As a genealogist I have found the census to be invaluable to my research; but even more important has been its impact on the economic development of my community. And here is the reason why, taken directly from the Census Bureau’s Website: “Census data are used to distribute Congressional seats to states, to make decisions…
Category: Construction
Stimulus Package Status Report
If your community is like ours, you have received very little information about the much publicized economic stimulus package currently under consideration by our legislators and President-elect Obama. For a small town, this is frustrating because if this does happen, the opportunity will be a once-in-a-lifetime deal. So we sit on the edge of our…
Low Hanging Fruit for Your Stimulus Basket
Ever since our city first became aware of the possibility of a federal stimulus package focusing on public works, we have been busy as bees finding “shovel-ready” projects to submit for funding. Because I realize efforts like ours are now going on all over the U.S., I thought it might be helpful to post some…
Inviting Utilities to the Public Works Feast
Yesterday, while our water crews were repairing a major water main break in our city, I spent some time talking with a guy from our local gas company. He had been sent to the site to watch out for the gas main that was located in the same trench. Our conversation made me realize that…
Be2Camp Video/Slides Online
The Be2Camp held in London on Fri., Oct. 10, attracted about 50 people to the live event and almost 300 more to the Webcast and Second Life stream of the event. For anyone who missed it, the video stream and slides can now be viewed at the Be2Camp Website.
Beautiful Bridges
Everyone in public works appreciates a beautiful bridge so I am passing on a link to the “16 Incredibly Colorful Bridges” post at the Color + Design Blog. This site is offering up inspiring photos/images of beautiful bridges from around the world and includes a color palette lifted from each image. Thanks to @bashley over…
Do Contractors Text?
Poor Jack, he could never get hold of me on the phone. Little surprise. We both work in construction and spend most of our day lining up work and crews, securing materials, overseeing projects out in the field, and dealing with the general problems that arise each day on a construction site. With all that,…
The Building Industry Meets Web 2.0 at Be2Camp
How can the building industry use Web 2.0 tools to enhance delivery of services and better integrate new concepts like sustainability? These are some of the questions and issues that will be discussed at the upcoming barcamp, Be2Camp, to be held at The Building Centre on Store Street in London on Oct. 10, 2008. This…
Barcamp, social media, and pizza
Ok, the pizza in the title probably caught your attention, but the real focus of this blog will be “barcamp” since I am beginning to become more involved with this concept and thought others might be interested in hearing more about it. Not really sure how familiar the average person is with that term, but…
A Voice from the Trenches
Because as a city engineer/director of public works I have to deal with politics on a daily basis, I usually try to avoid getting involved in hard-core political discussions. But lately with the state of the economy, the policies and direction of my home state, and the comments I hear about selling our nation’s infrastructure,…