11/12/2013

TOPEKA (AP) — With a basement-to-dome renovation of the Kansas Statehouse nearing its end, a huge construction crane towering beside the building is supposed to come down next month, and the cost is likely to be a little less gargantuan than state officials had anticipated.

Statehouse Architect Barry Greis said Monday that almost all of the work will be done by the end of the year, with expenses likely to be several million dollars below the last projected total of $332 million. Even on Veterans Day, work continued on landscaping and a new basement visitors’ center.

The renovation began in 2001 and has updated water, electrical, heating, air-conditioning and fire-safety systems. Legislators have better, roomier offices and meeting rooms that are more accommodating to spectators. The state built an underground parking garage and expanded the basement, adding 128,000 square feet of space.

“I can’t imagine another major renovation-remodeling,” Greis said. “We’ve provided the private offices, the expanded committee rooms, visitor’s seating, things like that.”

The new visitors’ center will have displays, a gift shop, a classroom and an auditorium. The floor will contain a map of Kansas set in stone, with each of the 105 counties identified.

Greis said colder weather will prevent workers from finishing the last of the landscaping on the grounds until early spring and from completing a brick driveway around the building. The last bricks can’t go down now because they’ll go where the base of the crane is now.

The crane has been used for work on the dome. The scaffolding around the dome has come down, and Greis said large beams that supported the scaffolding will start to come down this week. Once they’re gone, the crane won’t be needed.

And the number of workers involved in the renovation has declined to between 60 and 70 from between 150 and 160 this summer, said Jim Rinner, project manager for JE Dunn Construction Co., the general contractor.

In the past, escalating costs have been a sore point for some state officials, though legislative leaders added the parking garage and basement expansion to the project. The state also discovered unexpected needs for repairing the exterior stone and replacing copper on the building’s roof and dome.

President Uhuru Kenyatta urged Kenyans to unite in reflection and commemoration, celebration and festivity as the country marks its golden jubilee of independence/PSCU

NAIROBI, Kenya, Nov 10 – Corporate sponsors on Saturday pledged over Sh2.5 billion towards legacy projects in commemoration of Kenya’s 50 year independence celebrations.

The sponsors, who include Safaricom, Zuku, Equity Bank and the National Social Security Fund, made the pledge during the Kenya@50 Private Sector Partnership presidential dinner at the Nairobi National Park.

The Aga Khan Development Foundation committed Sh2.4 billion towards rehabilitation of the 90-year-old City Park in Parklands that has been run down over the years, with human and housing encroachment, pollution, poaching and illegal logging spoiling its appeal.

Once completed through a six-year plan involving environmental improvement, landscaping and creation of new facilities the 62-hectare park will have an amphitheatre, swimming pool, football pitch, food courts and jogging tracks among other social and income-generating facilities.

President Uhuru Kenyatta urged Kenyans to unite in reflection and commemoration, celebration and festivity as the country marks its golden jubilee of independence.

“We wish Kenyans to remember how love, unity, loyalty and selflessness overcame the sabotage, saved Kenya and brought her to the cusp of great promise,” he added.

The President said Kenya@50 would be accommodating the country’s diversity and the perspectives of expatriates in the country in order to bring on board a variety of ideas.

The President gave assurances that the government will be leading the commemoration of the golden jubilee of independence in the spirit of the current Constitution promulgated in August 2010 which returned the country to its only and true owners, Kenyans.

“There was a time when Kenya was, for all intents and purposes, the property of government, and government was distinct from the citizens. A regrettable civic schism occurred, which swallowed all efforts to build a united, prosperous nation,” he said.

“This is the reason why Kenya@50 must involve every Kenyan wherever they are. I request you to bring on board many ideas from as many Kenyans as possible. In fact, I expect you to also take in the perspectives of expatriates living with us, because our national family is diverse,” he added.

The President urged Kenya@50 organisers and partners to engage and enable county governments to come up with programmes and events that showcase the nation at their levels, adding that unity is meaningful only when the opportunity to contribute is fully respected.

President Kenyatta also said his government appreciates the enthusiasm of the corporate world.

Speaking during the occasion, Deputy President William Ruto said the Kenya@50 celebrations provided a moment for Kenyans to assess the present and plan for the future.

The Deputy President urged Kenyans to come together and participate in the Kenya@50 legacy projects rolled out in various parts of the county.

“I now want on behalf of the president and all those who serve in government to pledge to our motherland that we will do the best we can, we will go beyond our call of duty to take this country forward,” he said.

Ruto said the Jubilee Government will embark on rolling out of their flagship projects which include the one million acre irrigation project which will aid in addressing the issue of food insecurity.

He said the government will also launch the standard gauge railway next month as a way to ease congestion and bring efficiency in moving of goods from the Mombasa port into the country and even to the region.

He further said an additional 5,000 megawatts of power is expected to be generated by 2017 hence the need for an expanded grid.

STEVE REID
Editor Publisher
sreid@lbknews.com

Somebody, a commissioner, called me “negative” the other day.

So I will add to my bad traits by being the only label that could be worse — defensive.

Perhaps I come from one of those families where we debated intensely at the dinner table but all kissed each other good night. OK, not my brother and I, but you get the idea.

The reality is I am a lover of ideas, debate and language. So to put the word negative in another context is my nature.

I call it critical; it means I come out strongly for and against what does not seem right for a situation. And in the case of this commissioner, I do not favor the over-commercialization of the Key and the dumbing down of our island’s beauty and standards to simply draw more tourists.

Tourists come to beautiful places and interesting places and places of renown. They do not make these places though, and they are a byproduct that is positive if only they do not destroy the very reason they came in the first place.

Everyone knows the old travel guide phenomenon when in Europe. If the Let’s Go guide or Fodor’s says it’s a unique and precious and undiscovered gem, by next year it will be over. The place will be full of fat tee-shirted Americans who destroy the very reason you came to travel in the first place.

I am for four and five-star resorts on the Key. I am for a redeveloped Colony that does not have to compete with overnight rentals in the residential community. I am for pristine parks and tight property and building codes that encourage all the things that every upscale community in the United States shares — differentiation.

And on that note I want to be very positive about a few things I heard at the Urban Land Institute discussion last Monday in the Commission Chambers.

First, the Town Manager laid out how the Town can proceed with some of the recommendations and suggestions.

And I was excited to hear our Town leaders support — at least in principal — some of the most significant opportunities we have as a community.

First, as the poet Yeats said, “Longboat’s center cannot hold, things fall apart …The best lack all conviction while the worst are full of passionate intensity.”

That poem “The Second Coming” really is about Longboat Key even if the poet was unaware.

 

Staying centered

The Urban Land Institute gets it. It is apparent everywhere. We have no literal center as community. Sure we love to get together at Fish Frys and the Key Club and Harry’s and in Town Hall, but there is no Main Street, no Community Center and in a world that has and continues to grow apart and call each other friends on Facebook and text instead of speak, we need to take every conceivable opportunity to create places where we interact as humans and learn once again to enjoy and cherish each other’s company.

On that note I believe the idea that this Town and this Commission figure out how to develop the land around Publix, the banks and the Town Hall and the old, vacant property behind the banks into a cohesive place to gather, walk and meet and hold events would create something perhaps even the naysayers could embrace.

Just look at the tennis center — imagine if that was connected in a more meaningful way to all the other uses surrounding it?

We should talk and bike more and we should park our cars and walk to the bank, post office and Town Hall and tennis.

And there should be a Town Square of sorts.

I hope the non-visionary types who say like a knee jumping in the air when whacked, “Who is going to pay for it?” can realize everything significant — art, music, parks, novels, film, spirituality — has a value that goes far beyond the monetary constraints.

If we can visualize this center and hold onto the dream the implementers in the Town will help and raise money and will make it a reality. I hope Mayor Brown continues his push and Commissioners such as Jack Duncan will help take his unique skill set to drive a process and bring to fruition something we can all be proud to be part of.

 

Continuous and lush

The Commission said it wants to pursue these plans and at the same time it said it wants to try and implement some of the other suggestions the ULI made such as cohesive landscaping and beautification plan along Gulf of Mexico Drive.

Let’s face it: GMD is the entrance and exit. The first and final impression. We all fall in love going over the bridge and we are sad to leave the Key. That feeling is universal. We are fortunate to share in this experience daily. Mary Lou Johnson shows it in her pictures and I believe any investments made to make the GMD corridor as lush and staggeringly beautiful as possible pays dividends in property values and the desire others will have to come and visit and stay here.

Specifically, the ULI said to create a continuous landscaping experience between the bike and walking path along the entire 10-mile stretch. They also said we need to embrace some creative thinking and strategies to get Whitney Beach Plaza to its most exciting and best use whether it be as mixed use facility or a Ringling Retreat for artists. I would add to that that the former gas station on the north-end is a depressor of our Key in a very significant way. It is as if you drive into paradise and a warm turd is thrown across your eyes. These things must be rectified in a planned strategic manner.

 

No nightly flophouses

Also, the Commission was extremely encouraging in putting to rest the idea of relaxing rental rules. Yes, the ULI recommended that idea as a way to bring tourists and spur commercial activity, but it is an island destroyer on its face.

Those who would want to relax the rental rules either have a vested interest to do so or do not grasp the serenity, the joy and the desire for a peaceful paradise that most property owners have bought here want to protect.

Just go to Anna Maria Island this winter and see the effect of opening up the rules for rentals. They are losing their neighborhoods and longstanding residents are hopeless to fix the issue.

Thanks God our Commission took no interest in going down that path. And think how detrimental to the Key Club, the future Colony and the Hilton allowing every small condo and home to be rented by the night.

Do you really think $300 a night rates coexist next to nightly flophouses?

So on that note our Commission is taking positive forward steps.

But I almost forgot to be negative: just watch how this Commission, while it reins in trailer parking at its next meeting, will then undermine and destroy a cell tower policy that has proteced this Key for about a decade.

And guess what? I can make that argument via my cell phone from every inch of every street on Longboat Key. But no matter, if politics were pure, Macbeth, his wife and Brutus would all be cavorting in heaven.

Enter your email below to receive occasional Longboat Key breaking news eblasts and updates.

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By David Pendered

It takes thousands and thousands of flowering plants to keep the Buckhead business district looking like a million dollars.

These penny orange violas are to warm the appearance of Peachtree Road through landscaping work planned by the Buckhead CID. Credit: fleursannuelles.com

Just last week, the Buckhead Community Improvement District went to market with a request for proposals to maintain all the greenery in public spaces within the CID. Proposals are due Nov. 18 and, keeping in step with the times, questions are being accepted only by eco-friendly email.

The greenscape request for proposals provides an insight into the level of detail the Buckhead CID pays to its common spaces. Consider the requisites for only the seasonal color on the segment of Peachtree Road from Maple Drive to Peachtree Dunwoody Road:

• Angelonia Carita – purple, 4 inch, 569;
• Caladium – Aaron 4 inch, 765;
• Duranta – Gold Edge, 4 inch, 656;
• Lantana – New Gold, 4 inch, 1,128;
• Penta Graffiti – Rose, 4 inch, 867;
• Petunia – Wave Purple, 4 inch, 787;
• Scaevola – Blue, 4 inch, 787;
• Ipomoea – Goldfinger, 4 inch, 304;
• Vinca – Cora Upright Red, 1,402.

Lavender splashes of Angelonia Carita are to brighten section of Peachtree Road through work planned by the Buckhead CID. Credit: linders.com

And that’s just in the springtime. The list for the autumn color calls for:

• Pansy – Karma Yellow, 4 inch, 2,664;
• Pansy – Delta Marina, 4 inch, 2,196;
• Viola – Penny Orange, 4 inch; 2,664
• Viola – Penny White, 4 inch, 864;
• Viola – Penny Blue, 4 inch, 1,152.

Of course the flower beds have to be blanketed with pine straw and mulch.

The proposal calls for 133 bales to be spread across all areas, twice a year; and 272 cubic yard of mulch to be spread once a year, in January. The type of mulch is not specified.

Keeping everything tidy is expected to take a lot of work.

The proposal calls for Peachtree Road from Maple Drive to be done weekly, including: “Four fungicide applications for ground cover and includes landscape maintenance and blowing of the sidewalks, beauty strips, curbs, concrete islands and center islands.” Hand weeding is required of any weed taller than 4 inches.

Charlie Loudermilk Park is a place unto itself.

The grounds are to be cleaned, “Every week to include a full chemical weed control and fertilizer program for the turf.” No mention was made of polishing the statue of Loudermilk. Nor is there a reference to the planned clock tower that’s to be installed in the park.

In addition to these specifications, the RFP calls for a wide array of aesthetic expectations.

The Buckhead CID has precise ideas for the mix of plants, ground cover along Peachtree Road. Credit: constantcontact.com

Grass is to be maintained at a height of 2 inches to 4 inches. Edging is to be done with a power edge every other week during the grass-growing season. Clippings are to be recycled, if possible, or removed for disposal.

Even as the Buckhead CID looks ahead to a three-year grounds keeping contract, the board is moving ahead with hardscape projects.

Last week, the board approved plans to upgrade a stretch of Peachtree Road south of Pharr Road. Part of the project involves improving streetscapes in the spring of 2014 so they are attractive when the Buckhead Atlanta development opens in the summer, according to its current schedule.

This past summer, the CID approved a proposal by urban designer Peter Dray to re-envision landscaping of the bridge at Lenox Road and Ga. 400. Dray designed the 14^th Street bridge, which serves as a gateway to Midtown. Dray also is working on a bridge design in Gwinnett County, to create a gateway effect at the bridge of Jimmy Carter Boulevard over I-85.

The projects by the Buckhead CID are intended to bolster the physical attraction of the region’s leading address for shopping, fine dining and offices. The area is home to gleaming structures including Phipps Tower, where Carters Inc. has located its headquarters in a move that involved terminating a lease later this year at Midtown’s Proscenium building.

TAMPA BAY – 1. It’s autumn and a Saturday so you know what that means, FOOTBALL! USF Bulls have a bye week this weekend. Meanwhile the Gators will take on Vanderbilt in Gainesville. On ABC you can watch Florida State take on the Wake Forest, Demon Deacons. After that you have Nebraska vs. Michigan and Notre Dame vs. Pittsburgh.

2. The Junior League Holiday Market continues through the weekend. Head over to the Florida State Fairgrounds for all of your holiday shopping needs.  Doors open at 9 a.m. and goes until 6 p.m. Tickets are $8.

3. This weekend the Tampa Bay Home Show is open at Tropicana Field. It runs all weekend offering homeowners a one-stop-shop for decorating, landscaping and remodeling ideas.

4. The Sponge Docks Seafood Festival offers seafood lovers a chance to come out and try some new cuisine. The festival will also feature an arts and crafts show and live music. Tarpon Springs’ rich Greek culture will be spotlighted during this delicious festival.

5. We’ve got the perfect event for you and your four-legged friend. Dunedin is having their 6th annual Dogtoberfest at Highlander Park. The fun kicks off at 11:30 a.m. and ends at 5:00 p.m. It is the largest pet adopt-a-thon in North Pinellas. The event is free, but parking cost $4.

Copyright 2013 Scripps Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.

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KITTERY, Maine — Interior architect Amy Dutton has an eye for detail and design. She puts together textures and colors in imaginative ways, adding this accent, that shape to create something that is unique.

That sense of flair is evidenced everywhere in her new business, Amy Dutton Home on Walker Street. Part gallery, part store, part showroom, part dream factory, Amy Dutton Home brings together all of the ideas Dutton has been collecting over a 20-year career in southern Maine.

Anyone who has an itch to redesign a room or even an entire house would likely be inspired by what Dutton has created at her 9 Walker St. location. She has carefully selected about half a dozen artisans, mostly from Maine, with whom she has done business for many years.

“I’ve worked with most of them for ages. I respect their work and I know their quality,” she said.

Among them are furniture designer Craig White of York, rug designer Angela Adams of Portland, weavers Riverdog Design from West Gardiner and potter Zoe Zillion of Vermont. Pieces from all of them are in Amy Dutton Home, tastefully arranged. But Dutton’s own flair is present everywhere in the gallery. To inaugurate her space, Dutton designed her own line of fabrics — some graphic, almost mathematical prints inspired by architecture and other prints inspired by nature.

These designs can be reproduced in all sizes and colors. If you like the print but not the color scheme of the sample, you can chose your own. And they appear on everything from pillows to purses, lamps to curtains to bedspreads.

For instance, her white birches design is scaled small with a blue background when used as a valance. The same design, much bigger with a white background, is used for curtains. The same design may show up in lime green in a lamp and in pale lilac in an accent pillow.

Dutton clearly lets her whimsical and sense of flair guide her. She has even teamed up with Hale Landscaping in York to create an outdoor space just behind her business that brings interior architecture outside.

Homeowners are welcomed to come to Amy Dutton Home and work with her to redesign a room or an addition. But she hopes she has created a place where those in the design business are also at home.

“I will give designers or contractors or architects full access to all of my catalogs,” she said. “They can get a discount on whatever they chose, and if they want to, I would love to collaborate with them.”

“I’m trying to create something unique here. I am never going to compete with the big retailers, and I don’t want to,” she said. “But if someone buys a piece of furniture from them and doesn’t know what else to do, come on in and get inspired.

“That would make me happy,” she said.

AT A GLANCE

Amy Dutton Home

Owner: Amy Dutton

Address: 7 Walker St., Kittery, Maine

Phone: (207) 703-0696

E-mail: amy@amyduttonhome.com

Hours: Tuesdays and Saturdays, 10 a.m. to 7 p.m., by appointment and by chance.

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by Fix Flip Staff Writer

Kitchen lighting done well transforms even an average looking kitchen from drab to homey elegance. With some strategic planning and creativity, you can light your kitchen for improved functionality and a sense of well-being.

A single overhead kitchen light fixture is too stark for accommodating all that goes on in a kitchen. To add warmth and illuminate all corners of the room, you need to add layers of light sources.

Laying Out a Kitchen Lighting Plan

With all the lighting options available, you could get overwhelmed. A professional victoryag.org lighting the best of the best online casinos in designer can Australia help you plan cutting-edge lighting solutions and save you money in construction and energy efficiency. But even on your own, you can find simple ways to incorporate both direct and indirect efficient kitchen lighting – for subtle and dramatic effects. Before you decide where to place lights, take the preparation time to study the unique interplay of details in your kitchen – layout, ceiling height, space above and below cabinets, surface finishes and natural lighting. As you consider dimensions and way in which you use each space in your kitchen, you can identify where to place direct lighting for task areas and where to add degrees of indirect lighting for ambience.

Direct Lighting for Kitchen Tasks

Effective direct lighting is necessary for the many tasks, which go on in a kitchen, from reading books to prepping food. For hanging kitchen light fixtures, many experts recommend low-voltage pendant lights, usually hung in versatile sizes and shapes about 35-40 inches above surfaces of sinks, islands or tables. Recessed ceiling lights can be aimed to highlight particular spots in a kitchen. If you don’t want to deal with extra wiring, ceiling track lighting is another possibility. Recessed lighting under cabinets directs lighting precisely where a person is working on a countertop.

Indirect Lighting for Kitchen Ambience

Indirect lighting creates an ambient effect by concealing the light source from view. Hidden lighting above and below kitchen cabinets is an effective way to add upscale warmth and ambient glow to ceilings, counters and floors. Miniature track lights are inexpensive and easy to install. For a soft glow from the ceiling, install indirect lighting around an existing soffit or build in a new soffit. For decorative touches, try in-cabinet lighting or other accentual lighting touches to small areas.

Keep Control of Switches and Dimming

Part of the magic of blending indirect and direct kitchen lighting is the ability to adjust each light level for different tasks and occasions. Be sure to design switches so each type of lighting can be dimmed and controlled separately. You gain optimum functionality, as well as save on energy. When you are done with cooking, you can dim the lights to enjoy your meal.

Whether you want simple or elaborate, take the time to design a plan. A well-lit kitchen will increase functionality and comfort, as well as save you money and energy over time. It will also increase the perceived value of your home. Visitors or buyers will linger over the homey and elegant atmosphere created by your uniquely designed kitchen lighting.

Need help designing your perfect lighting? Why not hire a Pro to get the job done today, just choose your project type in our ContractorConnection and we’ll put you in touch with a local expert. Click here to begin your project quote!

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Last time I wrote about changing your watering schedules and checking your irrigation systems for the fast-approaching winter weather. There are a lot of other things to consider for winterizing your landscape to help minimize potential damage. And remember, damage can come from natural and man-made causes.

To truly winterize your yard, much of it should be considered in the initial planning stages of the landscape so that many of the problems can be avoided. Preventive measures imple mented in the fall also can greatly reduce winter damage. “What is susceptible to winter damage?” you might ask: Just about everything — plants, paving, steps and stairs, furnishings, plumbing and irrigation. Some of the causes of winter damage include windburn, freezing, heaving, ice, snow and flooding. Windburn dries out leaf tissue causing brown or black discoloration of the leaves facing the windward side. Evergreen plants with large leaves are the most susceptible. Think about selecting deciduous plants (those that lose all of their leaves at once) or plants with smaller leaves or needles to help reduce windburn damage. Plants that are marginally cold-hardy, or not hardy at all, are subject to freezing and frost damage. Know your plant materials and avoid using landscape plants that cannot take the High Desert’s cold winters. I have seen the temperature as low as 6 degrees and down into the teens numerous times. Also, don’t encourage new growth toward the onset of winter because the tender new leaves can easily freeze. Fully hydrated cacti and succulents can suffer cold damage as well. Water expands when it freezes, which can cause fully hydrated plant cells to burst. I stop watering my cacti and other succulents around the beginning of November and start watering again in April or so. The only water they get during this time is what Mother Nature provides. This allows the cacti and succulents to be slightly dehydrated. Heaving can affect bulbs and perennials as the soil they are planted in repeatedly thaws and freezes. Heaving can eventually expose the roots to drying wind and kill the plant. Encouraging deep rooting can greatly reduce heaving. Regularly mulching your planting beds can help minimize the temperature changes in the soil — keeping the planting beds warmer in winter and cooler in summer.

Ice and snow can have effects on not only the plants but on hardscape as well. The weight of ice and snow can easily break twigs and branches. Evergreens can hold more snow and ice, thus being more prone to damage from the weight.

Try to remove the snow if it can be done safely by using a light-weight kitchen broom. Regular pruning or thinning can help reduce the damage. Also, snow falling from a roof onto plants can seriously damage or kill a plant. Avoid placing plants right under the roof’s edge.

The hardscape can be affected by water seeping into cracks and then freezing and thawing, eventually making the cracks bigger. Prior to winter, seal cracks in concrete and pavers

— ask your local home improvement center for recommended products.

Salting to melt ice and snow can be damaging to paving and concrete, causing it to crumble — and it is extremely toxic to plants. To help avoid icy hazards, keep irrigation water off paved surfaces, shovel snow from walkways and break up ice accumulations when possible.

Flooding can occur via too much rain or through damage from freezing plumbing and irrigation systems. Cover exposed pipes, manifolds, faucets and so forth with insulation to help prevent breakage. Avoid placing plants in low areas of your yard where water might accumulate during a heavy rainstorm. Other things to consider when winterizing your property include cleaning and inspecting rain gutters and removing any debris that interferes with natural drainage from paths, slopes and drainage systems. This is also a good time to rake up all of those fallen leaves and add them to your compost pile, and to make sure there are no tree branches creating a fire hazard near chimneys.

HAPPY GARDENING!

High Desert resident Micki Brown is a droughttolerant plant specialist with an M.S. in plant science. Send her questions to be answered in the column at HorticultureHelp@aol.com. 

DEMOLITION MAN: Business is booming for Alan Edge.

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Alan Edge is playing a pivotal part in flattening Christchurch. Brusque and tough talking, the Southern Demolition and Salvage owner has become a Christchurch identity in a long and at times controversial career. Times now are good for Edge. Business is booming. His company is in good health and Edge’s status in the teak-tough demolition game is on the rise.

In a Mainlander exclusive Martin van Beynen profiles, in warts-and-all fashion, Christchurch’s Demolition Man.

Alan Edge, the owner of Southern Demolition and Salvage Ltd, is not one to watch his language, even in the refined company of gentlemen from The Press.

“Im not getting a photo with f….. doors and shit mate. F….. wake your ideas up or f… off. It’s either with timber or f… off. Simple as that. I’ve got short man’s disease so I don’t get f….. around very often. All right.”

Your reporter and photographer are in Southern Demolition and Salvage’s enormous, former railway warehouse on the south side of the railway tracks in Waltham. Stacks of salvaged timber rise in neat rows from the concrete floor and, in one corner, Sleepyhead mattresses, from the former Copthorne Hotel in Colombo St, are piled in a big heap.

We were looking for a suitable backdrop for a photo of Christchurch’s demolition tsar which prompted the outburst.

Edge, 59, is not that short, actually, and with his hawkish blue eyes, outdoor tan, sharp haircut, rugby background and reputation of being a hard man in a tough industry, he should not be too worried about being “f….. around” as he puts it.

Fortunately the interview proceeds in much better humour and the prickly, belligerent, foul- mouthed image that emerged among the stacks of timber is replaced by a colourful businessman, who, by his own account, is a model of enterprise, integrity and goodheartedness.

This, for instance, is how, he says, he manages his staff.

“I’ve had staff who have been with me for over 20 years. We treat them with the utmost respect. We want them to buy houses; we want them to have mortgages and kids. It’s a bit like rugby. If you have an expectation you have to live up to it. If you have a mortgage you have to take the money home each week. We like to make sure our men do very well.”

And his word is his bond.

“If I say Im going to do something, I’ll do it, end of story. I won’t tell you lies. I’m not a good liar because I can’t f…… remember so I don’t lie.”

He even feels quite generous to the outsiders who have come into his territory for earthquake- related work.

“It’s good,” he says, although he can’t help observing, without too many tears, that some are going broke.

Edge, who is now president of the The New Zealand Demolition Asbestos Association, admits the industry is not for the faint- hearted but he doesn’t buy the contention that the industry is full of cowboys.

“The big ones are pretty smart operators. It’s the only way you grow. It’s a bit like a team game. The subbies have got to be good. If you are a cowboy you don’t last. People don’t grow because they are not street smart. They don’t look after the f…… joker next to them.”

He also says he has conducted an “open door” policy with the residents living near the much criticised Owaka Pit in Hornby, which has been owned by his company, Owaka Holdings, since 2008.

“The gate is open seven days a week. The council is in there once or twice a week. Why would I be so f…… stupid to do something wrong in there?”

Where hiccups have emerged in his career, they were not of his making, he says.

The problems at the Owaka Pit were created by previous operators and lack of council monitoring. He didn’t know the site was in serious breach of consents when the company bought it, he says.

“It was kept pretty f…… hush hush,” he says.

When his first demolition company (Southern Demolition) went into liquidation in 1998, it was not his fault but his partner’s, he says.

When, only a month ago, the 10-storey former Copthorne Hotel building in Colombo St pancaked, while a Southern Demolition digger driver was using the machine to nibble away at one of the floors of the building, the company was not to blame, Edge says.

The building was structurally weak and the company was working to a demolition plan.

“We have some very embarrassed engineers, I can tell you that,” he says.

A massive fire in a medium density fibreboard (MDF) pile, which burnt for six weeks earlier this year at the Owaka Pit, producing a pall of smoke which hung over a large part of West Christchurch, was badly handled, he says. The smoke sometimes contained formaldehyde in concentrations of 87 times the recommended limit for an eight- hour workplace.

Residents have been told to wash vegetable and fruit picked from their gardens and Southern Demolition workers must take precautions working with the residue material.

The Fire Service concluded the fire started by spontaneous combustion.

Firefighters should have let the fire burn out, says Edge. By squirting water on the blaze the board opened up and released formaldehyde from the material.

Edgy, as his enemies and friends call him, certainly sounds the goods but people who have known him for many years, in business and sport, issue a word of caution.

They did not want to be named for fear of getting in a legal scrap with him and say that while he is street smart and often generous, loyal and a true “fun guy” who loves a drink – he has five drink- drive convictions – he has a less attractive side.

Edge certainly seems to attract more than his fair share of trouble.

For instance, fires have plagued Southern Demolition and Owaka Holdings over the years.

The fire at the Owaka Pit which started in April was not the first at the site. Another huge blaze of materials at the pit in 2011 required helicopters to help douse it.

Southern Demolition’s yard at the former Islington Freezing Works also had a large MDF and timber fire in February, 2010. Two years before, in July 2008, a fire started by arsonists at the former Tip Top icecream factory in Blenheim Rd, which Edge’s company was demolishing, sent thick black smoke from burning polystyrene into the air. Just about every fire appliance in Christchurch was needed at the fire.

“Little Lucifer loves to see the fire engines coming,” Edge says, of the fires.

Residents living around the Owaka Pit have fought a long battle against activities there although they concede its management has improved under Owaka Holdings.

However, they say improvements promised by Edge have not happened fast enough or gone far enough.

Awatea Residents Association secretary Kay Steiller says Edge has won few friends among residents despite his promises.

The residents note that incidents such as a digger working at the pit hitting overhead powerlines as an example of less than exemplary management. The incident in October last year caused a 20-minute power outage affecting 14,000 customers.

The chairman of the Riccarton/ Wigram Community Board, Mike Mora, says Edge’s open door policy did not extend to letting him attend a meeting at the Owaka Pit over the fire. He tried to attend but Edge called the police.

Edge says Mora was making a nuisance of himself at a meeting that did not concern him.

“After dealing with him for many years I have learned he will always push the boundaries,” Mora says.

Only this week, Mora claims, he followed a Southern Demolition truck from the company’s Islington yard, where it had loaded burned MDF material, to the Owaka Pit where the material was unloaded.

The council’s enforcement division is now dealing with the matter.

Edge says he has agreed to stop trucking the material from the Islington yard to the Owaka Pit but he was only storing it there until it went to Kate Valley.

The Environment Court in July, recognising Owaka Holdings had not caused the unchecked overfilling of the site, ordered Owaka to reduce the height of the stockpiles, to construct bunds and carry out landscaping, and limited the amount of fill in a pond at the site.

The previous month, Owaka Holdings was fined $18,000 for dumping general rubbish into the pond with Christchurch City Council prosecutor Kelvin Reid saying, in court, that the offending had overtones of contempt and carelessness. Counsel for the company said the dumping of unsorted material was unintentional.

Southern Demolition was also in the news just after the February earthquake for reducing to rubble a landmark stone church on the corner of Brougham and Colombo streets owned by the Sydenham Heritage Trust. Although initially the Christchurch City Council and Civil Defence denied giving their permission it later transpired that the Emergency Operations Centre had authorised the demolition, although not through the correct process.

In any event, today Edge is feeling a little cocky. Southern Demolition has done about $3 million of work for just one customer, the Canterbury Earthquake Recovery Authority, since the earthquakes. His black Range Rover is parked outside (he no longer drinks and drives), his firm has grown, business is good and last weekend at Rangiora he drove his horse, Kellyrox, which is trained by his brother, Neil, at Weedons, to his first amateur win of the year.

Racing goes back to his family in Rakaia where his father, Noel, was a well known agricultural contractor.

Asked to leave Waitaki Boys High after he turned 16, Edge worked in the family business before going out on his own when he was 19. By that time he already owned his own home.

After his parents bought the West Melton pub – which he bought with brother Neil and mate Peter Winchester last year – Edge did a stint in bar management.

After his spell behind the bar, Edge bought a burger bar in Papanui Rd and one of his biggest customers for fish and chips was Lancaster Park and its after-match functions.

The burger bar was sold and he went back to contracting in 1987.

He then worked for Canterbury demolition and contracting stalwart Evan Frew before they fell out and he formed Southern Demolition with a rugby mate.

Edge says he was “working my arse off” in the field while his partner did the paperwork.

The company collapsed in 1998 and times were tough for awhile.

“I learnt 50 different ways to make baked beans.”

By 2002, he had started Southern Demolition and Salvage Ltd, of which he is the only director.

His group of companies now employs about 60 people and has about $10m worth of machinery. The Owaka pit facility, which he owns with scrap metal dealer Tony Steer, is worth another $10m, he says.

Edge is well connected throughout Christchurch and other parts of New Zealand through rugby.

A useful halfback and first five he played senior rugby for Christchurch club Old Boys – he was barred from the club after a scrap in the clubhouse –  and the Sydenham club until he was 35, and represented Mid Canterbury for about eight years.

He is well acquainted with All Blacks coach Steve Hansen through rugby and racing, he says.  

He began a coaching career as soon as he finished playing and with fellow head coach police Detective Bob Kerr took a talented Sydenham side to the Christchurch Club Championship three seasons in a row. He gained another championship with coach John Ashworth and stepped down in 1999.

”I just liked the camaraderie and the team aspects. If you get good people in a group everyone grows and its self-discipline so you get rid of the riffraff pretty quick. We had some pretty strict rules. Don’t turn up, no play. Don’t care who you are, whether you’re a f….. All Black or not. Everyone was equal. We had a great camaraderie. Lot of the guys were here all the time.”

”I made a huge amount of friends in rugby. It definitely helped in business. Great people.”

The earthquakes have caused a growth spurt for his business, he says, but he has been wary of expanding too much.

”We made a conscious decision to not go f….. stupid. We managed our resources. We worked our machinery more efficiently and we bought a couple of diggers. We shared the workload around and we were f….. humming.”

Making money in demolition, he says, is a lot about how you manage your waste.
He has created a sawmilling division, chips wood for dairy sheds, grinds gib into fertiliser, crushes the concrete and recycles steel.
The side of the business he most enjoys is adding value to whatever he touches.

”I can pull hardwood beams out of a building for next to nothing. I put an 8-metre beam in my yard and its worth two to three thousand dollars. We dress and cut. Architraves. You name it, we make it. I can’t stand the thought of carting stuff to Burwood and chucking it in a heap.”

He has little sympathy for demolition contractors who have recently had trucks and other gear destroyed by apparently professional arsonists.

”You got to offend somebody pretty bad for someone to go after your gear. They haven’t conducted themselves in the right way.”

As Edge sees your reporter out he reinforces his belief in the importance of truth telling in a laudable effort to encourage newspaper  accuracy.

”Tell the truth,” he says, ”and you won’t get into trouble.”

It sounds like good advice.

– © Fairfax NZ News

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News Views takes a look at the stories of interest in Baton Rouge during the past week (Nov. 3-8) and offers views on what the stories really meant.

The power of regional collaboration

The news: A 175-member delegation from south Louisiana travels to Orlando and Tampa to get a first hand view of how the central Florida region is using collaborative partnerships to 1) address infrastructure and transportation challenges, and 2) grow its medical, research and digital media economies, and knowledge-based workforce. Organized by the Baton Rouge Area Chamber and GNO Inc., the group is expanding its Southeast Super Region to include Baton Rouge, New Orleans, Lafayette and the Houma-Thibodeaux region.

The views: Many transportation ideas were discussed (highway expansion, new roads, dedicated bus lanes along with light- and commuter-rail) — as well as how to pay for them (toll roads, higher gas taxes, vehicle mileage taxes, public-private partnerships and combinations of federal, state and local funding) — but all are dependent upon public buy-in. Moreover, it was remarkably impressive to see how entities in both Orlando and Tampa are using strategic corporate-nonprofit-government partnerships to expand and enhance the region’s knowledge-based economy. The bottom line, however, is this: None of it happens in an atmosphere of parochialism; the region’s success in becoming the nation’s 10th-largest economy is directly tied to a willingness by the four counties and 86 cities that comprise the central Florida region to embrace a belief of the “greater good.” Making that happen requires vision, leadership and, yes, a lot of public and private money. It also requires residents to not only support the “all for one” concept, but also to demand elected officials embrace it as well. Keep that in mind the next time you are deciding on which candidate to support in an upcoming election.

Holden gets mad as hell and doesn’t take it any longer

The news: Mayor Kip Holden stuns a south Louisiana delegation in Orlando by lashing out at an executive with EA Sports, accusing the digital game development company of not honoring promises officials have made to him regarding its LSU-based testing center. The outburst, though but a minute in length, became a major talking point for those in attendance during the three-day trip to central Florida. Back in Baton Rouge, LED’s Stephen Moret almost immediately challenges Holden’s accusations, saying EA has honored every agreement its made with local and state officials, and that the company still has plans to expand its operations. By the end of the week, Holden, too, was backing away from his Florida words, claiming he wasn’t directing his comments at EA, but at an official with the city of Florida.

The views: Those who were in Orlando are still uncertain as to what might have triggered Holden’s angry rebuttal. Regardless, it was an incredibly embarrassing moment for everyone who was on the trip. The point of being in EA’s Tiburon studio was to learn about digital media workforce development strategies, not to challenge a company’s strategy on its home turf. Frankly, the mayor owes the company — and, in particular, Alex Chatfield, EA’s director of operational development who caught the brunt of the attack — a public apology.

Landscape Architecture school remains one of the best

The news: Once again, the undergraduate and graduate programs at LSU’s Robert Reich School of Landscape Architecture are named as two of the best in the nation. The undergrad program is ranked second by “America’s Best Architecture Design Schools,” while the graduate program comes in at No. 3. Both programs have been ranked in the top 5 in their respective categories for the past decade, and in the top three since 2008. The undergraduate program has been tabbed No. 1 four times since 2007, according to LSU.

The views: Given how this outstanding school has managed to maintain excellence during a time of turmoil on LSU’s campus, it would be wise for other entities at the flagship institution to study the landscape architecture program for best-practice ideas. Maintaining excellence in a climate of budget cuts, brain drain and an evolving higher education model is even more admirable than the achievement itself.

An important search is taking place in Baton Rouge

The news: With long-time planning director Troy Bunch retiring, efforts to find a replacement are underway with the goal of filling the position by the beginning of 2014. Tara Wicker, a member of both the Metro Council and planning commission, is heading a search committee comprised of other commission members and city-parish staff. Wicker says making the process complicated are 1) the surprise resignation of Ellen Miller, who was expected to fill the job on an interim basis, and 2) a starting salary for the new director of $100,000.

The views: The average person might not realize this, but the planning director’s post is one of the most important positions in local government. For evidence, look at some of the haphazard and ill-conceived development and growth that’s been allowed to happen in East Baton Rouge Parish over the past 30 years. Not only must the new director reverse the relatively hands-off attitude of Bunch, but the person must also embrace and enforce the guidelines of FuturEBR, the parish’s long-range planning guidelines. Given what’s at stake, it defies logic that officials from Baton Rouge’s Center for Planning Excellence are not being asked to spearhead the search. This group is nationally recognized as experts in forward-thinking planning and yet their services aren’t required here in Baton Rouge? Wicker says CPEX wasn’t invited to the group because that would also require her to include representatives from the Growth Coalition and various civic neighborhood associations. Really? Says who? Would adding a member of the Growth Coalition and someone from an organization of national planning excellence bog down the process? Is Wicker suggesting the W.T. Winfield, a planning commissioner only because he’s politically connected, is more knowledgeable than CPEX executive director Boo Thomas or the incredibly talented Rachael DiResto? Given the importance of the search, those tasked with finding a visionary leader should be selected based on what they know, not who they know.

State treasurer blocks EBR’s bid to ship grant money to noncompliant NGO

The news: State Treasurer John Kennedy is refusing to approve an agreement that would transfer taxpayer money from Baton Rouge city-parish government to a noncompliant NGO with ties to state Sen. Yvonne Dorsey-Colomb, of Baton Rouge. Mayor Kip Holden’s office signed an agreement last month to transfer $19,000 in grant money to nonprofit Serenity 67 for the purchase of billboard advertising warning north Baton Rouge youth of the consequences of crime. In 2011, Holden’s office granted the group $45,000 to help several residents over the age of 50 make repairs to their homes. Kennedy rejected the latest cash transfer because Serenity 67 — along with the Colomb Foundation in Lafayette, another NGO with ties to Dorsey-Colomb — remain out of compliance with state regulations. Dorsey-Colomb says both organizations are legit despite problems satisfying the rules and argues Kennedy and the media are unfairly targeting her and her husband, Sterling.

The views: Let’s make this short and sweet: Any government entity that gives either of these organizations money is guilty of wasting taxpayer dollars, and any elected official who approves the transfer of public dollars to Serenity 67 or the Colomb Foundation should be charged with malfeasance and run out of office. Enough said.

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This opinion piece is written by JR Ball, the managing editor in Baton Rouge. He can be reached at jrball@nola.com