![]() A mandate advanced by the Biden Administration calling for the vaccination of all federal contractors has been put on hold by a federal judge in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Georgia. In his ruling, Judge R. Stan Baker said that even while acknowledging the damage that has been wrought by Covid 19, “this Court must preserve the rule of law and ensure that all branches of government act within the bounds of their constitutionally granted authorities.” The court order further restricts the Biden Administration from enforcing the mandate in “all covered contracts in any state or territory of the United States of America.” The mandate as proposed has generated vigorous opposition within the construction industry, among contractors who have said that projects could likely be delayed for the simple reason that many workers would prefer to quit their jobs rather than submit to the mandate. Baker’s ruling added that the mandate will “have a major impact on the economy at large, as it limits contractors’ and members of the workforce’s ability to perform work on federal contracts. Accordingly, it appears to have vast economic and political significance.” The Judge also said that his ruling does “nothing more than maintain the status quo; entities will still be free to encourage their employees to get vaccinated, and the employees will still be free to choose to be vaccinated.” The Biden mandate, issued as an executive order three months ago, was set to become effective as of January 18. White House spokesman Jen Psaki, in a press conference, said the Administration was prepared to fight the matter out in court. “The reason that we proposed these requirements is that we know they work, and we are confident in our ability legally to make these happen across the country,” she remarked. By Garry Boulard
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![]() Improvements and upgrades to Colorado’s highway rest areas may be increased with funding from business sponsorships. Like most other states, Colorado has seen many of its rest areas, some dating to the 1960s, fall into disrepair for a lack of funding. The problems range from basic maintenance backlogs, to waste water system deficiencies and overused bathroom and visitors’ facilities that haven’t seen extensive upgrades in years. Now officials with the Colorado Department of Transportation are reviewing the possibilities of letting various companies take on some of the rest area funding in return for being allowed to post placards in those areas as a form of advertising. The placards would most likely be developed along public service themes, advertising, for example, certain area tourist attractions. Members of the Colorado Transportation Commission may soon ask the state government to be allowed to green light what are called “rest-stop revenue generators.” Last year the Federal Highway Administration released a guidance allowing for the creation of such sponsorships. Just over 20 states have since launched their own rest area sponsorship programs. The FHA regulations allow for advertising in the rest area’s information centers, but not in parking areas, defined dog parks, or picnic areas. And such signs, which must be of a certain size, also cannot be posted to be legible from the highway itself. While both federal and state laws have greatly restricted any form of advertising at highway rest areas, businesses, beginning in the 1970s, have been allowed to display their logos on the standard blue signs near a rest area. There are currently nearly 30 rest areas operated by the Colorado Department of Transportation in various parts of the state. By Garry Boulard ![]() An existing rehabilitation hospital on the east side of El Paso is expected to see extensive renovations, the result of being purchased by a well-established healthcare group in the city. Located at 1395 George Dieter Drive, the Highlands Rehabilitation Hospital has for years specialized in injury and illness recovery. A one-story, nearly 52,000 square foot structure, the hospital has now been acquired by Las Palmas Del Sol Healthcare with plans to provide expanded inpatient and outpatient rehabilitation services. In a statement, David Shimp, Las Palmas Del Sol chief executive officer, said acquisition of the hospital will “expand rehab service in our community and provide patients on the east side with a comfortable environment and enhanced patient privacy.” The emphasis on privacy at what is now being called the Las Palmas Del Sol Rehabilitation Hospital East, will see the creation of more than three dozen private suites all designed to provide space for recovering patients. Highlands, under the ownership of the Louisville, Kentucky-based EPI Corporation, was opened in the summer of 2000 at a cost of $10 million. Las Palmas is a part of HCA Healthcare, a for-profit operator of health care facilities based in Nashville. By Garry Boulard Housing Market Slated for Gains, with An Unexpected Increase in Hispanic Ownership, Says New Survey12/7/2021 ![]() Both the construction of houses and home prices are expected to increase next year, while the nation’s overall homeownership rate will also see a slight uptick, according to a comprehensive new survey. The site Realtor.com is anticipating a home sales growth of 6.6% in 2022, which, if realized, would comprise the largest such growth since 2006. One of the driving factors behind the boom is the Millennial Generation, those born between 1981 and 1996, which is expected to prove a dominant force in the market. Members of that generation now number more than 45 million and are made up of, says Realtor, “the prime first-time home buying ages of 26 to 35.” The nation’s median home sale price is simultaneously slated to see a 2.9% increase in 2022, although affordability issues will “keep prices from advancing at the same pace” seen this year. Actual home inventory, meanwhile, is expected to see an incremental increase next year of around 0.3%. “While buyers have been eager in the last 2 years,” says the survey, “sellers have been on and off.” But at the same time an increasing number of homeowners this fall indicated in various surveys a willingness to put their homes on the market. Should that indication become reality it could prove a major factor in the market. Other findings in the survey include a continuing demand for houses in the nation’s suburban neighborhoods, a factor somewhat bolstered by the remote working trends resulting from the Covid 19 pandemic. Demographically, continues the survey, “Hispanic homebuyer are already a sizable share of the housing market, comprising more than 1 in 10 recent homebuyers.” Even so, they remain “under-represented relative to their roughly 1 in 5 share of the U.S. population.” Currently, just under 50% of Hispanics own a home. But, says the survey, “with a growing share of the population and the potential for a rising homeownership rate, this demographic group is expected to play a growing role in the home buying market.” By Garry Boulard Up to half a dozen housing communities in various sections of New Mexico are scheduled to see facility improvements beginning next year.
The Irvine, California-based Community Preservation Partners says it wants to do a combination of exterior and interior work at the various communities, as well as common area renovations. The communities include the Penasco Apartments in Artesia; the Belen-based Westside Apartments; the North Star Apartments and San Miguel Senior Apartments in Las Vegas; the Ruth Visage Senior Apartments in Portales; and the Inspiration Heights Apartments in Ruidoso Downs, The properties were recently purchased by Community Preservation Partners for some $7.3 million. Among the unit upgrades planned by the company are building weatherproofing; and new windows, lighting, and HVAC systems in the apartment units of each community. Altogether, exactly 218 units in the various communities will see upgrades. Plans additionally call for the building of new outdoor playgrounds as well as paths and ramps that are Americans with Disabilities Act compliant. The work is being made possible through tax credits and bonds Community Preservation Partners earlier secured through the New Mexico Mortgage Finance Authority. Launched in 2004, Community Preservation Partners has to date purchased and upgraded more than 11,000 multi-family housing units nationally. Last month the company announced its $26 million acquisition of the Chandler Ridge Apartments in Raleigh, North Carolina. Community Preservation Partners is spending $60,000 per unit upgrading that property with 228 apartments. By Garry Boulard ![]() The Bureau of Labor Statistics is reporting that around 210,000 new jobs were created in the U.S. during the month of November. “Notable job gains occurred in professional and business services, transportation and warehousing, construction, and manufacturing,” said William Beach, the commission of the Bureau of Labor Statistics, in a statement exploring the latest job numbers. Beach added, however, that “employment in retail trade declined over the month.” The construction industry saw an increase of more than 31,000 jobs, with the largest growth sector in nonresidential work taking on nearly 21,000 new workers. Heavy and civil engineering construction firms took on an additional 8,100 new workers for the month, followed by specialty trade contractors, with a gain of 6,800. Altogether, nonresidential employment is today 209,000 less than where it was the month before the pandemic, while residential employment is now up by 95,000 over February of 2020. Although the overall numbers, asserts the New York Times, were below expectations, the latest report “shows an economy on the right track.” The paper notes that overall jobless rate declined from 4.6% to 4.2%, “a remarkable swing in a single month.” Reports the Wall Street Journal: “Hiring slowed last month amid Covid-19 uncertainties, but people returned to the labor market in droves in a sign the tight labor market could be loosening.” By Garry Boulard Public comment is set to expire this week on a proposal by the Bureau of Land Management to action off leases for just under 540 acres of federal land in both Chaves and Lea counties.
The land is part of the giant Permian Basin, the world’s biggest oil field. The winning bidder, according to the BLM, would have the “exclusive right to use as much of the leased lands as necessary to explore and drill oil and gas within the lease boundaries.” But a consortium of community action and environmental groups, including the Sierra Club, the New Mexico Wildlife Federation, and the National Audubon Society, successfully petitioned the BLM in early November asking for a 10-day extension of a public comment period that was originally scheduled to expire on November 28. The petition charged that the Department of Interior has to date failed to issue a “much-anticipated report on the federal oil and gas programs. Thus, the need to maximize public involvement on these proposals is heightened by the lack of progress on oil and gas reforms.” That involvement has included stepped-up public input on the leasing of the lands. In response to the petition, BLM Director Tracy Stone-Manning has said that her agency is “committed to responsible development on public lands, including ensuring that our environmental reviews consider the climate impacts of energy development on lands and communities.” The land in question includes 320 acres in Chaves County and another 200 acres in Lea County. Leases for such property have a contract lifetime of 10 years. By Garry Boulard ![]() Work could begin in 2023 on a long-delayed, much planned project that will see renovations to the Eisenhower-Johnson Memorial Tunnel in metro Denver. Located some 60 miles to the west of the Mile High City, the tunnel is named after Dwight Eisenhower, the president who signed legislation ushering in the federal highway network, and former Colorado Governor Edwin Johnson. The westbound bore of the tunnel, completed in 1973, is named in honor of Eisenhower, while the eastward bore, wrapped in 1979, is named after Johnson. The 60-mile-long tunnel, noted the Denver Post recently, is an engineering wonder, built at “11,000 feet above sea level and burrowed through a mile and a half of often-resistant granite and other rock.” One of the most used throughways in the country serving upwards of 13 million vehicles a year, the Eisenhower-Johnson Tunnel pushes beneath the Continental Divide and has long been regarded as in need of structural repairs. Last summer Colorado Department of Transportation officials said they anticipated spending upwards of $150 million repairing groundwater leaks and both plumbing and electrical system overhauls in the tunnel. Additional work is expected to include the installation of new lighting. Now the CDOT hopes to receive as much as $900 million in federal funding as a result of the recently approved Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act, allowing it to plan out a series of transportation projects, including the Eisenhower-Johnson Tunnel work. When exactly work will begin on the tunnel is not yet known: the Colorado Transportation Commission, tasked with overseeing spending on transportation projects in the state, is additionally putting together a 10-year blueprint coordinating all such projects. The commission schedule is set to be released sometime next summer. By Garry Boulard ![]() Following up on an auction held earlier this fall, the Roman Catholic Church of the Archdiocese of Santa Fe has announced plans to hold a new auction of hundreds of pieces of properties it owns in New Mexico. The archdiocese declared bankruptcy in 2018 partly due to a series of settled lawsuits on the part of around 400 people alleging sexual abuse by members of the Catholic clergy. Legal fees related to settlement with the claimants have exceeded the $2.3 million figure. What turned out to be an eight-day online auction in September brought in nearly $1.7 million, with 140 properties in the counties of Bernalillo, Sandoval, and Valencia sold. The parcels were all zoned for commercial, residential, or special use. The new auction, to be conducted by the Kenner, Louisiana-based SVN Auction Services, will invite bidding on more than 400 Archdiocese land parcels and properties. The list for which properties are up for auction will be announced on January 3, with active bidding beginning on January 31. Although the Archdiocese through the decades has owned hundreds of churches, chapels, schools, and office buildings, the September auction was largely concerned with vacant property. By Garry Boulard ![]() An agreement has been reached between two Texas state agencies allowing for the construction of additional border wall between the state and Mexico. The Texas State General Land Office has announced that it has come to terms with the state’s Department of Public Safety on a plan for the construction. Governor George Abbott, who earlier this year said he wanted to build in parts of Texas, including El Paso, still lacking a wall, said the first segment of the wall project is set to begin in Starr County, near the southern tip of the state. The land for the first portion of the wall project is owned by the Land Office. In September Abbott gave his approval to legislation providing nearly $2 billion in state funding for border wall security. Of that amount, roughly $750 million was allotted to the building of border wall structures ranging from concrete barriers to simple fencing. Another $250 million was earlier appropriated by the state for the project, on top of some $54 million raised through private donations. Altogether, the Governor has said that there is just over 730 miles or border between Texas and Mexico, or roughly half of the total 1,250-mile border, in need of some type of new barrier. Wall construction under the Trump Administration spanned just over 450 miles, with 131 miles built in El Paso County and Hudspeth County directly to the west. According to reports, portions of the barrier will be comprised of repurposed shipping containers, while the rest will see the use of razor wire. By Garry Boulard |
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