![]() New Mexico Governor Michelle Lujan Grisham has given her approval to four separate infrastructure projects that will take place on the Shiprock campus of Dine College. The public tribal land-grant school is based in Tsaile, Arizona, but has five satellite campuses in both the Grand Canyon State as well as New Mexico, with the Shiprock campus located at two separate sites in that city. The largest capital outlay at exactly $1 million will go for the phase one construction of a new mathematics and science building to be located on the south campus of the school off U.S. Route 64. Some $800,000 will target the planning, design, and building of a supplemental water supply system to be used by the school’s Agricultural Multi-Purpose Center, located within what is known as the Shiprock Demonstration Farm. Another $193,000 is set for equipment, fixtures, and furniture at the new mathematics and science building; while a fourth project, the building of a student services center on the south campus, is getting $50,000. The Dine College, launched in 1968 as the Navajo Community College, is the first tribally run and accredited institution of higher learning in the country. Encompassing its main and satellite campuses, the school has an enrollment of around 2,000 students. By Garry Boulard
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![]() After weeks of debate within his caucus, House Speaker Kevin McCarthy has announced the details of a plan that calls for raising the current $31.4 trillion debt ceiling for the next 12 months or so by around $1.5 trillion. Officially called the Limit, Save, Grow Act of 2023, the bill introduced by the Republican McCarthy proposes to eliminate some funds delegated to the Internal Revenue Service, while also putting a limit on discretionary spending and recouping monies delegated for pandemic relief that were never spent. In reducing the budget for the IRS, McCarthy said his legislation will essentially do away with an earlier proposal to hire some 87,000 new agents for the agency. “That will save taxpayers $70 billion and protect families and small businesses from a weaponized IRS,” McCarthy remarked. McCarthy added that the introduction of the legislation should prompt the White House and members of the Senate leadership to “sit down, negotiate and address” what he called the crisis of the looming federal budget and the possibility of the U.S. defaulting on its debts. The prospects for McCarthy’s legislation remain uncertain in the House, while members of the Democrat majority in the Senate have already expressed opposition to the plan. In introducing his bill, McCarthy remarked that “America is $31 billion in debt and Washington is on the clock.” In order to win passage in the House, McCarthy’s bill must secure a minimum of 218 votes. Although Republicans currently hold a 222 to 212 majority, there is no guarantee that the legislation has the support of every member of the party’s caucus. In response, President Biden has threatened to launch a full-scale assault on McCarthy’s proposal, remaking that the “American people should know about the competing economic visions of the country that are at stake right now.” The Speaker said that he plans to schedule a vote in the House on his proposal sometime next week. In testimony this past January Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen said the government could only pay its bills up to June without increasing the debt ceiling. By Garry Boulard ![]() Plans are now underway for the creation in Phoenix of an advanced water purification facility that is expected to be operational within the next decade. As proposed, the facility will be a part of the existing 91st Avenue Wastewater Treatment Plant and will be designed to recycle wastewater into drinking water. Upon completion, the facility, in a city always thirsty for water, could serve up to 200,000 homes on an annual basis. In her State of the City address earlier this month, Mayor Kate Gallego remarked that by “augmenting our existing 91st Avenue regional facility with advanced investment technology, we will recycle around 60 million gallons per day upon completion.” In an interview with the Arizona Republic, Gallego also remarked: “It’s a new bucket for us. For a lot of my life, I’ve been thinking about where you get that next bucket from, so it’s exciting.” By design, what is expected to be a multibillion-dollar facility will filter wastewater that is already being processed and released into the Salt River. The technology, known as direct potable reuse, cleans water poured into the drain of a home before sending it back to be reused. Other growing Arizona cities, including Glendale, Mesa, Tempe, and Scottsdale have signaled an interest in contributing to the new facility and enjoying its services. Those cities comprise the Sub-Regional Operating Group which has an ownership stake in the 91st Avenue plant. Troy Hayes, director of water services for Phoenix, recently indicated to the publication Axios Phoenix that the new facility could eventually prove to be a “drought resistant” source of water. By Garry Boulard ![]() Voters in Albuquerque this fall will be tasked with deciding on a bond proposal that could provide funding for a large homeless shelter as well as a museum education center. The projects are among those that will be included in the $200 million bond just approved by members of the Albuquerque City Council. Exactly $5 million is slated to go for the Gibson Health Hub, a campus formerly known as the Gibson Medical Center. Two years ago, the campus, already home to medical, behavioral health, and vocational services, was acquired by the City of Albuquerque with plans to provide temporary shelter for those without homes. Two more $5 million projects: the North Domingo Baca swimming pool on the northeast side of the city at 7521 Carmel Avenue NE; and several flood control projects in southeast Albuquerque. Some $4 million will go for setting up the Unser Museum, which celebrates the careers of the race car driving Unser family, moving the facility from Rio Rancho to within the borders of Albuquerque. Continuing work on the Cibola Loop Multigenerational Center, located at the intersection of Cuba Road and Cibola Loop, is slated for $3 million in bond funding. Another $2.5 million will be dedicated to the building of an education center belonging to the Albuquerque Museum, which is located at 2000 Mountain Road NW. The bond will also provide a combined $9 million for various street and roadway improvement projects, as well as $2 million for sidewalk improvements in keeping with the Americans with Disabilities Act. By Garry Boulard ![]() The popular chain restaurant Chipotle Mexican Grill is expected to build and open as many as 270 new locations by mid-2024. The Newport Beach, California-based company has long embraced an aggressive expansion model, seeing its locations jump in numbers from around 500 in 2006 in number to just under 3,200 as of the end of last year. Now the company has a vigorous store building pipeline extending into the summer of next year. Chipotle, which was launched in the summer of 1993, is also embracing a new kind of design model emphasizing energy efficiency with such features as rooftop solar panels, heat pump water heaters, and improved kitchen exhaust hoods. According to a press release issued by Chipotle, new restaurants will utilize “100% renewable energy from wind power and solar through the purchase of certified renewable energy credits.” The sites for what the company calls its Responsible Restaurants will also include electric vehicle charging stations. According to plans, at least 100 new energy efficient locations are expected to be completed sometime in 2024. Two of the new energy efficient stores have opened in Virginia and Florida, with a third slated for completion in Castle Rock, Colorado sometime this summer. Last year Chipotle recorded revenue in excess of $8.6 billion, up from $3.2 billion a decade ago. By Garry Boulard ![]() The Phoenix-based Nikola Corporation is in the process of planning out construction of what is being called a hydrogen production hub. The manufacturer of fuel cell electric vehicles as well as heavy-duty commercial battery electric vehicles, Nikola, which was founded in Salt Lake City nearly a decade ago, first became a presence in metro Phoenix when it purchased nearly 400 acres of land in Coolidge, just to the southeast of Arizona’s biggest city. Earlier this year, the company announced that it was moving its battery manufacturing operations from a location in Cypress, California to Coolidge, in order to house its truck assembly, fuel cell power module assembly, and battery module and pack production all in one location. Now the company is engaged in a process to build new hydrogen facilities on nearly 1,000 acres on the south side of Buckeye, 90 miles to the northwest of the Coolidge site. The Buckeye facility will be devoted to the production of supply materials for the company’s hydrogen fuel cell fleet of semitrucks. Plans for the hydrogen hub, which will go up just to the west of Arizona State Route 85, have now been submitted to the City of Buckeye. By Garry Boulard ![]() A nearly 140-year-old school providing education for the hard of hearing as well as the deaf is on target to receive some $875,000 for campus-wide facility projects. Located near the Railyard District at 1060 Cerrillos Road in Santa Fe, the New Mexico School for the Deaf is the only land-grant school for the deaf in the country and sits on a 30-acre tree-lined campus. That campus is dotted with any number of historic residence and dining halls designed in the distinctive Santa Fe Pueblo architecture style. Several weeks ago, members of the New Mexico State Legislature approved a capital outlay of $875,000, which is coming out of the state’s general fund, for site improvements at the school. That appropriation has now won the approval of Governor Michelle Lujan Grisham. As officially designated, the $875,000 is to be spent between now and 2027, and must be used to “plan, design, renovate, and construct site improvements” at the school. Moreover, those improvements must be concerned with “safe campus access and emergency evacuation and egress.” The New Mexico School for the Deaf has an enrollment of around 150 students from kindergarten to 12th grade. Its campus includes residential cottages, a workout center, gyms, and football field. By Garry Boulard ![]() Despite public opinion polls showing the highest approval of labor unions nationally in nearly 60 years, a record 83% of construction workers do not belong to a union, according to a new analysis. Even more, notes the Associated Builders and Contractors study, roughly 90% of construction workers in 26 states are not union members. “Data continues to suggest that the vast majority of construction industry professionals freely choose not to join a union,” remarked Ben Brubeck, vice president for regulatory, labor, and state affairs ABC, in a statement. But the rate of construction worker unionization varies greatly from state to state, according to the ABC study, with roughly 30% of the workforce belonging to a union in Minnesota and Illinois, while the number dropped to around 25% in the Northern industrial states of Michigan, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, and Wisconsin. States in the West, including Arizona and New Mexico, saw some of the lowest construction worker union representation between 5% and 10%, while the statistics were well under 5% for Colorado, Texas, and Utah. Nationally, union membership is now at 10.1%, down from 10.3% in 2021, according to a Bureau of Labor Statistics report issued in January. That 10.1% is the lowest recorded figure in more than four decades. Organized labor has seen its greatest recent advances in the public sector arena, representing 33.1% of all workers, while membership in private sector jobs is now at a small 6%. These figures come in the wake of a Gallup opinion survey late last summer showing that 71% of respondents said they approved of labor unions. That figure is substantially up from the 48% who said the same thing in 2009. In fact, the 71% is the highest response rate on the question recorded by Gallup since 1965, when it also stood at 71%. By Garry Boulard ![]() An architecturally classic structure built in 1889 in downtown Fort Collins is on the market with an asking price of $5.8 million. Located at 115-121 East Mountain Avenue, the two-story Kissock Building measures just shy of 18,000 square feet and saw renovation work in 1985. Designated as a Class B building, the structure is listed on the National Register of Historic Places and is currently the home to an upscale clothing store and jewelry shop, among other tenants. In years past, the Kissock Building has housed a local chapter of the Independent Order of Oddfellows, a bank, an American Veterans club, and both a furniture and typewriter store. The property is being listed by the Commercial Real Estate Brokers, LLC, which has offices in Fort Collins. By Garry Boulard ![]() Just over 50 sound stages are planned for construction on a 320-acre site in southern Arizona. The project belongs to the Desert Studios company, which has said that it plans to invest up to $900 million to build the development in the city of Buckeye. The project, officially called the Desert Studios Complex, has largely been made possible as the result of a $125 million tax credit for film production passed last year by the Arizona State Legislature and signed into law by then-Governor Douglas Ducey. As designed, that tax credit is supposed to be equal to anywhere from 15% to 20% of a movie studio’s production expenses. The new law also stipulates that to qualify for the tax credit, production companies must be operating out of a sound stage measuring no less than 10,000 square feet. Desert Studios officials say the new sound stages will come in at around 40,000 square feet and will have the capability of being divided into two separate facilities of 20,000 square feet each depending upon the needs of a particular production. Additional facilities at the Buckeye site will include a catering and craft services building, as well as structures devoted to post-production and editing and equipment rental. The first phase construction of the studios project may launch in the latter part of this year. By Garry Boulard |
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