontline workers helping aid those who are most ill," said Ricardo Zamudio Guillen, organizing director for LUCHA, an Arizona-based immigrant rights group. "They're protecting us."Blanca Sierra-Reyes, a 27-year-old Dreamer and social worker at a Scottsdale, Ariz., hospital, said the Supreme Court ruling provided some respite during an exhausting time.

For weeks, she has had to call families whose loved ones are alone in the emergency room battling the virus. She has listened to their cries and tried to console them.

She also has spent time thinking about her own future.

"The ruling is a win," she said. "This gives Dreamers relief and the ability to continue living without fear."

For Garcia, the ruling felt like an acknowledgement that Arizona is her truest home.She was 4 when her family moved from Mexico City. Her parents were always upfront with her about her immigration status, but that didn't change the fact that all her memories were formed here."This is home," she said. "Right here in America."

As a little girl, while her father installed carpets and her mother worked as a hotel housekeeper, Garcia became fascinated with medicine and decided she wanted to become a nurse.That dream became more pressing when, during an emergency room visit, she watched a nurse struggle to speak Spanish with her mother. Garcia wanted to better serve her community.

After graduating high school, she worked for several years as a waitress at a small family-owned restaurant and began saving up for college.

She soon met her husband and at 22 the same year they had their first child, Donovan she received DACA protections.

For the first time she felt deeply optimistic about her future in the United States. The couple had a daughter, Natalia, and in 2017, Garcia began pursuing a nursing degree at Arizona State.She left the program a year later after a state Supreme Court ruling ended in-state tuition rates for DACA students.

"That hurt a lot," Garcia recalled of the state ruling. "I saw it as an attempt to derail my dreams."But she bounced back and managed to get her degree at Gateway Community College. Most of the patients at Valleywise Health are Latino.

"Every day is an honor to work and serve my community," Garcia said. "As a nurse, I can help make a difference every day. That's meaningful to me."

This year, she ran for chair of the Phoenix chapter of the National Assn. of Hispanic Nurses and won.In February, coronavirus began to spread throughout the country and before long emergency room beds began to fill up. Her hospital took steps to prepare for a surge, and eventually it came.

"Everyone is working around the clock," she said. "We're trying to save lives. That's my job helping to save lives. I've tried not to think about my immigration status while working, but it's always there in the back of my mind."

Garcia would spend the downtime trying to quiet the nagging fears that her career, her friendships and her whole life could, at a moment, turn upside down. Sometimes, she would look at her sick, coughing patients and wonder if they were in the same stressful situation.

The Supreme Court ruling does not guarantee DACA will be around forever, but it almost certainly means the Trump administration cannot end the policy before the November election.

Garcia said she sees the ruling as an opportunity to help promote more DACA nurses in the city and across Arizona, which is estimated to need an additional 1,200 nurses by 2030."We can help fill that void," she said.

In the hours after ruling was announced, Garcia texted other nurses and members of local immigrant rights groups. It was her day off and a moment to celebrate.

But she also kept an eye on the local news, watching as confirmed cases of the virus ticked up in Arizona faster than in any other state in the nation. Some local area restaurants that had reopened last month were closing again.

Arizona has recorded 41,159 coronavirus cases and 1,252 deaths, with Phoenix and surrounding Maricopa County among the hardest hit.Another wave, she thought, was about to begin.Lee reported from Phoenix and Martnez from Los Angeles.2020 the Los Angeles TimesVisit the Los Angeles Times at http://www.latimes.com

Originally posted here:
This Nurse with DACA Protections Heard the Coronavirus Call to Duty - Government Technology

Museum closures have had one fringe benefit: the plethora of virtual tours, podcasts, and live lectures that have sprung up in art institutions around the world.

In our own backyard for example, Santa Monicas ROSEGALLERY is currently featuring a thought-provoking online exhibition called This Seems A Home.

Where does it come from, this longing for home? were invited to consider.

As we all sit inside our respective spaces, waiting for this plague to pass, the question of home is both as apparent and as vague as ever. Even in our realms of usual comfort, an abundance of stagnant time can summon unease.

The online space is presented as chapters (three as of this writing) in a book. Song lyrics, poems, prose extracts, and artists commentary augment the experience.

Chapter 1 features Window Series, a collection of digital collages from the Mexico City-based young architecture office PALMA. The goal is to explore contrast in materiality in an abstract manner using texture. At first glance, I thought, Right, and the result is Edward Hopper, stripped of humanity and heartbeat.

But wait! Upon closer inspection of one collage, I saw that on the roof of a blocky skyscraper, more or less identical to its neighbor, was a tiny figure, lounging in a round blue blowup pool.

Nearby, a blue towel was laid out for sunbathing. And the seemingly cookie-cutter roof was in fact surrounded by a white chain-link fence: a soulless fence to be sure but still a fence, clearly installed for the purpose of creating a safe, private space for the stray, questing human brave enough to find his or her way to the top of this particular world.

Similarly, lookalike tiers of windows in an apartment complex, when examined individually, were subtly different. Some sported window boxes, others curtains. In one room, a woman in orange pajamas stretched. Behind another, a man in shadow washed dishes before a sink.

Many of the collages featured a woman in bare legs, sandals, and a white shin-length garment that could have been a psych-ward bathrobe, a nuns night tunic, or post-pool wear. Was she a convalescent, or a mystic?

The cultural and aesthetic homogeneity depicted in PALMAS Window Series initially seems claustrophobic. But these young architects show us that life pushes inexorably through concrete, steel, and plastic: interposing itself; needing to eat, wash, ponder, exercise, and sleep; insisting, forever, upon color.

Todd Hido, Chapter 2s artist, is a San Francisco Bay-area photographer whose lens seems to hover between 2020 and oh, say, 1840. His work graces both the lock and home screens on my phone: a vaguely sepia-toned print of a tall waving tree; the shore of a preternaturally blue lake, ringed with blurred pines.

Humans hover, if at all, far beyond, above or behind his frames. We enter a realm that is in the world, but not of it.

Hidos photos here are all of homes, many of which seem to have been given a wash of acid, rust or dried blood. These are the places many of us left behind when we moved to LA from New Hampshire, or Kansas, or East Texas: flimsy walls, jerry-built roofs, shag carpet.

In one boxy dwelling, perched uncomfortably close to the adjacent graffitied yellow crosswalk, the light from a lower window is at once a benediction, a silent scream, and a plea. Is the person inside reading? Sleeping? Cleaning his or her gun?

Yet Hidos work is never mean, never quite without hope. Always, a strip of mangy grass or a spindly Home Depot tree speaks of our longing for nature. Always, light filters through a pair of flammable drapes, or glows from a lone streetlight, or beams through a jaunty sliver of window visible from the street.

His photos manage to be beautiful, in that way that comes from the courage to look at the human condition head-on, coupled with love.

Kovi Konowiecki, a young photographer, is based in Long Beach. Two of the strongest images here are from The Hawks Come Up Before the Sun, a series exploring the lives of people of Riverside County, especially in small communities tucked behind the Morongo Reservation.

This harsh, aching landscape gives no quarter. Meadows is not a place youd want to find yourself in after dark. Split Trailer, its backdrop the setting sun, inevitably evokes A house divided against itself cannot stand.

But let the last word go to Boy, Fence, 2019, from Konowieckis Cherry Ave series. Cherry Avenue is an important thoroughfare in the Long Beach neighborhood where the photographer grew up, and the image brings the sorrow and shame of racial injustice home in a way that no mere headline, video feed, and op-ed could.

Its the clear light of day, noon maybe. A young African American boy, blurred shade tree in the background, rests his chin on his hands and leans over a white-slatted fence. Sturdy, shirtless, shining, he gazes somberly into the middle distance as if gauging his chances, weighing his risks, daring to hope for a future for which we seem not to have quite yet mustered the collective imagination.

A child, given into our collective care. A human being, of infinite gravity and infinite worth, to whom we are all answerable.

May the world ever more belong, and seem a home, to such as these.

See the article here:
Santa Monica-based online exhibition explores homes and our place in them - Angelus News

Global Dry construction Market was valued US$ 66.80 Bn in 2017 and is expected to reach US$ 101.09 Bn by 2026, at a CAGR of 5.30 % during a forecast period.

Dry construction systems offer various benefits over wet construction practices such as ease of installation, decrease in construction time, better thermal and sound insulation, humidity resistance, and fire safety. Dry construction uses panels or boards fitted on metal structures to build walls includes interior and exterior segment, ceilings, windows, and other systems.

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Governments in many countries are focusing on various initiatives for supporting the dry construction performs. The growing awareness of global warming and rising environmental concerns are booming the growth of the dry construction market. Consumers are opting eco-friendly techniques of construction, which is foremost to the improved use of dry construction materials. The growth of the dry construction market is directly associated with the growth of the construction industry. Furthermore, the high cost of dry construction materials and waste generated by the dry construction is producing disposal problems, which is expected to hinder the growth of the market further.

Supporting framework is expected to lead the global dry construction market. It is divided into two categories in the building construction, one is heavy-frame construction and another light-frame construction. Light-frame construction by standardized dimensional timber has become the dominant construction method in North America and Australia owing to the economy of the method. Nominal structural material permits builders to enfold a large area at marginal cost while reaching a wide variety of architectural styles.

Plasterboard is expected to share significant share in the global dry construction market. The growth can be attributed to the increasing demand of plasterboard in the construction application. Plasterboard segment market size was valued US$ 19.0Bn in 2017 and is expected to reach US$ 30.1Bnn by 2026 at a CAGR of 5.9%. Plasterboards are easily installed and help in speeding up the construction process its popularity is increasing across the end-users.

The residential building construction is the main end-user of the dry construction market owing to the rising demand for thermal insulation in homes and faster house construction duration. Increasing adoption of lightweight material for the purpose of construction is expected to grow demand for this segment. Dry construction offers dry materials such as metals, plastic, and plywood for the purpose of construction moderately than using a mixture of bricks, concrete or plaster in residential applications.

The Asia Pacific is expected to dominate the dry construction market globally. A shift in the consumers preference towards eco-friendly infrastructure is expected to boom dry construction market. It is majorly required in the high-quality infrastructure. The increasing chemical processing industrial sectors, construction & building sectors in developing economies such as China, India, and Indonesia is expected to propel the market growth during forecast year. Increasing foreign direct investments in emerging economies is also contributing the market growth. Rapid industrialization & urbanization and growing adoption of supportable & lightweight construction practices by the construction industry is booming dry construction market in this region.

Key profiled and analyzed in the global decorative market includes CSR Ltd ,Panel Rey ,USG Boral, Pabco Gypsum ,USG Boral ,Fletcher Building Limited, Saint Gobain ,Armstrong World Industries , Etex Group ,Fletcher building ,The Xella Group, Beijing New Building Materials ,Armstrong World Industries, Inc. ,Promax Group Inc., Georgia-Pacific Gypsum LLC, Knauf Gips KG, Masterplast Plc. BaoWu, Arcelor Mittal, USG and Nippon.

The Scope of the Report for Global Dry Construction Market

Global Dry Construction Market, By Type

Supporting frameworkBoarding

Global Dry Construction Market, By Material

PlasterboardWoodMetalsPlasticGlassCarpet

Global Dry Construction Market, By System

WallCeilingFlooringWindowsPartitionDoor systems

Global Dry Construction Market, By Application

ResidentialCommercial

Global Dry Construction Market, By Geography

North AmericaEuropeAsia PacificMiddle East & AfricaSouth America

Key players Operating in Global Dry Construction Market

CSR LtdPanel ReyUSG BoralPabco GypsumUSG BoralFletcher Building LimitedSaint GobainArmstrong World IndustriesEtex GroupFletcher buildingThe Xella GroupBeijing New Building MaterialsArmstrong World Industries, Inc.Promax Group Inc.Georgia-Pacific LLCKnauf Gips KGMasterplast Plc.BaoWuArcelorMittalUSGNippon

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Dry Construction Market: Comprehensive Analysis of Facsizers That Drive Market Growth COVID-19 2026 - 3rd Watch News