PSEG announces apprenticeship initiative in Bridgeport
BRIDGEPORT — Jack Banta listened for several minutes Wednesday as executives with PSEG, the company building a gas-fired power plant on the harbor, announced a new on-site construction union apprenticeship initiative.
“All of that’s me,” Banta, a city councilman, said when it was his turn to speak. Banta, who works for Metro North, is a 30-year member of the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers. His career started with an apprenticeship.
“It’s given me a chance to have a good quality of life,” Banta said.
Dubbed PSEG Ready2Work, funded with $500,000 from the company and managed and run by The Workplace and Building Pathways CT, the apprenticeship program unveiled Wednesday resulted from a deal the city and PSEG brokered in 2015 and early 2016.
That pact — a “community environmental benefit agreement” — required PSEG’s controversial coal-fired plant to cease commercial operations by July 1, 2021. But in order to gain local support for the gas-run replacement, PSEG agreed to other conditions. One of those was working with area trades unions “to include Bridgeport residents in apprenticeship programs ... for general employment in the building trades for the duration of the construction of the project.”
There are 50 openings. The training will begin in January and last 14 months. Prospective applicants can learn more online at BridgeportHarborStation.com/Ready2Work or by calling The Workplace at 203-610-8500.
“The ability to prepare individuals — Bridgeport residents, local residents — for the type of job opportunities on this site ... is significant and basic to moving a community forward,” Mayor Joe Ganim told the other elected officials, community leaders and laborers assembled on PSEG’s Atlantic Street property Wednesday.
The benefit agreement was initiated by Mayor Bill Finch and finalized in late February 2016 by Ganim’s administration.
Ganim’s choice of words Wednesday — referring to “the type of job opportunities” at the gas plant, rather than actual jobs there — was worth noting. In September several religious leaders held a press conference at Shiloh Baptist Church, across from the coal plant, to assail PSEG for broken promises to provide apprenticeships that would lead to jobs building the gas-fired facility.
And, the pastors had claimed, PSEG had promised 100 to 125 apprenticeships, not 50, though the community environmental benefit agreement did not contain specific numbers. The pastors had already been signing eager applicants up. CLICK TITLE TO CONTINUE
Meriden to replace bridge on Center Street
MERIDEN – The city will be closing a section of Center Street in 2019 to replace a 146-year-old bridge running over Harbor Brook as part of the city’s ongoing flood control measures.
”It’s just one step closer to finishing that project which is so key and vital to all of the activities going on downtown,” said Public Works Director Bob Bass.
The $3.9 million project is expected to begin in 2019 with construction estimated to take nine months. Leftover funds from previous bridge replacements will partially offset the project’s cost, along with some funds from the state, Bass said.
The small arch-shaped bridge is located on Center Street between Park and Pratt streets. The bridge was constructed in 1871 and is structurally deficient, according to Kevin Nursick, spokesman for the state Department of Transportation. Trees and other vegetation can be seen growing through the bridge’s retaining walls.
“The bridge is functionally obsolete due the fact that it is hydraulically inadequate,” Nursick said.
Flooding issues associated with Harbor Brook date back to 1869, Nursick said, and continue to pose a physical and economic impediment for the city.
“One of the main causes for this flooding is the number of restrictions caused by the many existing bridge crossings along Harbor Brook,” Nursick said. “The Center Street Bridge is one of those restrictions and this project is a small part of the overall flood control project.”
The city hired WMC Consulting Engineering to complete design work on the project.
The project would not significantly alter the alignment of the road. Plans call for two precast concrete box culverts to be installed at the site along with the reconstruction of portions of the bridge’s wingwalls.
“”We will be using the architectural stone treatment on it so it looks like stone similar to what’s inside the Meriden Green,” Bass said.
Existing drainage systems would also get improvements. Utilities will be temporarily relocated during construction and reinstalled permanently once work is complete.
Center Street will be closed between Park and Pratt streets during construction with detours set up.
City Manager Guy Scaife called the project “pretty straightforward.”
“It’s a must do because it’s part of that flood control multi-phase project that we’re doing all along Harbor Brook,” Scaife said. “The existing culvert will not handle the capacity so it’s got to get changed out.”
Eversource 3Q profits down 2%
Utility Eversource Energy said Thursday its third quarter profits declined 1.9 percent, attributed in part to milder summer temperatures.
In the quarter ended Sept. 30, the utility, which has a joint Hartford-Boston headquarters, reported earnings of $260.4 million, or 82 cents per share, compared to $265.3 million, or 83 cents per share, in the third quarter of 2016.
Revenues also declined in the third quarter to $1.9 billion from $2 billion in the year-ago period.
"Mild weather reduced both first quarter and third quarter energy use in New England this year," eversource Chairman Jim Judge said. "But while weather patterns are transitory, our commitment on behalf of our customers is not."
In a conference call with investors, CFO Phil Lembo also noted that Eversource's recent acquisition of Aquarion, for which approval was granted in Connecticut, is still pending in Massachusetts and expected to close at year's end.
Lembo said the acquisition helps make Eversource an "attractive business risk."
Lembo also said most Connecticut customers have had power restored following the recent rain storm in the Northeast, with about 1.3 million households losing power across the region.
The company also is seeking a rate hike in Connecticut, for which a decision is expected in the spring.
Judge noted progress on Eversource Energy's Northern Pass Transmission project in recent months, including the receipt of a favorable final environmental impact statement from the U.S. Department of Energy. He said the company will continue to make "an exceptionally strong case" for the project, which has the capacity to lower energy costs and carbon emissions. CLICK TITLE TO CONTINUE
Three Developers Make A Pitch For Hartford's Dillon Stadium
After two false starts, city and state leaders are churning along with a plan to rehabilitate Hartford’s Dillon Stadium, hearing from three developers Wednesday that want to rebuild or renovate the out-of-date facility.
Under a plan by Woodbridge businessman Bruce Mandell, the city or state would pay to upgrade the stadium at a cost of $10.7 million. Mandell and his organization, Hartford Sports Group, said they would bring a professional team that is part of the United Soccer League to Hartford. Mandell’s as-yet-unnamed team would draw 100,000 fans per year, according to his proposal, and the project would spur 40 to 50 full-time jobs. The 53-year-old, who owns Newington-based Data-Mail, suggested a 6,000-seat stadium with new locker rooms, restrooms, press box, and concession stands, as well as refurbished bleachers and artificial turf.
Hartford Sports Group would pay the city $125,000 a year in rent, making it the primary tenant, but the stadium would be available for community use.
The group would also put up $7.5 million to $10 million to cover operating costs for the team, and for branding and marketing efforts, Mandell said.
The soccer team would play 34 regular season games, including 17 home matches at Dillon.
“We love what we’re seeing in Hartford today, and our vision is to accelerate Hartford’s transformation,” Mandell told members of the Capital Region Development Authority at a meeting downtown Wednesday.
In an interview with The Courant, he said he hatched a plan to redevelop the stadium after the most recent proposal collapsed in 2015.
That year, after stories in The Courant revealed developer James Duckett’s criminal background and questionable spending on the Dillon project, the city cut ties with Duckett and his partner, Mitchell Anderson. CLICK TITLE TO CONTINUE