Demolition of Derby Bridge Postponed
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Building Trades Unions at Forefront of Opioid Crisis
The construction industry is disproportionately affected by the opioid epidemic, so local unions are becoming an instrumental part in helping members combat addiction problems, representatives from North America’s Building Trades Union said.
More than 115 people in the U.S. die every day after overdosing on opioids, according to the National Institute on Drug Abuse. For workers in the construction industry, the overdose rate is seven times that of the general population, Chris Cain, the director of safety and health for NABTU, said.
“We’re losing people at an alarming rate,” Kyle Zimmer, health and safety director for International Union of Operation Engineers Local 478 in Connecticut, said.
A year ago, NABTU established a task force of its member unions and select employers to address that very issue and to help members successfully recover from addiction, Cain said. Education about prevention and treatment, coupled with peer support programs, put in place by local building trades unions can be a way out of the crisis, Cain said.
Cain and other NABTU representatives spoke to local union leaders during NABTU’s legislative conference in Washington April 17.
Why So Prevalent in Construction?
The overdose rates among construction workers should be “an eye opener for everybody,” Cain said. Why is construction such a hotbed of addiction? It’s the culture, the nature of the work, and the work environment, she and Zimmer said.
The rate of excessive smoking and drinking in the industry is double that of other industries. There’s also a “stoic tough-guy culture” that permeates the building trades, Zimmer said. There’s a belief among those workers that “we can’t get hurt and we’re tough,” he said.
The injuries reported by members tell a different story. The work that members do wears on the body, Cain said. So injuries are often treated with lengthy prescriptions for painkillers when it’s not always necessary, making addiction nearly inevitable, she said.
How Should Unions Address Problem?
The NABTU task force has met twice so far and established a framework of prevention education to address member needs. The task force collected information from union and Building Trades Council representatives and determined that local union efforts can help shape NABTU’s approach to fighting substance abuse.
Many unions are already educating members on the prevalence of addiction and attempting to de-stigmatize the problem, Cain said. Others are going several steps further.
Workplace injuries are bound to happen in this industry, so local unions have started education initiatives that present pain management alternatives to opiates. That could include acupuncture and physical therapy, she said.
Some locals, like those of the International Brotherhood of Boilermakers, are even vetting rehab centers. That way, members are not tricked into entering a pricey treatment center that doesn’t offer adequate care, she said.
A few unions, including the International Association of Ironworkers, are even addressing income needs for members who enter rehab. Those facilities often require people to undergo inpatient treatment for weeks at a time. The idea of going without pay for that long is more than enough to dissuade a worker from entering a program, she said.
Kenneth Serviss, executive director of the Allied Trades Assistance Program in Philadelphia, has provided especially successful union-led addiction treatment programs, Cain said.
The Philadelphia Building Trades established the Allied Trades Assistance Program, a nonprofit organization, to contain costs and improve treatment services for substance abuse disorder, mental health concerns, and related issues for union members, retirees, and their dependents. Through this program, the group has received grant funding to develop an online course for union apprentices to learn about substance abuse in the workplace so they understand the signs and symptoms and know what support programs the union offers.
There is also a program for peer advocacy training, a critical part of the recovery process, Serviss said.
It’s incredibly difficult for someone in recovery to return to a work environment where drugs and drinking are part of the culture, he said. By having those peer advocates available, recovering addicts have someone to turn to.
“It’s hard to change people, places, and things when it’s your job,” he said.
Highway tolls heading for House vote
By Bill Cummings
HARTFORD - The state House is going to vote on a bill to bring tolls to Connecticut highways, but those tolls won’t show up anytime soon.
House Speaker Joe Aresimowicz, D-Berlin, said the bill will direct the state Department of Transportation to develop a tolling program and bring it back to the legislature for another vote.
"Our special transportation fund will be broken in a few years.," Aresimowicz said. "We are trying to come up with a comprehensive strategy. We will vote on a toll policy that will cover our costs."
But Aresimowicz insisted tolls won’t cost $20 for a trip from Hartford to New Haven, as some opponents have said, or involve a "toll every three feet." He promised the initiative will be clearly spelled out.
"We will vote on a proposal and make it clear what it will do, what it will cost and where it will be, and that it comes back to General Assembly for approval," Aresimowicz said. He did not indicate when that vote will occur.
State Sen. Toni Boucher, R-Wilton and co-chairwoman of the transportation committee, said the bill is still opposed by many in the Republican caucus.
“This latest proposal is trying to get a foot in the door so they can enact tolls in stages as a way to soften the public's adamant opposition,” Boucher said. “We are still planning to oppose this in the Senate.”
House Majority Leader Matt Ritter, D-Hartford, noted a second vote is "key" and stressed that tolls will return for a final vote even if the state has a "different legislature."
As for the number of gantries - overhead scanners that read license plates and trip passes - Aresimowicz said it won’t be the 72 some opponents have been talking about.
The 72 gantries comes from a report DOT commissioned several years ago to look at possible tolling options. Boucher noted the latest plan calls for 12 gantries on I-95 between Greenwich and New Haven.
House Speaker: new casino not happening
By Bill Cummings
HARTFORD — House Speaker Joe Aresimowicz on Wednesday said the chances are "zero" that a new casino will be built in Bridgeport or anywhere in Connecticut in the next five years without federal approval.
"The idea of an additional casino being built in Connecticut without Bureau of Indian Affairs approval is zero," Aresimowicz told reporters. "It is not going to happen. We need to move forward with a comprehensive plan of what gambling looks like."
The comments came a day after state Attorney General George Jepsen said, because the BIA has not published its approval for revisions to the state’s tribal compacts on the federal register, an East Windsor casino to be jointly built by the Mashantucket Pequot and Mohegan Indians is not formally approved, and it would be “imprudent” to proceed with the project.
Aresimowicz said a bill before the legislature to seek bids for an additional casino in Connecticut is not moving forward. MGM Grand has proposed building a casino in Bridgeport in addition to one now under construction in Springfield, Massachusetts.
"The reality is I was open to exploring the possibility, but MGM still has not put their cards on the table," Aresimowicz said. "They have some really glossy pictures [of a Bridgeport casino.]" MGM has its hands in multiple pots. If they want to put something in Bridgeport, they need to stop promising and participate in some kind of study."
Uri Clinton, Senior Vice President and Legal Counsel for MGM Resorts, said in a statement released Wednesday that the company agrees with Jepsen’s opinion and believes a Bridgeport casino is the best option for the state to buffer competition from its Springfield resort.
"We reassert our view that the fastest, most effective way to achieve those goals, and modernize the state’s decades-old gaming structure, is to move forward with a competitive process, which legislators from Bridgeport, New Haven and the region continue to advocate," Clinton said.
Clinton added "The competitive process bill was overwhelmingly approved by a legislative committee weeks ago, and it deserves a vote in the House and Senate before the legislature adjourns on May 9."
Plainville elementary school construction expected to start this summer
Ashley Kus
PLAINVILLE – Construction on Wheeler Elementary School is expected to start the day school gets out in June as part of a more than $20 million renovate-as-new project.
“We had a lengthy meeting with the Department of Administrative Services on April 6,” said Maureen Brummett, Superintendent of Plainville Schools, Wednesday. “During that meeting our plans continue to be approved and we are on the state priority list for reimbursement.”
The town is expecting a a 65 percent state reimbursement.
According to the monthly projects report for the town, $513,346 was spent last month on the school project. A balance of $22.8 million remains with over 2 percent of the project completed.
The town is expected to go out to bid soon.
The Department of Administrative Services qualified the school for renovate-as-new funding late last year due to the fact that the current size of the school exceeds space requirements for a new building.
The project was reduced by $705,000, less than $450 per square foot, in order to qualify.
The “oversized” status of the building was initially going to be waived, but the district was informed that the exemption would not be granted and that Wheeler would need more students.
Brummett is currently working on a plan to enroll additional students when the project is done.
The school reported an enrollment of approximately 300 students for the 2017-18 school year.
Last month testing was done on the building to prepare for construction. The capital building committee reported at its March meeting that “there were no surprises regarding the Haz/Mat testing.” Further reports also found no issues with the exterior of the building.
Wheeler School principal, Andrew Batchelder, spoke at a recent Board of Education plan about a phasing plan to allow classes to remain at the school during construction.
Batchelder was not immediately available for further comment.
Preschool classes will be relocated to Linden Street School for the next two years.
Renovate-as-new plans call for a security vestibule, new air conditioning units, a new entrance, expanded parking, and a new roof.
The last time significant work was done at Wheeler was in the 1990s with an addition to the building.
Following approval, Perkins Farm construction to begin this summer
By Joe Wojtas
Mystic — The day after the Stonington Planning and Zoning Commission approved the final permits needed for the first building in the Perkins Farm project on Jerry Browne Road, developer David Lattizori said Wednesday that work on the $20 million, 121-unit luxury apartment building will begin this summer and take about a year to complete.
The commission voted unanimously after a public hearing Tuesday night to approve the site plan and groundwater protection permit needed for the project. Since December 2015, Lattizori has secured approval from the commission for a zoning regulation amendment and a master plan for the entire project and more recently received a permit from the Stonington Inland Wetlands Commission for construction of the apartment building. Future phases of the $70 million project call for a medical and research campus, as well as town homes, located off Jerry Browne Road.
Lattizori said that while construction of the apartments takes place, he will be working on plans for the other phases of the project.
While past commercial and residential projects planned for the site over the past 25 years by Lattizori, and before that, his father, were met with strong opposition from residents, this one was not. On Tuesday, a lawyer for one neighbor expressed concern that water from the apartments would flow onto his property, but Lattizori’s engineer offered a detailed explanation to the commission about why the project’s design and drainage calculations show there would be no additional runoff onto the neighbor’s land.
Lattizori said the support from residents, including neighbors who live across the street in the StoneRidge retirement community, was the result of the outreach effort he had made before and during the approval process.
"During every step the public has had the opportunity to comment and their input has been incorporated into our design,” he said. “I met with all the neighbors and sat in countless living rooms and dining rooms so people could hear about the project from the horse’s mouth.”
This outreach resulted in the inclusion of meadows, mounds and open space across from StoneRidge to protect the rural character of the road and the view StoneRidge residents have of the property. Almost 50 percent of the project has been set aside as open space, as the buildings are located adjacent to Interstate 95.
First Selectmen Rob Simmons praised the commission’s approval of the final permits.
“The unanimous approval of the Perkins Farm site plan by the Stonington Planning and Zoning Commission represents a huge step forward for a project that has been in the works since 2015. By setting aside almost 50 percent of the project in open space, David Lattizori has protected the scenic vistas for StoneRidge residents and preserved the historic walls and character of Jerry Browne Road. This project is huge plus for the town,” he said.
Plans for the Harbor Heights apartments call for a four-story building in the northeast section of the property, adjacent to Interstate 95 and close to the intersection with Pequotsepos Road. A large, undeveloped area will buffer the apartments and a proposed group of townhouse condominiums from residential properties to the east.
The three-sided building partially will enclose a central courtyard containing a swimming pool and two pavilions and units will overlook a meadow and wooded area. Parking and one-story garage buildings will ring the complex.
Plans call for a fitness center, yoga studio, conference room, community room, two elevators, a business center and cafe, among other amenities. Lattizori likened the project to a luxury hotel.
He said units will rent for about $2,000 a month and would be geared toward professionals, empty nesters and millennials looking to live in Mystic. He said similar complexes in East Lyme and Old Saybrook are fully rented.
Connecticut utility regulators slash Eversource Energy’s distribution rate hike request
NEW BRITAIN — State utility regulators have cut an electric distribution rate increase Eversource Energy had sought by more than half.
Connecticut’s Public Utilities Regulatory Authority issued its final ruling on a distribution rate increase request that Eversource Energy filed in late November 2017. The Hartford-based utility originally had requested a rate increase that would have brought in $336.9 million in additional revenue over three years, but PURA’s commissioners ruled that the company should only get $127.7 million more. The average Eversource residential customer, who uses 700 kilowatt hours, will see their electric bill increase by about $5.40 per month, or 3.8 percent, during the first year. Rates will change slightly in years two and three to reflect phase-in increases of 0.78 percent and 0.73 percent, respectively.
Mitch Gross, an Eversource spokesman, said company officials “appreciate PURA’s thorough analysis of our rate review and feel the final decision is fair and reasonable, in the best interest of our customers and provides continued electric distribution system reliability.”
“We thank the Office of Consumer Counsel and PURA’s Prosecutorial Staff for their work on the settlement agreement, which allows us to expand investments in the system to strengthen the grid while providing safe and reliable service to our customers,” Gross said.PURA’s final decision in the case alters a Jan. 11 proposed settlement agreement that was reached between regulators, the utility and the Office of Consumer Counsel.
Elin Swanson Katz, the state’s consumer counsel, said that while any rate increase “is never good news,” the deep cuts made to Eversource’s original rate hike request “are as good a result as we could have hoped for.”
Rich Sobolewski, supervisor of utility financial analysis for the Office of Consumer Counsel, said there are a variety of reasons why the cuts to the amount that Eversource originally had requested was possible.
“There was some hiring that they had originally planned to do, but didn’t,” Sobolewski said of Eversource. “And the impact of the (federal) corporate tax change knocked off about $55 million from their original request.
Katz said the main cost driver behind the rate increase is $700 million worth of improvements Eversource has already made to its network that had been pre-approved by regulators.
Katz said another outcome of the settlement and PURA ruling is that new cost control measures have been put in place that in future rate cases will reimburse Eversource for authorized improvement to the utility’s network “rather then giving them the money up front in anticipation of the work being done.”
PURA Chairwoman Katie Dykes said in a statement that the final decision “sets revenue levels that are just and reasonable, and will allow Eversource to attract capital needed for infrastructure investment necessary to provide safe, adequate and reliable electric distribution service at reasonable rates for its 1.2 million Connecticut customers.”
“Eversource has committed to significant capital improvements to upgrade its distribution system and continue to modernize its systems, processes and workforce,” Dykes said.
Other major changes to the original proposal include reductions in depreciation expenses, income taxes, allowed return on equity, and operation and maintenance expenses.
Enviro group calls new $ 1 billion Walk Bridge plan waste of taxpayers’ money
HARTFORD — A group opposed to a $1 billion plan to rebuild the movable Walk Bridge over the Norwalk River — an aging relic that frequently delays Metro-North trains when it fails — are pressing lawmakers and the state to start over. "We want [the state] to rethink the costly and disruptive plan to build a massive lift bridge," said Fred Krupp, a member of Norwalk Harbor Keeper, during a lobbying effort Monday at the state Capitol."The oversized Walk Bridge is not necessary," Krupp said. "The state is doubling down on one of the most costly and unnecessary bridge projects in the country."
Other members of the group complained about the disruption the project means for nearby businesses, the state’s ongoing seizure of private property and the lack of traffic on the river to justify a movable bridge.
"We just put up my building," said Jason Minoff, who was informed two weeks ago the state is seizing the property his landscaping business occupies.
Asked if he can easily relocate, Minoff shook his head and said "there is no space in Norwalk."
Norwalk Harbor Keeper and other opponents in January asked a U.S. District Court to force the state and federal departments of transportation, and the Federal Transit Administration, to reconsider the bridge replacement plan.
The conservation group maintains the state and federal governments didn’t properly evaluate fixed-bridge alternatives and violated environmental assessment rules under the National Environmental Policy Act.
In particular, the group doesn’t accept the state’s claims about boat traffic in the upper-river — one reason given for replacing the existing bridge with a lift structure.
A fixed bridge could accommodate river traffic, require less property seizures, be built faster and cause less neighborhood disruption, Norwalk Harbor Keeper members said.
‘Boondoggle’
The Walk Bridge moves to allow river traffic to pass underneath, a federal requirement because the Norwalk River is designated as a federal navigable waterway.
But because of its age — it’s more than 120 years old — the bridge often becomes stuck, and that backs up the 200 Metro-North trains and 125,000 passengers that travel over it every day. The latest delay happened just last week.
The state Department of Transportation launched a $1 billion project to replace the bridge, and engineering is now well under way. DOT officials have repeatedly said the project is the only feasible option, in part because of federal waterway rules.
"On the surface, it may seem as if a new fixed bridge or rehabilitating the existing structure would generate the least cost, shortest duration effort resulting in minimal impacts to rail traffic," DOT said in a statement. "On the contrary, the manner in which this work would need to be implemented will negatively affect both cost and duration of the effort with an increased [burden] to the traveling public," DOT said. State DOT officials declined further comment, citing the ongoing lawsuit.
Krupp said the state DOT ignored the reality that hardly any boats use the river — one barge a week that supplies gravel to a cement plant — and failed to ask the U.S. Court Guard for a permit to build a fixed bridge. "If the actual navigational use of the Norwalk River were studied, it would demonstrate the commercial traffic has fallen to just a couple of users and there is no prospect of commercial traffic returning," Krupp said.Guy Smith, a Greenwich resident and Democratic candidate for governor, said the state is wasting money on the Walk Bridge project.
"Sadly, this more than $1 billion boondoggle is a clear example of why Connecticut has such severe transportation issues.” Smith said. “It’s not clear why the DOT has not sought less expensive alternatives."Bill Collins, a former Norwalk mayor, said there is no need for a movable bridge "We will have a bridge that goes up 60 feet with no boats," Collins said. "This will be difficult to explain."