LAUREL to Councilmember MARK TREYGER for securing $850,000 in city funds to fight gun violence in Brooklyns Coney Island neighborhood. The money, which came from the City Council discretionary budget, as well as a $300,000 grant from the city and $250,000 from the state. The funds are earmarked for expanding the mayors anti-gun violence Crisis Management System throughout Coney Island and funding the Coney Island Anti-Violence Collaborative and other local organizations. The neighborhood has seen an uptick in shootings, making it an outlier in Brooklyn South, where shootings are down 23 percent this year. Coney Island, historically, has been very much an under-resourced community, Treyger told Brooklyn Eagle. Were working to make sure Coney Island is never under-resourced again.

DART to the DEPARTMENT OF BUILDINGS, which, a month after an outcry from homeowners who were hit with violations from the department due to deteriorating retaining walls adjoining their properties, has yet to rescind the notices. The department promised to void the violations, but that still hasnt happened, according to Assemblymember William Colton. A spokesperson for the DOB has said the notices will be rescinded once the New York City Transit Authority confirms they will take responsibility for the retaining walls at each of the properties. In the meantime, homeowners with violations could have trouble selling their properties or obtaining loans through no fault of their own.

DART to the DEPARTMENT OF TRANSPORTATION, which has said it will take two years to implement a plan to address the traffic nightmare unfolding every day outside of the $1.9 billion Essex Crossing development on the Lower East Side. Drivers at Clinton and Grand get backed up for blocks as they wait for pedestrians to cross, creating a cacophony of horns that residents say lasts long into the night. The DOT plans to open a second lane for traffic on Norfolk, and to ban right turns at the busy intersection, but says those changes will take at least two years to implement. The whole thing sucks, resident Leah Strock told Gothamist. I would invite you to come over and sleep at my apartment. The only time its ever quiet is Sunday morning, for about two hours.

LAUREL to performance artist DAVID DATUNA, who ate a $120,000 banana duct-taped to a wall at Art Basel in Miami last weekend. The piece drew huge crowds, generated media attention and eventually sold for its ludicrously high asking price. Datuna, who opened a gallery in Long Island City in June, plucked the banana from the wall and took a bite as part of a performance he dubbed Hungry Artist. He later told People magazine, It was delicious. I say, bananas are meant to be eaten, not duct taped to walls and priced at $120,000. Datuna was right to take this absurd exhibition to the pinnacle of absurdity.

See the original post here:
Opinion from the Editors: Thursday, November 12 - Brooklyn Reporter

One of Windsors worst street bottlenecks and longstanding complaints from the cycling community is finally being remedied with construction of a bike-pedestrian tunnel under a CN Rail overpass.

The area is in the heart of the citys major north-south thoroughfare on Dougall Avenue a four-lane artery that feeds traffic from Windsors southern suburbs into Ouellette Avenue and the citys downtown, and vice versa.

While there are paths and sidewalks north and south of the overpass, there are only a couple of dirt goat paths used precariously by cyclists and the occasional pedestrian located immediately beside the busy commuter route.

In fact, the bottleneck has been dubbed the Dougall Death Trap, mainly a cautionary description because no actual cycling or pedestrian deaths have occurred there in recent memory.

However, after years of lobbying by the cycling community and others, city council approved the project and a related one immediately north that will create a signalized intersection at a merging corner that in fact has been the citys top non-signalized intersection for motor vehicle accidents.

The underpass, with local Amico the contractor, comes in at $6.2 million, and the intersection, with nearby LaSalles Sterling Ridge undertaking the work, is $1.3 million. The two sites are located within what city planners officially describe as Windsors Central Box.

But it took many months of negotiations with CN Rail before work could begin. Thats because the roughly 30-metre long tunnel had to be cut at an angle under the busy CN track which sees back and forth shunting to the nearby Van de Water rail yard.

But instead of boring through the embankment engineers on the design-build project thought it more efficient to excavate from the top down to the ground.

To do this they had to temporarily remove over 30 meters of rail track. To impede train movements as little as possible this work had to be done in a marathon 48-hour weekend blitz. This occurred in late November when the rail line was shut down at noon on a Friday and re-opened Sunday night.

Crews used two-352 excavators and, for safety reasons, dug in a trapezoidal fashion from 33 metres wide at the top to a depth of eight metres and six metres wide at base.

Roughly at 12:15 p.m. we started excavating the material and hauling it to our dumping site and that roughly took about 6.5 hours, Amicos project manager Dan Krueger said. Some contaminated soil, expected after decades of railway use, was found and disposed of.

This was followed by the laying of a granular base which took about three hours. Then Amico installed the precast box culvert sections, which took about 20 hours.

The 14 sections 4.1 metres tall and six metres wide (with inside dimensions three metres tall by five metres wide) and manufactured by Anchor Concrete of Kingston, ON. were lifted into place by a 200-tonne crane.

We just rigged it up with some little hooks on the top and just move into place, Krueger said.

The final step was waterproofing with a rubberized membrane along with the installation of protection and drainage boards to prevent water intrusion. The water will drain along the sides to sub drains and then into roadside catch basins on Dougall Ave.

Meanwhile crews had already completed work building the 300-metre retaining wall along the CN embankment, separating the hill from the new multi-use bike and pedestrian trail which will flow from the tunnel.

The trail itself will be 3.5 metres wide bordered from the street by a one-metre wide stamped concrete buffer and separated from the retaining wall by a 0.75-metre concrete buffer. And the retaining wall varies in height between 1.5 metres and 2.5 metres with a 1.2-metre high railing on top.

We will have a one-metre stamped concrete buffer strip so it just provides a little delineation between the edge of the trail and the curb, City of Windsor project manager Paul Mourad said.

Much of the underpass and trail work will be finished this fall with at least a granular trail laid, with final paving work and an official site opening next spring.

And, a project discussed for decades likely will be well received by pedestrians and especially the cycling community. They heavily promote active transportation so theyll be happy when this is done, Mourad said.

Read the original here:
Construction of tunnel to end Windsor's 'Dougall Death Trap' - Daily Commercial News

Following Alton City Council meetings has never been the highlight of excitement in ones life. However, cruising through the minutes and the agendas of 11-23-2019s meeting, we can read that Altons City Councill has approved TEMPORARY shelters and warming centers for the homeless and I can honestly say I dont know if this is a topic of conversation every winter, or if its because our homeless population has increased so much in the past few years, that it now has to be a topic of discussion.

Either way, I find myself torn with the word temporary. If you put tape over a leaky hole in a dam, thats a temporary fix, it will not hold for any extended period of time, eventually it will give away to the pressure. If we give the homeless population a temporary place to hunker down this winter, thats a great start, but what about their futures? Can we actually help them to receive public assistance? SSI? Housing? Free cell phones? Help them become independent members of society.

No, we are not responsible for their choices in the past, but as productive members of society I think we have a duty to help those less fortunate. After all, we dont know what their fight is; maybe they are fighting addiction, domestic violence, mental illness, sickness or theyre runaways looking for a place where they can be accepted; in any of these cases we should make getting help easier. Theres a 6 months wait at Centerstone, one of the only places that takes state insurance and offers MAT for addicts wishing to be in recovery and cant go cold turkey, they have mental health counseling, possible housing, transportation and free phones for clients. Alton Memorial offers a three-day detox, but there is at least a weeks wait to get a bed and even then its not coordinated with any clinics around here. While we should be grateful to have those services it is nowhere near good enough.

Prime example: There is a man I see sitting at Centerstone every day on my way to work. He lives at night in a doorway of a church that is blocked from the wind, hidden from view, a dumpster on one side and a cold brick wall on the other. I run into him all over town, but every day he gets up at 6 am, rolls up his house and walks over to Centerstone. I asked him one day last summer, why are you always up here? he replied, I signed up for housing, and theres a years wait. I come here every day hoping today's the day I get in and dont have to sleep outside. Six months later I still see him there every day. It made me realize how much we all take for granted, the simplest of things like heat, a house, a car, money to buy food. The basic necessities that separate us from an animal chained up outside in the winter. It saddens me that instead of our city headed in a direction of rejuvenation, of small business and its people -we have tried to ignore this problem for too long. Spring, summer, and fall the homeless are fine, cooling centers? We had none. Cold weather hits, our neighbors across the river have warm-up St. Louis that really starts at the end of summer, here it is December and Alton has just now approved warm centers and temporary shelters.

Educate yourself and drive through upper Alton, downtown and middle town, at any time of day (not the housing projects). Perhaps youll see People walking and carrying their belongings, their houses, pushing shopping carts, huddled in the back of stores by the dumpsters trying to keep warm, sitting on benches with their backs turned to the world trying to be invisible, panhandlers, people searching trash cans, beggars for food and drug addicts nodded out at bus stops or on the sidewalks leaned up against trees and retaining walls. The number of homeless seems to multiply by 2 every month, and as this problem becomes more prevalent I believe its time for a more permanent solution than the City Council TEMPORARY relief.

We have space, the buildings, and even places that throw all cooked unsold food out at the end of the day instead of donating it, and many restaurants use this practice. There is so much waste in this town, a waste of food, material objects, money, houses and time. Someone in power needs takes control and do something constructive about the suffering this population faces.

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Letter to the Editor: A Millennial Problem in This Old City - RiverBender.com

Before long, we will be ringing in a new decade and celebrating the start of 2020. A great deal of progress has been made within and surrounding Murdo this past year. Major projects for the community in 2019 included new sidewalks, a new facility for Jones County Elementary School (JCES) and the state Highway 83 highway improvement project.

These projects serve the community well, contribute to the curb appeal and invoke civic pride. Now, the communitys elders can use their walkers on the sidewalks to safely go down the street. Parents send their children to a school knowing they are being educated in a safe and secure facility. For those who travel between the communities of Murdo and White River, South Dakota Highway 83 will offer a new, safe roadway.

Before the contractors began the sidewalk project, the city submitted grant applications to the South Dakota Department of Transportation (SD-DOT). The planning for this project began approximately seven years ago and encountered snafus in funding approval. Finally, the city received approval for a program that encompassed a variety of smaller-scale transportation projects such as pedestrian and bicycle facilities, recreational trails [and] safe routes to school projects.

Krysti Barnes, finance officer for the city of Murdo, noted the program entails a split of the total cost18% to the city, 82% to the stateestimated at approximately $560,000. Anderson Contractors, Inc., Ft. Pierre, received the contract for the total construction of the project that encompassed eight blocks, including a retaining wall located south of JCES. The elements of this unusually wet year, delayed the start and affected project progress.

Anderson formed and poured the sidewalks with crosswalks that provide a smooth transition to the street, sloping to street level with a safety traction approach. This project is a work in progress and brings a better quality of life to many residents. If the weather doesnt present significant delays, the projected completion of this project is the spring or summer of 2020. In the future, the city hopes to obtain funding to proceed with installation of more sidewalks, interconnecting the community and offering a safe way to walk through the community to visit or to just take a stroll with friends.

JCES staff and students recently moved from the old school into the new, 16,900 square foot facility. It is a gem for the community and will serve the educational needs of children today and future generations. The former school opened in 1965 during the age of George Jetson. The new school boasts technology similar to that seen in the treasured 1962 sitcom. The new JCES utilizes wireless network technology and a public address system featuring two-way intercommunications in each classroom. The fire protection system includes sprinklers, smoke and heat detectors in addition to the security of a locked down facility. A central foyer allows administrators to properly vet visitors before obtaining access to the building.

Concerns for integrity of the structure arose in 2013, prompting an inspection of the building. The findings indicated damage to the masonry block structure, a result of the nature of shifting soils within the region. After extensive planning, the Jones County School Board committed to a final design, secured financing and hired a contractor in June 2017. The contractor projected a completion date to coincide with the start of the 2019 school year but extreme weather conditions caused delays. Lorrie Esmay, JCES principal and superintendent for Jones County Schools, shared the positive comments as everyone enjoys the new facility noting that staff and students quickly settled into the new building.

In the entry hall, an antique bell is proudly displayed along with its history in the Jones county educational system. The first school, built in 1906, started as a humble, three room structure clad in tar paper. As the need arose for a larger school, a two-story, clapboard sided structure replaced the three room school house in 1909. The new JCES sits upon the site of the former 1909 two-story schoolhouse and the bell, used to summon children to school a century ago, is returned to its original location.

The next project consists of razing the old JCES to make way for a new playground. Asbestos abatement crews plan to remove hazardous materials and demolition is slated for the summer of 2020. The school plans to install playground equipment and fencing on the 50 x 200 lot. The brick from the old school will be sold to raise funds for new playground equipment and used to build a new JCES sign. The new JCES provides a wonderful facility for the staff and students of today and tomorrow.

The South Dakota Department of Transportation (SD-DOT) commenced with a paving project on state Highway 83 from Murdo to White River earlier this year. Zandstra Construction, Inc., Rapid City, received the contract spanning from Jones into Mellette county over the course of two years. Zandstra continued with work until the arrival of cooler weather. According to Doug Sherman, SD-DOT area engineer, the project progresses in phases and includes a new bridge and two box culverts on the Jones county side. On the Mellette county side, there are two new bridges spanning the Little White and Big White Rivers and one box culvert. An interim surface, consisting of milled asphalt and gravel, receives a primer coat, oiling the roadway in a petroleum based product, then it receives a blotter finish, consisting of a thickened chip seal finish.

Next spring, construction crews plan to apply a finished surface over the established roadway as the traffic compacts the interim surface over time with varying temperatures, providing a solid and well established base resulting in a better finished surface. The distance of the paving project is from Murdo to White River is approximately 20 miles.

These three projects brought improvements to the infrastructure of the community, offering a facility to educate its children and improving transportation between the two communities. Murdo plans to continue with improving its infrastructure, to actively seek funding for other projects and further commit to developing and investing within the community.

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Murdo Projects Improve Infrastructure in Transportation and Education - Philip Pioneer Review

Report Synopsis

XploreMRoffers a 9-year forecast for the foundation repair services market between 2018 and 2027. In terms of value, the foundation repair services market is expected to register a lower single-digit CAGR during the forecast period.

This study demonstrates the global foundation repair services market dynamics and trends across six regions: North America, Latin America, Europe, Japan, APEJ and MEA, which influence the current nature and the future status of the foundation repair services market over the forecast period.

Report Description

This research report provides a detailed analysis of the foundation repair services market and offers insights on the various factors driving the popularity of foundation repair services. The report includes an extensive analysis of the key industry drivers, challenges, trends and structure of the foundation repair services market.

The foundation repair services market study provides a comprehensive assessment of stakeholder strategies and imperatives for succeeding in the foundation repair services business. The report segregates the foundation repair services market based on the end user, service type and different regions globally.

The foundation repair services report starts with an overview of the foundation repair services market in terms of value. In addition, this section includes an analysis of the key trends, drivers and challenges from the supply, demand and economy side, which are influencing the foundation repair services market.

The foundation repair services market is classified on the basis of end-user, service type and region. Based on end user, the foundation repair services market is segmented into residential and commercial. Based on service type, the foundation repair services market is segmented into settlement repair, wall repair, chimney repair, floor slab repair and others (retaining walls, slope stabilisation, grouting and soil nailing).

A detailed analysis has been provided for every segment of the foundation repair services market in terms of market size analysis for the foundation repair services market across different regions. This section provides a detailed analysis covering the key trends.

The next section of the foundation repair services market report contains a detailed analysis of the foundation repair services market across various countries and regions across the world. This study discusses the key trends within countries, which are contributing to the growth of the foundation repair services market, as well as analyses the degrees at which the drivers are influencing the foundation repair services market in each region.

The key regions and countries assessed in this report include North America (U.S. & Canada), Latin America (Brazil, Mexico & the rest of Latin America), Europe (Germany, U.K., Spain, France, Italy & the Rest of Europe), Japan, APEJ (China, India, Malaysia, Singapore, Australia and the rest of APEJ) and MEA (GCC Countries, Israel, South Africa, & the rest of MEA). The foundation repair services market report evaluates the present scenario and the growth prospects of the foundation repair services market across various regions globally for the forecast period.

To offer an accurate forecast, we have started by sizing the current market, which forms the basis of how the foundation repair services market will grow in the future. Given the characteristics of the foundation repair services market, we have triangulated the outcome of different types of analysis based on the technology trends.

In the final section of the report, we have included a competitive landscape to provide clients a dashboard view based on the categories of providers in the value chain, their presence in the foundation repair services market and key differentiators. This section is primarily designed to provide clients an objective and detailed comparative assessment of the key providers specific to a market segment in the foundation repair services supply chain and the potential players for the same.

Key Segments

By End User

Residential

Commercial

By Service Type

Settlement Repair

Wall Repair

Chimney Repair

Get Sample Copy of this report at https://www.xploremr.com/connectus/sample/3940

Floor Slab Repair

Others (retaining walls, slope stabilization, grouting, & soil nailing)

Key Regions covered:

North America

U.S.

Canada

Latin America

Brazil

Mexico

Rest of Latin America

Europe

Germany

U.K.

France

Spain

Italy

Rest of Europe

APEJ

China

India

Malaysia

Singapore

Get Discount on this report at https://www.xploremr.com/connectus/check-discount/3940

Australia

Rest of APEJ

Japan

MEA

GCC Countries

Israel

South Africa

Rest of MEA

Key Companies

BASIC FOUNDATION REPAIR

Foundation Repair Services, Inc.

Connecticut Basement Systems

Erics Concrete & Masonry Services Ltd.

Dwyer Companies

Supportworks, Inc.

SOS Foundation Repair

GROUNDWORK

MASTER SERVICE COMPANIES

RAM JACK SYSTEMS DISTRIBUTION

ADVANCED FOUNDATION REPAIR

BDRY

Maryland Building Industry Association

ARIZONA FOUNDATION SOLUTIONS

DFW FOUNDATION REPAIR SERVICES

ESOG.

Buy Full Report at https://www.xploremr.com/cart/3940/SL

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Foundation Repair Services Market : Report analyzes the segments and provides the relative contribution to the development 2018-2027 - Weekly Spy

Rescue personnel were busy Friday night responding to a series of accidents from Rennies Mill Road to Portugal Cove Road.

911 calls started coming in around 8:30 p.m. after a pickup truck had smashed into a utility pole. The driver, a man in his 40s, was out of the vehicle and walking around when rescue crews arrived. He was taken to hospital. He will be chargedwith failing to remain at the scene of an accident, police say further charges are anticipated.

The cap of the truck was located not far away. It appears it was ripped off the vehicle when it struck a brick retaining wall. Bricks and stones were thrown into the street.

Farther south a number of parked cars had been struck. The entire route from the parked cars to the trucks final resting place was littered with fluids and vehicle parts.

Continued here:
Driver charged after pickup truck leaves path of destruction through St. John's - NTV News

Beautiful Brick 2 Story offering over 2,500 of finished square feet located on a cul-de-sac. This home has many updates & features incl: Wood floors, updated kitchen w/ granite counters, tile backsplash, under mount sink, island w/ breakfast bar & butcher block top, SS appliances, walk in pantry, built in coat bench, kitchen coffee bar/hutch, updated 1/2 bath on main, large great room w/updated WB fireplace, mf laundry, french doors leading to large deck & fenced-in yard w/ basketball court/patio, & oversized, rear entry 2 car garage. Upstairs is complete with 4 beds, 3.5 baths, & a loft perfect for a playroom or office. Wood floors throughout upstairs too! Updated master bath w/ plank tile flooring, separate whirlpool tub + shower. Master bedroom features crown molding and a walk-in closet w/ custom built in shelving. All this plus new roof 16, new windows 14. The basement includes a rough-in and is the perfect space for your custom finishes. Call today for your private showing!

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Homes Recently Listed in the St. Louis Area - Kenosha News

Photo by Earl Noble

The driver of a pickup truck left a trail of destruction after crashing multiple times last evening.

The driver of the truck, a man, was taken to hospital with unknown injuries after crashing his vehicle at least three separate times. The first collision, which happened on Rennies Mill Road near Bannerman Park, left a parked car with significant damage and debris strewn across the road. A third vehicle was also, struck, causing only minor damage.

A short while later the same truck left the road and crashed into a retaining wall at the intersection of Portugal Cove Road and Glenridge Crescent , sending stone flying and dislodging the cap from over the trucks bed.

Photo by Earl Noble

The truck finally came to a stop up the road at the corner of First Avenue and Portugal Cove Road, after it crossed oncoming traffic and collided with a telephone pole. The three separate impacts caused extensive damage to the vehicle.

A resident in the area reported hearing tires squealing prior to a loud bang, which was followed by squealing tires once again.

The driver, a man in his 40s, has been charged with failure to remain at the scene of an accident. Police say further charges are anticipated.

Photo by Earl Noble

Read this article:
Driver Charged Following Three Separate Crashes in St. John's - VOCM

Cantilever walls are commonly built to retain soil or similar earth material to ensure the structural integrity of a project site. There are several important factors that need to be considered when designing a retaining wall using a cantilever block system.

When calculating the pressures exerted at any point of the cantilever wall during the design process, its important to consider factors such as the height of the water table, the nature and type of soil, the subsoil water movements, type of wall being constructed, and the materials used in the construction of the wall, all of which can have an impact on the stability of the structure.

Failure to do so can result in problematic outcomes post-construction including the wall moving into a sloping position or exhibiting a curve on its surface, appearance of a crack, or collapse of the entire wall. Consulting with a professional such as a builder or an engineer on the correct methods of preparation and installation is recommended.

The cantilever block systems from Baines Masonry Blocks deliver the structural integrity required to secure a project while providing an aesthetically pleasing design to suit any style.

Baines Masonry provides a one-stop-shop solution for all retaining wall needs, with a range of supplementary SRW products including geofabrics and other soil containing solutions.

Image: Mackintosh Photography

Read the original here:
Designing retaining walls using cantilever block systems - Architecture and Design

In this episode: A story about trash and dirt flowing from one side of the U.S.-Mexico border to the other, and two guys plan to stop it.

The state of California spends $1.8 million annually on a system that keeps trash and dirt from clogging up the estuary in Border Field State Park, a park that butts up against the U.S.-Mexico border fence.

The agency that takes care of the park, the Tijuana River National Estuarine Research Reserve, says the system has stopped approximately 2 million pounds of debris from entering the environmentally sensitive estuary.

But the trash just keeps coming and coming, pouring through a culvert under the border that's connected to polluted canyons in Tijuana. And perpetually managing the pricey problem instead of actually solving the problem seems like the forever plan.

That is, unless Steven Wright and Waylon Matsons idea gets funded. The environmentalists want to use re-purposed trash from the canyon to build retaining walls and other structures in Tijuana's Los Laureles canyon that would prevent the trash and dirt from reaching the U.S. in the first place.

The hills bleed trash.

At least, thats what it looks like from Jorge Ibaez nursery.

Clip 1 Nursery Dude"were one of the small nursery that works with native plants, and thats the plant thats used a lot so the canyons don't erode.

Standing on Jorges plant-filled perch on a hillside of Los Laureles canyon in Tijuana, theres a clear view of about a half dozen illegal dump sites. People who live on the mesas above have for decades dumped trash into the canyon below.

Music bump

In the beginning, Los Laurels was a slum where waves of migrants unable to cross to the U.S. have taken up shelter in shoddy shacks they hastily build for themselves. Those dumping the trash from above care little about those below who are forced to live in it.

Over the years, the slum has grown into a recognized Tijuana neighborhood, with water pipes and electricity lines connecting it to the city that once pretended it didnt exist. Theres even trash pickup now, unreliable, but its there.

Nicer houses, taco shops and small businesses like Jorges have popped up here, too.

Adela Pinata Clip 0

Adela Bonilla runs a pinata and craft shop near the bottom of the canyon.

Adela Pinata Clip 1 "This is a studio/workshop for recyclables. I work with recycled things. I make artisanal crafts, artistic piatas.

And yet, no matter how much the neighborhood grows and gets better, the flow of rainbow-colored trash keeps coming plastic bottles and bags cascading down the hillsides and flowing through the center of town Other peoples junk cutting deep gullies into the eroding earth beneath it.

Natsound: rain

When it rains, the trash is swept up in a swelling stream that runs right through the middle of Los Laureles canyon.

Natsound: flowing water/creak

The flow pushes through the neighborhood, then under the six-laned highway leading from Tijuana to Ensenada.

Natsound: Highway traffic

From there, it cuts through a culvert running underneath the international border fence.

Once the trash and sediment-filled water hits the U.S., its in a wildlife reserve.

Natsound from Border Field State Park

The state of California spends $1.8 million annually on a system that keeps that trash and dirt from slipping too far into the park. They use small ponds to catch the sediment and a fence stretched across the ponds catches the plastics.

The Tijuana River Research Reserve, the agency that takes care of the park, says the system has stopped approximately 2 million pounds of debris from entering the environmentally sensitive estuary.

Natsound: Border Field State Park

But the trash just keeps coming and coming... And perpetually managing the pricey problem instead of actually solving the problem seems like the forever plan.

That is Unless Steven Wright and Waylon Matsons idea gets funded. The environmentalists want to use repurposed trash from the canyon to build retaining walls and other structures in Los Laureles that would prevent the trash and dirt from reaching the U.S. in the first place. ****Fourwalls 3 Clip 53...This this tire retaining wall. You see here. This was a really good but I retaining was a really good example of the economics behind it. Right? So the this tire wall has I believe it's 450 or 500 scrap tires in it and about 67 cubic yards of sediment and we built it for $3500 true cost that's including wailing in time if that same quantity of material had crossed into the sediment ponds. It would have been 9,500 to clean up. So therein lies the relatively simple math. ***Fourwalls 3 Clip 54This is you know, the Border. Yeah, so Why spend dollars if you can spend pesos. Good question.Im Alan Lilienthal, and youre listening to Only Here, a KPBS podcast about the unexplored subcultures, creativity and struggles at the U.S.-Mexico border.

Today, a story about trash and dirt flowing from one side of the border to the other, and two guys plan to stop it.

More after the break.

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When it rains, ginormous flows of raw sewage from Tijuana often overwhelm the sewer system and end up flushing through the canyons and tijuana estuary, eventually dumping into the Pacific Ocean, washing up on beaches in San Diego. Newsclip on sewage Its a huge problem. But its not the problem Steven Wright and Waylin Matson are trying to solve. The two are laser-focused on solving something different, but intertwined -- the cross-border flow of trash and sediment from Los Laureles canyon. Natsound of driving in vanSteven and Waylins old van kicks up billows of dust as we drive up a steep dirt road in Border Field State Park, a park at the southwestern-most tip of the united states.

Natsound of Border Field State Park Were at the place where the border fence dives into the Ocean. And once we get to the top of the hill, Steve points out the views of Los Laureles canyon on the south side of the fence, and the sediment ponds on the north side. 180 View Clip The Mexican side is densely populated and bustling, filled with people and cars. In stark contrast: The American side is empty, except for a few birds and one border patrol agent sitting in a truck parked below. Fourwalls 1 Clip 3 Steve: because Spooner's Mesa is the spot where you can. Show people visually geographically why and how work Upstream in Tijuana would directly benefit California in the United States, San Diego.Steven and Waylin are both tan and leathery from working out in the sun. Their hands are calloused. They look like they work in construction, but sound like Southern California surfers. They love being outside. Natsound of driving in vanWhile we drive, Waylin constantly scans the horizon, looking for American kestrels, small falcons that call the park home.

Fourwalls 1 Kestral SightingThere's one right there.

Waylin named his baby daughter Kestrel. Thats how much he loves the birds. Natsound of driving in vanSteven and Waylin have spent a lot of time in Tijuana, tromping around Los Laureles canyon. The neighborhoods residents are now close friends. And there are some things they can't unsee after their time here. The dead pig floating through the middle of the neighborhood, so bloated the little guy looked like he was about to explode. The kids playing next to water so green it looks like its glowing. Hypodermic needles and other biowaste washing through the neighborhood. The migrants losing their homes and all of their belongings when it rains because the hillsides cave in. They finally -- finally -- they think theyve pinpointed a real, lasting solution. But It took them some time to get here. Music bump Steven and Waylin met on a rugby pitch at college in Riverside, California. They were immediately struck by their similarities. Fourwalls 1 Clip 23Steve: Yeah, we're Star Brothers for sure. It's pretty cool. Born on the exact same day, the exact same year, thousands of miles apart, the two grew up chasing critters and running through forests -- hardcore nature boys right from the start. Both knew early on that they wanted to save the world. They were early environmentalists.And the border region hit Steven and Waylins radar early, too. Both took family trips to Mexico when they were young. And Stevens first-ever trip south with his family pressed a firm imprint on his brain. It was one he could never shake. ********Fourwalls 1 Clip 22Steve: . my dad's a geography teacher. They challenged me, if I memorized all the state capitals that give me 40 bucks to go buy a whip and some cowboy boots down in Tijuana. And maybe six and so yeah, so I memorized them. I got it. I got the money we went down and that was really the first time I'd ever seen like just crushing poverty. There's a lot of folks on the street. I never really seen anything like that seen a lot of kids my age around the street, and so long story short. I gave all my money away and then my parents thought that was good. They bought me the Whip and the boots anyway,Those two things -- their love of nature and the border -- would end up shaping the rest of Steven and Waylins lives. They just didnt know it yet.MUSIC BUMPThe two became close friends in college, but went separate ways after graduating. Almost a year went by, and then Waylin called up Steven on a whim. They got to talking and found out they were both thinking about starting environmental nonprofits. They met up at a coffee shop with some colored pencils, drew up a logo and wrote down the four pillars of their future nonprofit -- shelter, self-reliance, sustainability and community. And that was the start of their new thing -- a nonprofit they called 4 Walls International. At first, they focused on building single-family homes for people in need in places like Mexico and Columbia, teaching themselves and their volunteers how to turn trash into sustainable building materials. ****Fourwalls 1 Clip 26Steve: And really it's a hell of a thing to unite a whole community and sweat and bleed together and work together and one of the things we've learned, you know, is that well when you're doing that together for a project. Potentially only is benefiting one family. Did it can kind of lead to splintering within those groups are those Community groups of them Community. It's really better as far as a leverage point of entry point if it's a public and that's really where the experimentation with the binational placemaking program.That right there - the splintering some of their projects were causing in the communities in which they were building -- it led to a big pivot. They started focusing on public instead of private projects. And they really started involving the community through the entire process, from identifying the need, to planning the design and then actually helping build the thing. They built a few small public parks. One right near the border fence in Border Field State Park. For that project, they used about 4,000 plastic bottles filled with trash they collected from the sediment basins, plus 250 old rubber tires.

The repurposed trash is covered in plaster that makes it indistinguishable from more traditional building materials.Fourwalls 1 Clip 2 Steve: It used to be really foreboding place there was two black chain link fences here that pretty much covered everything out and that border field state parks. I was in front and there's just a simple the normal sign and when we were working here, man, you can't you can't imagine how many people would come up and just turn around we thought the place was closed right and we saw a lot of cross-country trips or like north-south trips that there they were planning to end here and they just turned around for the thought. It was closed. So we kind of got charged with the task of opening this up when we took the fences down and we built a bunch of park infrastructure and signage here with trash out of the sediment basins, which was released shortly. Okay. And And on the other side of the border in Los Laureles canyon, they built some small public projects too -- like an outdoor basketball court surrounded by murals. They also built a small workshop space that some of the women in the neighborhood could use to make crafts and other things to sell. *********Fourwalls 1 Clip 27Steve: it really the biggest key to long-term sustainability to these projects. Is that there's a high degree of ownership by the community, you know, the our golden rule is don't do anything about me without me and the second Golden Rule is under promise over perform. because a lot of especially when you work in some of these communities you can't I mean they get too big it made promises all day every day all the time politicians, NGO groups, academic whatever they promises all the time and it is there's not always the follow-through so. So yeah, those are our important rules as far as the. Our building techniques in our strategy and everything we do is sustainable, but for it to really be sustainable. It's got to be the community making the decisions and it financially needs to be sustainable which is led us to that final pivot Those community projects Steve and Waylin were doing were amazing.But they were small and werent leading to any large-scale, long-term change. They were using repurposed trash to build nice public places, but then new trash and dirt just started piling up all around these spots. It was frustrating. So they hit the pause button. And now, theyve turned their attention to the thing they think both the people of Los Laureles and the trash problem need most.money. *******Fourwalls 1: Clip 28Steve: We could have been going we could go at the rate we've been going for the next hundred years and not really even make a dent. We knew that it has to go. It has to go way up a level in several levels and very quickly. Yeah.More on that when we come back.

Midroll Ad

Natsound of driving in vanSteven and Waylin leave Border Field State Park and drive through the international border crossing. Today, theres a line of vehicles snaking their way into Mexico, so it takes about 20 minutes to make our way through the cameras and speed bumps and the other intimidating infrastructure that makes up the crossing. Natsound: Crossing through border After navigating through downtown Tijuana traffic, they drive back toward the border, down a steep, bumpy road into Los Laureles canyon. Natsound of driving in vanTrash. Is. Everywhere. But so are examples of people using the trash in creative ways. Stacks of old rubber tires are common here, mostly serving as retaining walls to stem the erosion. We drive by a set of tires painted hot pink and serving as a decorative fence in the front yard of a small house.Across the stream from the pink fence, in the center of the canyon, a retaining wall made of discarded tires is literally holding up a triangle-shaped patch of land underneath a shack that looks like itll be wiped out once the rainy season begins. *****Fourwalls 2 Clip 43You'll see there's a lot of you knows retaining walls built with tires and stuff is but there's a couple things that could be done engineering wise. They make a little more secure and make them really advantageous and not necessarily dangerous. Some of them can be kind of dangerous. We've been down here like in the winter and walls have collapsed and I crushed houses with people sleeping in them and stuff like that. So,Our first stop is the shop where Adela Bonilla makes pinatas and other goods, many from recyclables she finds in the canyon. Adela wears an apron and a big smile. She stands below huge pinatas made in the shape of childrens cartoon characters, like Pikachu and Mario. Natsound: Arriving at Pinata ShopClip 3: Those are bottles, transformed into. (Alan: you could drink wine from em), hahaha no it could be a flower vase or other things

Clip 4: those are wallets made from old plastic bags, they have no colorants, just the bags.

Clip 5: These are bags made from intimate towels, its made from the wrappersA few years back, Steven and Waylin partnered with Adela and other women who live in the canyon to build the shop out of glass and plastic bottles stuffed with trash. The building is beautiful and the only hint that its made of trash are the colored glass bottles in the ceiling they purposely left exposed.Clip about building and cost Theres more for us to see deeper into the canyon, so we say goodbyeClip saying goodbye and pile back into the van. Natsound getting back into van Steven and Waylin want to show me and Only Here producers Kinsee Morlan and Emily Jankowski the three areas where they want to build structures to stop the flow of trash and dirt. Van nat sound They call the areas hot spots and hardpoints. Fourwalls 3 Clip 47... this is one of those hardpoints. Can you just you see there's clandestine dump sites that use it for this right here is that this will become a whole mound of trash bags for trash pickup. And so what happens is I. As you can tell there's plenty that's left behind and these are all bottles that would float across. The spot is a total mess. A tunnel the city installed sped up the water flow, which made the erosion here worse. A few old chairs sit at the center of whats become a large pile of plastic bottles, bags and other junk. To us, the situation feels overwhelming. But Steve and Waylin see opportunity. One mans trash is another mans treasure, as they say. In this case, they see building materials.*****Fourwalls 2 Clip 40Bottle bricks is what you're seeing, they just haven't been processed yet. Kinsee: laughs. Ha. That's one way to look at it. Music BumpThe guys want to transform the trash-bleeding, eroding hillsides of Los Laureles into beautiful terraced landscapes. terraces built from the very trash currently clogging it up. And they want to pay the people who live in Los Laureles -- many of them new migrants who got stuck in Tijuana as they tried to cross the border -- to do the work of collecting glass and plastic bottles and stuffing them with trash from the canyon. ***Fourwalls 3 Clip 48 NEWKinsee: So.I look at what I see and I just think it's hopeless but that's not what you see? Steven: No it's not hopeless, man. I Mean, there's like I said, there's tens if not hundreds of thousands of people that would work their ass off to clean up the Watershed, they just need the right opportunities. I mean as long as we're all like going to you know, implicitly uphold this system, then we can all agree that opportunity and upward Mobility are good things, right? So we need to provide everything is just it's like the same problem ever it's access and not you know,Kinsee: so you look at this and you see jobs? Waylin: The world is littered with opportunity Steven: because this shit is everywhere when we can. Transform a relatively simple and relatively cheaply a lot cheaper than digging it out later retroactively. That's for sure. Steven and Waylin think that once word gets out about trash equalling money, a lot of the illegal dumping problems will be resolved. Trash will be seen as more of a commodity. *****Fourwalls 1 Clip 9. So you very rarely find aluminum can in the river because it has value.*****Fourwalls 2 Clip 41Waylin: You know, the only naysayer, I think I've ever heard was what you gonna do when they run out of trash around. Well, they're not just pack up and move on somewhere else. Will they haven't finished their trash situation is kind of nice a comment. I think I've ever heard would be what are you going to do? When someone thinks they can do it better than you and wants to start a competitive business. That's when we say absolutely great. That's awesome. That's all compete for this stuff. Let's overfish it and mind the crap out of it just like we're good at and yeah by all means compete over it, you know Drive the price of it down make it more obtainable and let's just cut the stuff off.Music fade Natsound: border field state parkWhen Steven and Waylin look at the sediment ponds back on the other side of the border at Border Field State Park, they see so many ways to save tons of money, it seems ridiculous. Because all that trash and dirt that flows from Mexico to the U.S.. every year the state pays to get it scooped up, sifted and then piled up south of the pond. The price tag for that process is almost 2 million a year. Nature sound Steven and Waylin say they can spend a fraction of that money to pay people in Los Laureles to help build structures in the canyon -- and eventually other canyons in Tijuana. They say the projects could stop most of the trash and sediment from ever getting to the U.S.*****Fourwalls 1 Clip 7There's a lot of money spent to clean this up downstream. So kind of working backwards from that we can figure out a value to this stuff...The idea is straight-forward enough, but the execution is tricky. MUSIC BUMP: mischief ****Fourwalls 3 Clip 49Alright, are you guys ready? ready for what? Ahhhh! Oh my god.Steven and Waylin drive up a steep, narrow dirt road that looks precarious at best. The hillside it snakes up on is eroding and it looks like our van could be the thing that washes away the road for good. Were heading to Jorge Ibanezs native plant nursery.Natsound of getting to Jorges place, closing car doors Fourwalls 3 17:17 - 18:10Fourwalls 3 Clip 55So this is a very first project we ever built in Tijuana. It's was just native plant nursery the that's what to eat this. So this like I said, it's built with about 500 scrap tires. Same thing you saw on that that retaining wall here. It's got Earth. It's packed out with Adobe mud, and it's got an Earthen plaster on it. It's made of cactus juice. Every free minute and then I thought this was about the same size group about 13 people mostly ladies and then build this originally as an office space. It is sort of become like the catch-all shed for all the work that happens here...Steven and Waylin want Jorge and others here to help stem erosion by filling the terraces theyll build with the native plants he grows.Jorge clip in Spanish, Alan translatesNatsound: Saying goodbye, getting back into vanFrom the nursery, we keep driving into the canyon, where we see another project the guys helped build. ****Fourwalls 3 Clip 52{chatter in background} This is a little park project Oh, they put a fence up. This was the last Brick-and-mortar project we did in TJ before we decided we weren't going to build anything until we knew we could be here for several years and not stop. We drive even deeper into the canyon and Steven and Waylin show us two more hot spots where they envision focusing most of their efforts. The last spot is near a church that serves as a shelter for homeless migrants, many of them from Haiti and Central America. Clip: Arriving at shelter Basically were going to a place, a migrant shelter. Pastro gustavo has seen it al. the region has become known as little haiti. ...tents jammed up in there. And theres a lot of kids in there. The smell here is very intense thanks to a nearby farm and the extremely polluted waterway.Clip from last hotspot here Yeah, thats some funky green right there. Anyway, this is another one of the hotspots.theres just a lot of need here and definitely a lot of people whod be willing to work really hard. Steven and Waylin see the homeless migrants as the perfect workforce. They envision being able to pay them to walk through the canyon and pick up bottles. If they stuff the bottles with trash, theyll get more money for them. Then theyll use the bottles as bricks in their erosion-control projects. ******Fourwalls 2 Clip 37Steve: So we're going to be creating lots of jobs for a lot of people that call this place home. But there's also an opportunity to create jobs for migrants that are being forced to await their asylum claims on this side of the border.So now, they just need the money. But getting money from government agencies and grantors in the U.S and spending it on projects in Mexico -- thats where things get difficult. Steven and Waylin, though... they think theyve found a way to get the money flowing from north of the border to south. Fourwalls 1 Clip 5Well, The Border impact bond is a way to create jobs and economic incentives upstream in Tijuana to reduce government spending downstream and while improving environmental and Public Health on both sides of the line. Music bump to give money part momentum Thats the elevator pitch for the social impact bond theyve dreamed up. A social impact bond is basically a contract with a government agency. That agency then pays for better social outcomes in certain areas in need and passes on part of the savings to investors who bought into the bond. Steven and Waylin have identified a few government agencies that would benefit and save money from a contract like this. And for investors who buy into the idea, the bond is a way to make some money and pay for something thats good for the environment at the same time. They can feel warm and fuzzy about how theyre using their money.Not everyone is able to fully understand the plan, though. It confuses a lot of people. But thats why Steve and Waylin take potential investors and reps from government agencies on tours of Border Field State Park and Los Laureles canyon, just like the one were on today. Natsound: Inside VanOnce people see the situation on the ground with their own eyes, the idea starts making a lot more sense. Fourwalls 1 Clip 15.. you know Steve I have been doing this for a long time and about four years ago we were introduced to these market-based approaches to conservation which it with impact bonds being one. And we realized right then and there that this the only way that we can scale our work up, is by is a guy by front-loading private impact investment that that there's you know, there's billions of dollars in the ESG Market which is environment sustainability and governance, which is what you know governments around the world companies are all refocusing on in their Investments, you know, people don't want to invest in oil anymore. And so we want to be able to capitalize on that to be able to front-load the cost of these interventions with the idea of then saying repayment would be structured around our performance. So if if we are very successful we would see a higher return rate to our into the investment Steven and Waylin just got $70k from a federal border program run by the United States Environmental Protection Agency.

Optimistic music bump

That money will help fund the planning stage of the project. Soon, theyll begin holding workshops with people in Los Laureles and coming up with designs.But the last piece of the puzzle has yet to fall in place. They still need a government agency to step up and sign on to the border bond. They say theres too much at stake and are confident it will happen. Fourwalls 2 Clip 38Steve: because what political entity doesn't want that handshake and photo at the end of it? Fourwalls 2 Clip 39Steve: This is a bipartisan solution. You have serious measurable social environmental benefits right for the left. Then you have a fiscally responsible reduction in government spending to the right. So those things together. I mean this is conceptually, it's it's a very bipartisan solution to these problems.Music bump

Next episode teaser

Next time on the podcast. we continue our border-art series with a story about an opera singer whos painting a picture of border culture through song.

******Anishka 1 Clip 12And, uh, I started to realize that this was like. This was a thing. This was a thing that people were interested in and that it felt really good to talk about our border experiences in other places, and that there was fear. And, um, for lack of a better word, ignorance on both sides of the wall.

Anishka Lee-Skorepa wants to break cultural barriers surrounding both the border and opera music.

Show credits

Only Here is a KPBS podcast hosted by me Alan Lilienthal. It was written and produced by Kinsee Morlan. Emily Jankowski is the director of sound design. Lisa Morrissette is operations manager and John Decker is the director of programming.

KPBS podcasts are made possible by listeners like you. Go to kpbs DOT org to make a donation or become a member today.

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Slowing The Flow (Only Here) - KPBS