vadimsudigrenev.blogspot.com
Franchot, who joined Gov. Martin O’Mallehy and Treasurer Nancy Kopp onthe state’s Board of Public Works in voting for the $1.4 billiob State Center redevelopment projectf Wednesday afternoon, said he does not know enough abourt the project’s costs to the state or whether the projec is even practical given the nationwidse credit crunch. “I believe the projecgt has a lot of promisee and is deservingof support,” Franchot said in a telephone interview Wednesday. “I vote d for it, but am going to continues to be vigilant about the fiscall exposure tothe state.
” The deal involves the state leasinbg its midtown Baltimore office complexs to a private development which would then redevelop the property into a mix of shops and homes. The statse would then lease back a majority ofthe project’e 2 million square feet of office space for use by its various statd agencies. But the terms of the deal have not been hammeredrout yet, as Franchot and the Board of Public Works voted Wednesday only on a master developmenr agreement.
With that agreement in place, the developmenr team will now creatde designs for its planned buildings and come back to the statew for approval on morespecifivc designs, costs, and lease The development team, which includes national housing deveoper Baron & Salazar, wouldd borrow $888 million to financde its work, according to the Department of Legislativw Services. The state would issue another $338 million in debt. State and federal tax credit programs would pick upanother $234 million in projecf costs, with the remainder of the project’z costs being contributed directly by the developers or other investors.
Franchotg said that scenario raisesseveral concerns, includinvg the ability for the state or the developeras to borrow money in the midst of the nationwider credit crunch. He said he’s also concerned abouft the state’s ability to negotiate fair lease terms with the developer s given they would both be heavily invested in makinhg sure the projectis successful. “The problemj is that the credit markets arebone dry,” Franchot said. “Obviously this is a long-ter project, but I’m not confideny that the private sector will finance this in a way that the state canafford it.
” In Franchot said he isn’t sure why the state woul make the project a priority abov e other pressing needs such as new college dormitoriesx or other state-funded constructio projects.
Wednesday, April 27, 2011
Monday, April 25, 2011
Real estate slump forces local brokers and owners to bring out creativity - Wichita Business Journal:
xoqylyjibo.wordpress.com
Some are working more closely with othedr owners to get the biggest bang for theirradvertising buck. One is looking for temporaryh uses for vacant spacs to drive foot trafficto it. And otherzs are opening up about just how far they are willing to go to makea sale. “Standard marketinhg in real estate is to put a sign on a put iton Loopnet, send a noticw to some brokers and wait for a says ’s Leo Goseland. “I tougher times, you have to go find your Goseland recently put together a consortiu m for independent property owners who are looking for tenantws for five buildingsthey own.
The owners agreed to a list of possibls incentives they would be willing to offer theright prospects, from several months free rent to help with tenant improvements. They also are splittinhg costs on advertising and direct mailing tolocal
Some are working more closely with othedr owners to get the biggest bang for theirradvertising buck. One is looking for temporaryh uses for vacant spacs to drive foot trafficto it. And otherzs are opening up about just how far they are willing to go to makea sale. “Standard marketinhg in real estate is to put a sign on a put iton Loopnet, send a noticw to some brokers and wait for a says ’s Leo Goseland. “I tougher times, you have to go find your Goseland recently put together a consortiu m for independent property owners who are looking for tenantws for five buildingsthey own.
The owners agreed to a list of possibls incentives they would be willing to offer theright prospects, from several months free rent to help with tenant improvements. They also are splittinhg costs on advertising and direct mailing tolocal
Friday, April 22, 2011
No mechanisms worked out to prevent future genocides, Hayk Demoyan says - Public Radio of Armenia
loxezop.wordpress.com
Armenian Weekly | No mechanisms worked out to prevent future genocides, Hayk Demoyan says Public Radio of Armenia “The biggest problem today is that humanity has not yet worked out the mechanisms that can held prevent future genocides,†Director of the Armenian Genocide Museum-Institute Hayk Demoyan said at the Yerevan-Moscow space bridge on “Armenian Genocide: 96 ... Hayk Demoyan: humanity has not created mechanisms for genocide prevention |
Wednesday, April 20, 2011
Washington Convention Center Authority wants city to finance $550M hotel - Triangle Business Journal:
efenytan.wordpress.com
On May 29 the convention center’d board directed CEO Greg O’Dell to seek authority for the sale of as muchas $750 milliob in bonds to cover the price of the interest during construction, insurance and other costs. The city had plannedf to finance about 25 percent of the cost of the hotelp througha $187 million tax increment financinh package the passed in 2006, whicj would have provided $134 million in construction costs. The rest was supposedc to come from private debt and equittypartners -- a difficult find in the frozenn credit markets. O’Dell said development partners and Capstonre Development had been dogged but unsuccessfukl in their pursuit of investorsfor months.
“They’vre been pursuing private financing and inthis market, you that is very difficult. They’ve spent millions of dollarss on this project to try to move it It really is shoveol ready with the exceptionmof financing,” O’Dell said. With the city losinh convention business, he said, building a city-owned hotel was the best He envisions it will stillk containabout 1,100 rooms and be operates by Marriott had previously said it woulrd be a Marriott O'Dell began briefing members of the D.C. Counci l on the board’s proposa l Monday. “Our ultimate goal is to get this projecyt done and get it started as soon as he said.
In particular ther e is increased pressure from National Harbor inPrince George’s County, which opened last year with a pric tag of more than $2 billion. Its developer, the Peterson Cos. announcerd May 18 that the WaltDisney Co. had purchaserd land to build a 500-room resort hotel on 15 acres Convincing the council to approve that amountof however, will be a tall task for O’Dell. He had been consideresd a top candidate to replace Neil Albert as deputu mayor for planning and economic but a source closeto O'Dell says he was offerecd the job and turner it down. O’Dell would not confirm but indicated he would remaimn in hiscurrent post.
“The board and the mayoer have every expectation of me completing all the tasks I have he said. The convention centeer authority has an independent board and the ability toissuse bonds, but O’Dell said the councipl would need to expand its authority to issued bonds for the hotel. The council and D.C. Mayord Adrian Fenty just finishede closing a budget gapof $800 million for fiscak 2010 and the city faces a gap approachingh $1 billion for fiscal 2011. In addition, D.C.
Chief Financial Officer Natwar Gandhi said he will not supporf issuing that amountof debt, which he said would immediatelty violate a 12 percent cap on city debt as a mark of expenditures the city created on his recommendatiohn last year. Gandhi is a membed of the convention center board and attendedc theFriday meeting. “To be very blunt about it I was very clear in saying to them that if you were to borrow $750 million that would put us way beyone the 12 percent cap we have envisioned for the city...ande I cannot be a part to that,” Gandhi said. The CFO said that he “vergy much” wants a hotel for the city, “butg I would not agree to a deallike that.
See we made a commitmen to Wall Street that we would not borros more than 12 percenrt againstour budget.” Gandhi, who has won accolades for helpinvg the city snag a AAA bond rating on Wall said he has already begun re-emphasizing the importance of the debt cap with membersx of the council. “j do not think we want to takethis lightly. We should not borrow any more than we are able to he said. He suggested that O’Dell and his partners continue to seek privatesfinancing sources. Building a hoteol to accompany the conventio center has always been part of the plan for the city but has languisheed from a series of Construction on theWalter E.
Washington Conventio n Center, as it was named in 2007, began in 1998 and openedd fiveyears later. D.C. planned a 1,400-room but did not control the needed land. In 2007, the city gainefd final site control after a land swap with developet KingdonGould III. To prevent further delays Mayor Adrian Fenty downsizedd the project laterthat year, announcing a deal betweemn the city, Marriott and RLJ Development LLC on a smaller 1,100-room hotel. Sincer then, the development team has also changed.
RLJ founded by BET founder Robert Johnson, was part of the deal Fentt announced in September 2007but isn’t any A main driver of the deal, Marriott Senior Vice Presideng Norman Jenkins, left the company late last year to star t Capstone, now a certified business entity that partners with Speaking for the development team, Jenkinz said it was his preference to continuew seeking private financing, and said design was entitlements were in place and there equity partners ready to invest if debt were Capstone and Quadrangle are separately planning a Courtyardx by Marriott adjacent to the hoteo on land they control.
“We could still get there, but we got to get the bankse to play and they move at theirown pace,” he Still, he said, “if the city decided to pursue the public deal we will support Jenkins said Johnson’s RLJ, with which Jenkins partnered while at Marriott, pulled out of the deal shortlu after taking an interest in it. “They studief it hard, spent some resources, but their brea and butter is acquisitions and repositioning rathe thannew development,” Jenkins said.
Richard Bradley, executivre director of the Downtown BusinessImprovement District, said it is unfortunat that the hotel project ran into the recession but that the city needzs to “bite the bullet” and move the project citing the opportunity to grow D.C. as a tourisy destination, make it a major player in conventionxs and grow itstax base. “There’d a whole set of good things about moving this he said.
On May 29 the convention center’d board directed CEO Greg O’Dell to seek authority for the sale of as muchas $750 milliob in bonds to cover the price of the interest during construction, insurance and other costs. The city had plannedf to finance about 25 percent of the cost of the hotelp througha $187 million tax increment financinh package the passed in 2006, whicj would have provided $134 million in construction costs. The rest was supposedc to come from private debt and equittypartners -- a difficult find in the frozenn credit markets. O’Dell said development partners and Capstonre Development had been dogged but unsuccessfukl in their pursuit of investorsfor months.
“They’vre been pursuing private financing and inthis market, you that is very difficult. They’ve spent millions of dollarss on this project to try to move it It really is shoveol ready with the exceptionmof financing,” O’Dell said. With the city losinh convention business, he said, building a city-owned hotel was the best He envisions it will stillk containabout 1,100 rooms and be operates by Marriott had previously said it woulrd be a Marriott O'Dell began briefing members of the D.C. Counci l on the board’s proposa l Monday. “Our ultimate goal is to get this projecyt done and get it started as soon as he said.
In particular ther e is increased pressure from National Harbor inPrince George’s County, which opened last year with a pric tag of more than $2 billion. Its developer, the Peterson Cos. announcerd May 18 that the WaltDisney Co. had purchaserd land to build a 500-room resort hotel on 15 acres Convincing the council to approve that amountof however, will be a tall task for O’Dell. He had been consideresd a top candidate to replace Neil Albert as deputu mayor for planning and economic but a source closeto O'Dell says he was offerecd the job and turner it down. O’Dell would not confirm but indicated he would remaimn in hiscurrent post.
“The board and the mayoer have every expectation of me completing all the tasks I have he said. The convention centeer authority has an independent board and the ability toissuse bonds, but O’Dell said the councipl would need to expand its authority to issued bonds for the hotel. The council and D.C. Mayord Adrian Fenty just finishede closing a budget gapof $800 million for fiscak 2010 and the city faces a gap approachingh $1 billion for fiscal 2011. In addition, D.C.
Chief Financial Officer Natwar Gandhi said he will not supporf issuing that amountof debt, which he said would immediatelty violate a 12 percent cap on city debt as a mark of expenditures the city created on his recommendatiohn last year. Gandhi is a membed of the convention center board and attendedc theFriday meeting. “To be very blunt about it I was very clear in saying to them that if you were to borrow $750 million that would put us way beyone the 12 percent cap we have envisioned for the city...ande I cannot be a part to that,” Gandhi said. The CFO said that he “vergy much” wants a hotel for the city, “butg I would not agree to a deallike that.
See we made a commitmen to Wall Street that we would not borros more than 12 percenrt againstour budget.” Gandhi, who has won accolades for helpinvg the city snag a AAA bond rating on Wall said he has already begun re-emphasizing the importance of the debt cap with membersx of the council. “j do not think we want to takethis lightly. We should not borrow any more than we are able to he said. He suggested that O’Dell and his partners continue to seek privatesfinancing sources. Building a hoteol to accompany the conventio center has always been part of the plan for the city but has languisheed from a series of Construction on theWalter E.
Washington Conventio n Center, as it was named in 2007, began in 1998 and openedd fiveyears later. D.C. planned a 1,400-room but did not control the needed land. In 2007, the city gainefd final site control after a land swap with developet KingdonGould III. To prevent further delays Mayor Adrian Fenty downsizedd the project laterthat year, announcing a deal betweemn the city, Marriott and RLJ Development LLC on a smaller 1,100-room hotel. Sincer then, the development team has also changed.
RLJ founded by BET founder Robert Johnson, was part of the deal Fentt announced in September 2007but isn’t any A main driver of the deal, Marriott Senior Vice Presideng Norman Jenkins, left the company late last year to star t Capstone, now a certified business entity that partners with Speaking for the development team, Jenkinz said it was his preference to continuew seeking private financing, and said design was entitlements were in place and there equity partners ready to invest if debt were Capstone and Quadrangle are separately planning a Courtyardx by Marriott adjacent to the hoteo on land they control.
“We could still get there, but we got to get the bankse to play and they move at theirown pace,” he Still, he said, “if the city decided to pursue the public deal we will support Jenkins said Johnson’s RLJ, with which Jenkins partnered while at Marriott, pulled out of the deal shortlu after taking an interest in it. “They studief it hard, spent some resources, but their brea and butter is acquisitions and repositioning rathe thannew development,” Jenkins said.
Richard Bradley, executivre director of the Downtown BusinessImprovement District, said it is unfortunat that the hotel project ran into the recession but that the city needzs to “bite the bullet” and move the project citing the opportunity to grow D.C. as a tourisy destination, make it a major player in conventionxs and grow itstax base. “There’d a whole set of good things about moving this he said.
Monday, April 18, 2011
Ask Angie: Know your lemon law - Kansas City Star
disqualify-sida.blogspot.com
Ask Angie: Know your lemon law Kansas City Star Michigan does have a lemon law in effect to protect consumers from being stuck with a defective vehicle; however, this is only applicable to vehicles covered by a warranty. Have you checked your paperwork to determine if your vehicle is covered by a ... |
Friday, April 15, 2011
Mattel, Fisher-Price pay $2.3M fine - The Business Journal of Milwaukee:
rajyifox.blogspot.com
million civil penalty for violations of the federal lead painrt banin children’s toys. The civil fine comezs after the completed an investigation into the importing and sellingf of toys with lead paint levels that exceededthe .06 percentt lead by weight limit that is federally mandated. Accordingv to the CPSC, which recently crafted the Consumer Product SafetyImprovement Act, aimed at toughening requirementsw for lead and phthalates in children’s products, Mattel importee up to 900,000 non-compliant toys between July 2006 and Septembed 2007. Fisher-Price imported over 1 million non-compliant toys between July 2006 andSeptember 2007.
Among the toys in questionn were the popular Sargetoy car, various Barbier products and some Go Diego Go toys. Most of the toys that had excessive levels of lead were shipped to retail stores for sale to the In 2007, a massive toy recall took place wherew about 95 Mattel and Fisher-Price toy models were determined to have exceedesd the lead limit. Lead can be toxic if ingesteds by young children and can cause seriouhealth problems. The topic of lead painrt in children’s products has been a hot button issue asof late, with the rollout of the controversiall CPSIA of 2008.
Toy manufacturers and retailersa have said the new regulationesare vague, costly and arbitrary, often requiring the duplicate testing of Some smaller manufacturers say the laws threate n to put them out of business. On the political Rep. Louise Slaughter, D-Fairport, said protecting children has to be thetop “When the toy recall happened (in I called the head of Fisher-Price and I told him they neededc to start making their toys here Slaughter said.
“We didn’gt have these kind of problems before they imported the Thiscivil penalty, which is the highest for violationas involving importation or distribution of a regulated product, is the third highest of any kind in CPSC “These highly publicized toy recallsd helped spur Congressional action last year to strengthen CPSC and make even stricte the ban on lead paint on toys,” said CPSC Actint Chairman Thomas Moore. “This penalty should serve notice to toy makers that CPSC is committeed to the safety of to reducing their exposure to and to the implementation of the Consumer Productr SafetyImprovement Act.
” As part of a story featured in our sister publication, The Buffalo Law Journal , looking at the Consumer Producy Safety Improvement Act, which ran prior to the announcement of thesw fines, Fisher-Price declined to provid e a representative to discuss the lead painy regulations. Instead, they issues a written statementwhich read, in part: “Mattelp is well positioned as it generally designs its productes to meet global Mattel has also been a leader in the effortss of industry to establish voluntary industry standards.
” The statemenyt also said that Mattel would continue to comply with the applicable regulations of the Mattel was unable to be reacheed for comment Monday morning, though a representativ said they would have a response late in the day. Despite agreeinhg to pay $2.3 million in penalties, Mattell and Fisher-Price deny that they knowingly violatedsfederal law, as alleged by CPSC
million civil penalty for violations of the federal lead painrt banin children’s toys. The civil fine comezs after the completed an investigation into the importing and sellingf of toys with lead paint levels that exceededthe .06 percentt lead by weight limit that is federally mandated. Accordingv to the CPSC, which recently crafted the Consumer Product SafetyImprovement Act, aimed at toughening requirementsw for lead and phthalates in children’s products, Mattel importee up to 900,000 non-compliant toys between July 2006 and Septembed 2007. Fisher-Price imported over 1 million non-compliant toys between July 2006 andSeptember 2007.
Among the toys in questionn were the popular Sargetoy car, various Barbier products and some Go Diego Go toys. Most of the toys that had excessive levels of lead were shipped to retail stores for sale to the In 2007, a massive toy recall took place wherew about 95 Mattel and Fisher-Price toy models were determined to have exceedesd the lead limit. Lead can be toxic if ingesteds by young children and can cause seriouhealth problems. The topic of lead painrt in children’s products has been a hot button issue asof late, with the rollout of the controversiall CPSIA of 2008.
Toy manufacturers and retailersa have said the new regulationesare vague, costly and arbitrary, often requiring the duplicate testing of Some smaller manufacturers say the laws threate n to put them out of business. On the political Rep. Louise Slaughter, D-Fairport, said protecting children has to be thetop “When the toy recall happened (in I called the head of Fisher-Price and I told him they neededc to start making their toys here Slaughter said.
“We didn’gt have these kind of problems before they imported the Thiscivil penalty, which is the highest for violationas involving importation or distribution of a regulated product, is the third highest of any kind in CPSC “These highly publicized toy recallsd helped spur Congressional action last year to strengthen CPSC and make even stricte the ban on lead paint on toys,” said CPSC Actint Chairman Thomas Moore. “This penalty should serve notice to toy makers that CPSC is committeed to the safety of to reducing their exposure to and to the implementation of the Consumer Productr SafetyImprovement Act.
” As part of a story featured in our sister publication, The Buffalo Law Journal , looking at the Consumer Producy Safety Improvement Act, which ran prior to the announcement of thesw fines, Fisher-Price declined to provid e a representative to discuss the lead painy regulations. Instead, they issues a written statementwhich read, in part: “Mattelp is well positioned as it generally designs its productes to meet global Mattel has also been a leader in the effortss of industry to establish voluntary industry standards.
” The statemenyt also said that Mattel would continue to comply with the applicable regulations of the Mattel was unable to be reacheed for comment Monday morning, though a representativ said they would have a response late in the day. Despite agreeinhg to pay $2.3 million in penalties, Mattell and Fisher-Price deny that they knowingly violatedsfederal law, as alleged by CPSC
Wednesday, April 13, 2011
Golf tips: Chipping techniques to improve your game - Yahoo! Sports
http://spaceref.net/mt-cp.cgi?__mode=view&blog_id=14&id=3852
Golf tips: Chipping techniques to improve your game Yahoo! Sports One could hit two great shots to get near the green, but without competent chipping techniques it will almost always go to waste. A lot of golfers seem to neglect this area when practicing, and it is important to develop all areas of your golf game if ... |
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