January 26, 2016

CT Construction Digest January 26, 2016

Roads and Bridges Need $1 Trillion. It Is Time to Rebuild the US

Our infrastructure is collapsing, and the American people know it. The Interstate 75 bridge collapse in Cincinnati on Monday is only the latest example. Every day, motorists across the United States drive over bridges that are in disrepair and on roads with unforgiving potholes. They take railroad and subway trains that arrive late and are overcrowded. They see airports bursting at the seams. They worry that a local levee could fail in a storm.
For many years we have underfunded the maintenance of our nation’s physical infrastructure. That has to change. It is time to rebuild America. I will soon be introducing legislation for a $1 trillion investment, over five years, to modernize our country’s physical infrastructure. This bill will not just rebuild our country but it will create and maintain 13 million good-paying jobs that our economy desperately needs.
For most of our history, the United States proudly led the world in building innovative infrastructure, from a network of canals, to the transcontinental railroad, to the interstate highway system. We launched an ambitious rural electrification program, massive flood control projects and more.
These innovations grew our economy, gave our businesses a competitive advantage, provided our workers a decent standard of living and were the envy of the world. Sadly, that is no longer the case. The World Economic Forum’s Global Competitiveness Report for 2015 ranks the U.S.’s overall infrastructure at 12th in the world. CLICK TITLE TO CONTINUE

Opponents Urge Bloomfield Town Council To Reverse Decision On Water Bottling Plant

LOOMFIELD — About 100 protesters who turned out for a second time this month in Bloomfield to urge the town council to reverse course on granting a tax abatement to a planned water bottling facility were disappointed by the response.
Mayor Joan Gamble, reading from an opinion crafted by Town Attorney Marc Needelman on Monday, told the opponents of the plant that the town's signed tax abatement agreement with California-based Niagara Bottling company is legally binding.
Needelman also told the council in his written opinion that any efforts to vote again on the proposal, which the council approved unanimously in December, would be out of order because a vote to reconsider would have needed to have been taken the same day as the original vote.
Gamble's assertion that the town was bound by a legal document did not deter the crowd from voicing their reasons for not wanting the plant in town. About two dozen of them spoke, sang, promised legal action and offered frequent flyer miles if the town council would reconsider its decision. "If the council goes ahead without pausing, we are all losers," resident Guthrie Sayen said.
Niagara plans to build a 443,000-square-foot bottling facility on Woodland Avenue. The $73-million plant will open with one bottling line capable of using up to 450,000 gallons of water a day. CLICK TITLE TO CONTINUE

State added 22,600 jobs in 2015 

Connecticut added 22,600 new jobs to the labor market last year marking the third greatest gain since 1998 when employers added 32,900 positions. Though fewer jobs were created in 2015 than 2014 when 25,100 hit the market, a report issued by the state Department of Labor on Monday shows continued private sector growth for the sixth straight year. A full analysis of the labor market will be available in March. Preliminary figures show nonfarm jobs grew at an average rate of 1,883 each month in 2015. The public sector lost 400 jobs in the same period. "It's certainly not a spectacular report, but it is a positive report," said Peter M. Gioia, vice president and economist of the Connecticut Business & Industry Association. According to the report, Connecticut has recovered 106,700 positions, or 89.7 percent, of the 119,000 seasonally adjusted nonfarm jobs lost during the March 2008 to February 2011 employment recession. The largest loss came in 2009 when 66,300 jobs left the market. Since November, the state's preliminary nonfarm employment increased by 300 jobs to 1,700,700 positions, seasonally adjusted, the Labor Situation report stated. November's preliminary increase of 5,100 grew by 700 jobs, the agency's monthly report stated. The unemployment rate — which counts those who are actively seeking work in the month— increased to 5.2 percent in December from 5.1 percent, marking the first increase since February 2015 when it was 6.4 percent, the Labor Department report stated. Despite the higher unemployment rate, Gov. Dannel P. Malloy said the latest figures indicate the state economy is continuing to improve.
"I don't have a lot to say other than it is steady as it goes," Malloy said. "We continue to add jobs. "
In addition to reporting 300 jobs added in December, the labor department revised the jobs gains for November upward from 5,100 to 5,800. CLICK TITLE TO CONTINUE