David C. Dal ZinWATERBURY – The Waterbury Building Trades Council unanimously voted to cancel their annual Christmas luncheon and instead donate their $1,000 budget for the event to the Center for Human Development Hospitality Center in Waterbury.
The CHD Hospitality Center provides an array of services to help the city’s homeless, which includes a respite from cold weather, laundry, and showers. The Center also offers a number of in-kind services from local providers such as medical, legal, housing, employment, mental health, substance abuse, clothing, counseling, training, and more.
“This is an important service for Waterbury’s homeless population because it allows those without homes to have a place to go when they can’t be in a shelter,” said Nate Brown, President of the Waterbury Building Trades Council. “The Hospitality Center also provides those in need a chance at secure housing, job training, and more.”
The Waterbury Building Trades Council is made up of 16 local building trades unions in the greater Waterbury area and has approximately 3,500 members.
“Our Council decided that instead of hosting our annual Christmas luncheon, why not do something to help those in need in Waterbury,” said Brown. “Despite having relatively low unemployment, we know that there are still lots of people who are struggling. We hope that this donation can be at least a small part of making a difference in the lives of those who need it most.”
Newington residents hopeful committee acts on asphalt plant issues
Erica Drzewiecki
NEWINGTON – People living and working in the northeastern section of town are hoping a new committee and a new year will finally bring some peace to their neighborhood.
The town of Newington’s Balf Committee was recently renewed to oversee operations at Tilcon Connecticut’s Balf Co. Neighbors of the asphalt plant would like to see a decrease in noise, dust and blasting and have put their faith in committee members.
“It’s like fighting a windmill; we just keep going around and around again,” said Alex Kosovskiy, owner of Lada Motors at 426 Hartford Ave., right around the corner from Balf.
The Town Council just passed a resolution setting defined terms for existing committee members, and is expected to fill three vacant spots in the next few months. They also plan to meet more frequently next year.
“I think this has been a long time coming,” Mayor Roy Zartarian pointed out. “I’m glad to see we’re acting on this.”
Councilors Chris Miner and Gail Budrejko will continue to serve on the committee at least until their Council terms are up in November 2019
“Prior to my time on the committee it met once a year,” Budrejko said. “This year business owner concerns generated a special meeting over the summer.”
The committee met again for its regular meeting in October. Members decided to begin keeping a laundry list of complaints, to be circulated between all parties involved.
“The main thing is to get the communication better coordinated,” Budrejko explained.
Kosovskiy claims blasting has caused cracks in his building and vehicles in his lot get coated with a layer of gray dust when the plant is in full operation, usually spring through fall.
Since opening 11 years ago, he has brought his grievances to town and state officials, from the Central CT Health District to the Department of Energy and Environmental Protection, even Newington Fire Marshal Chris Schroeder.
Balf Co. leaders say they have invested at least half-a-million dollars in new equipment to address issues cited by different people over the years. Procedures to mitigate dust production have also been implemented.
Kosovskiy has attended committee meetings along with Frank and John Capalbo, owners of C&C Motors next door.
The Capalbos emigrated to the U.S. from Italy before opening their auto shop at 416 Hartford Ave. 42 years ago. Their issues with Balf have been going on for decades.
“It’s not getting any better,” John said. “If they cannot control an operation maybe they should shut down.”
All three mechanics have suggested the plant be moved to the parent company’s New Britain site, out of the vicinity of a residential neighborhood. A supplier of concrete, asphalt and stone and leader in bridge and road construction, Tilcon CT owns and operates 23 locations around the state.
Newington resident Mary Udice was just re-appointed as an alternate to the Balf Committee. At the October meeting, she shared her latest experience living close by the plant.
“There was a recent blast that really shook the house,” Udice reported. “Normally I don’t feel them. When we first moved in back in 1992, I felt a lot more from the blasting.”
Committee meetings have yet to be scheduled for 2019.
Half of Norwalk’s small bridges rated bridges subpar“It’s like fighting a windmill; we just keep going around and around again,” said Alex Kosovskiy, owner of Lada Motors at 426 Hartford Ave., right around the corner from Balf.
The Town Council just passed a resolution setting defined terms for existing committee members, and is expected to fill three vacant spots in the next few months. They also plan to meet more frequently next year.
“I think this has been a long time coming,” Mayor Roy Zartarian pointed out. “I’m glad to see we’re acting on this.”
Councilors Chris Miner and Gail Budrejko will continue to serve on the committee at least until their Council terms are up in November 2019
“Prior to my time on the committee it met once a year,” Budrejko said. “This year business owner concerns generated a special meeting over the summer.”
The committee met again for its regular meeting in October. Members decided to begin keeping a laundry list of complaints, to be circulated between all parties involved.
“The main thing is to get the communication better coordinated,” Budrejko explained.
Kosovskiy claims blasting has caused cracks in his building and vehicles in his lot get coated with a layer of gray dust when the plant is in full operation, usually spring through fall.
Since opening 11 years ago, he has brought his grievances to town and state officials, from the Central CT Health District to the Department of Energy and Environmental Protection, even Newington Fire Marshal Chris Schroeder.
Balf Co. leaders say they have invested at least half-a-million dollars in new equipment to address issues cited by different people over the years. Procedures to mitigate dust production have also been implemented.
Kosovskiy has attended committee meetings along with Frank and John Capalbo, owners of C&C Motors next door.
The Capalbos emigrated to the U.S. from Italy before opening their auto shop at 416 Hartford Ave. 42 years ago. Their issues with Balf have been going on for decades.
“It’s not getting any better,” John said. “If they cannot control an operation maybe they should shut down.”
All three mechanics have suggested the plant be moved to the parent company’s New Britain site, out of the vicinity of a residential neighborhood. A supplier of concrete, asphalt and stone and leader in bridge and road construction, Tilcon CT owns and operates 23 locations around the state.
Newington resident Mary Udice was just re-appointed as an alternate to the Balf Committee. At the October meeting, she shared her latest experience living close by the plant.
“There was a recent blast that really shook the house,” Udice reported. “Normally I don’t feel them. When we first moved in back in 1992, I felt a lot more from the blasting.”
Committee meetings have yet to be scheduled for 2019.
Robert Koch
NORWALK — The Norwalk Department of Public Works is ramping up its attention toward the city’s smallest bridges.
The Norwalk Common Council this month approved the department’s request to hire Freeman Companies, a land development, engineering design and construction services firm with offices in Hartford, to inspect, evaluate and put forward recommendations for 26 local bridges measuring 20 feet or less in length. The cost of the work is not to exceed $251,200.
“They’re still critical to the city’s infrastructure as far as mobility, safety,” said Lisa Burns, principal engineer at the Public Works Department. “They carry the same concerns, big or small
Rated as “Fair or Worse” in Norwalk were the following small bridges: Park Street over Betts Brook Pond, Rowayton Avenue over Keelers Brook, West Cedar Street over Keelers Brook, Primrose Court over Keelers Brook, Grist Mill Road over stream, Wall Street over Betts Pond Brook, Brookhill Lane over Woods Pond Brook, Wilson Avenue over stream, Scribner Avenue over Keelers Brook, Bonnybrook Road over Holy Ghost Fathers Brook, Bonnybrook Trail over Holy Ghost Fathers Brook, Geneva Road over street, and Comstock Hill Avenue over Hams Pond Brook, according to the letterPaul L. Sotnik, senior civil engineer at the Norwalk Department of Public Works, said the letter stems from a 2016 “high-level field screening” of the bridges.
“It’s not much detail in 2016,” Sotnik said. “The previous screening that they had done with high-level detail was 1991 so what we ended up doing is when we received the letter and notifications, we said we need to put out an RFQ (Request for Qualifications) to do that inspection.”The bridges in question span streams, culverts and box culverts in some cases. Asked if they are in danger of failing, he said, “Probably not, but we want to make sure we’ve got them inspected and that’s why we’re doing this.”
Ten engineering firms responded to the city’s request. Freeman Companies was among three firms short-listed by a review panel to receive the contract.Under Tuesday’s approval, Freeman Companies will, among other things, inspect and evaluate the structures of all 26 bridges measuring 20 feet or less in length, perform material testing, scour analysis and scour mitigation, and hold a public information meeting with its findings and recommendations.
Sotnik anticipates the company will start work early next year and issues its report no later than April.Finding money outside the city’s budget to pay for any repairs recommended in the report is another matter.“We’d have to check and see if there’s anything out there,” said Sotnik regarding potential state and federal funds. “Right now, we’re not necessarily sure of anything, but we will try and look for any kind of funding that we can get to obviously reduce the cost to the taxpayers in Norwalk.”DOT spokesman Kevin J. Nursick said the department inspects state- and town-owned bridges measuring more than 20 feet in length.“Town-owned bridges under 20 feet are town responsibility, and always have been,” Nursick wrote in an email Friday. “We have had programs in the past to ‘screen’ the aforementioned (and shared our findings with the towns) to get a better grasp of what unaccounted for structures and their conditions are out there, but we have never had the primary, accountable responsibility of inspecting their (town-owned) under-20 (foot) bridges.”
The bridge evaluation comes as the DOT prepares to replace the Walk Bridge over the Norwalk River and several other rail bridges at an estimated cost of $1.2 billion.
Blue-collar worker shortage turns U.S. labor market on its head
Rich Miller, Bloomberg
A surprise shortage of blue-collar workers is changing the contours of the U.S. labor market, boosting their pay, narrowing wage inequality and drawing more women into those jobs.
The shortfall is being driven by a shrinking supply of manual and low-pay service workers as the labor force becomes more educated and less willing to take on such jobs, according to a new Conference Board study.
"The divergence between blue-collar and white-collar supply is going to persist and even become bigger through 2030," Gad Levanon, chief economist for North America at the New York-based research group and one of the authors of the report, said in an interview.
That is likely to keep upward pressure on labor costs in such industries as construction, transportation and accommodation and food services. It also has implications for inflation and for the Federal Reserve as Chairman Jerome Powell and his colleagues try to sustain the 9-[1/2]-year-old expansion without overheating the economy. Unemployment at 3.7 percent is the lowest since 1969 and running well below Fed estimates for its long-run sustainable rate.
"The acute shortage of talent in the blue collar space is very, very pronounced," said Peter Quigley, executive vice president at Kelly Services Inc., a staffing company with branches in all 50 states.
Manufacturers and other companies with physically demanding jobs are finding it tough to fill those positions when baby boomers retire. "It's harder and harder to attract younger people into those jobs, either because they're pursuing education alternatives or the stigma associated with light industrial work," Quigley said.
The supply of lower-skilled workers is also being squeezed by growth in the number of Americans who've claimed disability benefits and dropped out of the labor force. Exacerbated by the opioid epidemic, that's much more concentrated in the population without a bachelor's degree, the Conference Board report says.
Tighter restrictions on immigration are also playing a role and will continue to do so in the future, said Moody's Analytics's Chief Economist Mark Zandi. Many of those foreign workers are lower-skilled and in industries such as construction and farming.
Automation and off-shoring were widely expected to devastate demand for industrial workers and depress their pay, especially when compared with their more educated counterparts. But that hasn't happened, at least so far, according to the Conference Board: Blue collar and low-pay services jobs have grown as rapidly as total employment since the economy began recovering in June 2009.
For much of this expansion, manufacturers and other companies have been slow to ramp up capital spending and step up automation, opting instead to take on more workers to meet rising demand for their products and services.
That's been reflected in the slow growth of productivity: Output per hour worked has risen at an annual average rate of 1.2 percent since the recession ended in June 2009, well below the 2.2 percent post World War II pace.
Companies may also be approaching the limits of how much of their operations they're willing or able to outsource. "We're probably in the third and maybe fourth cycle of outsourcing," Quigley said. "Most of the large companies, if they were going to outsource, they've already done it."
The combination of surprisingly robust demand for blue-collar workers and their limited supply is forcing companies to increase pay at the bottom end of the scale. Minimum wage increases have also helped those less well-off.
That's helping to reverse the decades-long trend toward greater wage inequality, according to Levanon, who co-wrote the report with economist Frank Steemers.
Besides granting bigger wage increases, companies are getting creative in offering other perks to employees, including more breaks, re-jigged work schedules and greater flexibility for working parents, Quigley said.
The improved packages look to be attracting more women into blue collar jobs. "It helps remove some of the inhibitions or reluctance" some women may have in taking those positions, Levanon said.
The increase in female participation is particularly evident in the transportation sector, where demand for workers has taken off because of the growth of online shopping. "It's probably ground zero for labor shortages," Levanon said.
"Lower income workers are doing better," Moody's Zandi said. "The balance of power has shifted from employers to employees."
Redeker oversees completion of long-awaited Hartford Line
Sean Teehan
For Department of Transportation Commissioner James Redeker, 2018 marked the culmination of a nearly decade-long effort to reestablish rail service between Hartford and Springfield, Mass.
"The Hartford Line, I helped write the grant in 2009," Redeker recalled. "To see it open in 2018 — and … we've exceeded our ridership forecast for the first year in just the first couple of months, it's another extraordinary success story."
DOT ridership data seems to show pent-up demand for rail service since the $769 million CTrail Hartford Line began shuttling passengers in mid-June. Between June and October, rail ridership in the state increased from just over 100,000 passengers in 2017 to well over 220,000 in 2018, according to the state DOT. That's not including at least 10,000 CTrail ticket holders who had to ride Amtrak shuttle busses in September and October, due to over demand.
In addition to healthy ridership, Redeker said he thinks the Hartford Line will continue to spark transit-oriented development, pointing to housing projects in places like Meridan as demonstrative of transportation's importance to economic growth.
"If you're going to fix the economy, you're going to have to improve rail service, improve bus service, and you're going to have to get rid of congestion on highways," Redeker said. "Before the Hartford Line opened, we documented $400 million of transit-oriented development projects in that corridor, and that's before it opened."
There were challenges in 2018. Early in the year, Gov. Dannel P. Malloy put on hold more than 400 DOT projects worth close to $4.25 billion, citing revenue shortfalls in the state's Special Transportation Fund. The halt ended at the end of the legislative session, when lawmakers transferred tax revenue funds for transportation use in fiscal 2019.
That action stabilized the transportation fund for the next few years, but it's unclear what will happen after that.
What did become clear toward the end of 2018 is voter support of transportation funding. The state electorate in November approved a "lockbox" measure that requires all money in the transportation fund to be spent on transportation-related uses.
The DOT also proposed to increase spending on infrastructure projects in a five-year, $12.1 billion capital spending plan released in November. The plan, which basically serves as a DOT wishlist, would be a steep increase over what was actually spent during the previous half-decade — about $7.7 billion.
Redeker said completing the projects necessary to improve highways and bridges would require a spending increase of about 50 percent. He identified tolls as one possible revenue generator.
DOT officials in November released a tolling study conducted by engineering consultants CDM Smith that said installing 82 toll gantries across the state could generate $1 billion in annual revenue.
Going into 2019, Redeker, whose future as DOT commissioner under Gov.-elect Ned Lamont remains uncertain, said he hopes to continue progress on highway and bridge projects with the intent of spurring economic growth.
"It's a long-term strategy," Redeker said. "You've got to spend money to get money."