Boughton readies $62M high school expansion plan for City Council
DANBURY -- An ambitious $62 million expansion plan for Danbury High School, featuring construction of a new wing to house a freshman academy, could come to a public vote in June.
Mayor Mark Boughton and schools Superintendent Sal Pascarella want to schedule the referendum in time to qualify for the 62 percent reimbursement rate available from the state Department of Education.
"Having a referendum in a non-election year can be (challenging), so we will have to get people out to vote," Boughton told the Editorial Board of the News-Times on Monday. "I think parents will be receptive."
Boughton announced expansion plans for Connecticut's largest high school during his recent State of the City address as a response to projections that the high school population will grow to 3,300 students by 2020.
The plans are still fluid, and changed in just the last week to include construction of a free-standing building on the high school campus to house the alternative education program known as the Academic Center for Excellence, or ACE, which would be moved from its outdated home on Locust Avenue.
Pascarella said moving the ACE program to a new building on the high school campus follows the same philosophy as building a new wing to house the freshman academy: Students in the ACE program thrive in smaller settings and freshmen making adjustments to high school life do better when segregated from the general school population. CLICK TITLE TO CONTINUE
OSHA slates key crane safety meeting
The Occupational Safety and Health Administration will hold a special meeting of the Advisory Committee on Construction Safety and Health March 31-April 1, 2015, in Washington, D.C. The meeting will consider a draft proposal to revise OSHA’s crane operator qualification requirement in the Cranes and Derricks in Construction standard.
The tentative agenda also includes remarks from Dr. David Michaels, assistant secretary of labor for occupational safety and health, OSHA’s presentation of the draft proposed standard, public comments to ACCSH, and the committee’s recommendation on the proposed rule. A draft of the proposed regulatory text and a summary of site visits are available on ACCSH’s Web page and in the ACCSH Meeting Docket, No. OSHA-2015-0002.
The committee will meet 9 a.m. to 5 p.m., Tuesday, March 31 and 9 a.m. to 1 p.m., Wednesday, April 1 in Room N-4437 A-D, U.S. Department of Labor, 200 Constitution Ave., N.W., Washington, DC 20210. The meetings are open to the public.
Comments and requests to speak may be submitted electronically at http://www.regulations.gov, the Federal e-Rulemaking Portal, by mail or facsimile. See the Federal Register notice for details. The public will have the opportunity to comment from 10:30 a.m. to 5 p.m. on March 31. Comments and requests must be submitted by March 20, 2015. CLICK TITLE TO CONTINUE
Construction spending rises in January
Construction spending rose modestly in January from year-earlier levels despite retreating from a six-year high in December, according to an analysis by the Associated General Contractors of America. Association officials cautioned, however, that those spending gains could be at risk if Congress and the Obama administration fail to address highway funding shortfalls that once again threaten a new road repair season.
"Construction continues to expand overall but with a lot of variability by month and segment," said Ken Simonson, the association's chief economist. "The generally positive trends are obscured by an unreliable estimate for residential improvements which purportedly shows a huge downturn that is inconsistent with other data."
Construction spending in January totaled $971 billion at a seasonally adjusted annual rate, 1.1 percent lower than in December but 1.8 percent higher than in January 2014, Simonson noted. The divergent totals were reflected as well in major segments. Private residential spending in January climbed 0.6 percent from December but slipped 3.4 percent from a year earlier, while private nonresidential spending slid 1.6 percent for the month but rose 4.8 percent year-over-year. Public construction spending decreased 2.6 percent from December and increased 5.1 percent from January 2014.
"The picture would look much better if not for an estimated 30 percent plunge in residential improvements over the past year," Simonson added. CLICK TITLE TO CONTINUE
Malloy focuses on transportation
WATERTOWN -- Gov. Dannel P. Malloy looked to build momentum behind his 30-year, $100 billion transportation plan in a speech to a business dinner Monday night.
Malloy told members of the Waterbury Regional Chamber that Connecticut's economic future rides on overhauling how people and goods move through this small, crowded state.
"There is nothing holding us back as much as transportation, and there is no darker cloud on our future than transportation, and it needs to be addressed," he said.
Malloy had no new announcements to make in his remarks at the chamber's annual legislative dinner, but he continued to highlight aspects of his transportation plan and restate arguments that he has been making since its unveiling two weeks ago.
One of the projects that Malloy singled out is the replacement of the Mixmaster, the interchange of Interstate 84 and Route 8 in Waterbury.
"Probably the first or second most notorious interchange in all of New England, and one that to this day frightens me when I get on one entrance and you have to get over the other side if you're going to catch the road you want to," he said.
"Who ever thought of that? If any of you work for that engineer, you don't want to admit it. That whole system is going to have to be replaced relatively soon," Malloy continued.
The Mixmaster project will consist of reconfiguring the geometry of the Route 8 and Interstate 84 interchange, notorious for its cumbersome left-lane entrance and exit ramps.
He also spoke of the plans to widen I-84 in Waterbury and Danbury.
The first five-year phase of his transportation plan includes $70 million to fund a new signal system for the Metro-North branch line between Waterbury and Bridgeport. Malloy said this is a step toward increasing commuter service on the Waterbury line.
"We should be running as many trains as we possibly can. Let's get as many cars off the strained highway system as we possibly can," he said.
Malloy has not proposed a way to pay for his transportation plan, other than the initial five-year, $2.8 billion phase."Now, you don't have to agree with everything we have put out in the plan, but at least we put a plan out, and, yes, we need to eventually talk about how to fund it, but let's make sure we're actually committed to get it right," Malloy said.
Republicans in the legislature have faulted the governor, a Democrat, for failing to recommend how to pay for the projects and investments that his transportation plan proposes.
Malloy and Democrats have criticized Republicans for proposing a transportation plan that did not recommend a single project.The House and Senate Republicans presented a 30-year, $37.5 billion transportation plan that does not reintroduce tolls or raise taxes to pay for infrastructure improvements.Republicans propose to use state bonds to provide a funding stream of $1 billion a year for road, bridge, rail, bus and port improvements for 30 years.Malloy once again cited an independent estimate that the economy is losing $4.2 billion in time, money and productivity because of its congested roadways and outdated rail system."We will not win competition with other states if we don't invest in transportation. I can say that because we are not winning those competitions in many cases because of the state of our transportation system," he said.Malloy also used his speech to the Waterbury Regional Chamber to highlight his so-called Second Chance Society initiatives, a package of criminal justice reforms targeted at nonviolent offenders.