click to enlarge

Jacob Jones photo

Ryan Smith, director of Washington State University's School of Design and Construction, is an an expert on prefab construction.

A

Smith, also an architecture professor, moved to Pullman with his family three years ago from Salt Lake City, where he taught and worked for 14 years at the University of Utah. It was a bit of an adjustment moving to the much smaller city at first, he says, noting that "the kids at first were like, 'Where's Forever 21?'"

There was also that whole pandemic thing this last year, which moved teaching to a virtual setting. But the good news is faculty and staff will be able to return to campus come July.

In addition to his tenure teaching architecture, Smith has also literally written the book well, six of them actually on prefabrication, a.k.a. prefab construction.

In a nutshell, prefab refers to projects where instead of doing something like framing a house bit by bit on site, different elements are constructed in a factory to a fairly finished state before being brought to the building's ultimate location.

There, cranes can lift full walls, rooms or even full living units into place to be quickly sealed together.

The process isn't novel, Smith explains, with the idea really taking root a century or so ago.

"It's been toyed with by architects and builders since the Industrial Revolution," Smith says. "Taking advantage of machines to build our houses isn't necessarily new."

But since that time, the technique has had fits and starts in popularity, he says. First, there was a boost in prefabrication's popularity just after WWII when soldiers returned and started settling down and starting families.

Then in the late 1960s and early '70s, Mitt Romney's father, George Romney, took charge of the federal Department of Housing and Urban Development, Smith says. Romney came from the auto industry, known for its assembly lines.

"George was an industrialist, and he had this idea: 'Can we meet the pent-up demand for housing by using WWII factories that lay dormant across the country?'" Smith says.

So the federal government invested in several factories across the country, including one in Seattle, to explore prefabrication techniques for housing. But Smith says when Ronald Reagan took office, funding for the program dropped off.

While HUD had come up with high quality designs to meet the need for single-family housing, Smith says the most well-known idea that came out of the program was a lower quality product: the mobile home.

"That is the legacy from our country's last major investment in prefabrication," he says.

Unfortunately, mobile homes built to federal standards often leaked, were inefficient and became associated with lower quality of life, even as they helped meet the overall need for housing, Smith says.

Fast forward to 2002, he says, and people were asking why the U.S. wasn't using prefab construction with the same success as other countries such as Sweden and Japan. So Dwell magazine ran a contest telling architects to partner with mobile home/prefab factories to design high quality, affordable homes.

Tyler Schmetterer/MOD X photo

Prefab homes are constructed in sections at a factory and then assembled on site, reducing construction labor costs and saving time.

The creative ideas entered for that contest spurred some companies that still exist today, Smith says, and helped put prefabrication back in the spotlight.

Currently, labor shortages in the construction industry are causing a bit of a prefab resurgence, Smith says.

"Labor has increased in cost, and the availability of labor to build homes is not there. It's a real problem right now," he says. "Because of that, now people are saying, 'Wow, this idea of prefabrication could really fly economically. It makes so much more sense: It's more productive, and frankly we don't have the labor. This could be something we look to.'"

In the Spokane area, Katerra, a cross-laminated timber manufacturer, has big plans to expand production of prefabricated walls and building elements.

Another company, Washington-based Blokable, has designed full modular affordable housing units that can be stacked next to and on top of one another. They're completely finished in the company's factory, making it much faster and more affordable to finish a multifamily apartment project.

So far, while prefab techniques definitely save time on projects of different sizes, Smith says it's really in that multifamily or hotel size where the speed translates to cost savings.

"The advantage that has been realized has been speed. We've seen 30 to 50 percent time savings," Smith says. "That may not benefit you all that much financially on a single-family home. But on a big, multifamily project or a hotel where you've gotta open to get revenue? Yes."

EMERGING TECH

If you'd like to help reduce the impact of your new home, you could build it to the voluntary international building standard known as a "passive house." These homes require very little to no energy to heat and cool.

Smith says he's also a fan of something called ICF or insulated concrete forms, in which semi-hollow foam blocks are put next to one another to create the form for concrete pours for, say, a basement. The blocks help insulate the room better and reduce the time that would've been spent building steel or plywood forms, he says.

Another recent innovation Smith says he's seen is something called "BamCore," which is a framing alternative to wood.

"So you're building walls not out of two-by-fours, out of lumber, but out of bamboo that is rapidly renewable and sustainably harvested," Smith says. "I think there's a lot of potential for this, though it still needs to go through a lot of testing."

See the rest here:
Prefab construction could be having a renaissance, and WSU's Ryan Smith is at the forefront - Pacific Northwest Inlander

FRESNO The officers arrived on East Princeton Avenue in the early morning, pointing theirguns down at the yellow lawn. In her bedroom, the walls scribbledwithcrayon drawings, Bre-Anna Valenzuela woke to the pounding of a fist on the steel front gate.

Fresno County Sheriffs Office! a deputyyelled. Eviction!

Bre-Anna, who goes by Bre, came to the door, standing behind her grandmother, hugging a baby doll to her chest. She listened as the manexplained that theyhad just a few minutes toleave. Shebegan to pack her things: her school-issued laptop, her favorite Barbie.

Shewas only 10, but she knew her family had nowhere else to go.

All over the state and country, millions of people like the Valenzuelas are in danger of losing their homes as the worst of the pandemic ends. In Fresno County, more than 650 families have been forced out of their homes since the coronavirus took hold last year, despite a federal eviction moratorium and local measures that aimed to provide relief.

Here, in a sprawling Central Valley county, evictions occurred at a rate nearly four times higher than in Los Angeles and eight times higher than in San Francisco.

Fresno County Sheriffs officers serve eviction notices in Fresno in late March 2021.

Nearly half of families in Fresno, where the typical household income is 30% below the state average, dont own their own homes. And even as rents have dropped elsewhere since March 2020, they have risen 17.1%in Fresno, the fifth largest city in California. Since 2017, median rent has soared 41%, the second-largest increase in the nation, behind only Boise, Idaho.

The Valenzuelas were already living check to check near Lafayette Park when eviction notices started appearing on their door. Their only stable income was the $942 in social security that Bres mother received monthly, plus her fathers $1,800 in unemployment.

He said he stopped working full-time last year when he broke his neck in a car accident; now he repaired bicycles in their yard and sold them online, sometimes bringing in $150, sometimes nothing at all.

The same deputies who came to Bres door on March 23 would continue across Fresno County, arriving at a new address every 20 minutes. Some families heeding whitenotices taped to their doors had already vacated their homes. Manyleft possessions behind: a drivers license, memorabilia from a military tour in Iraq, a single ruffled babysock.

As the early morning sky turned pink and purple, Bre stood outside with the deputies and a tub of four sleeping kittens, the latest litter of her cat, Bella. She watched as her mother, Danetta, came outside in an electric wheelchair, a portable oxygen tank between her white sneakers.

Bres father cursed as he tossed his guitar and toolbox into the travel-trailer parked in their driveway, which he had hoped to fix up and sell. A locksmith drilled the knob off the front gate, replacing it with a new lock, the house still full of their belongings.

Bre understood her familys fragility how they had been teetering on the edge of crisis for years and how the loss of their home could upend them.

She decided she needed to fix this, before it was too late. Standing on the sidewalk, the girl began to form her secret plan.

Bre-Anna Valenzuela, her mother, Danetta, and older brother, P.J., walk in their neighborhood.

The Valenzuelas came to California from Guntersville, Ala. Theyd been happy there or at least thats what Bres parents told her.

She was 6 when they moved back to Fresno, where her father had grown up and she had been born, and into the house on East Princeton Avenue. She couldnt remember much about living in the south, though Danetta, now 44, liked to tease her daughter by saying her accent came out when she was angry.

Bre as a baby. Courtesy Valenzuelas

If theyd been happy in Alabama, Bre thought, it was because they had money, and money had made their life seem normal. Her father, Brian, worked at a chicken plant. Her mother stayed home with Bre, her older brother, P.J., and their oldbrown dog, Henry, who greeted Bre at the school bus stop every afternoon.

They took a road trip to Key West, swimming in the Atlantic and eating key lime pie. In the summer, they drove around Guntersville Lake, or vacationed over the state line in Chattanooga, Tenn. Wednesday evenings meant bible study; Sunday mornings brought mass.

But Danetta was sick. Terminally illwith kidney disease and congestive heart failure, she had been in hospicemore times than Bre could remember. In truth, Bre had never known what it was like to have a healthy mother.

Danetta had developed preeclampsia while pregnant with her. She had chosen to keep Bre, despite doctors suggestion that she consider an abortion. Soon after her daughter was born, Danetta was in a wheelchair.

Danettas condition has led to multiple hospitalizations.

In the fall of 2016, after Brian saved enough money to buy his wife a diamond ring, they renewed their vows at a Baptist church in Guntersville; Danettas stomach was so bloated that she couldnt zip up any of the four dresses she bought for the occasion.

But they made the most of it, walking down the aisle to Stevie Nicks and Don Henleys Leather and Lace. Bre wore a flouncy white dress, which she hated, as the flower girl.

The following spring,Bres parentssigned a lease for the house on East Princeton Avenue. They told the owner, Louise Lolly Traxler, that they were moving back to California for the state-subsidized health and dental insurance, which they thought would cover more of Danettas bills.

Traxler, 74, who had workedas a financial counselor for patients at a nearby hospital, said she felt sorry for the Valenzuelas. Danettareminded Traxler of the dyingpeople she had helped over the years at work.

Danetta and Brian renewed their vows in Alabama in 2016 before moving to California. Courtesy Valenzuelas

Her own mother had bought the 800-square-foot house in 1949, when it was pastel pink, with hope it would provide her two daughters the stability she had lacked growing up. Purchasing the house had been her mothers greatest accomplishment, Traxler said, and before she died in 2002, her final wish had been that her daughters never sell it.

Traxler hadnt considered becoming a landlord, but she decided to honor her mothers wishes and rent the house out. The lease she signed with Danetta, Traxler later said, was as good as tissue paper, because theValenzuelas rarely paid the $900 rent on time, if at all.

After moving back to Fresno, Brian, 47, enrolled in a refrigeration training program at a local vocational school, hoping to make more money than he had at the chicken plant. But with their budget increasingly stretched raising two small children in a city with a rising cost of living Brian dropped out of the program and took a job in a warehouse.

Then, last year, Brian said, he was riding in his sisters truck when another driver hit them. Unable to do heavy labor with a broken neck, he lost the job, and has been repairing bikes ever since.

The unemployment and disability checks went to purchasing used bikes and bike parts, bus fares and groceries. As Danettas health continued to fail, they filled their shopping carts with nutrition drinks.

Danetta kept the invoices for her medical bills in a plastic bag in the kitchen, intent on paying them. But sometimes, instead, she would spend the money on gifts for the children at Walmart and splurge on special occasions.

She didnt think she would be around for holidays and birthdays in future years, so Danetta tried to make each milestone special even if it meant not paying rent. Sometimes, she said, she and Brian withheld money to make repairs.

Brian bikes with the family dog, Little Mama.

To be closer to her sister, Traxler had moved to a mobile home park for seniors more than 130 miles away in Morro Bay (San Luis Obispo County). In her absence, the house on East Princeton Avenue deteriorated: black mold, a mice infestation, broken plumbing.

Traxler, who said she receives $1,300 a month in social security, paid for what she could with credit cards. She replaced the refrigerator and oven with new appliances and hired a handyman to inspect the piping.

But the problems persisted and multiplied: A splotchy leak that Bre thought looked like a manta ray formedon the ceiling above Danettas bed. Bre found cockroaches in her Barbie Dreamhouse. She carried them outside, rather than smoosh them, because she thought they were only trying to live, like us.

Still, the Valenzuelas loved their home.It was cramped and cheap, but it was theirs.

They inflated a bounce house in the backyard for Bres unicorn-themed ninth birthday and propped an artificial pinein the living room window atChristmastime, so everyone could see it from the street. Danetta hung curtains and painted the kitchen green and white.Sometimes, Bre thought the house was the only thing keeping them together.

Brians mother, Sharon, often stayed with them, helping with the children while Danetta was on dialysis or at medical appointments. She lived with her husband in a small duplex 2 miles away. Their family was just about complete when they adopted Bella to catch the mice and roaches. Soon, she had her litter of kittens.

Then, in October 2020, her credit card debt mounting, Traxler sold the home to Capitol Real Estate Group of Visalia, just south of Fresno.

Sharon Valenzuela and granddaughter Bre have a close relationship. Sharon often stayed with her sons family to help when Danetta was ill.

Traxler said she wasnt trying to be a cruel landlady. She hadnt wanted to sell the home at all but with her age and disability, she saw no choice. She accepted $85,000. Less than a mile away, homes being flipped listed for more than $260,000.

Andres Andrew Banuelosbecame the Valenzuelas new landlord. Banuelos, who lives in San Luis Obispo, states on his companys website that he has helped manage over 150 property transactions for multiple investors.

Within three months of purchasing the home,the real estate group hadhired a lawyer based in Bakersfield she declined to comment for this story and filed for eviction against Traxler, although she no longer owned the home nor lived in it.

The notices started arriving in January. Danetta and Brian said they ignored the paperwork because their names werent on the envelopes;they assumed it was a misunderstanding. They said theycontinued paying partial rent to Traxler a claim Traxler disputes.

The Valenzuelas said they didnt realize Banuelos was their landlord. And with Danetta spending more and more time in the emergency room, they did not look into the legal notices. After all, Danetta said, they thought they were protected by the eviction moratorium a common misbelief that advocates and policymakers have seen across the region.

Theres this assumption that evictions are banned and arent happening right now, said Dr. Amber Crowell, a sociology professor at Fresno State University who studies housing inequality. It sounds more comprehensive than what it actually is.

The moratorium, she said, mostly only covers people who would be evicted for unpaid rent. And even with that, there are a lot of hoops they have to jump through. That leaves a lot of room for other types of evictions to happen. Your average person cannot explain what their rights are.

Danetta struggles to catch her breath while sorting through mail at the home the family was forced to vacate.

Had they read the notices closely, the Valenzuelas would have understood the eviction order included all occupants, named or not. Banuelos would later saythey had voidedtheir lease by allowing Sharon to stay with them and by not properly taking care of the home both evictable offenses.

He said they had also failed to pay rent since October, though the paperwork filed in court didnt ask for the payment of back rent, only a $40 processing fee. Under the moratorium, eviction because of non-payment is illegal if a family has been impacted by COVID-19.

Banuelos said he plans to flip the house, reselling at a profit.

They violated the terms, Banuelos said. Thats a them situation, not an us situation.

Bres family spent the first night after the eviction at Motel 6, listening to the commotion of traffic and the thundering of planes from the nearby Fresno Air Attack Base. Unable to afford a second nights stay, they checked out at 11 a.m. and rode abusback to East Princeton Avenue.

Bre stared out the window. She wore the same black Star Wars T-shirt from the day before, and chipped pink polish on her toenails.

Halfway between San Francisco and Los Angeles on Highway 99, Fresno is an agricultural powerhousewithin range ofYosemite National Park. Housing in the city, though, has not kept pace with demand, particularly as the pandemic trend toward remote work has made the Central Valley more desirable.

A shortfall of 41,000 housing units has often left low-income and minority families like the Valenzuelas, who are Native American and Hispanicunable to pay rent, according tothe National Low Income Housing Coalition.

Though Fresno has tried to help out through its Emergency Rental Assistance Program, the city offered just $5,952.09 to 284 applicants in April an average of $20 per household.

The amount of documentation required by the federal and state government has resulted in us providing relief at an extremely low pace, said Fresno City Councilmember Miguel Arias. The program also requires that we have landlord participation and agreement. Its almost like filling out a mortgage application.

As relief trickles out, evictions have continued because of legal loopholes and varying interpretations of what the federal moratoriummeans. Even if tenants prove they cannot pay rent due to COVID-19, they can be evicted for other reasons, such as having too many people living on the property or failing to maintain the yard.

With the moratorium set to expire at the end of this month, one large property management company in Fresnohas filed paperwork in court seeking at least 300 evictions, according to sheriffs deputies.

The Valenzuelasreached their stop and walked the few final minutes to their house. They no longer had keys, but had to find a way back inside Danetta needed to plug in her oxygen machine.So she slid open the living room window, parted the flowered curtains and motioned to her daughter. Bre shimmied through the window, then unlocked the front door.

Danetta and Bre eat cereal on the porch of the house they were evicted from. Bre climbed through the window to unlock the door. Danetta looked up legal advice and called Governor Gavin Newsoms office on her cell phone.

On the kitchen counter, a pan of brownies theyd baked the night before the eviction had gone stale. Sharon poured Lucky Charms into glasscontainersfor Danetta and Bre, then emptied the last of the cereal into a dish for Little Mama, the pit bull.

Brian busied himself in the side yard painting a tandembike bright teal. He hoped to sell it by days end to pay for another night at the motel.As he worked, Bre, Danetta and Sharon sat on the shaded front porch and searched for answers.

Siri, tell me about squatters rights, Danetta said, rasping into her cell phone. Her oxygen machine whirred.

She had already missed a dialysis session because of the eviction. The extra fluid in her abdomen made her belly balloon outward. She had to wear extra-large T-shirts, despite her petite frame. On days like these, Bre thought her mom looked pregnant.

Bre played with her Barbies, one with brown dreads, the other with crimped blonde hair that shed streaked with colored markers. She liked to think they were twins, because if they were twins, they would have each other, unlike her and her 14-year-oldbrother, who was always at his girlfriends house.

Bre took a soggy bite of cereal. Danetta read aloud from a website that offered legal help for $5, as Sharon cautioned there would be more money to pay after that.

They learned that,to prevent their eviction, they would have had to provide proof to their new landlord that they couldnt pay rent within 10 days of the original eviction notice. Even if they had done that, they learned, they would have owed at least 25% of their monthly rent, or $225.

Swept up by personal crises, they hadnt realized that cobbling together the money could have helped prevent their eviction. They hadnt attempted to get aid of any kind.

On Danettas phone, they watched a news conference from January,when Gov. Gavin Newsom announced the states eviction moratorium would extend through at least June 30. He vowed that $2.6 billion in aid to renters $1.4 billion of it from the state and $1.2 billion from counties and cities would be administered quickly.

These families need protection and relief now, Newsom said to applause.

Much of that aid would go unspent in the next few months, the distribution of cash backlogged by bureaucracy and an online application process that confused tenants. By May, less than 10% of available funds, or $102 million, had been distributed by the state, despite the application portal opening two months earlier, on March 15.

Bre collects some of her belongings the day after being evicted from the familys home.

Danetta couldnt find answers to most of their questions: Did they really only have 15 days to retrieve their belongings? Were they trespassing now by being at their own house? Could they still apply for coronavirus rent relief fundsfrom the state, though they didnt have the paperwork to prove their income had dropped, that Brian had flipped fewer bikes over the past year? Or that she was disabled and on social security?

OK, Google, call Governor Newsom, Danetta said.

An automated recording listed the options. Danetta pressed 1 for English, then 6 to talk with a representative. Her call transferred and disconnected. She called back, navigating the phone tree again. She waited on hold.

Sharon smoked a cigarette from a pack of Marlboros tucked in her bra strap. Tapping on her phone, she sent an email to Bres school, letting them know the fourth-grader wouldnt be logged into class that day. They were in transition, she wrote. Bre twirled an orange fidget spinner.

Twelve minutes later, the line clicked. Is this is this somebody for Mr. Newsom? Danetta asked.

Yes, I work for the governor, said a legislative aide who introduced himself as Cole. Whats on your mind?

Danetta explained that theyd recently lost their home, that shed already called California Rural Legal Assistance and Central California Legal Services, that the nonprofits weretoo overwhelmed to help and could only offer other phone numbers to try.

Shed called the clerks office at Fresno County Superior Court, the United States Housing Authority, Catholic Charities and Cherokee Nation, which sometimes offers money to Native families in distress.

Shed received no help. The aide offered her a link to a website, which he said would be the best resource available. He said that Danetta was right, that the governor had signed a moratorium into law, but that there were different ways that people can be affected by it and he couldnt say what that meant for her.

So theres no other advice you can give me? Danetta asked.

Unfortunately not.

Ending the call, Danetta sent Bre back into the house for their Blu-ray player. They still had the receipt and could return it to Walmart for cash, affording them another $89 night at Motel 6.

Bre rides on the front of Danettas wheelchair as they leave the Motel 6 with Sharon to get breakfast.

As they rode the bus to the store and then on to Motel 6, Bre played Minecraft on her phone. In this world, she could build her family a home, with a separate room for her kittens. The garden overlooked the ocean. Daisies blanketed the lawn, where Sharon lived in a hollowed-out birch tree, the stairs made of leaves.

By the time theyreached the motel, her phone had died. Bre returned to her secret plan, mulling it over. It could work, she thought. But she wasnt ready to reveal it to her mother, not yet.

In the room, shepicked upone of her Barbies and pressed the button on her back. The doll was meditation-themed. Take a deep breath, it soothed.Breathein Breathe out Bre fell backward onto the queen-size bed and closed her eyes.

Nine days after the eviction, Bre and her mother were still at the Motel 6.

Her fatherand Little Mama kept watch over the house on East Princeton Avenue,fending off potential burglarsfrom stealing the possessions still locked inside and sleeping in a travel-trailerin Sharons backyard during the day. Sometimes, Brian would bike to the motel Little Mama cradled in one arm to watch a movie and snuggle in bed with his wife and daughter.

At the Motel 6, Bre stuck to her moms advice to always wash her feet before bed, and played with Barbies she brought from the familys former home.

On the last day of March, the Valenzuelas ran out of money for the motel. Danetta and Bre left to be with P.J., who was staying at his girlfriends familys two-bedroom apartment in northeastFresno, near the airport. The mother and daughter slept together on the brocade couch in the living room, Bre often waking at night to the wail of sirens.

She wished they could all stay with Sharon. Bre loved her grandmothers house, with wind chimes and bells on the porch and an avocado tree dropping fruit on the lawn. But the duplex was too cramped for all of them, and too narrow for Bres mother to navigate in her wheelchair.

Go here to see the original:
Evicted at age 10: Her family was forced out of their home. She just wanted to keep them together - San Francisco Chronicle

Plans to massively increase jobs and housing in Mountain View's North Bayshore tech park are contingent on a car-light future, in which thousands of employees walk, bike and take transit to work. But so far, too few workers have been willing to ditch driving.

As it stands, 56% of employees in North Bayshore drive to work solo, well above the area's target of 45%, with little sign of improvement over the last five years. Reaching that target is a critical factor in allowing job and housing growth, which was rezoned to allow up to 9,850 new homes, without causing miserable gridlock in the area.

In seeking to meet that goal and keep traffic at a tolerable level, Mountain View City Council members voted this week on a revised plan that tacks on several new projects aimed at getting people off the road. Among them is a proposal to roll out "congestion pricing," which would charge people a premium for traveling into the tech park.

The idea has been floated seven years ago, meeting with a mixed reaction and seen as a last resort, but council members on June 8 agreed to make it a short-term priority to launch within the next five years. Council members favored congestion pricing -- along with a suite of transit, bike and pedestrian improvements -- over expensive projects that would increase roadway capacity and encourage more driving.

"I don't want to just build more and more freeway entrances to North Bayshore," said Councilwoman Alison Hicks. "I think that goes against what we've been working for."

Travel into North Bayshore, home to the city's major employers including Google, Intuit and Microsoft, is limited to three major roadways. And two of those of those so-called "gateway" roads -- Shoreline Boulevard and Rengstorff Avenue -- are already approaching capacity during peak commute hours. Upcoming office growth in North Bayshore is expected to add over 6,000 more jobs, raising serious concerns about traffic bottlenecks into North Bayshore.

The COVID-19 pandemic and subsequent work-from-home policies by tech companies have done little to assuage the concerns of the city. In a report, city staff wrote that traffic congestion is expected to return to previous levels, and that employers will want to make "productive use" of their full building spaces. Employees will likely be required to show up on certain days to maximize workplace collaboration, and those employees may be reluctant to take transit due to public health concerns.

The blueprint for North Bayshore's future development seeks to solve those problems with a "car-lite" vision for the area, in which those who live and work in the area would take transit, walk or bike to their destination rather than use a car. The plans include a walkable street network, bike infrastructure and "internalized" trips to work, meaning people live and work in North Bayshore and won't have to in and out via Shoreline and Rengstorff.

But a recent study found that it will take more to solve future traffic woes, with a menu of recommended options that includes minimal parking availability and a complete revamp of the Highway 101 and Rengstorff Avenue intersection to boost roadway capacity by 800 vehicles during peak commute hours.

Several council members said they were uneasy with spending tens of millions of dollars just to help more people drive into North Bayshore. Councilwoman Lisa Matichak said the whole point of the redevelopment plans was to encourage workers to get out of cars, and she was concerned that the city was taking action in ways that would increase vehicle traffic.

"I'm not sure I want to do things that increase the ability for more cars to go into and out of North Bayshore," she said.

More palatable was the idea of congestion pricing, which has been used in Europe and Asia for years and is currently being studied by San Francisco and Los Angeles. Congestion pricing comes in many forms, and could charge drivers a toll for crossing into North Bayshore or be based on how many miles are traveled within the area. Creating such a program would require a network of cameras and technology to read license plates and transponders, collecting drivers' personal information that would need to be safeguarded, city officials said.

The idea also raises equity concerns, and whether all drivers should be charged the same fee for coming into or driving within North Bayshore. Existing North Bayshore residents living in the Santiago Villa mobile home park would have difficulty paying a surcharge just for driving around their own neighborhood, said Santiago Villa resident Alex Brown.

"I think there are a lot of people who could not afford to continue driving if congestion pricing did not exempt them, given how much we have have to cross into and out of this district," he said.

Jim Lightbody, a consultant for the city, said there have been a number of proposals about who would be charged and who would be exempted under congestion pricing, but that those details have yet to be determined. He stressed that the city has only done a cursory look at congestion pricing through a feasibility study to determine whether it makes sense to pursue it.

Though city officials suggested that congestion pricing ought to be rolled out within the next 10 years, Councilman Lucas Ramirez proposed that the city bump it up as a five-year priority, ahead of costly roadway projects. Assuming it works, Ramirez said the city could reduce vehicle trips into North Bayshore and would no longer need massive infrastructure upgrades that could incentivize driving.

"What I'm hoping will happen is that that tool proves effective and it will render some of the additional projects that are proposed further out unnecessary," Ramirez said.

The other major concern hanging over the council was who would pay for expensive transportation upgrades. By tacking on more projects, the city is now facing costs of $487 million, most of which still does not have a funding source. Of the $140 million that has been accounted for, about 80% is being paid for by taxpayers through the city's Shoreline Regional Park Community funds. A much smaller 17% is being paid for by the developments themselves through impact fees.

Councilwoman Margaret Abe-Koga said she was under the assumption that redevelopment in North Bayshore would largely pay for the transportation improvements, and that she was not expecting the city to foot most of the bill.

"I was very disappointed to see what the split is right now, with 80% falling on the city," Abe-Koga said.

Continue reading here:
Mountain View looks to congestion pricing to get tech workers out of cars - Mountain View Voice

RAMALLAH, West Bank Muhammad Hamayel, a 15-year-oldfrom the town of Beita,southeast of Nablus in the northern West Bank, was shot dead by the Israeli army during the clashes that took place in the town June 11, in protest against the outpost established on the lands of Jabal Sbeih in the town.

The town of Beitahas turned into a heated confrontation point between the Palestinian residents and the Israeli army and settlers, in light of the latters attempt to establish a settlement outpost called Avitaratop Jabal Sbeih (Mount Sbeih).

Since the beginning of settlement activity at the top of themountain May 3, the people of Beita have been engaged in daily confrontations that seem to escalate everyFriday, with the participation of the residents of the two nearby towns of Yatma and Qablan, to counter the settlers takeover of the mountain. The confrontations have resulted in the death of fouryoung menMuhammad Hamayel;Issa Barham, a doctor from Beita who was killed May 14; Tariq Sanubar, a young man from Yatma killedMay 16; andZakaria Hamayel, a teacher from Beita killedMay 28 while hundreds of others were injured.

The settlers latest attempt to seize Jabal Sbeih came after a settler was killed at the Zaatara checkpoint in ashooting attack carried out by Mutassim al-Shalabi May 2.

Moussa Hamayel, deputy mayor of Beita, told Al-Monitor that the settlers had targeted Jabal Sbeih several times, but their recent attempt was the most dangerous, as within a few days they installed more than 40 mobile housing units on an area of 5dunams (1 acre) out of a total area of 840 dunams (207 acres). They alsopaved the road on the top of the mountain, in a first step that allows them to later expand and control it.

He noted that Jabal Sbeih is a vital strategic location, as it overlooks the main road between the cities of Nablus and Ramallah, and runs adjacent to the road leading to Jericho and the Jordan Valley. In addition, it is only 1kilometer (0.6 miles) from the Zaatara checkpoint, which is the most important military checkpoint for the Israeli army in the West Bank.

Hamayel explained that by taking over Jabal Sbeih, the checkpoint and the mountain will be connected to the eastern region of the West Bank (the Jordan Valley), thus turning the checkpoint into a large and only gateway to the northern West Bank, separating it completely from the central and southern West Bank.

Due to its location, Jabal Sbeih was subjected in past years to several attempts to seize it and establish a settlement outpost on its top, but the residents confronted these attempts every time and forced the settlers to leave. The first try was in 2013 after a stabbing attackat the Zaatara checkpoint in which a settler, named Avitar, was killed. Settlers established the outpost bearing the same name. However, after residents stood their ground and organized popular marches, the army had to dismantle the outpost.

In 2018, the settlers tried once again to establish an outpost after the killing of a rabbi near the settlement of Ariel north of Salfit. They installed mobile homes and supplied them with electricity and water, but the residents confronted them, which prompted the army todismantle the outpost again.

The third attempt was in 2020 when settlers tried to establish three outposts on Jabal Sbeih, Jabal al-Armaand Jabal al-Najma in the town of Beita, but failed. The most recent attempt was in May and the residents seem to have succeeded this time as well in confronting the settlers.

On June 7, the Israeli army issued a military order prohibiting the continuation of construction in the outpost on Jabal Sbeih, declaring it a military zone where no presence is allowed, and preventing the entry of building materials to it, provided that the property is evacuated within eight days.

However, Hamayel noted, As long as the decision is not implemented on the ground, it remains mere ink on paper. We fear that the decision will be a maneuver to gain time to circumvent the popular uprising. We have not yet received any official decision.

Speaking about the municipalitys role in supporting the people who own land in Jabal Sbeih in light of the settlement threat, he said that the municipal council can exempt citizens from the financial fees for supplying electricity and water to the area, but it cannot do more than that due to its limited financial capabilities. This is why we called on all official and civil institutions to back the residents, support their steadfastnessand encourage them to stay in the area, Hamayel stressed.

Hudhayfa Badir, a resident of Beita who owns 5dunams in Jabal Sbeih, told Al-Monitor that the settlement outpost failed due to the resistance and steadfastness of the residents who refuse to sell an inch of the mountain to settlers.

He pointed out that the settlers took advantage of the local and international interest in what is happening in the Sheikh Jarrah neighborhood and the war on the Gaza Strip, to set up tents and mobile housing units on Jabal Sbeih in an attempt to seize it.

Badir notedthat the residents will take all the necessary measures to thwart any future settlement attempts onthe mountain, the most important of which is taking legal action to establish ownership of the land, maintaining popular preparednessand organizing more nationwideactivities.

He noted that according to what the residents learned from Palestinian sources, the settlers tried to circumvent the armys military order to evacuate and dismantle the settlement outpost in Jabal Sbeih, twice, but the army refused to withdraw the decision, pointing out that the residents are anxiously waiting for the military order to be implemented.

Badir stressed the need for the local community and civil and official institutions to help the residents of Beita to stop the Zionist ambitions, whether by providing basic services, such as supplying electricity and water or paving streets, to encourage people to stay in the area or by establishing projects there, in addition to the reclamation of uncultivated lands and the construction of roads.

Regardless of the military order, the residents of Beita and Jabal Sbeih, in particular, remain on high alert, awaiting the decisions implementation. The young men in the town continue to organize various activities, including what is known as night confusion, similar to what was happening near the fence on the borders of Gazain 2019.

Read more here:
How these Palestinians thwarted settlers in northern West Bank - Al-Monitor

There've been considerable advances in mobile homes over the past couple of decades, but public perceptions are often based on the mobile homes of the '80s. Case in point are jokes such as this: Definition of a mobile home: Your house moves, but your 12 cars don't.

The reality is that mobile homes have seen advances over the years, but what people think about them impacts their value and popularity. That could be changing, though, as some signs point to an improved perception.

Before we get into what's new about mobile homes and public perception, let's define what we're talking about, as the terms "mobile," "manufactured," and "modular" homes tend to get lumped into the same category.

Mobile homes, also called trailers, are attached to a chassis, and people can move them from place to place. They can be taken off the chassis and moved to a permanent foundation if the owner likes. They're typically small, referred to as single-wide homes, and run 500 to 1,200 square feet, with one or two bedrooms and one or two bathrooms.

"Manufactured" is the newer term for a mobile home. Like a mobile home, a manufactured home is built off-site in a factory and put on a chassis. The difference is that this type of home must now adhere to standards from the HUD Manufactured Home Construction and Safety Standards Program.

These homes can be single-, double-, or triple-wide. Double-wide homes are typically 1,000 to 2,200 square feet, with two or three bedrooms and two bathrooms, and triple-wide homes are over 2,000 square feet with three or more bedrooms and two or more bathrooms.

Modular homes are built in a factory off-site like mobile and manufactured homes, but the sections are brought to a home site and are put on a permanent foundation.

The name change from mobile to manufactured isn't only for image's sake; it represents a new type of home the mobile home has become.

Because of HUD's Manufactured Home Construction and Safety Standards Program, standards have been raised regarding the "construction, design, performance, and installation of manufactured homes to assure their quality, durability, affordability, and safety." And as mentioned, these homes can be quite big. Plus, they're no longer flimsy homes that can be swept away by a minor windstorm; they're more solid now.

Then there's the decor. Fireplaces, open kitchens with islands, stainless steel appliances, recessed porches, luxury-style bathrooms, numerous large windows to let in light, and high ceilings are now associated with manufactured homes.

Some mobile home parks have amenities such as walking paths, swimming pools, pool tables, and exercise equipment. Some are 55-plus communities popular with people who wish to downsize.

Sometimes it's the industry, not the product, that gives mobile/manufactured homes a bad reputation. There can be bad customer service, for one. And getting mobile home builders to repair problems can be difficult; the profit is in selling the homes, not repairing them.

In addition, some homes might not sit level and therefore have problems such as leaky windows, floors that creak, and doors that don't shut properly. It's the complaints that people hear about more than the benefits of these homes.

So, should you invest in mobile homes or mobile home parks? If you want to buy a mobile home for you or a loved one to live in, there's a good possibility you can find something you like. And because the product is better now than in the "bad old days," people are buying them. As of June 2018, 17.7 million Americans lived in one, and about 70% of people who live in a mobile home own it.

If you want to get into the business, you should probably invest in a mobile home park, renting out spaces to people who own a mobile home. This is definitely a market worth looking into.

See more here:
Mobile Homes Have Come a Long Way. Here's What's Holding Them Back - Motley Fool

ANDERSON One person died and another was hospitalized after a fire destroyed a house trailer in the Shady Rest Mobile Home Park on the citys north side late Friday evening.

Units with the Anderson Fire Department responded to the park, 325 W. Cross St., about 8:50 p.m. and found the home fully engulfed in flames with the front of the structure already collapsed, according to Anderson Fire Chief Dave Cravens.

Sometimes these mobile homes have extremely flammable material, and they burn hot, Cravens said.

An elderly man was pronounced dead at the scene. Madison County Coroner Danielle Noone said efforts to identify him were ongoing and expected to take a few days.

Whenever we have any fatality, its always hard for the guys, Cravens said. They wish they could have gotten there and done more.

Another person with minor burns was taken to a nearby hospital, he added.

Firefighters remained at the trailer for about three hours before turning the scene over to investigators from the Anderson Police Department and the Madison County coroners office.

Cravens said the cause of the fire remained undetermined as of Saturday morning. An autopsy on the victim is pending.

Follow Andy Knight on Twitter @Andrew_J_Knight, or call 765-640-4809.

Read more here:
One person killed in Anderson mobile home fire - The Herald Bulletin

ANDERSON The Madison County Coroners Office has identified Robert Hacker as the man who died in a fire that destroyed his mobile home.

Hacker, 64, died Friday in the fire that consumed his home in the Shady Rest Mobile Home Park in the 300 block of East Cross Street.

Hackers neighbors said he was a good neighbor who kept to himself. He was a veteran.

Josh Whitehouse said he knew Hacker for about seven years and knew him pretty well.

He was a pretty nice guy, Whitehouse. He gave and gave. It was a shame the way he died. Kept to himself.

Whitehouse said he was at home at the time of the fire and could see the flames shooting through the roof.

We tried to get him out, but couldnt get into the trailer, he said. It was way too hot and went up fast.

Neighbor April Arms said Hacker was a good neighbor and kept to himself.

We went out to eat and when we got home the trailer was on fire, she said.

Arms said Hacker would make sure her daughter would get on the school bus and invited them over for dinner several times.

He used to allow my daughter and niece to come over to watch cartoons because he had cable television, Arms said.

Anderson Fire Department Chief Dave Cravens said Wednesday that Hacker was the first fire fatality in the city this year.

Cravens said there was one fire related death in the city in 2019.

Units with the Anderson Fire Department responded to the park about 8:50 p.m. Friday and found the home fully engulfed in flames with the front of the structure already collapsed, according Cravens.

Sometimes these mobile homes have extremely flammable material, and they burn hot, Cravens said.

Whenever we have any fatality, its always hard for the guys, Cravens said. They wish they could have gotten there and done more.

Another person with minor burns was taken to a nearby hospital, he added.

Firefighters remained at the trailer for about three hours before turning the scene over to investigators from the Anderson Police Department and the Madison County Coroners Office.

Cravens said the cause of the fire remained undetermined and the investigation is ongoing.

Follow Ken de la Bastide

on Twitter @KendelaBastide,

or call 765-640-4863.

Continued here:
Man killed in trailer fire identified, remembered as a good neighbor - The Herald Bulletin

Samantha Ickes|The Daily Record

WOOSTER A group of community-minded people are looking to make a difference in the city by bringing affordable housing tothe area.

Chad Boreman, Justin Starlin and Tom White, along withseveral silent partners, would achieve the goal by investing in dilapidated houses and vacant lots. Investors are testing the model by constructing a single home in the 500 block of Larwill Street to see how the housing market responds.

The development group is not expecting the plan, in the early stages,to be a profitable venture, Boreman said.

"It's more of an experiment to see what can we do and how will this impact the community," he explained.

Children's Advocacy Center: Home Builders Association teams with Wayne County agency for new office space

Don't panic, don't cry: Here's 12 downtown Wooster gift buys

The site was formerly the Larwill Mobile Home Park, which was sold to the development group in March 2019 after it closed and residents were relocated due todeterioration of the parks internal water system.

A single-family, 1,700-square-foot residence is under construction on the property and will serve as a model to future investors if the endeavor proves successful.

The idea behind the project is to invest in a home, which essentially will be sold at cost to reimburse investors for their financial support, or the money can stay within the investment group to be used in additional projects, Starlin said.

Making a profit is the last goal in mind for the development group, Boreman said.

"We thought this would be an opportunity to do something for the community and the neighborhood," he said. "There is severe need for moderate income housing in this community to support the businesses that want to grow and expand here."

Construction began on the ranch-style home in November. It will havethree bedrooms, two full bathrooms and a two-car garage.

Crews began constructionnot long after lumber prices hit historic highs. According to the National Association of Home Builders,lumber prices increased by nearly 120% since April, but have fallen roughly 20% since mid-September. The unprecedented lumber price spike added nearly $16,000 to the price of a typical new single-family home.

The project has been in the works for more than a year, Starlin said. Despite the challenges brought on by COVID, the developers were tired of waiting and had an eagerness to get started, he said.

The hope is for the home to be priced in the $170,000 range.It is expected to be completed by mid-February.

The Larwill property has the potential for up to eight houses to be added to the allotment.

Starlin said the idea would be to fill gaps in other Wooster neighborhoodswhere homes once stood but were torn down or are in need of some fixing up. Developers would be conscious of the design of the neighborhoods when determining the style of the new house, Starlin said.

The Larwill home is located within the city's Community Reinvestment Area, known as CRA, which will provide a tax break for the future homeowner, Starlin said. The site was approved for a 12-year, 100% tax abatement. The homebuyer essentially willsave an estimated $35,000 over the years by only needing to pay property taxes on the land as if it were a vacant lot. With the CRA, the homeowner will pay an estimated $100 in taxes annually.

"We think theres an opportunity to market it not only as a well-built home, but then also to take advantage of the savings through that tax incentive," Starlin explained. "We just went for it, and were going to see how the market responds."

Your support helps keep the lights on at the Daily Record. Stay connected with our daily stories, in-depth reporting and more by clicking Subscribe at the top of the page.

A number of businesses have rallied to support the effort, including MW Robinson Co., McClintockElectric, Heartland Title Agency, Apple Creek Banking Co. and Marinello Realty.

"This couldnt have came off the ground without the help of local folks," Boreman said. "... Were just trying to do something to help and get some good housing here."

Real estate agentAmy Marinello said she has worked with the developersand the partners on past projects, which made this project a good fit for the real estate agency.

There is a lack of inventory both inside city limits and across the county, Marinello said. There is a strong market for any affordable house, she said.

The average days on the market for a house in Wooster is 46.

According to numbers provided by Marinello Realty, the average price of a home between Jan. 1 and Dec. 16 of this year was $191,789. The newly built Larwill home is expected to be at the average cost or below.

Wooster is a strong community with jobs in manufacturing, atthe College of Wooster and at Wooster Community Hospital. Having housing for potential employees will support these industries as they expand their businesses, Marinello said.

Boreman has been involved with the Wayne County Community Improvement Corporation and the Wooster Area Chamber of Commerce. He has heard concerns from several businesses about the need for more affordable housing.

Starlin, who led the chamber from 2013 until he stepped down from his role aspresident earlier this year, also is well aware of the challenges businesses face with retaining workers.

In June, several business leaders representing GOJO Industries, ArtiFlex Manufacturing, Schaeffler Group and TekFor Inc. expressed support for an affordable housing endeavor by local developer Jerry Baker during a Wooster City Council meeting. That project has since dissolved.

Wooster mayor: COVID numbers under control; looks to return to normalcy in 2021

Cleveland Clinic: Wooster outpatient surgery center ranked among tops in nation

Shelly Flint, human resources director at Schaeffler, said the unemployment rate in Wayne County is very low, and many businesses Schaeffler included are hiring. As businesses continue to hire associations, affordable housing will be an important part of a potential employee's decision to relocate to the Wooster area.

"Affordable housing must be a focus for our community," Flint said in an email statement."... When new employees move to our community, it is very positive for our local economy. Additionally, revitalizing areas and improving vacant lots make our Wooster community even more attractive."

Those businesses said having available and affordable housing will allow them to retain quality workers.

"Housing has been and continues to be a significant issue in the community," Starlin said.

The city and the county havedone a great job of taking care of blights that were beyond repair, Boreman said.Those homes have been taken out of the stock of available homes. There hasn't yet been the opportunity to replenish some of those homes, which is what this group of developers is looking to do, he explained.

"This is just one of probably hundreds of homes that we need in this community," Boreman said.

Reach Samantha at 330-287-1626

Email: Samantha.Ickes@the-daily-record.com

On Twitter: @SamanthaKIckes

Go here to see the original:
New project aims to invest in the community, provide more affordable housing - Wooster Daily Record

Investors focused on the Construction space have likely heard of Winnebago Industries (WGO Quick QuoteWGO - Free Report) , but is the stock performing well in comparison to the rest of its sector peers? A quick glance at the company's year-to-date performance in comparison to the rest of the Construction sector should help us answer this question.

Winnebago Industries is one of 104 individual stocks in the Construction sector. Collectively, these companies sit at #2 in the Zacks Sector Rank. The Zacks Sector Rank includes 16 different groups and is listed in order from best to worst in terms of the average Zacks Rank of the individual companies within each of these sectors.

The Zacks Rank is a proven model that highlights a variety of stocks with the right characteristics to outperform the market over the next one to three months. The system emphasizes earnings estimate revisions and favors companies with improving earnings outlooks. WGO is currently sporting a Zacks Rank of #1 (Strong Buy).

Within the past quarter, the Zacks Consensus Estimate for WGO's full-year earnings has moved 43.22% higher. This means that analyst sentiment is stronger and the stock's earnings outlook is improving.

According to our latest data, WGO has moved about 23.33% on a year-to-date basis. At the same time, Construction stocks have gained an average of 21.47%. As we can see, Winnebago Industries is performing better than its sector in the calendar year.

To break things down more, WGO belongs to the Building Products - Mobile Homes and RV Builders industry, a group that includes 4 individual companies and currently sits at #4 in the Zacks Industry Rank. On average, stocks in this group have gained 22.02% this year, meaning that WGO is performing better in terms of year-to-date returns.

WGO will likely be looking to continue its solid performance, so investors interested in Construction stocks should continue to pay close attention to the company.

More here:
Is Winnebago Industries (WGO) Outperforming Other Construction Stocks This Year? - Zacks.com

PINELLAS PARK The tornado that tore through mid-Pinellas County on Wednesday was the most powerful to hit the area in nearly three decades.

That twister was officially classified as an F2 on the Fujita scale by the National Weather Service. Also known as the FujitaPearson scale, thats how meteorologists rate the intensity of tornadoes according to how much damage they inflict.

That means its the most powerful tornado to strike the county since the deadly 1992 tornadoes that touched down in Pinellas Park.

Two tornadoes, rated an F2 and an F3, hit the area on Oct. 3, 1992. They killed four people, injured 130 and destroyed or severely damaged hundreds of homes and mobile homes, according to a National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration report. The Fujita scale changed in 2007, but those were still powerful tornadoes by any measure.

But there were no fatalities or injuries reported after Wednesdays tornado strike, which damaged businesses, tore up roofs, knocked down trees and cut off the power to up to 14,000 customers.

Spectrum Bay News 9 chief meteorologist Mike Clay said Thursday that the region is fortunate no one was killed or seriously injured. He noted that after damaging Seminole and Pinellas Park, the tornado then moved into the waters of Tampa Bay and passed near the Howard Frankland Bridge during rush hour.

Were very lucky that it didnt hit any cars on the Howard Frankland Bridge, he said. There were probably 80 cars on the bridge when it came by and just missed it.

Wednesdays tornado touched down at 3:49 p.m., generated peak winds of 125 mph and traveled 13 miles before it entered the bay.

By comparison, the strongest tornado that hit in 1992 had maximum winds of up to 206 mph and traveled a length of three miles.

The 1992 tornadoes were also notable for this: President George H. W. Bush made a campaign stop in Pinellas County just an hour before the tornadoes hit. Air Force One was able to take off just before things got bad.

Read the rest here:
The tornado that hit Pinellas was the most powerful in 28 years - Tampa Bay Times