Landscape Architect Articles

LCN December 2005 LLL01-04-06 | News

Governor Vetoes California?EUR??,,????'???s Mega Water Bill

California governor Arnold Schwarzenegger

California Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger has vetoed Senate Bill 820, known as the Mega Water Bill. The bill would have mandated programs to monitor water use, encourage conservation and develop farm water management plans. The measure was opposed by property owners and many business groups because of the burden created by its reporting requirements. A key component of the bill was to measure all groundwater extraction.

Source: Irrigation Association

Thomas Keenan wrote in with a comment on: ?EUR??,,????'??Governor Vetoes California?EUR??,,????'???s Mega Water Bill?EUR??,,????'?? on 10/31/05:

Time and again industry has proven itself incapable of self-monitoring and regulation.

It is a known fact that the U.S. has NO long-term plan for water conservation, monitoring or for the almost guaranteed critical shortages to come. It?EUR??,,????'???s no surprise that government ?EUR??,,????'??leaders?EUR??,,????'?? accept mega dollars from the interests that want no regulations or monitoring. Profits reign over logic and the common good, or so it now seems in the current atmosphere of gain and greed. It?EUR??,,????'???s no surprise that Schwarzenegger sides with corporate power, any more than the pirates walking the halls of D.C.

If you want to see examples of our future at the hands of corporate pirates, you have to look no farther than points south, across the border in Central and South America, to see what whole communities face when it comes to food, medicine and water, and the prices that are forced on people for these essential commodities.

We had better wake up and walk straight because soon Americans may be paying gasoline-like rates for the water we all take for granted.
Thomas Keenan
Grass Roots Landscape
Coeur d?EUR??,,????'???Alene, Ida.

Work Abounds in Gulf, Housing Doesn?EUR??,,????'???t

A video still from KBTV 4 in Texas shows a home with a tree propped against it as homeowners waited for scarce tree trimmers to show up.

Waiting lists for home repair and tree removal have stretched more than two-weeks long in Southeast Texas in Hurricane Rita?EUR??,,????'???s aftermath.

Officials told television station KBTV 4 that contractors were scarce and they told homeowners to get onto a list as soon as possible.

The demand for contractors and other labor remains strong in Mississippi, Louisiana and Texas, but there are a number of things to consider before hopping in your truck and heading south.

The main problem is a lack of housing. Many?EUR??,,????'??+if not most?EUR??,,????'??+workers are camping out without water or electricity. Most toilet facilities are the portable, chemical variety. ?EUR??,,????'??It?EUR??,,????'???s pretty ugly,?EUR??,,????'?? Davey Tree supervisor Jack Swayze said after a recent visit to New Orleans. ?EUR??,,????'??Every Wall Mart or big shopping center parking lot looks like a refugee camp.?EUR??,,????'??

Plenty of websites have popped up to link contractors with jobs and contracts. Users should beware?EUR??,,????'??+some sites ask for money to advertise services. Many other sites provide information. One way to start is to type ?EUR??,,????'??contractors needed?EUR??,,????'?? and ?EUR??,,????'??Louisiana?EUR??,,????'?? (or ?EUR??,,????'??Texas?EUR??,,????'?? or ?EUR??,,????'??Mississippi?EUR??,,????'??) into a Google search.

Contractors in Texas told the TV station that Rita will impact the construction industry for months to come.

?EUR??,,????'??It?EUR??,,????'???s going to take years to rebuild and recover,?EUR??,,????'?? Swayze said.

Low-Wage Workers Head for Gulf

These Davey Tree workers cleaning up in Mississippi are trained professionals. An influx of undocumented labor means that established contractors will compete with operators using cheap labor for the remainder of the cleanup period. Photo courtesy of Jack Swayze

A few months ago, Luis D??az was wearing himself out for $5 an hour in the tobacco fields of North Carolina. Then hurricanes Katrina and Rita hit.

Now D??az, like many undocumented Latino immigrants, has landed a piece of the largest demolition and reconstruction project in modern U.S. history at double his usual salary, plus meals and lodging.

While critics complain that his job should go to local workers or those displaced by the hurricane, D??az is making plans to stay as long as the work lasts or until ?EUR??,,????'??La Migra?EUR??,,????'??? (U.S. immigration) starts cracking down.

?EUR??,,????'??Maybe they will come and make us leave,?EUR??,,????'?? said D??az, who came to United States from Veracruz, M????(C)xico, about nine months ago. ?EUR??,,????'??But if they do, well, there?EUR??,,????'???s nothing you can do about it.?EUR??,,????'??

Workers are hauling trash and cutting trees, fastening tarps to damaged roofs and tearing out Sheetrock from thousands of soaked buildings.

A report from the U.S. Government Accountability Office in August found that the number of fines issued to employers for knowingly hiring illegal workers has plummeted, from 417 in 1999 to just three last year. Arrests of unauthorized workers dropped 84 percent from 1999 to 2003, the report found.

Now the storms have blown the threat of employer sanctions away.

Source: Knight-Ridder Newspapers

Brick Ordinance Would Dictate New Home Building Materials

Columbia, Ill. wants to require a percentage of brick facing on each new home.

The Belleville News-Democrat reports the Columbia, Ill. city council has approved 8-1 to require 50 percent of new houses in a subdivision to have brick on three sides, 30 percent to have brick on the face and the other 20 percent can have any other material. Columbia, Illinois is one of the fastest growing suburbs in the metropolitan St. Louis area, located 12 miles from downtown St. Louis. Alderman Jeffrey Huch went on record to show his opposition to the ordinance, as the proposed brick ordinance was sent to the city attorney to be put in its final draft form. At the city council meeting, Huch was reported objecting to dictating the aesthetics of homes, and said the community already shows diversity in new home materials. The ordinance, planning and zoning committee still needs another look at the draft before it goes to the city zoning board of appeals for a public hearing and vote, and then back to the city council for a final vote.

Landscaper?EUR??,,????'???s Spouse Cleared of Wrongdoing

Hillsborough County Commissioner Ronda Storms?EUR??,,????'??? husband owns Storms Landscaping Nursery in Florida.

A review has cleared Florida?EUR??,,????'???s Ronda Storms of wrongdoing after she voted on landscaping regulations while her family ran a landscaping business. Storms is a county commissioner in Hillsborough County.

Storms cast a deciding vote in 2004 that legalized the operation of businesses that grow plants and trees as well as do landscaping, mow and install irrigation in agricultural zones. These types of businesses had been limited to commercial areas before.

Storms?EUR??,,????'??? husband owns Storms Landscaping Nursery, which performs many of the above duties, and 20 county residents felt she had misused her powers and made a decision that would benefit the family business. They filed an ethics complaint in August 2004.

The state ethics commission released a public report and a response saying it had investigated the claims and determined there was no probable cause to believe Storms would reap any ?EUR??,,????'??special private gain?EUR??,,????'?? from her vote.

Source: St. Petersburg Times

Pennsylvania May Tighten Contractor Rules

Pennsylvania state Sen. Tommy Tomlinson?EUR??,,????'???s bill would require contractors to register their business with the state attorney general's office and enter into written contracts with customers.

Pennsylvania?EUR??,,????'???s Senate Bill 1000 would require contractors to register their business with the state attorney general?EUR??,,????'???s office and enter into written contracts with customers, Republican state Sen. Tommy Tomlinson told the Bucks County Courier Times.

The legislation is designed to deter scammers, such as one who skipped town after bilking a 70-year-old woman of more than $29,000. Scammers typically work without contracts and get consumers to pay up front for work that is never completed, Tomlinson said.

If the legislation were approved, home improvement contracts would have to state when the work would start and when the job would be completed.

The contracts would also be required to list the contractor?EUR??,,????'???s business address, proof of insurance and the total cost of the job, including building materials. Often, scammers have no brick-and-mortar address and only cell phone numbers that they keep changing, according to consumer protection officials.

Tomlinson?EUR??,,????'???s bill would impose criminal penalties, ranging from misdemeanors to felonies, on contractors who don?EUR??,,????'???t register with the state or otherwise don?EUR??,,????'???t follow the law. It also would impose harsher criminal penalties for contractors who scam those ages 60 or over.

The bill is in committee. Tomlinson said he hopes the debate on it will begin before year?EUR??,,????'???s end. ?EUR??,,????'??We need this to protect seniors like me,?EUR??,,????'?? said Naomi Tomlinson (no relation to the senator), the senior who was scammed.

The Homebuilders Association of Bucks and Montgomery Counties, which represents homebuilders and home improvement companies, doesn?EUR??,,????'???t support the bill, said Howard Cooper, association executive vice president.

H-2B Cap Looming Closer

The H-2B seasonal guest worker program?EUR??,,????'???s access to this legal source of temporary workers is close to being severely limited for the first half of fiscal year 2006.

The Federation of Employers and Workers of America (FEWA) is advising its members that program statistics released by the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) indicate that 28,015 of the 33,000 H-2B worker visas available in the first half of fiscal year 2006 have been approved or are pending approval as of mid-November. The remaining visas will not be available to employers until April 1. ?EUR??,,????'??Thanks to the efforts of the H-2B Workforce Coalition, which FEWA co-chairs, employers will still be able to bring in qualified workers even after the cap is reached,?EUR??,,????'?? said John Meredith, FEWA vice president of government relations.

Meredith?EUR??,,????'???s reference is to a provision in the Save Our Small and Seasonal Businesses Act of 2005 enacted earlier this year. The new law provides workers who participated in the H-2B program in any one of the last three fiscal years an exemption from the statutory cap. These returning workers, designated H-2R, will be allowed to enter the country and work in temporary jobs that American workers do not take at anytime in fiscal year 2006.

Lingo Guide Eases Communication Barriers

Ed White, a contractor based in Nashville, has written two guide books full of phrases commonly used on job-sites to help ease the communication barrier between workers.

Nashville contractor, Ed White, is hoping to ease the communication barrier on bilingual work sites.

The Lingo Guide for Builders is a collection of phrases and terms commonly used on construction job sites ranging from general to specific. Phrases translated in English to Spanish as well as Spanish to English include: ?EUR??,,????'??Do you have your own tools??EUR??,,????'?? ?EUR??,,????'??Do you have references??EUR??,,????'?? ?EUR??,,????'??Can you give me an estimate for this job??EUR??,,????'??

A report released by the Pew Hispanic Center in 2005 found that foreign-born Hispanics make up about 20 percent of the total work force in the United States construction industry and were the beneficiaries of 40 percent of the 571,000 new jobs the industry added last year. ?EUR??,,????'??For the last five to six years, the number have increased greatly,?EUR??,,????'?? said White, who noted that language barriers can slow down work on a site and can create safety hazards. ?EUR??,,????'??It can be the simplest of jobs. ?EUR??,,????'??Can you get me that wrench??EUR??,,????'??? ?EUR??,,????'??Can you get me that piece of wood??EUR??,,????'??? If you?EUR??,,????'???re not proficient in Spanish, you?EUR??,,????'???re sort of in trouble a little bit, and vice versa.?EUR??,,????'??

White?EUR??,,????'???s next book, The Lingo Guide for Landscapers, was released in November.

Source: The Tennessean

Labor Facts

283?EUR??,,????'???Number of landscape contractors residing or doing business in Louisiana?EUR??,,????'???s 12-parish area affected by Hurricane Rita.

1,651 ?EUR??,,????'??? Number of licensed landscape contractors in the state of Louisiana. Hurricane Rita adversely affected more than 17 percent of these contractors. Source: Louisiana Nursery and Landscape Association