Home Builder Developer - Interior Renovation and Design

MONTPELIER, Vt. -

It's a job that starts 85 feet in the air.

"Check that everything is locked, safety's on, pins, pins, pins. And you go over," Matt Donahue said.

Donahue has no problem rappelling off the roof of the National Life Building in Montpelier.

"And you descend down," he said.

He's a high-rise window washer. In fact, he and his wife run the family business. It's an idea Donahue got from his dad.

"He figured out that he could make as much money with a $20 squeegee, than he could with a $20,000 backhoe," Donahue said.

He grew up learning the business.

"When I was 14 years old I did my first drop at the McClure building at Fletcher Allen when it was new," he said. "And every summer since then, I've been washing windows."

In 1995, he started Donahue Window Cleaning. He only had four contracts that year. Now he has 88 clients and got so busy he had to quit being a Montpelier volunteer firefighter.

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Odd Jobs: High-rise window washer

Leesburg Concrete Company, Incorporated (LCCI) produces high quality precast concrete floor to floor stairs and landings. In addition to many other stair projects, interior and exterior precast stairs have been produced and delivered to multiple Adult Living Facilities in The Villages, Florida. This large active retirement community is making sure the members of the community will have facilities which will continue to meet their needs as they mature resulting in stair orders for Leesburg Concrete.

Leesburg Concrete Company began producing precast stairs four years ago and has precast and delivered floor to floor stairs throughout the Southeastern United States for high profile General Contractors, Central Florida theme parks, State Universities and The United States Coast Guard. "We produce precast concrete stairways with or without landings to satisfy individual configurations and requirements. If you need high end, custom architectural stairs or special finishes, we do that too" said Kirk Rouse. "And we can fabricate your stair rails, handrails and guardrails in out metal shop. Our stair finishes are the highest quality. We meet and exceed our customer's expectations."

Leesburg Concrete Company's quality custom stairs are produced in their award winning NPCA Certified Plant (National Precast Concrete Association) and can be delivered anywhere in the USA.

Leesburg Concrete Company, Incorporated

Family owned and operated since 1983, Leesburg Concrete Company, Incorporated is a leading manufacturer of precast concrete steps decks, walkways, landings, and ADA compliant modular precast concrete wheelchair ramps, with steel guard rails, and handrails. They also manufacture Easi-Set Buildings, Easi-Span field assembled large and ultra-large buildings and Easi-Set restrooms, feature a patented post-tensioning system in the roof and floor, exterior architectural precast wall panels and precast concrete stairs. In addition LCCI offers a wide array of custom precast product options. "We take pride in exceeding our customer's expectations" stated Kirk Rouse, Vice President of LCCI. This American, family-owned company demonstrates a philosophy of quality and innovation.

Leesburg Concrete Company, Incorporated is a NPCA Certified Plant, focused on meeting the needs of commercial building construction and renovation projects. Their experienced staff provides turnkey service. It takes only one call to find the solution to your building needs (352) 882-4177. For more information, please visit their website at http://www.leesburgconcrete.com, or e-mail Kirk KRouse@leesburgconcrete.com.

Continued here:
Leesburg Concrete Company, Incorporated Delivers More Floor to Floor Stairs In The Villages, ...

The country is to have a 100 smart cities that will be both greenfield and brownfield. While details of the scheme are not yet known, Shankar Aggarwal, the secretary to the Union government for urban development, has provided a preview. Issues related to land, and to red tape, rules and regulations are being addressed so that the private sector can be brought in; it will provide 90 per cent of the investment. The government is looking at building by-laws and floor area ratio (FAR) so that you can build up instead of out, thus requiring less land. A smart city will have smart infrastructure - roads, water and sewer networks, solid-waste management systems, drainage network, street lighting, pedestrian walkways, signal system, public toilets, gas supply, and safety and security systems.

This looks like a laundry list of what any well-run city with a decent quality of life should have. To be "smart" beyond this presumably means extensively using information technology for better management and delivery. But what is disturbing is the continued faith in raising the FAR as a substitute to bringing more urban land into play, despite contrary empirical evidence. A study by Bimal Patel and V K Pathak, after looking at Ahmedabad and Mumbai, concludes that "if FSI [floor space index] norms are relaxed without a substantial increase in the supply of land to be developed, the price of land can increase, favouring land owners and developers who hold large land banks, without resulting in a desired decrease in property prices in favour of the consumers".

The way to arrive at smart cities is to reform urban local bodies (ULBs). A Report on Intelligent Urbanization, prepared in 2010 for the Confederation of Indian Industry by Booz & Co and Cisco, offers some bold and comprehensive ideas. It says the ULBs are weak and ineffective, lacking finances and capabilities, and suffering from inadequate devolution of functions and powers. The way to begin is to create a "fourth" list in the Constitution called the "local list" after the central, state and concurrent lists. This list will reserve subjects in the 11th and 12th Schedules of the Constitution for local bodies. This will formalise the third or "local" tier of government. Such enabling is necessary to strengthen the basics - revamping governance and financing. This in turn will allow capabilities to be built up.

To address the issue of transfer of executive powers, what is enumerated in the 73rd and 74th amendments to the Constitution should be made mandatory. It will include transfer of fiscal authority. The Finance Commission should specify the allocation of resources among the Centre, states and local bodies. A share of the goods and services tax, or the GST, collected in a jurisdiction can be allocated to the respective urban local body.

To be able to exercise these powers and function with the resources made available, the ULBs should give top priority to improving their capabilities. There should be a state-level municipal cadre so that talent can be attracted, careers foreseen and skill traditions built up. A sea change has to come in training and a whole apparatus of information technology deployed under the leadership of a chief information officer. On the financial front, the ULBs should invariably shift to accrual accounting and proper budgeting, put in place internal controls and assessment systems, and maintain asset registers. They should also publish balance sheets, and income and expenditure accounts.

The bottom line is you cannot do a thing to create a better urban India without the active involvement of the states in empowering and energising the ULBs. While Hyderabad and Ahmedabad have taken some steps forward, see what has happened to Bangalore. There is wide consensus that the best way to energise a local body with credible political leadership is for it to have a directly elected mayor. Realising this, the Bharatiya Janata Party, in its manifesto for the 2008 Karnataka Assembly elections, promised a directly elected mayor for Bangalore. Then a year after coming to power, it quietly buried the idea because of internal opposition. State politicians across parties like to have the ULBs feeding out of their hands, keeping them weak and inefficient. Cities will remain unsmart unless the Modi government is able to change this.

Two states, Odisha and West Bengal, have offered the Centre lists of cities that they want developed as smart cities. This means they may be willing to carry out the necessary reforms. But the states' moves can also be a ploy to get central funding while changing as little as possible. A look at how the United Progressive Alliance government's flagship urban-renewal programme fared gives us some idea. States and the ULBs primarily tried to tick off items in a list of reforms they needed to carry out, so as to continue to receive funding with little change on the ground. Truly smart cities are a long way off.

subirkroy@gmail.com

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Subir Roy: How to make unsmart cities smart

A Report on Intelligent Urbanization, prepared in 2010 for the Confederation of Indian Industry by Booz & Co and Cisco, offers some bold and comprehensive ideas, notes Subir Roy

The country is to have a 100 smart cities that will be both greenfield and brownfield.

While details of the scheme are not yet known, Shankar Aggarwal, the secretary to the Union government for urban development, has provided a preview.

Issues related to land, and to red tape, rules and regulations are being addressed so that the private sector can be brought in; it will provide 90 per cent of the investment.

The government is looking at building by-laws and floor area ratio so that you can build up instead of out, thus requiring less land.

A smart city will have smart infrastructure -- roads, water and sewer networks, solid-waste management systems, drainage network, street lighting, pedestrian walkways, signal system, public toilets, gas supply, and safety and security systems.

This looks like a laundry list of what any well-run city with a decent quality of life should have.

To be 'smart' beyond this presumably means extensively using information technology for better management and delivery.

But what is disturbing is the continued faith in raising the FAR as a substitute to bringing more urban land into play, despite contrary empirical evidence.

Originally posted here:
How to make unsmart cities smart

About 60 to 70 percent of trees in Powell are ash of one kind or another. Around 500 of those are city-maintained trees, according to Parks Superintendent Del Barton, who also is the city arborist.

But Les Koch, Wyoming State Forestry Division forest health program leader in Cheyenne said the ash borer may or may not arrive in Powell.

Yes, its possible, I would say distinctly low-risk at this time, Koch said.

Boulder is the only place this side of the Mississippi River that the ash borer has been discovered. And, its being contained.

As of this date, the insect has not been detected in Wyoming, Koch said.

There are thousands of privately owned ash trees in Powell, Barton said. All are at risk from the small bugs with the metallic green shell.

Emerald ash borer eggs are laid on the outer bark of trees. After the eggs hatch, the larvae burrow beneath the bark. The larvae eat phloem, the nutrient-transporting system under the bark, and that creates tunnel-like galleries.

As more galleries are eaten, the tree soon begins to exhibit symptoms of dieback (begins to die), including thinning and dying treetops, and sprouting from the base or trunk.

It costs $1 per circumference inch to treat a tree, likely with a chemical known as imidacloprid. If the trees range from 20- to 40-inch circumference, thats $20 to $40 per tree.

Estimating about 500 public ash trees, the math shows the cost at $10,000 to $20,000 per year just for the imidacloprid, Barton said.

Continued here:
Its pretty devastating; Ash tree killer could be coming, says parks director

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Ponderay, ID (PRWEB) September 10, 2014

Storage Sheds Outlet now offers exquisitely designed and top-notch quality metal garden sheds. These garden sheds are a great place for keeping tools, equipment, and other valuable items. Now, customers can make the most of their outdoor living area and can beautify their garden. The Metal Garden Shed Storage is available in various sizes and materials that are offered at the most competitive prices.

The company also announces Storage Sheds for Sale that can be used as a pool house, backyard workshop and garden shed, and, surely, as a safe storage building. These are constructed from strong materials and encompass wood sheds, metal sheds, vinyl sheds, and plastic sheds. The customers can peruse Storage Shed Outlet storage shed articles for further suggestions. Some of the varieties include Wood Garden Shed, Duramax Storage Sheds, Handy Home Sheds, Ezup Storage Sheds, and many more.

Apart from this, one of their representatives, Jason Guerrettaz, CEO of United Commerce Group, owner of StorageShedsOutlet.com mentions about Green Houses, Our Greenhouse Packages are designed for schools with horticulture programs, correctional institutions, and serious gardeners for both growing and therapeutic reasons. We offer our customers the ability to choose from 10 sizes and designs for your specific needs. We understand the process and have simplified it for the consumer in complete package format at a budget price for a quality greenhouse. All our Educational Greenhouses come with a full assembly manual and our team is here to walk you through all steps of the construction process as needed.

About Storage Sheds Outlet- A Division of United Commerce Group, Inc.

StorageShedsOutlet.com is a market leader in the provision of a number of outdoor structures including Storage Sheds (garden, metal, plastic, vinyl and wood), Storage Buildings, Garages, Portable Buildings, Deck Boxes, Greenhouses, Outdoor Canopies, Outdoor Shelters, Carports, Utility Sheds, Patio Accessories, Shed Accessories, Solar Lighting and Firewood Storage. This company will continue to expand by increasing its product offerings and categories. Its primary goal is to ensure a positive customer service relationship and to ensure the very best prices in this sector.

For more information, please visit http://www.storageshedsoutlet.com.

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Storage Sheds Outlet Now Offers Exquisitely Designed and Top-Notch Quality Metal Garden Sheds

Watch above: ATU 615 president Jim Yakubowski discusses a stolen bus and the current labour talks at Saskatoon Transit

SASKATOON The citys transit union is shedding a little more light on what happened before a bus was stolen by a nine-year-old boy on Saturday morning.

Speaking on Global Saskatoons Morning News, ATU 615 president Jim Yakubowski says the stolen bus was one of two left running by a maintenance crew member.

Both buses were started, said Yakubowski. The maintenance individual went to move one bus inside, essentially put it on the hoist, but by the time he got back the youngster had already come and stole the bus.

He said its not normal practice to leave buses running outside in summer, although it happens in winter because there is not enough room in the bus barns for the whole fleet.

The odds of it happening again would still exist, he said.

Its not the first time a bus has been stolen from the bus barns.

Yakubowski said it was unfortunate so many things happened at once the stolen bus, a fire on another bus Friday, and a week where some transit routes did not have buses because of a shortage of mechanics to keep the fleet operating at full strength.

Its just an unfortunate set of circumstances that everything seemed to come all at once.

He added the union has emailed the city to ask for contract talks to begin again. The citys latest contract offer was soundly rejected by the union, and so far no new talks are scheduled.

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Transit union sheds light on stolen Saskatoon bus, labour talks

Casting rumors for the second season of True Detective have been in full force this summer but one name frequently tossed around, Elisabeth Moss, isnt tired of dodging questions about it just yet.

Its hard to get sick of something thats super-flattering, she said at Gotham magazines fall fashion issue party at the Sanctuary Hotels Tender restaurant on Monday. But they are just rumors. Everyone else knows more about it than I do, apparently! But its nice to have your name mentioned for anything, especially something so good.

The Mad Men star gave a saucy response when asked whether shed rather tackle Woody Harrelson or Matthew McConaugheys role from the first season.

Its time for a good female part, she said with a laugh.

According to Elisabeth Moss, True Detective (co-starring Woody Harrelson, above) should feature a good female part in Season 2.Photo: AP/HBO

Moss, who is Gothams current cover star, is hard at work promoting her new movie The One I Love. The film features a major plot twist Moss cant discuss not that playing coy is a problem for her.

I have been keeping secrets for years on Mad Men, so for me, its nothing unusual, she said. Everyones like, Its so hard not to talk about it! And Im like, I know the end of Mad Men!

Which begs the question: Will Moss ever star in something that doesnt require keeping her lips sealed?

No, she said. If acting doesnt work out, Im just going to join the Secret Service.

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Elisabeth Moss sheds light on those True Detective rumors