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Station No. 4 to Serve Several Downtown Communities
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As part of its ambitious program to rebuild the city’s fire safety infrastructure, the city of Los Angeles is building a new Fire Station No. 4 in downtown Los Angeles. The project also includes a new fire dispatch/police operations/fire emergency operations center. The formal groundbreaking for the project took place on Jan. 19, 2006.
“This is an important project that has not only provided good jobs for our members, but is improving public safety in Los Angeles,” said Danny Garcia, a business representative with Bricklayers Local 4. “You need the kind of skilled craftsmanship that building trades members provide to build the high quality public works that Los Angeles’ residents need.”
The operations center will be a two story earthquake resistant structure supported by a pendulum base isolation system. It will have multiple levels of redundancy built into the mechanical and electrical systems so that center will remain operational during crises. The new facility will replace existing emergency communication facilities at City Hall East. The center will be approximately 82,000 square feet. The site is located at 500 E. Temple Street. The cost of the operations centers will be $71.88 million.
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Measure to Fund Affordable Housing and Assistance for First Time Homeowners
By Christopher Honey
BTN Staff Writer
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On July 26, the City Council voted unanimously to place a $1 billion housing bond on the November ballot. The measure will provide the funding to help alleviate LA’s affordable housing crisis – particularly for first-time buyers priced out of the dramatically-escalating market.
Supporters say that the bond would provide enough money in grants and loans to allow developers to build 20,000 affordable housing units and allow workers who are currently priced out of the city’s expensive housing market to purchase their first home.
According to the 2000 census, only 39 percent of Angelenos own their home. Only 12 percent of households earn enough to afford a median priced home in the current housing market, compared to 38 percent in 2000, according the California Association of Realtors. The median price for a home in Los Angeles County rose from $195,000 in 2000 to $508,000 this year.
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Bill Would Cut Back on Cases of Fatal Lung Disease
By Paul Burton BTN Staff Writer
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Legislation to prohibit the dry cutting and dry grinding of masonry materials was passed by the Assembly Committee on Labor and Employment by an 8-0 vote after a hearing June 29. The bill, Senate Bill 46, is now waiting to be voted on by the entire Assembly. It passed the Senate by a vote of 23 to 14. The legislation was authored by Los Angeles State Senator Richard Alarcon. Alarcon chairs the Senate’s Labor and Industrial Relations Committee.
“Thousands of California workers are regularly assigned to tasks that can eventually kill them,” said Sen. Alarcon. “The inhalation of silica dust caused by cutting cement blocks with dry saws can cause severe, disabling and potentially fatal lung disease among bricklayers and other craft workers. Already scores of deaths are attributed to this problem. My bill will require that water be used to suppress the silica dust while cutting these materials and when that is not possible, vacuums or respirators can be substituted. It is a simple and inexpensive solution that will save lives.”
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By Christopher Honey
BTN Staff Writer
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When the Orange County Performing Arts Center unveils it $200 million expansion this Sept. 15 at its Grand Opening concert, the centerpiece will be the Henry and Renee Segerstrom Concert Hall.
The 2,000-seat concert hall will be the new home for Orange County’s Pacific Symphony. The hall is part of a 260,000 square foot project which will also include a 500-seat multi-purpose music theater.
To meet the needs of performers, patrons, and the community, the new addition features a full service restaurant, multi-level grand lobby, eight individual performer rehearsal rooms, fifteen dressing rooms, and a music library.
By the time the project is fully completed, the expansion of the Orange County Performing Arts Center will have created jobs for 3,000 union members, noted Jim Adams, business rep for the LA/OC Building Trades Council.
“This project means a great deal to our members,” said Phil Salerno, business representative from Cement Masons 500. “It’s a beautiful project that helps support and grow the area. I’m 100 percent behind unions putting back into the community.”
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South County Group Presents Dan Foley Award
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IBEW 11 organizer Joel Barton was presented with the Dan Foley Outstanding Labor Leader Award on June 24 at the June 2006 South County Labor Breakfast. He was this year’s recipient of the honor for his extraordinary commitment and activism on behalf of California’s working families. Barton was a tireless during last year’s special election, helping to organize numerous events, phone banks, and canvasses for IBEW 11 members.
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 For Fifth Year, California Women Meet to Network, Tell Personal Triumphs
The Fifth Annual Conference of “Women Building and Protecting California” got off to a rousing start Saturday morning, June 10, as conference coordinator Debra Chaplan recognized women who have been in the building trades or the fire service since the 1970s.
An increasing number of women stood up as each decade was called out. The largest group – women who are now apprentices – shouted and clapped as they were heralded as the wave of the future for women who are building and protecting California.
Sean McGarvey, Secretary-Treasurer of the National Building Trades Department, AFL-CIO, challenged the women and men at the conference to recruit young women into the trades by informing them of the opportunities for a productive career. He also welcomed the firefighters in attendance, calling them “our first cousins.”
He noted that between 1983 and 2000, there was growth in the number of both journeymen and apprentices in the building trades. But between 2000 and 2004, the number of women decreased.
“I won’t say that (those numbers) correspond with the term of George W. Bush, but…”, McGarvey said.
Over the next six years, McGarvey said, one million more skilled craftspeople will be needed in the United States. And during that same period, between one million and 1.5 million skilled craftspeople are scheduled to retire.
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