New York board backs plan for new Tappan Zee bridge

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Tue Aug 21, 2012 1:24am IST

Aug 20 (Reuters) – The New York Metropolitan Transportation Council on Monday voted unanimously in favor of a $5.4 billion project to build a new Tappan Zee bridge, giving New York state the go ahead to formally apply for a federal loan.

The new bridge across the Hudson River north of New York City, linking Westchester County on the west side to Rockland County on the east, has been added to the list of $984 billion in projects planned from 2010 to 2035 for the downstate region covered by the Council.

Environmental and transportation groups, however, criticized the state’s failure to release a detailed financial plan.

“I think the funding is the big question in the room,” said Phillip Musegaas, director of the Hudson River Program for Riverkeeper, a clean water advocacy group.

Howard Glaser, director of state operations, said the final cost of the project would not be known until the Thruway Authority completes negotiations with the three developers who are bidding on the new bridge.

“I don’t tell somebody what is in my wallet when I am negotiating,” he said at the Council meeting. “Once we have the cost, the financial plan is built off that,” he said.

The Tappan Zee carries 138,000 vehicles every day, or nearly 40 percent more traffic than for which it was originally designed. The span’s accident rate is double the average of the 574-mile state Thruway, and traffic jams quickly develop because it has no lanes or shoulders for emergency vehicles.

New York hopes to get a $2 billion loan from the federal government under the Transportation Infrastructure Finance and Innovation Act program to replace the existing span, which has aged poorly and would cost $3 billion to $4 billion to fix.

Governor Andrew Cuomo has told the Thruway Authority to find ways to reduce a proposed rise in the cash toll to $14, from $5 now, which the authority initially said would be needed to pay for the bridge when it opens in 2017.

The pricetag for the bridge previously was estimated at $5.2 billion, but the resolution the Council voted on said the $5.4 billion figure was the estimate that should be used for planning.

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Sourcing the Rain

A swale catches runoff and lets it sink into the soil.

We who live in cities and towns, and we who eat food grown on industrial farms, depend on imported water for daily survival. Our water and the water that grows our food travels hundreds of miles to reach us. It is powered by mountain-leveling coal, mega-dam hydro-power, and deadly nuclear power. The infrastructures that bring us this water costs billions of dollars in public tax money and household utility bills.

 

 

Harvesting rainwater can reduce our need–and demand–for water transport systems that threaten the health of the water cycle and our local environments. Ironically, water use is often highest in the places where rain falls the least. But whether you live in the damp Pacific Northwest, the arid Mojave desert, the thunderstorm Midwest, or beyond, we almost all depend on problematic water infrastructures.

An 11,000 gallon (3 story) cistern collects rainwater at the University of Arizona.

Rainwater harvesting is one strategy in the greater scheme of reducing domestic water use. By harvesting rainwater, we can be led to dozens of other practices that bring us into greater sustainability. Growing plants that shade and insulate windows reduces energy use; increasing home food production reduces demand for wasteful water use in industrial fields. Above all, rainwater harvesting increases quality of life: ours, and that of life worldwide.

In arid climates and places with salty irrigation water rainwater flushes salts and chemicals out, allowing for long-term health and soil vitality.

On any house lot, there are three potential sources for harvesting the rain: Direct rainfall, street harvesting, and roof harvesting.

Design landscape to welcome the rain

Vegetation captures runoff from paths at UC Berkeley.

The easiest rainwater source is that which falls on the yard. Proper placement of plants, trees, and water sources can turn the site into a water efficient system. Shape the surface of the soil to slow down runoff, raise paths and patios, and sink all planting areas to capture the flow. Choose plants–primarily natives–that can absorb and hold water in their root systems, or pass it down to the water table. This way, rainwater doesn’t run off into the street, where it would be swept away with motor oil, into the sewer system or discharged directly into a local waterway.

 

 

Harvest runoff- curbcuts and bioswales

Sidewalk bioswale treats street runoff in Portland, OR

The second source of rainwater is the street. Streets aren’t flat; they are typically graded so that water flows to the curb, down the block to a gutter, into the storm drain. In cities like San Francisco and Portland, storm drains are connected to the sewer treatment plant, and heavy rains cause the sewer plant to overflow raw and partially treated sewer into the bay or river. Other cities connect storm drains to underground creeks, and the polluted water runs straight into the bay or nearby river. By cutting curbs and digging sunken basins into the “right-of way” or “parking strip” area of the sidewalk, you can turn street rainwater from a problem to a resource. Diverted rain that falls on streets can nourish plants, protect creeks, and contribute to cleaner cities.

 

Storm water runoff flows into basin after the curb was cut.

.: A concrete saw rented for the day cuts the curb.

Store the rain- cisterns and rainbarrels

The third source of rainwater is the roof. Even in areas with low rainfall there is an enormous potential for harvesting rainwater.

For example, the roof a 1,000 square foot house can collect around 600 gallons per ONE inch of rain! In an average year with 12 inches of rain in Los Angeles, that small roof could collect 7,200 gallons.

The rain catchment system

A water catchment system for roof rainwater is simple, and can store water for outdoor irrigation.

200 gallons of storage tucked next to a garage

• Gutters: Roof water gathers in the gutters and runs to a pipe towards the tank.
• “First Flush”: The first rain of the year is the dirtiest as it cleans the roof. This water is directed away from the tank in a “first flush system” and the subsequent water continues to the tank.
• Screen: The rainwater goes through a screen to remove leaves and debris, and then funnels into the top of the covered tank.
• Storage: The tank is dark, to prevent algea from growing, and screened, to prevent mosquitoes from entering.
• Irrigation: A hose attachment is located near the bottom for irrigation.

Rainbarrels are a popular way to begin rainwater harvesting, especially in urban areas; they are low cost, and can be installed along houses, under decks, or in other unused spaces.

There is a huge range of options for cisterns, large single storage tanks. They can be made from plastic, ferrocement, metal, or fiberglass, ranging in size from 50 gallons to tens of thousands of gallons.

 

Plastic cistern

Metal cistern

Ferrocement cistern

  More photos of rain catchment systems:

• Watershed Management Group
• Brad Landcaster- Harvesting Rainwater site
• Camden Family
• Greywater Action

 

 

 

Indoor use

Ceramic drinking water filter: This highly-effective, passive filter removes pollutants and pathogens including viruses from drinking water.

In Australia, rainwater cisterns supply potable water to thousands of homes. In the US, it’s becoming more common for people to use rainwater indoors for non-potable uses. These systems can reduce or eliminate use of municipal or well water during the rainy season, when outdoor irrigation is unnecessary. Most household rainwater systems use a pump and pressure tank to pressurize water. Many states do not have codes covering indoor rainwater use, and people seeking permits may be required to  filter and disinfect the water, increasing system cost and complexity. However, EPA and other research has shown that rainwater harvested using a “first flush” system and protected from light is safe to use for bathing and other household use. Filtering only the small amount of water used for drinking with passive filters such as the ceramic filter shown at left, or with slow sand filters, greatly reduces system cost, and offers an affordable solution for people needing clean drinking water.

Large-scale rainwater harvesting projects

• A sumo-wrestling arena in Tokyo, Japan, stores rainwater in a large underground tank for toilet flushing.
• The Frankfurt Airport in Germany collects rainwater for toilet flushing and irrigation.
• Eggleton Services, a non-profit in Norfolk, Virgina, uses rainwater from the roof of a laundry facility in the washing machines.

Read about rainwater harvesting projects from around the world here.

See more US examples from the American Rain Catchment Systems Association (ARCSA) here.

 

 

 

Education is at the heart of our work. We provide workshops, trainings, presentations, theater, and a demonstration booth on sustainable water use technologies.

Presentations:

We offer a variety of presentations, catering to the particular interest and knowledge level of the group. We’ve presented to groups such as colleges, professional firms, garden groups, church groups, high school students, green festivals, and cities.

Workshops

One day hands-on installation workshop:

Workshop participants dig mulch basins to prepare landscape for greywater.

One day installation classes are held in a  house. Participants learn about greywater basics through a one hour lecture, and then are led through the design and installation of one type of greywater system (usually a laundry to landscape system). In small groups that rotate, participants learn about the plumbing, the landscaping, and the materials needed for the installation. All skill levels are welcome and people who have less hands-on experience are encouraged to practice using tools in a safe, supportive, learning environment. 

Two day hands-on installation workshop:

Learning to use teflon tape

Participants practice drilling through a mock-up wall.

This course covers the basics of greywater. Participants gain experience with the tools and materials required for two types of greywater systems, the laundry to landscape and the branched drain system. During the course one full greywater system is designed and installed. All skill levels are welcome, and there will be a range of activities appropriate to address the needs of different skill levels.

Five day installer’s Course

This five day course is designed for people with either basic plumbing, landscaping, or permaculture skills who want to learn how to design and build simple, low-tech residential greywater systems. Participants will study five common greywater systems, discuss how to determine which is appropriate for a given site, and learn about water harvesting earthworks, plant selection, eco-friendly  products, and the California greywater code. We are offering an optional exam and the opportunity to conduct an installation. After successfully completing the training, greywater installers can list their contact information on the Greywater Action website, a portal for greywater inquiries from across the country, and join a discussion board with other installers to share information.

Demonstration booth and tabling resources

Booth at the Maker’s Faire

Greywater display

We have a demonstration booth that includes a life-sized model of a greywater system, a portable composting toilet

model, and a mini-rainbarrel system. We also have an information booth providing education and resources on sustainable water use for the general public.

Theater:

We and our collaborators developed interactive presentations integrating a visual tour of the water grid, an overview of global grassroots water struggles, and the plays “Take this house and float it away” and “The Gold Fish, or, Straight Flushes for the Manifestly Destined” with facilitated discussions on strategies for action on local and global water issues. We’ve adapted these presentations for universities, conferences, and community forums.

Apartment owners at Manhattan’s 15 Central Park West, home to Goldman Sachs Group Inc. Chief Executive Officer Lloyd Blankfein and the musician Sting, are seeking to double their investments after the complex shattered price records and sparked a wave of ultra-luxury listings.

Four condos have hit the market since May with asking prices at an average 192 percent premium over what owners paid in 2007 and 2008, according to data from StreetEasy.com. The priciest listing came last week, with Leroy Schecter, chairman of metalworks firm Marino/Ware Industries Inc., seeking $95 million for a five-bedroom unit on the 35th floor.

The dual limestone towers have set a standard for New York’s trophy-home market, which has seen a surge in demand from investors and foreign buyers. The sale in February of former Citigroup Inc. Chairman Sanford Weill’s penthouse for a record $88 million has emboldened owners in Manhattan to “test the waters” for expensive properties, said Jonathan Miller, president of appraiser Miller Samuel Inc.

“Sellers are a lot more confident in this building than probably any other building,” said Sofia Song, vice president of research at New York-based StreetEasy, a property-listings website. “There’s not a whole lot of inventory or product out there that’s like 15 Central Park West. When the demand is intense, that’s when you get these crazy prices.”

Beats Gold

If history is an indication, the sellers aren’t far off the mark. The 12 most recent transactions at 15 Central Park West averaged $17.3 million, 103 percent more than their original purchase prices, according to data compiled by StreetEasy. That return beat gold, which rose 88 percent since the beginning of 2008, when most buyers at the complex were moving into their apartments.

Weill and his wife, Joan, paid $43.7 million for the 6,744- square-foot (627-square-meter) full-floor condo in 2007, city property records show.

Schecter’s apartment offers unobstructed views of Central Park to the east and the Hudson River to the west. The property is a combination of two units, one of which was rented by New York Yankees star Alex Rodriguez, that were purchased in 2008 for a total of $26 million, according to Emily Beare of CORE, the broker representing him. Schecter is renovating the space.

“It’s almost like a work of art,” Beare said. “It is an investment. You’re investing in one of the best properties in the world.”

‘Anything’s Possible’

The market will determine whether he and the other sellers get what they’re asking, said Miller.

“Anything’s possible,” he said. “But just because one transaction or a couple of transactions broke a record doesn’t translate into guaranteed results for its neighbors.”

A fifth unit at 15 Central Park West is listed for $35 million, 76 percent more than the purchase price.

Arthur and William Lie Zeckendorf built the $800 million project on a plot two blocks north of Columbus Circle, the traffic hub that connects the Upper West Side and Midtown. Robert A.M. Stern, now dean of the Yale School of Architecture, designed the 19-story “house” and 43-story “tower,” as they are known, to evoke the Art Deco luxury apartment buildings of the early 1900s.

“The ambiance of the entire property is casual elegance,” said Noel Berk, a broker at Mercedes/Berk Private Real Estate in New York. “There’s an informality about it, a non-pretension.”

Private Garden

Residents have access to a swimming pool, dining room, movie theater, conference rooms and a communal deck that’s the site of the annual building-organized viewing of the Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade. A driveway off 61st Street into the garden allows discreet passage for residents who want privacy.

It’s “the single best amenity package I have ever seen,” said Dolly Lenz, vice chairman at Prudential Douglas Elliman Real Estate.

Once upon a time, most New York law firms had offices in downtown Manhattan, near the financial center that generated much of their business.

But in the 1980s many firms began the march to midtown, renting fancy digs in new buildings on Lexington and Third Avenues or the West 40s and 50s. These days a stroll up Avenue of the Americas is like a tour of the AmLaw 100.

That trend, however may be reversing–or at least diluting–as firms looking to save money on leases take a fresh look at downtown and further West, as WSJ’s Laura Kusisto reported today:

Law firms don’t like to pay too much for office space because even junior associates expect offices, and because rent money comes out of the partners’ pockets.

Now other large firms are looking Downtown and to the new Hudson Yards development, trading less-prime locations for cheaper rents and the benefits of being in new construction.

For instance, last month Wilmer Cutler Pickering Hale and Dorr LLP moved downtown to shiny new offices at 7 World Trade Center after 13 years in midtown. Other law firms, such as Morrison & Foerster LLP and Proskauer Rose LLP, are leasing in new buildings that are wired for the 21st century–and offer a more efficient use of space.

“We don’t expect the base Canadian housing market to experience the trauma of the U.S. market,” said Robert Hogue, senior economist at Royal Bank of Canada /quotes/zigman/17988/quotes/nls/ry RY -0.29%  in Toronto.

Regulatory observers said they agree that a series of actions taken by the Canadian government starting in 2008 and culminating in a June 2012 package of reforms to limit access to credit for borrowers is having its intended effect of cooling the frothy Canadian housing market.

Responding to the financial crisis of 2008, the Canadian government set a minimum down payment of 5% for government-backed mortgages. It also began a gradual reduction in the maximum amount of time borrowers could take to pay down their mortgages. The limit was set at 35 years in 2008 and was last cut in June to 25 years. The moves were imposed to tighten up underwriting standards that had been loosened between 2004 and 2008.

The steps were necessary, observers say, in the face of rising home prices — Canadian house prices have roughly doubled in the past decade, according to credit rater Standard & Poor’s — that forced borrowers to take on high debt to buy a house.

“There are signs that the market has been slowing. The measures [to tighten mortgage underwriting standards] by public authorities are preventative as well as reactive and cautionary, and they are having an effect,” said Sheryl Kennedy, CEO of Promontory Canada and deputy governor at the Bank of Canada from 1994 to 2008.

Are you using Pinterest to market your business?

Running contests on Pinterest is a great way to expose your brand to a large audience, attract new followers and engage with your existing follower base.

In this article, I’ll showcase nine businesses running successful Pinterest contests.

Why Pinterest Contests?

Here is why you should run a contest on Pinterest:

• Pinterest is the third most popular social network in the U.S. in terms of traffic.
• Pinterest has accumulated 14.9 million users as of July 2012.
• Pinterest is retaining and engaging users as much as 2-3 times more efficiently than Twitter was at a similar time in its history.
• Over 80% of pins are repins, demonstrating the tremendous “virality” at work in the Pinterest community.
• Pinterest accounted for 3.6% of referral traffic as of January 2012.
• Shoppers referred by Pinterest are 10% more likely to make a purchase than visitors who arrive from other social networks, including Facebook and Twitter.

Using Pinterest contests, your brand can engage with consumers in a personal and cost-effective way.

Contests can also help you collect customer information, preferences and feedback. This valuable data can then be put into action to enhance your offerings and acquire more customers.

So in this post, I’ll show you different types of Pinterest contests and examples to get you inspired to craft a Pinterest contest for your business.

Sweepstakes

Users can enter a Pinterest sweepstake by following a brand, creating a pinboard or by repinning an image. Winners are drawn randomly from the pool of eligible entries.

Below are the three examples of how companies are creating sweepstakes.

#1: AMC Theatres

The second-largest movie theater chain in North America, AMC Theatres is generating a lot of engagement through Pinterest contests.

AMC has created an entire pinboard, AMC Giveaways, dedicated to contests and giveaways.

Now users can just follow the specific pinboard to stay updated with the latest giveaways from AMC. The visually attractive pins direct users to appropriate contest landing pages.

AMC’s giveaway pinboard with visually attractive pins.

Landing pages contain contest details and an entry form. The entry form is best utilized by AMC collecting basic customer information and customer preferences.

Simple contest entry form collecting valuable customer information and preferences.

There are a lot of attractive giveaways offered by AMC from time to time on the pinboard to excite movie lovers. Prizes such as signed posters, free tickets, t-shirts and even a signed director’s chair are irresistible to the fans.

The most recent is a very special giveaway contest: The Dark Knight Rises custom Xbox 360 for The Dark Knight Rises. The interesting part is the user doesn’t even have to follow AMC on Pinterest or pin/repin an image to participate in the contest.

With contests, AMC is successfully promoting its brand, driving lots of engagement and collecting extremely valuable customer data.

Have a look at the number of social media shares and comments that the contest page has already received.

Contest details page with social sharing elements to reach a bigger audience.

Here are the details of the contest:

• Participants fill out an entry form at the AMC website before the deadline.
• Winners are selected at random.

Prize: The Dark Knight Rises custom Xbox 360. Unlike any other 360 consoles, this one is unavailable for purchase.

#2: British Midland International (BMI)

The airline company BMI (acquired by International Airline Group recently), kicked off BMI Pinterest lottery, a game of chance, on March 6, 2012. Rather than just posting the destination pictures, BMI converted its pinboards into a fun competition.

Creative use of pinboards and pins by BMI.

Different boards were created for different destinations, each containing nine pins, with a unique number on each image.

Additionally, the contest also included Tumblr. Each pin was linked to the brand’s Tumblr presence, BMIsocialplanet, where BMI showcased content for different BMI destinations from around the web.

Participants repin six images and at the end of the week, a winning number is drawn, with one random user winning the competition. Notice how BMI has incorporated the details of participation and relevant information in the pin description.

Great use of pin description with contest details in the copy.

This highly creative campaign, which ran for 7 weeks, resulted in 500k+ social media impressions in the first week alone, and generated lots of positive social media sentiment. More than 3000 entries were received for the contest in the first two weeks alone.