Home Builder Developer - Interior Renovation and Design

For three years, Adrienne Carter cared for her non-ambulatory son Adrian, 16, in a home ill-equipped for his needs.

Adrian has hydrocephalus, a buildup of fluid inside the skull that leads to brain swelling, and is in a wheelchair. The Carter family previously lived in a Broward County Housing Authority-supplied unit that had widened spaces for wheelchair access and a walk-in tub, but three years ago, they bought their own home in Fort Lauderdale.

"We really had to adjust. With the housing authority, we had the wider doors," Carter said. "That's one of the things you don't think about when you move into your own house."

They were unable to refinance their mortgage or get a loan to upgrade their home, but they learned about a city program that fit the bill. The housing rehabilitation program works with income-eligible Fort Lauderdale residents either 62 or older, or who have disabled family members, to supply forgivable 15-year loans for home upgrades or repairs.

The loan will be forgiven at the end of the 15 years, as long as the family still lives there. Upgrades for the Carter home included a lift attached to a track system that can take Adrian from his bed to the bathroom, widened doors for his wheelchair and a lowered breakfast bar for him to access from his chair.

"Without this program, I would have still been lifting Adrian from one spot to the next. The hard thing about it is, I had gotten used to not going places," Carter said. "In dressing Adrian, you have to lift him from the bed, put him in his wheelchair, lift him from his wheelchair and put him in the bathroom, and then lift him from the bathroom and put his clothes on him, and then finally lift him and put him in the car. After that 10th time, your muscles kind of give up on you."

Avis Wilkinson, the city's housing programs administrator, said the program makes a big difference.

"I interact with all the families [who receive these loans], before and after," Wilkinson said. "We make a difference. This is a tangible change, which makes you feel good. You don't just see numbers and dollars; you see people and you see the positive change."

For more information, call 954-828-6520.

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Program helps family whose son has special needs

WASHINGTON (AP) President Barack Obama and Michelle Obama are headlining a White House music event Thursday honoring U.S. troops.

Hours before the evening event in a huge tent on a rain-soaked South Lawn, the first lady put a spotlight on children from military families by inviting some who attend high schools in Maryland and Virginia to a workshop with country singer Willie Nelson and hip-hop artist Common.

Mrs. Obama said military kids are some of the most resilient young people she has ever met. She said their families move an average of six to nine times by the time they receive a high school diploma and that, each time, the students have to adjust to new homes, schools, neighborhoods and friends.

But there is a lesson in the continued inconvenience, Mrs. Obama said, even though it may not always be readily apparent.

"As tough as it is, this stuff makes you stronger and more resilient, and it's going to make you successful," she said as she welcomed the students to the ornate East Room for a tutorial on the history of music and the military. Nelson played guitar and sang. "So it's a badge of honor," she said.

Nelson and Common were to perform during Thursday's program along with recording artists Mary J. Blige, John Fogerty and Romeo Santos. The rock band Daughtry was scheduled to perform via satellite from a USO concert at Yokota Air Base in Japan.

The program is the latest installment of the PBS series "In Performance at the White House" and is to be broadcast Friday on PBS stations nationwide.

Obama has said caring for U.S. troops and veterans is a top priority of his administration.

He met Wednesday with the top two officials at the Department of Veterans Affairs, Secretary Robert McDonald and his deputy, Sloan Gibson, urging both to continue working to improve services, health care and accountability for veterans, the White House said.

McDonald is just a few months into the job after replacing a secretary who resigned amid a nationwide outcry over lengthy wait times for veterans in need of medical care at VA hospitals and falsified records covering up the delays.

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Obama, first lady headlining salute to troops

Narrative / Reality - Poetics and performance in soil, part 1
The Narrative of Landscape Symposium, Archizoom, 07-09.10.14 moderator: Farzaneh Bahrami, Laboratory of Urbanism, EPFL Paola Vigan - architect and urban designer, Professor Laboratory of...

By: Archizoom EPFL

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Narrative / Reality - Poetics and performance in soil, part 1 - Video

Narrative / Reality - Poetics and performance in soil, part 2
The Narrative of Landscape Symposium, Archizoom, 07-09.10.14 moderator: Farzaneh Bahrami, Laboratory of Urbanism, EPFL Paola Vigan - architect and urban designer, Professor Laboratory of...

By: Archizoom EPFL

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Narrative / Reality - Poetics and performance in soil, part 2 - Video

By Lois Puglionesi CORRESPONDENT

HAVERFORD TWP. -- Landscape architect and planner Thomas Comitta and Deputy Police Chief John Viola completed testimony before the Zoning Board in a case concerning Delaware County Outdoor LLCs substantive validity challenge to township ordinances that allegedly exclude commercial off-premises advertising billboards.

DC Outdoor filed the challenge in October 2013, alleging that Haverford zoning ordinances do not allow billboards, a legitimate business use, anywhere in the township. DC Outdoor also entered into lease agreements to install billboards at 510-534 and 1200 West Chester Pike. However, DC Outdoor did not file specific plans.

Presented as a witness by solicitor James Byrne, Comitta said he reviewed the Delaware County Planning Departments 1994 Historic Resource Survey for Haverford Township, where he found 119 historic properties inventoried. Many neighborhoods are over a century old, Comitta said. The presence of historic resources, as well as other factors Comitta cited at prior hearings, render Haverford an inappropriate place to install large, 672-square foot billboards, Comitta said.

Comitta affirmed that he based his assumptions about the size of signs on a prior case that began in 2009, when Bartkowski Investment Group made a similar validity challenge and proposed five 672-square foot billboards, 55-77 feet high, at five locations in Haverford. The Zoning Board denied and dismissed the application in Feb. 2012. Common Pleas Court upheld the ruling on appeal.

Comitta recalled that BIG presented expert witnesses who said billboards could only be safe and effective at those configurations. Township engineer Dave Pennoni and assistant township manager Lori Hanlon-Widdop recently based their testimony on similar assumptions.

Viola followed suit when he testified from his perspective as a police officer of 44 years, well-acquainted with traffic conditions and issues on West Chester Pike.

The 10-12 second window required for viewing a billboard could prove deadly along the heavily trafficked corridor, Viola said. When driving on the Pike You have to have your utmost attention on the roadway. Billboards would add to the confusion...and the amount of accidents because of distraction, said Viola.

Viola presented data showing that police investigated 2,551 accidents on West Chester Pike, between Lawrence and Township Line Roads, from 2011-2014. He also presented a log of 5,434 traffic citations between March 2009 and January 2014 for that area.

During cross-examination DC Outdoor attorney Amee Farrell noted that accident data Viola provided reflects the number of vehicles involved in accidents, not the number of incidents.

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Planner and police officer testify at Haverford billboard hearing

Photographers who documented landscape, street scenes and the San Fernando Valleys pornography industry, plus an exhibition that brings together L.A. and Latin America, abstractions made with books, and a show about the artistic interventions of an Italian architect. Also, a 1976 work of video art made up entirely of declassified mushroom clouds, a musical about love and a bio-mass, as well as an opportunity to request your FBI files. Its a busy weekend in L.A. Heres what weve got in the hopper:

Larry Sultan: Here and Home, at LACMA. This is the first retrospective devoted to examining the career of this important L.A. photographer, who passed away in 2009. It includes an overview of his various bodies of work, from his early conceptual experiments (self-published books full of images appropriated from the archives of research institutions and corporations) to his series The Valley, which captures the suburban settings inhabited by Southern Californias porn industry. Opens Sunday. On view through March 27. 5905 Wilshire Blvd., Mid-City, lacma.org.

Bruce Davidson/Paul Caponigro: Two American Photographers in Britain and Ireland, at the Huntington. Speaking of photography Black-and-white images of Britain and Ireland by two master photographers -- Bruce Davidson, who is widely renowned for his street pictures, and Paul Caponigro, whose focus is landscape -- are being presented by the Huntington. Opens Saturday. On view through March 9. 1151 Oxford Road, San Marino,hungtington.org.

Bruce Conner, Crossroads, at Kohn Gallery. The gallery will show one of the most violently seductive works of video art around: Conners Crossroads, from 1976, is made from more than 30 minutes of declassified government footage of the underwater atomic bomb tests at Bikini Atoll in the Pacific Ocean. Opening reception Saturday, from 6 p.m. to 8 p.m. On view through Dec. 20. 1227 N. Highland Ave., Hollywood, kohngallery.com.

TONIGHT: Love Has Many Faces: An Evening with Joni Mitchell, at the Hammer Museum. Mitchell will introduce a screening of The Fiddle and the Drum, a ballet about environmental degradation that is set to her song. (This is an issue dear to the singers heart.) Mitchell will stick around for a Q&A afterward. Tonight at 7:30, 10899 Wilshire Blvd., Westwood, hammer.ucla.edu.

Javier Tapia and Camilo Ontiveros, Travelling Dust, at the 18th Street Arts Center. An exhibit exploring the connections between Chile, Mexico and Los Angeles will consist of objects gathered in all three locations -- including pieces from the San Gabriel Mission -- and presented, museum-style at this Santa Monica art center (now celebrating its 25th year). Opening reception Friday, from 6 p.m. to 9 p.m. On view through Dec. 12. 1639 18th St., Santa Monica, 18thstreet.org.

Samuel Levi Jones: Black White Thread, at Papillion.Jones, an artist known for his abstract assemblages of repurposed book covers -- and recent winner of the Studio Museum in Harlems Joyce Alexander Wein Artist Prize -- unveils his latest solo effort at Papillion, the popular new Leimert Park art space. Opens Saturday at 6 p.m. 4336 Degnan Blvd., Leimert Park, Los Angeles, papillionart.com.

LAST CHANCE: Beyond Environment, at Los Angeles Contemporary Exhibitions. Its the last weekend for this small yet highly intriguing exhibition that tracks the artistic collaborations of Italian architect Gianni Pettena with American artists such as Robert Smithson (of Spiral Jetty fame). These often-wry works lie at the intersection of land art, architecture and performance and include images of surreptitious cardboard installations in Italian plazas, photographs of a Smithson dump-truck project in Italy (in which the artist poured asphalt down the side of a mountain), along with some truly wondrous pictures of a Minnesota project, in which Pettena buried houses in blocks of ice. Through Sunday. 6522 Hollywood Blvd., Hollywood, welcometolace.org.

TONIGHT: Megan Daalder, Eureka and the Biomass Man, at Five Car Garage. This sounds like a good one: a sci-fi mini-musical about a love affair between a synthetic organism and a human. It will be staged in a five-car garage gallery (hence the name) in Santa Monica for three nights starting today. The show includes vegan gelatin shots. Performances will be held for three days starting today (Nov. 6-8) at 8 p.m., with an extra performance on Saturday at 6 p.m. RSVP for a seat and the Santa Monica address,emmagrayhq.com.

Dave Naz, Identity, at Coagula Curatorial. A long-time erotic photographer (and former punk rocker), the L.A.-based Naz now turns his lens onto the issue of gender identity with a series of portraits that capture its entire spectrum. The show coincides with the publication of Nazs book, Genderqueer. Opening reception Saturday, from 7 p.m. to 11 p.m. On view through Dec. 20. 974 Chung King Road, Chinatown, Los Angeles, coagulacuratorial.com.

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Datebook: Mushroom clouds, FBI files, land art and lots of photography

Tree Removal, Land Clearing, Logging, Firewood and more in NH
http://www.towlehilltreeandtimber.com Looking for tree removal, land clearing, logging, firewood or other related services in NH? Towle Hill Tree Timber is...

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Minecraft Liability Episode 7 - Interior Decorator
Liability is a Minecraft Creative Series in which I attempt to please every whim of a mob of angry villagers, while trying to find some way out of working fo...

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FOUNTAIN HILLS, AZ (CBS5) -

An inspection is an important part of the home buying process, butthere's an extra step you should take with your A/C unit, regardless of what the inspection report says about it.

A good home inspector will do a thorough job and give you valuable information about the condition of the house in general. But when it comes tothe A/C unit, you need detailed information and you need to get it elsewhere on your own.

Melissa Atwood hired Buyers Protection Group (BPG) to perform a home inspection prior to buying her Fountain Hills home. Atwood says BPG's inspection report pointed out a couple minor issues with the A/C unit, but stated that generally it was in good working order.

A couple months after closing, the condensation line started leaking. Atwood called her home warranty company, also BPG, and they sent a repairman.

"His exact words were that this was the most horrible install job he had ever seen for an air conditioner, he told us we could not change the air filter because there was no tray," Atwood said.

An arrow on the inspection report points to where the air filter goes but never mentionsthe filtercan't be changed due to a lack of a tray and poor installation. Atwood says the contractor BPG sent out also said the unit was too small for their home and these were basic problems that should have been caught by the home inspector. Atwood says she only bought a warranty from BPG because their sister company did the home inspection. She felt BPG dropped the ball and should pay for a new A/C unit.

"They said it was not in the scope of the job, that it was not their responsibility to inspect the A/C unit," Atwood said.

Atwood's learned buyers should always hire a separate professional to inspect the A/C unit before closing. She's not happy with BPG's work.

"The name of their company is Buyers Protection Group. We hired them to protect us as a buyer and they failed," Atwood said.

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Homebuyers should get separate inspection of A/C unit

5 Home Security Tips for the Holidays #LSSS
5 simple things you can do to keep your home, family, and belongings safer this fall, winter, and beyond.

By: Leticia- Tech Savvy Mama

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5 Home Security Tips for the Holidays #LSSS - Video