As one more indication of its ongoing population growth challenges, the City of Denver has put on this fall’s ballot a question asking voters to approve the creation of a single department that would be tasked with handling most of the city’s transportation facility needs. In making the new department official, voters would be amending both the city and Denver County’s charter. The Department of Transportation and Infrastructure would be a separate agency, removing from Denver’s current Public Works Department all programs and initiatives related to transportation services, as well as non-motorized transportation facilities. Initially unveiled last spring, the proposal for the new department was presented as a one-stop means to more efficiently tackle transportation projects. In doing so, the building or upgrading of sewer infrastructure, as well as pavement work, would be rolled into a single project, rather than two separate projects handled by two different agencies. Denver officials estimate that a combined transportation and infrastructure department could save the city as much as $7.3 million on an annual basis. Funding saved as a result of the effort, said Eulois Cleckly as the proposal was aired, could then be devoted to building “the rest of our bicycle infrastructure, all the multi-modal projects we have slated.” Clecky, executive director of the Department of Public Works, further stated that by allowing the city to focus more on those multi-modal projects, it could build them more efficiently. The new department, if approved by voters, would additionally supplement the work of the city’s Regional Transit District. The proposal, appearing as Question 2A on Denver ballots, has won the support of most city leaders. According to analysis presented by the Denver Department of Finance, the creation of the new department would bring with it a one-time price tag of $200,000 for rebranding expenses. By Garry Boulard
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A funding campaign has been launched to pay for the construction of a medical respite center that will be especially geared for homeless individuals in Tucson. Officials with the El Rio Cherrybell Health Center say the estimated $5.2 million center will specialize in providing care for homeless individuals in need of recuperative care after they have been released from the care of a hospital. As planned, the new facility will go up on the El Rio’s campus in southeast Tucson at 1230 S. Cherrybell Stravenue. The two-story, 15,000 square foot facility, as designed by Tuscon-based BWS Architects, will also provide outdoor play space and indoor housing for the pets of patients. In a statement, Marguerite Harmon, chief executive officer of the Catholic Community Services of Southern Arizona, pointed out that “homeless people leaving hospitals and medical centers following surgery or inpatient care have no place to go to recover.” A lack of a place to heal, added Harmon, often hampers a patient’s ability to recovery, sometimes leading to new sicknesses and even death. Catholic Community Services is partnering with the El Rio Center to get the new facility built. It is anticipated that work on the new recuperative care center could begin sometime in early 2021. By Garry Boulard new federal report shows increased consumer spending shoring up gross domestic product growth11/4/2019 Third quarter increases in consumer and government spending, along with housing investment growth, provided fuel for a 1.9 percent improvement in the nation’s Gross Domestic Product, says a new government report. While the numbers are on the plus side, the report issued by the Department of Commerce’s Bureau of Economic Analysis also notes that the 1.9 increase was lower than the numbers from April to June of this year which saw a 2.0 percent increase. The latest figures, according to the BEA, also indicate a significantly more modest increase in personal income this past summer, over the second quarter of the year. The most recent numbers pegged the third quarter increase in personal income at $172 billion, down from the spring increase of $244 billion. At the same time, spending on durable goods was up by 7.6 percent over the previous quarter, with business investment in intellectual property increasing by 6.6 percent. Although the most recent Gross Domestic Product numbers remain strong, the trend throughout most of 2019 has been in a downward direction: “The year started out with a surge, but the pace of growth declined in the spring and again over the period that spanned July, August, and September,” observed the New York Times. Even so, asserted Business Insider, the third quarter increase in consumer spending is nothing to sneeze at: “Households have remained one of the brightest spots in an economy faced with a flurry of strains, including steep tariffs on an increasing number of products.” While the third quarter report is short of the Trump Administration’s earlier pledge to keep growth at the level of 3 percent or above, Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross, in a statement, said the latest numbers showed that the “U.S. economy continues its steady growth in defiance of media skeptics calling for a recession.” By Garry Boulard albuquerque hopes to see wide array of bond-funded public facility upgrades and improvements11/4/2019 Nearly $8.6 million in public safety bonds are being proposed for Albuquerque police and fire department facility upgrades in this November’s election. Those public safety bonds are a part of list of ten categories comprising more than $100 million in bonds for various public facility and project needs in the city. The public safety bonds will provide funding for everything from the acquisition of land for new construction projects, to the renovation and rehabilitation of existing structures for both the Albuquerque Police Department, as well as the Albuquerque Fire Rescue department. Bond Question Number two is asking for a big $21.7 million to pay for the design, development, and building - among other items - of city-owned community centers for families, the homeless, senior citizens, and youth. Just over $10.4 million in bonds is proposed for energy and water efficiency construction and upgrading projects; with another nearly $8.8 million going to pay for facility construction and improvement projects within the vast Albuquerque Bernalillo County Library system. The largest bond, at just under $33 million, will pay for any number of street, road, bridge, sidewalk, and pathway construction and upgrade projects across the city. Funding for the building and upgrading of transportation facilities will come from the more than $3.1 million in public transportation bonds; while $11.2 million in general obligation bonds will pay for the construction and upkeep of the city’s storm sewer system. The smallest bond amount, at just under $1.8 million, will target museum and cultural facility construction and upgrading projects, with a $5 million affordable housing bond question proposed to fund the construction and rehabilitation of permanent affordable housing for the city’s low to moderate working families. By Garry Boulard Roughly a year after a privately-run senior nursing facility in Rio Arriba County closed its doors, county officials are hoping that voters will approve a $12 million bond in next week’s election to build an entirely new center. The Espanola Valley Nursing and Rehabilitation Center went out of business after its parent company, the Plano, Texas-based Preferred Care Partners filed for bankruptcy. There is a need for at least one nursing facility in Rio Arriba, but an argument has been aired that a county-run center would also be more accountable to the county commission. Several months ago, members of the Rio Arriba County Commission voted in favor of putting on the November ballot a question proposing the construction of a new nursing center to be paid for through a general obligation bond. According to Rio Arriba documents, the bond would be specifically geared for the purpose of “planning, designing, construction, and equipping a skilled nursing and rehabilitation hospital in the county.” A site near Industrial Park Road in Espanola has already been selected for the new facility. By Garry Boulard The Trump Administration has announced that it is extending for a full year the Temporary Protected Status program for more than 200,000 Salvadorans currently living in the U.S. Although the White House had earlier moved to remove that status from the Salvadorans, which include an estimated 37,000 people working in the nation’s construction industry, the new policy announced by the Department of Homeland Security establishes January 1, 2021 as the expiration date of the status program for Salvadorans. In a statement, Homeland Security said the administration’s intention is to “create an orderly and responsible process to repatriate Salvadorans and help them return home.” The statement further noted that given the large number of Salvadorans who would be forced to return to their native country should the protected status be ended anytime soon, there was a potential for “another mass migration to the U.S.” that would “reinvigorate the crisis at the southern border.” Stephen Sandherr, chief executive officer of the Associated General Contractors of America, said the decision to provide the Salvadorans with protection for one more year “means thousands of development and infrastructure projects across the country will not be put at immediate risk.” Sandherr added that the sudden loss of 37,000 Salvadoran workers during a time when “80 percent of construction employers struggle to find qualified workers” would be severe. The Trump Administration’s new announcement is the result of talks between U.S. and Salvadoran government officials and an agreement designed to see the two countries working together on enhanced border security matters. By Garry Boulard Initial design work on a segment of a proposed $450 million water pipeline project in northern Colorado could begin sometime next year. The long planned and talked-about project, which would include a pumping facility and 75 miles of underground pipelines, is intended to move water from the Poudre River to the west of Fort Collins in a southerly direction to the city of Thornton. The proposal has garnered the opposition of some Larimer County residents concerned about the environmental consequences of the pipelines being buried on their property, as well as the Larimer County Board of Commissioners, which last year voted to deny Thornton a permit for the project. Although what has turned into an expensive and unresolved legal dispute between Thornton and Larimer County, the city is making plans to launch an initial design phase for a segment of the pipelines. That segment would see the $54 million building of nearly 63,000 linear feet of 48-inch steel raw water pipeline in neighboring Weld County. According to City of Thornton documents, this segment of the project would also travel through the nearby towns of Windsor and Timnath. Exactly when the design work will begin has not yet been announced. Thornton, which has been slowly acquiring property for the project, has said that a new source of water is needed for a city whose population has more than doubled in the last two decades to its current 137,000 and is expected to see continued significant growth in the next several decades. By Garry Boulard |
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