Most of us understand the importance of fairness early in life. Whether it’s an umpire’s call in Little League or a teacher’s grading in elementary school, we all intuitively know that fairness is a big deal.
Happy Holidays & End-of-Year News
Hope you are reading this at your leisure while relaxing with loved ones. Happy holidays and thanks for your support of our little construction information business for another year.
The end of 2018 is not is still busy with RFPs and interviews that will carry over into a running start to 2019. CMU is taking proposals from PJ Dick, Massaro and Mosites on its next new dormitory, a $45 million residence hall to be built along Forbes Ave. near Beeler. Duquesne University selected PJ Dick for its renovation of the A. J. Palumbo Center. Volpatt Construction was awarded the $4.5 million 2 South Renovation project at Canonsburg General Hospital. Walsh Construction was the low bidder on the Section 55-C2-1 of the Southern Beltway at $174,300,000. Trumbull Corp. and Beaver Excavating were second and third at just over $183 million (separated by 0.1%).
Happy New Year!
Drew Parish (far left) from the Mario Lemieux Foundation accepts the $7,000 donation from the proceeds of MBA YC Holiday Party. Representing the YC are Sean Fischer from Massaro Corp., and the MBA’s Jack Ramage, Connie Churchel, and Mary Chuderewicz. Photo courtesy of Mario Lemieux Foundation.
High school basketball player benched for $857.20 check
One of the nation’s top girls high school basketball players appears likely to remain benched for her entire senior season after spending part of last summer playing with USA Basketball.
‘The Captain and Tennille’: Daryl Dragon dead at 76
Daryl Dragon, whose hits with Toni Tennille included “Love Will Keep Us Together” and “Muskrat Love,” has died.
How Safe Is Your Parking Lot?
Businesses can be held liable for injuries that occur on the premises, and that includes parking lots. Depending on the type of business you have, the parking lot may be the most dangerous area on your property. If your parking lot is not owned and managed by a third party and is therefore your responsibility, discuss parking lot safety with your business lawyer and business insurance agent.
Our knowledgeable agent at McGroarty & Bradburn Insurance in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania can help ensure that your business is protected against liability for parking lot injuries.
Parking Lot Problem Areas Business Owners Should Address
The following are common areas to address in a parking lot for the safety of your employees and clientele.
Proper Lighting
Crimes are committed less frequently during the daytime and in well-lit areas, so proper lighting can be an effective form of parking lot security. Better lighting in the parking lot can help protect your customers and employees, not to mention lower your business’s exposure to liability for parking lot injuries. A well-lit parking lot helps prevent not only crime but also pedestrian trip and fall accidents.
As stated by the National Institute of Justice (NIJ), improving lighting to prevent crime is grounded in:
- Situational crime prevention. This perspective focuses on reducing opportunities for crime, while at the same time increasing the potential offender’s perceived risk of apprehension.
- Informal social controls and community cohesion. These play a key role in crime prevention. Installing or improving lighting in a parking lot or other area is a sign of positive investment and signals that efforts are being made to increase safety. This may result in an increased interest among employees, customers, and visitors in watching over the area.
Visible Security Cameras
Criminals who know they are being recorded are much less likely to strike. Visible security cameras can go a long way toward deterring parking lot crime.
Security
Parking lot security is often overlooked. This is a major oversight, as the Bureau of Justice Statistics (BJS) has reported that more than one in 10 property crimes occur in parking lots or garages. According to the Women-Safe Network, 25% of rapes occur in a parking garage or public area. Posting security guards can significantly upgrade the security of your building, grounds, and parking lot. Although cellphones are common, installing an emergency phone that connects directly to the police can also help improve parking lot security.
Traffic Flow
Controlling the flow of traffic can minimize the risk of accidents by preventing cars from driving in the wrong direction. Installing speed bumps, marking parking spaces with visible lines, and designating separate entrances and exits can help you control traffic flow.
Parking Lot Layout
Your parking lot layout should include parking spaces large enough to accommodate most vehicles, with plenty of room for drivers to easily enter and depart. Well-designed pedestrian walkways placed in busy areas of the parking lot can remind drivers to anticipate stopping, discourage pedestrians from cutting across and conflicting with vehicle traffic, and help prevent pedestrian accidents.
The post How Safe Is Your Parking Lot? appeared first on McGroarty & Bradburn Insurance.
Kentucky’s only female police sniper stays cool under pressure
No matter the distance, police officer and sniper Sarah King hits her target every time.
Energy execs start new natural gas services firm
The company was started by veteran energy executives Matt Curry and Chris Combs.
Eds and Meds…Again
Putting the November/December edition of BreakingGround into production this week and I was struck by how much of the commercial real estate sector was being driven by the universities and hospitals. I’ve been hearing so much about “eds and meds” that I was sick of hearing the phrase; but…it’s one of those things that you hear too much of because it’s a real thing.
Here are a couple examples of projects that have barely received any coverage but are happening because of the economic engines of CMU and Pitt. The URA recently approved the sals of land in the Pittsburgh Technology Center on Second Avenue to Elmhurst Group, which plans to build 160,000 square feet of “tech flex” space to attract advanced manufacturing, robotics or other technology spin-offs requiring research and maker space. Walnut Capital has received a lot of ink for its Bakery Square, JAA and PAA projects but the intriguing project is the Fifth and Halket property, which is reported to be an office building of several hundred thousand square feet. That property is in the opposite direction that much of the Oakland-driven development is looking but it will plant a flag on the more neglected Downtown side of Oakland, right by the Parkway East interchanges, right on the BRT route. If it becomes a major university or university-related corporate facility, it will be catalytic for the Uptown and South Oakland neighborhoods.
Desmone Architects’ rendering of Elmhurst’s tech flex development on Second Ave.
The universities are making construction news on their own. Duquesne announced the modernization of the Palumbo Center yesterday. The $45 million renovation will result in the rebranded UPMC/Cooper Field House. DRS Architects is designing the project, which should bid by early 2019 if the work is to start in the spring. CMU is proposing a new residence hall at Fifth and Clyde. LTL Architects was hired to design the $32 million project. CMU took CM proposals from Jendoco, Mosites and Rycon.
Rycon will do the construction of the AHN Brentwood micro hospital that had its groundbreaking recently. Work has not started yet. UPMC selected PJ Dick for its $15 million ED expansion at the UPMC East campus in Monroeville.
In other construction news, Franjo Construction was reported as the awarded general contractor for the $4.7 million Youghiogheny Administration Building for North Huntingdon Municipal Authority. Cast & Baker was the low bidder on the $4.5 million site prep package for the World Trade Center at the airport. That’s a project that could open up hundreds of millions in new commercial construction over the next decade, a project worth following.
Local driller moving from conventional to unconventional wells
It would be the first time Catalyst Energy has moved into unconventional wells from the traditional shallower oil wells.
Pitt chancellor debuts innovative initiative to support education debt
The University of Pittsburgh on Wednesday announced Panthers Forward, a new initiative of Chancellor Patrick Gallagher to finance higher education.
The program will accommodate up to 150 seniors who will graduate from Pitt’s main campus in the city’s Oakland neighborhood in spring 2019. Upon acceptance, each will receive up to $5,000, which Pitt will pay toward their eligible federal student loan balance upon graduation.
“Panthers Forward injects some much-needed innovation into the stagnant…
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