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Two monthly housing market indicators have been released so far this week, both relating broadly to home construction and showing a continued slowing of the housing sector and a related loss of builder confidence. The U.S. Census Bureau and the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development have published their joint report on new residential construction for August 2006. The survey covers the number of building permits, housing starts, and housing completions throughout the country and it reported a further retreat in each category from the previous month and double digit drops in two of the three categories since the same month in 2005.
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I am writing in response to Stephen Fulton's letter to the editor ("Too many unknowns," The Daily Astorian, Sept. 29). Fulton asked 11 questions, which are answered in that order below. For more information about the college and the new campus project, go to www.clatsopcc.edu
1) Currently, the location for a new college campus is proposed at John Warren Field on Exchange Street in Astoria about seven blocks from the current Jerome Avenue location. The cost is projected to be $60 million.
2) The college has $7.5 million currently in its accounts to pay for a portion of the $60 million. With the $7.5 million already committed by the State of Oregon, the college has $15 million for the project.
3) With the bond proceeds from Ballot Measure 4-118 in hand, the college will request additional matching funds from the Legislature, and other funds are anticipated from educational partners and private individuals.
Lucknow, December 27: Long traffic jams and unruly crowd! This is how the city is bolstering its identity by each passing day and Wednesday was no different. With the construction and repair work in progress in many parts of the city, the commuters had a harrowing time, particularly during the rush hours. There was a major jam at the Sankalp Vatika tri-crossing and Bandha Road due to the ongoing road construction work there. The barricades were put up and building material scattered on the road. I was left stranded for around 20 minutes before I managed to find another way to my shop, said Surendra Kumar who got stuck here this morning. They (construction agencies) do not even bother to put up proper signboards to avoid public inconvenience, he rued. A guard who was at the spot trying to handle the traffic admitted it was not an easy task.
That's why, says Mayor Al Richards, the Milwaukee suburb is experimenting with a program that waives construction permit fees. Richards and others say it's an incentive for homeowners to stay in the area and add-on to their homes when they decide they need more room. City Administrator Ralph Voltner says about one-third of the city's homes are between 700 and 900 square feet. So while there are plenty of ritzy condos and townhomes, he says there's room to grow. And that's why he made the proposal, which was approved in August. To qualify for the fee waivers, construction costs must be at least half of the assessed value of the home. Savings can be big. For example, the savings from waiving costs for plumbing, electrical, heating and A-C and building can be from one-thousand to 25-hundred dollars.
Faced with increasing homeownership, rising costs of maintaining a home and the ever-present expectation that the modern woman can and will do things for herself, women have become a driving force within the home-improvement industry.
Sisters are driving nails, demolishing walls, laying pipe or wading through sawdust.
According to Lowe's, more than 80 percent of women perform landscaping and gardening tasks, and more than 90 percent of the women engaged in do-it-yourself projects around the house also make most major purchases and financial decisions for that house. .
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