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HVAC system creating alleged issues of safety at ACI

Daily SF News — Thu, 01 Jun 2023 04:30:51 +0000

CRANSTON, Rhode Island (WPRI) — Some Rhode Island correctional officers are questioning the fluctuating temperatures at the state’s prison facilities.

Richard Ferruccio, president of the RI Brotherhood of Correctional Officers (RICBO), told 12 News, “It’s not uncommon” for facilities to experience swings in extremely hot or cold temperatures.

He said that over the weekend of March 11, the union office received a series of calls from correctional officers complaining about the cold at the Adult Correctional Institution’s Intake Service Center (ISC). According to the RI Department of Corrections (RIDOC), the center has a total capacity of 1,148 inmate beds.

“Correction officers wore jackets, hats and sometimes even gloves at the facility,” Ferruccio said.

Inmates housed at the ISC fall into several categories, including pre-trial detainees, newly sentenced inmates awaiting transfer to other facilities, and sentenced protective detainees, according to RIDOC. The department said a detainee awaiting trial typically stays there for about 25 days.

ALSO READ: ACI Employees Charge Three Inmates With Cell Phone Smuggling

Ferruccio said in addition to correctional officials’ complaints about the common cold, an inmate housed at the ISC was taken to the hospital on March 13 because he was “possibly suffering from hypothermia and some other complications.”

JR Ventura, a spokesman for RIDOC, told 12 News the department could not confirm whether the events were related or clarify what the inmate’s diagnosis was.

“As a precautionary measure, one inmate was transported to the hospital by the Intake Service Center for evaluation after exhibiting unusual behavior,” Ventura said in a statement Friday.

Ventura said the inmate’s condition was stable as of Tuesday and “he remains at Rhode Island Hospital due to multiple underlying medical conditions.”

RIDOC cannot address the specific health condition of patients, he added.

According to Ventura, the ISC experienced “some temperature fluctuations” this week. He said the facility got warm as the weather changed and maintenance work had to be done to cool down parts of the building.

Ventura told 12 News that the ISC has two main areas, a north side and a south side, with multiple habitation modules in each wing. He said when temperatures change, it rarely happens throughout the facility, but mainly in one wing and certain modules.

“The temperature fluctuated from warm to cool as the controls for the different habitation modules were adjusted and calibrated. it was not outside the required safety levels,” explained Ventura.

In this case, he said the south side cooled faster than the north side. During the week in question, Ventura noted that “temperatures oscillated from the mid-50s to 80s at times, but did not remain at that level.”

“For reasons of protocol and as an extra precaution, officers distributed extra blankets to inmates to make them more comfortable. The fluctuating temperature has been fixed,” he added.

In the event of higher temperatures, Ventura said the maintenance department will direct staff to lower the water temperatures, which in turn will reduce the heat. He said individual units would have to be manually cycled on and off as needed to regulate the temperature.

According to Ventura, the department has been in the process of getting a new HVAC system for this facility for four years, “because the current system is obsolete and requires constant repairs and maintenance.” He said fluctuating temperatures are an ongoing problem.

RELATED: RI lawmakers debate whether to stop ‘prison manoeuvres’

“Temperatures fluctuate daily depending on the outside temperature and we have qualified personnel on site monitoring the HVAC system,” explained Ventura.

Ventura said the department had been bidding for a total HVAC renovation contract since July 2020. He said RIDOC is currently in the process of considering questions from potential bidders, which ends on Tuesday.

Ferruccio said it’s a frustrating situation for the hundreds of inmates and the hundreds of correctional officers who work at the facility. He said the union is “consistently” voicing its concerns with the prison administration.

“It increases tensions between staff and inmates. It’s just an unhealthy situation that we’ve struggled with for years,” Ferruccio said.

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Marc Cavagnero Associates have accomplished the renovation and enlargement of a faculty campus by clarifying the circulation and concurrently creating new, versatile program area in probably the most sustainable means

Daily SF News — Fri, 28 Apr 2023 09:32:26 +0000

San Francisco, California, United States

Marc Cavagnero Associates’ Hamlin School renovation and expansion project transformed the campus into a fully sustainable building that minimizes demolition and maximizes the reuse of existing structures to reduce waste and increase material resources and insulation of all exterior building envelopes above and below save class to reduce energy consumption

The new Hamlin School campus recently received the 2023 Green Good Design Award from the Chicago Athenaeum: Museum of Architecture and Design and the European Center for Architecture Art Design and Urban Studies.

For over 127 years, The Hamlin School has been focused on its mission to educate girls to “meet the challenges of their time.”

The school is located on a steep sloping site in a residential area of San Francisco with restrictive height restrictions.

The campus consists of 3 buildings descending 65 feet down a slope while scaling a 40 foot retaining wall, all conditions that created profound site constraints and design challenges.

With separate elevators and stairways in each building, connections between the separate buildings were unclear.

The retaining wall at the center of the campus created a physical barrier between the middle school and the junior high school, fundamentally dividing the site into upper and lower sections.

The three buildings were constructed in three different eras and were not designed to support the school’s contemporary pedagogical ambitions.

And the undersized gymnasium was shared with the performing arts department, affecting both athletics and performing arts programs.

Work focused on the interior of the site to minimize impact on the stunning bay views from the campus and neighboring residences.

The project expanded the lower school’s McKinne Building, retaining its front half while excavating behind it south to the retaining wall, yielding new excavation area as usable area.

The new design stacked a large, double-height gymnasium over a multipurpose arts space deep in the center of the site, conforming to zone boundaries and minimizing visual impact on neighbors.

The roof of the extension forms a new terrace directly in front of the existing science classrooms in the middle building and creates new opportunities for science education and experiments.

This strategy also consolidated the newly enlarged classrooms on the north side of the McKinne Building, where they make best use of the large windows, soft light, and views.

The existing classrooms were small and did not support the school’s project-based pedagogy.

Working closely with the teachers, the classrooms were paired by grade level, with the youngest children on Level 1 moving up the building as they got older.

Each pair of L-shaped classrooms is connected by an operable partition and a shared project space.

This layout creates differentiated learning spaces to support different learning modes: individual, small group, whole class, and whole grade level.

The renovation also created a new, open and accessible entrance at ground level, midway between the first floor and the newly excavated lower level.

Where the building’s previous 1960s entrance was awkward, cramped and hidden from the street, the new entrance welcomes students, parents and visitors and is connected to the indoor lobbies on levels 1 and 0, which lead directly to the multipurpose performance space and The climbing wall.

These lobbies are open and flexible spaces used for classroom activities, after-school programs and as a vestibule for the new performance space.

Sustainable features of the campus include a computerized building management system using occupancy sensors and daylight sensors to automatically reduce energy use from lighting and HVAC systems when not required.

The architects have used high-efficiency LED lighting fixtures and low-flow plumbing fixtures throughout, while low-E coating double glazing reduces solar gain and energy loss in all new windows.

In addition, operable windows provide user-controlled natural ventilation and limit mechanical cooling to large gathering spaces to reduce energy consumption.

Project: The Hamelin School
Architect: Mark Cavagnero Associates
Design Team: Mark Cavagnero, Felicia Dunham, Anna de Anguera, Christopher Agosta and Tammy LePham
Project Manager: Pacific Union Development Company, Inc.
Client: The Hamlin School
Photographers: Mike Kelley

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Tesla is creating San Francisco in a simulation to assist practice Autopilot/FSD

Thu, 03 Nov 2022 17:25:59 +0000

September 21, 2022

By Kevin Armstrong

Tesla may be ramping up how it uses simulation to train its Autopilot system. A report by Electrek asserts that it has sources claiming that the company is concentrating on a reproduction of San Francisco. The article includes an image of the recreation and states that Tesla is working with Real Engine on its simulation.

According to Electrek, the image below is part of Tesla’s simulation of San Francisco.

Tesla gave the world a look at how it uses simulation to advance the Autopilot program during the first AI Day in August of 2021 (recap).

AI Day

At the first AI Day Tesla talked about the use of using simulations to help train Autopilot. The video below is cued up to where they discuss a simulation.

Ashok Elluswamy, the Director of the Autopilot Program, showed a video that, at first glance, looked real other than an appearance by a Cybertruck. “I may say so myself. It looks very pretty,” said Elluswamy. He explained that the company is investing heavily in using simulation. “It helps when data is difficult to source. As large as our fleet is (FSD Beta users), it can still be hard to get some crazy scenes,” the director explained while showing a rendering of two people and a dog running in the middle of a busy highway. “This is a rare scene, but it can happen, and Autopilot still needs to handle it when it happens,” said Elluswamy.

It appears that Tesla has jumped on Fortnite’s Battle Bus by teaming up with Epic Games and its development platform — Unreal Engine. Fortnite is one of the most popular games of all time, with 80 million subscribers and 4 million daily users, and it was created with Unreal Engine. Epic flexed its creative muscles when it gathered experts to create The Matrix Awakens: An Unreal Engine 5 Experience. The goal was to “blur the boundaries between cinematic and game, inviting us to ask — what is real?” The project spotlight on Unreal Engine shows just how incredibly realistic a simulation can be.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WU0gvPcc3

After Elluswamy explained that the company is investing in simulation, it makes sense that Tesla would be hiring several positions with simulation in the job description. Electrek pointed out one posting for Autopilot Rendering Engineer. The posting states the successful candidate “will contribute to the development of Autopilot simulation by enabling and supporting the creation of photo-realistic 3D scenes that can accurately model the driving experience in a wide range of locales and conditions.” Tesla prefers the candidates to have experience working with Unreal Engine.

While not new, this does show that Tesla is doubling down on efforts to improve Autopilot. It has recently rolled out Full Self Driving to 60,000 more users, bringing the FSD Beta program to 160,000 in North America.

We can only guess how many thousands of simulations the Autopilot team is conducting to add to the data the Beta testers are collecting. It seems unlikely that Tesla has only created the City by the Bay in its simulations. Perhaps Elluswamy will show more renderings at the second AI Day on September 30th.

November 3, 2022

By Kevin Armstrong

Shiny new Model 3s started appearing last month, missing the small, round polka dots on their bumpers. The circles were gone after the company announced it was removing the ultrasonic sensors (USS) to move to strictly Vision. However, after a few weeks in the wild, evidence suggests the company will mimic what USS used to perform and display.

Twitter user @EZebroni tweeted a helpful video demonstrating the difference between a Tesla with and without USS. It’s noticeably different then what Tesla drivers are used to seeing. The distance lines are gone, and even the images of what is beside the non-USS Tesla are not there, just a lot of white screen.

As seen in the video, a vehicle without USS will not display any information to the driver regarding nearby objects. The distance to nearby objects is not displayed on the screen nor are the colored arcs that usually display when an object is nearby.

However, update 2022.40.4 appears to reintroduce some functionality to owners of these vehicles, at least in shadow mode.

Twitter user @greentheonly, a well-known Tesla hacker, tweeted: 2022.40.4 merges no-ultrasonics code into “mainline,” now receives parking distances from Autopilot (where not equipped with proper ultrasonics).

From Green’s findings, it looks like Tesla is preparing to mimic ultrasonic sensors with Tesla Vision, which essentially means that the vehicle is likely to display not only the arcs when an object is nearby, but also the distance to the given object.

Greentheonly was asked several questions after tweeting this information. Someone wanted to know if the Tesla no-ultrasonics code was working in shadow mode, a blend or pure AutoPilot. Green said that it is not a blend, but he needed to figure out what is displayed on USS-less cars, encourage someone with a new Model 3 or Model Y to try 2022.40.4.

Although the code is available in 2022.40.4, it’s not clear yet whether Tesla is running this code in shadow mode, meaning that the code is run in the background without notifying the user, or if distances are now being shown on vehicles without USS. Video

Will Tesla stop utilizing ultrasonic sensors like they did radar?

Another Twitter user asked if this would make the USS on the existing vehicles “ornaments?” This has been a widespread concern since the non-USS cars started showing up. Tesla addressed this matter when it announced it was removing USS. It states on the company website: At this time, we do not plan to remove the functionality of ultrasonic sensors in our existing fleet.

At this time USS have only been removed from the Model 3 and Model Y, but they will also be removed from the Model S and Model X in 2023. Green also believes the existing USS will remain operational, tweeting: not any time soon, I imagine. Also, the front ones still cover an area where the cameras don’t see.

Another user questioned, does it only take information from the moving/static object networks, or is it able to use the occupancy, and road edge networks as well? To which Green responded that he had not looked into that kind of detail yet.

The new world of non-USS is upon us, and there will be many questions. This revelation is likely the first of a long line of updates to assist vision in making up what was lost with ultrasonic sensors.

November 2, 2022

By Gabe Rodriguez Morrison

Since the Cybertruck unveiling in 2019, Tesla has pushed production dates back numerous times: from late 2021 to late 2022, to early 2023, and most recently to the mid-2023 target for initial low-volume production.

Tesla is reportedly planning to begin Cybertruck high-volume production at the end of next year. The company is preparing to set production dates according to a report from Reuters, indicating mass manufacturing of the Cybertruck to begin at the end of 2023.

It still seems that Tesla is on track to start low-volume production in mid-2023, with mass production beginning at the end of the year.

During the Q3 2022 earnings call, Tesla stated that it was working on preparing the Austin, Texas plan to build the Cybertruck, with “early production” set to begin mid-2023. During the call, Elon Musk said that Tesla is “in the final lap for Cybertruck.” The Q3 2022 Shareholder Deck also listed Cybertruck’s production status as in the “tooling” phase which means it’s preparing for production.

This aligns with timelines from IDRA Group, the die-casting company making the 9,000-ton Giga Press that will be used for the Cybertruck. The Giga Press has reportedly arrived in Houston, Texas and can be expected to reach the Gigafactory in Austin, Texas soon.

Reuters points out that gradually ramping up Cybertruck production starting mid-2023, reaching high volume production by late 2023 would mean that some of the roughly 1 million reservation holders may have to wait more than a year before their truck is delivered.

Elon stated that the company had more orders “than we could possibly fulfill for three years after the start of production.” For these reasons, Tesla stopped taking orders for the Cybertruck outside North America in May 2022.

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Tesla is creating San Francisco in a simulation to assist prepare Autopilot/FSD

Sat, 01 Oct 2022 15:08:17 +0000

September 21, 2022

By Kevin Armstrong

According to Electrek, the image below is part of Tesla’s simulation of San Francisco.

Tesla gave the world a look at how it uses simulation to advance the Autopilot program during the first AI Day in August of 2021 (recap).

AI Day

At the first AI Day Tesla talked about the use of using simulations to help train Autopilot. The video below is cued up to where they discuss a simulation.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WU0gvPcc3

September 30, 2022

By Nuno Cristovao

Tesla is hosting its recruiting event, AI Day 2 tonight in Palo Alto, California.

Elon Musk said to expect a lot of technical detail and “cool” hardware demos. We don’t know which demos exactly, although Elon did say the event will be focused on AI and robotics.

Elon also talked about how these events are specifically aimed at showing off the exciting things Tesla is working on to attract more talent.

We can expect Tesla to show off its new Tesla bot, Optimus, talk about FSD and AI and possibly share some details on FSD hardware 4.0 and its upcoming Steam integration.

Pretty much. AI/robotics engineers who understand what problems need to be solved will like what they see.

— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) September 29, 2022

Start Time

The event took place in Palo Alto, CA on September 30th at 6:15 pm PT.

Watch on Demand

You can watch the event on demand below:

September 30, 2022

By Nakatomi2010

Back in 2017, I was in a home with solar panels, but no battery backup. Hurricane Irma passed overhead, and I found myself without power for 24-48 hours. We lost all of our food as a result.

When the storm passed, I called up the company that installed my solar panels and found that adding in a battery would be cost-prohibitive, as it would require replacing the solar inverter. As my wife and I started shopping for a new home for our family, I kept this information in mind as I had planned on having solar+battery put in at the new house. I worked on finding a home that would be oriented properly to get the best solar collection capacity, and we bought it in 2018.

Once the home was bought I went through the process of getting quotes for solar + battery arrays and ultimately settled on Tesla.

Tesla was largely chosen because, at the time, the Powerwall battery had the shortest cutover time in the event of an outage. It kicks in right away, while the others took 2-3 seconds to switch over.

By the end of 2018, the array and Powerwall were installed and operational. The array has a max output of 9.425 kW using a SolarEdge SE7600H-US inverter, which has a max output of 7.64 kW, and a single Gen 2 Powerwall 2. During the design, I chose not to have the HVAC and car chargers run off the Powerwall.

As Hurricane Ian approached, Tesla’s Storm Watch kicked in on the Powerwall.

The Powerwall started charging to 100% about two days before the hurricane made landfall. I debated on letting the Powerwall’s power get used leading up to landfall, but having been through hurricanes before, I opted to let Storm Watch do its thing. As the hurricane approaches it’s not uncommon for the winds to cause power stability issues. Leading up to the hurricane the power blinked numerous times.

By the afternoon of September, 28th people in the Tampa area were already starting to lose power.

At around 4:15-4:30 pm, as the winds outside were getting stronger, my wife and I decided to start making dinner for the kids. For reasons unknown, we decided to cook some things that involved the stove. At 4:42 pm the power blinked, and the Powerwall took over for about 5 minutes, putting us back on the grid at 4:47 pm. Once back on the grid the Powerwall charged back up to 100%.

At 5:03 pm on September 28th, the power went out again. After making dinner, we turned off the appliances and watched Andor on Disney+.When it was over I looked at the Powerwall’s status and found that we were now down to 91%.

There was a notice that said we had about 8.1 hours of power remaining, I started to cycle through the things in the house that consumed power and began shutting them off, either at the breaker box, or by unplugging them, intending to ensure there was enough power to keep our fridge, and a chest freezer in the garage online.

I was able to get us down to about .3-.4 kW of use before going to bed and hoped that was enough. Things that were turned off were the water heater, the dishwashers, computer gear, TVs, etc. Anything that might have vampire drain in the long run, including the internet gear.

At around 7 pm yesterday, two hours after the power had gone out, Tesla sent me an email with the VIN for my new Model Y.

I couldn’t help but chuckle at their timing.

I woke up the next morning, September 29th, at around 6:30 am. I had to connect to the Powerwall directly to check the stats since I had powered down the internet gear and Gen 2 Powerwalls don’t have cellular connectivity any longer due to AT&T’s 3G network being shut down earlier this year. I found that the Powerwall was down to 46%.

By this time the storm had moved beyond my area, and I went outside to start inspecting for potential property damage and such. Thankfully, we were spared property damage. The most we had was a panel that covers the service box for our internet cables get blown off the side of the house. I found it about 4 feet away and put it back on.

Others in the community I live in were less fortunate. Several smaller trees had been tipped over, some homes had shingles blown off their roof, and in at least one case a tree had fallen on top of a vehicle.

At 8 am I checked to see how many people in my neck of the woods were without power and found that the total increased from 21,2000 to 292,247 as the hurricane moved away.

The day after a hurricane is a tricky one, particularly if the hurricane is a big one because there’s still a lot of cloud cover. By around 8:38 am the Powerwall was at 36% charged and the sun was barely peaking out around the clouds, resulting in a lower power generation rate.

About 30 minutes later, at 9:10 am, enough sun was shining through the clouds for the Powerwall to start charging.

35% would be as low as the Powerwall went during this event.

As the day went on, we used power sparingly, mostly trying to ensure our mobile devices were charged. We used a microwave and a toaster oven to make breakfast, and at around 11 am I got a chuckle at my impact card showing 0% grid usage.

By lunchtime, the Powerwall showed Storm Watch was over, and the Powerwall was charged to 68%.

So we again used the microwave and toaster oven to make lunch and feed the family.

At around 1 pm the Powerwall started to hit around 80-85% charged, and we started running into an issue with generating power. Every time the Powerwall generated more than 5kW of power, we got an error that read “DC VOLTAGE NOT SAFE! DO NOT DISCONNECT! VDC 445.4”

Followed by another “Error code 18×40 AC Freq too high”

And then it would go to “Waking up…” and start a five-minute timer. Once the five-minute timer was done, the cycle would repeat, the array would generate 5 kW, give an error, and reboot.

I tried to open a support ticket with Tesla, first using the Tesla app. I started a chat session with someone who immediately disconnected the chat session saying “Weather-related issue”, as I was not on the grid.

Irritated, I re-opened the chat session and got a different person who worked with me.

Initially, the individual claimed that the issue was related to the overcast sky, however, that wasn’t the case as the inverter *does* shut down when there’s a lack of sunshine. In this case, it was shutting off every time it hit 5 kW generation. While still on chat support I used a different mobile device to call Tesla’s solar number. I received different answers from the chat advisor and the representative on the phone.

Chat support said that there did appear to be an issue and advised me to schedule a service ticket, and ended the chat.

The person on the phone took the time to explain to me what was happening, and ultimately resolved the issue. The Powerwalls are limited to 5 kW of intake. As I only had one Powerwall, once the array generated more than 5 kW of Power, the Powerwall was changing the frequency to tell the array “Whoa, stop, you’re giving me too much power”, which would reboot the array for five minutes, and repeat the cycle.

The solution to this issue is rather amusing.

You have to use more power to use the excess energy that the array is generating.

Armed with this new information I turned back on the dishwasher and the water heater, and started doing dishes, taking a shower, and watching TV. We eventually found a happy medium where we were using enough power to have the Powerwall stop shutting off the array and continue charging.

From 2 pm to 4 pm we greedily used power, but at 4 pm the intake wasn’t as good anymore as the sun was starting its trek to go below the horizon.

After the dishwasher finished, I turned the water heater and dishwasher back off and started going back to “low power” mode as we began making an early dinner, again, using the toaster ovens, and an air fryer.

We took some time to eat our food while watching TV, catching up on Paramount+’s Lower Decks, and Disney+’s She-Hulk, and we started turning things off again.

By 6:22 pm the Powerwall reached 98%. The sun finally went low enough on the horizon for power to stop being generated.

By the end of the day when we getting ready for bed, we still had no power.

By 2:15 am, on September 30th, I awoke to go pee, then sat on the edge of the bed and decided to check the Powerwall’s state of charge. I found it to be at 45% and heard a rumbling outside the bedroom door that turned into a roar.

After initially thinking it was an Amazon plane flying overhead, I got up and checked the thermostat to find that the HVAC had turned back on again. After checking the Tesla app again I found that power had been restored.

Looking at the Impact card to try and see how long the outage was, I realized that Tesla’s app doesn’t seem to know how to handle an outage that’s longer than a day.

The power went out at 5:03 pm on Wednesday, September 28th, and ultimately returned at 2:17 am on Friday, September 30th. A total of about 32 hours being off-grid.

What would I do differently? Tough to say honestly.

Having to go to the garage to flip breakers to reduce or increase the power load was annoying, putting in a Smart breaker panel would’ve been beneficial, but only so long as we had internet access.

A second Powerwall would’ve been very beneficial as it would have allowed me to not have to increase the power load to ensure the Powerwall kept charging properly, as the power would’ve likely been split between them. If and when Tesla sells Powerwalls without requiring solar with it, this is an option I’ll be investigating for sure, as long as it isn’t cost-prohibitive. I’m uncertain if you can mix and match a Gen 3 Powerwall with a Gen 2 under a SolarEdge inverter.

Not having the HVAC, while unpleasant, wasn’t a huge deal. After a hurricane clears out of an area, you’re generally left with a lot of cold air, so we just opened the windows for a bit. Having EV chargers was also a non-issue because we didn’t drive anywhere, and the cars only lost about 2-3% charge, mostly from me opening the Tesla app and accidentally waking up the cars while trying to scroll to the Solar card.

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Distant Employees are Transferring, Creating New Actual Property Alternatives

Mon, 16 May 2022 10:45:16 +0000

Remote workers no longer tethered to an office are settling in mid-sized cities across the nation, creating new opportunities and headaches for real estate developers and the cities themselves. More than 12 percent of moves between April 2020 and December 2021 were caused by COVID-19, as remote workers have flocked to smaller cities with lower costs of living, lower taxes, and fewer pandemic health restrictions, according to a recent study by professors at Vanderbilt University and the Georgia Institute of Technology.

The study analyzed 360,000 residential interstate moves from the last five years, finding that 70 percent of people citing remote work as the reason for their move earn more than $100,000 annually. Superstar cities in huge coastal metro areas like New York and San Francisco aren’t going away, but they’re losing enough people to impact their tax base.

Much of this migration is caused by highly paid tech workers, as the tech sector grew by 47 percent and added 1.2 million jobs between 2010 and 2019. About half the job creation occurred in eight areas, including San Francisco; San Jose, California; Austin, Texas; Boston; andSeattle. But some mid-size cities are also adding tech jobs at a clip of 3 percent or more annually, including Atlanta, Dallas, and Kansas City, Missouri.

All of these migration trends are undoubtedly in the minds of real estate investors. It’s no secret that mid-sized and smaller cities have seen population booms as more people have flocked to the suburbs and the Sun Belt, especially over the past two decades. The pandemic and remote work have added fuel to the fire. The investment outlook for the Sun Belt, suburbs, and smaller and mid-sized cities is increasingly attractive. Company office re-locations and satellite offices in these areas will likely keep growing.

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SF Residents Transferring Round The Better Bay Space Is Creating A ‘Megaregion’

Sun, 06 Feb 2022 05:14:04 +0000

SF moving companies have been busy, as San Francisco residents have been largely relocating to nearby counties. As an increasing number of residents have been leaving the Bay Area over the past few years, city planners have designated the area surrounding the Bay as a megaregion. With the region starting to include cities like Fresno and Sacramento, the Metropolitan Transportation Commission (MTC) is planning accordingly.

SFist has previously covered the fabled “Cal Exodus” and whether the research backs the claims or not. According to a UC San Diego survey, the number of people leaving California has been relatively stagnant over the past two years.

“Despite the popular notion of unhappy Californians leaving the state en masse, our robust research shows there is actually no exodus,” said Thad Kousser, chair of the political science department at UC San Diego and the lead researcher of the survey. “Most residents say that they still believe in the ‘California Dream.'”

Regardless of the stats, there is proof that people are leaving the Bay Area for cheaper housing and cost of living. Researchers like Dr. Seva Rodnyansky, an urban and environmental policy professor at Occidental College, saw a correlation between income and where people had moved by tracking state tax returns.

“For places like Roseville and Folsom, nearly 35 percent of movers had household incomes of $100,000,” said Rodnyansky in his interview with ABC7 News. “In contrast, 30 percent or more movers to Stockton, Los Banos and Patterson had household incomes below $25,000. So that’s a pretty stark difference.”

Since the pandemic, remote work has increased more than ever before. In 2020, close to 70% of full-time workers were working from home. Once more people seemed to realize that remote work might have been a longer-term situation for both employees and companies, city residents saw it as a sign to move somewhere more affordable if the commute was a nonexistent factor.

While overall commute traffic is down, residents moving to outlying counties (such as Merced, San Joaquin, and Yolo) caused traffic to spike. One of the reasons why is a rise in “supercommuters” from those areas, driving 50 or more miles to their work. As of August 2021, San Francisco, New York, and Los Angeles accounts for about a third of supercommuters in the nation. The highest rate of supercommuters reside from Stockton, about 80 miles east of San Francisco. Stockton is also followed by Modesto, Santa Rosa, and San Jose in the top ten metropolitan areas having the highest rates of supercommuters, most of whom are commuting to San Francisco.

As a result, the MTC is planning on a list of twelve transportation projects in the megaregion. They are studying migration patterns and prioritizing the order in which they complete the projects. The MTC is also working on getting state and federal support in funding for these projects. No projections of costs are available at this time, but it will surely be expensive.

“They will strategize and put together a work plan to pursue funding together, to work together on those grant applications,” said Diane Nguyen with the San Joaquin Council of Governments.

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Wildfire smoke chokes Bay Space, creating worst air high quality on the earth

Mon, 21 Jun 2021 03:45:20 +0000

Wildfire smoke cast a hazy red sky over the Bay Area on Wednesday, creating a seriously unhealthy atmosphere and adding to pandemic fear in the area. Ash fell over many counties. Children who were excluded from school were locked inside. Families evacuated homes.

Atmospheric tests showed that the air quality in Northern California is the worst in the world.

Smoke from multiple fires polluted the air, again causing concern among residents with respiratory illnesses, including those suffering from COVID-19.

“Someone who is already coughing or struggling with shortness of breath is the worst they can do when exposed to the particulate matter from the smoke,” said Tom Dailey, chief of pulmonary medicine at Kaiser’s Santa Clara Medical Center.

“It’s not just the smoke, we’re in the middle of a heatwave,” said Dailey. “It’s like closing a pot of boiling water. It keeps the pollutants close to the ground. “

The Bay Area Air Quality Management District authorities issued a spare the air alert by Sunday, advising Bay Area residents to stay indoors with the windows and doors closed, if possible, until the smoke subsides.

“Air quality will be very poor for the foreseeable future due to the rapid spread of fires and stagnant air mass,” tweeted the Bay Area branch of the National Weather Service.

Cal Fire fought a series of angry, complex fires that defied even partial containment, Governor Gavin Newsom said at a news conference.

By far the largest fires were the LNU Lightning Complex fires in Napa, Lake, Sonoma, and Solano counties – which exploded from 46,000 acres to 124,000 acres at dusk, burning down homes in Berryessa and Vacaville, and skipping Interstate 80 and homes in Fairfield threatened. It was 0% included.

The SCU Lightning Complex burned 85,000 acres in Contra Costa, Alameda, Santa Clara, San Joaquin, and Stanislaus counties and was 5% contained.

The fires of the CZU complex, which burned in the districts of San Mateo and Santa Cruz, consumed 10,000 hectares by Wednesday evening. They were included at 0%.

And there were many more.

“We thought we saw it all, and then 2020 is our meeting,” said Senator Mike McGuire, D-Healdsburg. “You have always said that Mother Nature can really make a difference. She hits back pretty hard at the moment. “

A house on Pleasant Valley Road in Vacaville, California is on fire when the fire breaks out at the LNU Lightning Complex on Wednesday, August 19, 2020. Video: Scott Strazzante The Chronicle

Of particular concern was the SCU Lightning Complex.

“The fire at the SCU Lightning Complex is still not remotely contained,” said Kristina Chu, acting communications manager for the Bay Area Air Quality Management District. “That’s what causes the greatest amount of smoke in the Bay Area.”

The worst Bay Area air quality readings for particulate matter as of 1 p.m. were in Pleasanton, Livermore, Redwood City, Gilroy, San Jose, East Oakland, and downtown San Francisco, where air quality was classified as unhealthy.

The notice means that anyone with pre-existing respiratory problems should limit all outdoor activities. If you smell smoke, “go in, close the windows and doors, and make sure they’re sealed,” Chu said.

Although there is still no clear link to the effects of forest fire smoke on COVID-19 patients, experts can use research on smoking and air pollution to draw preliminary conclusions.

“Wildfire smoke is like tobacco smoke without nicotine,” said Dr. John Balmes, professor of medicine at UCSF and environmental health science at UC Berkeley. “It is a plant material that, when burned, produces carbon particles with unpleasant hydrocarbons that are toxic.”

As an example, he took the 2018 Camp Fire. This fire caused particulate matter known as PM2.5 particles to migrate from the northern part of the Central Valley to the Bay Area. A thick haze covered the region for weeks and closed schools and shops.

A chimney, chair, and charred trees are all that’s left of a house on English Hills Road during the LNU Lightning Complex Fire in Vacaville, Calif. On Wednesday, August 19, 2020.Scott Strazzante / The Chronicle

Dailey encouraged anyone who had health problems related to the smoke to go to a hospital.

“The COVID epidemic has really prepared hospitals across the state for people with respiratory problems,” he said. “We don’t want that, but these hospitals are ready and prepared. People who have problems shouldn’t hesitate to come over and seek help. “

Experts say fabric coverings and surgical masks used to slow the spread of the coronavirus do not protect against forest fire smoke.

“Right now everyone is under a mask order for COVID,” said Chu. “However, any mask that is not N95 or higher will not protect you from PM2.5 particles from forest fire smoke.”

Even those with N95 masks should make an effort to avoid the smoke.

“I see people jogging in an N95 mask and they just don’t get it,” said Dailey. “That means 95% of the particles are kept out, but you are still inhaling 5% of them. We want people to stay inside. Don’t exercise. The masks are for those who cannot avoid being outside. “

San Francisco Health Director Dr. Grant Colfax said there were no immediate plans to close the city’s outdoor testing facilities due to the current air quality, which fluctuated between “orange” and “red” throughout the day. A “red” label is considered unhealthy.

“Unless someone has a particular need to be tested, this may not be the week to do so,” said Dailey.

The Chronicle’s authors, Kate Galbraith, Kellie Hwang, and Dominic Fracassa, contributed to this report.

Aidin Vaziri is a contributor to the San Francisco Chronicle. Email: avaziri@sfchronicle.com

Air quality index: www.airnow.gov/aqi

Spare the Air: www.sparethair.org

The Chronicle’s air quality tracker: https://projects.sfchronicle.com/trackers/california-fire-map/air-quality

AirNow: www.airnow.gov

CDC Rauch FAQ: www.cdc.gov/coronavirus/2019-ncov/php/smoke-faq.html

The fire map and the chronicle tracker: https://projects.sfchronicle.com/trackers/california-fire-map

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Specialists say inflow of consumers from San Francisco creating main challenges for Sacramento’s housing market

Thu, 15 Apr 2021 10:09:50 +0000

SACRAMENTO, Calif. (KTXL) – As the exodus from the Bay Area to Sacramento continues, local realtors and appraisers scramble to keep up with fluctuating demand from home buyers.

As a result of the COVID-19 pandemic, the Sacramento area is now a seller’s market, which means there are many homebuyers but limited inventory. This has created an unprecedented and challenging real estate market for both realtors and potential homeowners.

For El Dorado Hills real estate agent Melissa Quade, who experienced this 10 years ago in Seattle, seeing a big boom in the real estate market is not an unfamiliar job.

“I saw prices go up exponentially when I was in this market and now I see it here too,” Quade told FOX40.

But COVID-19 has created a unique situation for Quade and other realtors in the Sacramento and Bay areas.

San Francisco residents fled to Sacramento in large numbers during the pandemic: report

A recent CBRE research study showed that migration from densely populated and expensive areas has increased tremendously. Case in point: Moves from San Francisco to Sacramento County increased 70%.

“The buyers are in full force out there,” explained Quade. “Lots of movement from the Bay Area. You don’t have to live there anymore because you can work remotely so come here where you can get a lot more bang for your buck. “

The problem right now, however, is that sellers are in short supply.

“In El Dorado County, where I am, we have 75 percent fewer records than last year,” Quade said.

Quade added that this is frustrating for potential home buyers, “not just because they don’t have the money the Bay Area buyer has, but just because things are being done very, very differently now, and that Buyers have to take a much greater risk. ”

Quade said the median retail price in the Sacramento area, which includes counties of Sacramento, Placer, El Dorado, and Yolo, rose over 20% between March 2020 and March 2021. Since January of this year the market has risen 9% and is on the right track to keep rising.

“We haven’t seen a stock shortage like this in recent history, and we haven’t seen that many buyers out here, and that just creates insane,” Quade said.

There is also the gap between the estimated value and the real market value of homes, which is also difficult for appraiser and market analyst Ryan Lundquist.

“Our average price in January was $ 485,000 and just months later it was about $ 530,000,” Lundquist said. “And so we really saw very, very rapid growth.”

Out of the 30 largest subway areas in the US, Sacramento ranks number one in terms of net removals, most of which come from San Francisco.

And while it may seem daunting, the Sacramento real estate market offers plenty of opportunity.

“We actually had high sales volume for 10 months in a row,” Lundquist told FOX40. “Buyers are pulling the trigger for what’s out there. So we actually got numbers that are higher than 2019 and 2020.”

“It’s been a seller’s market here for a long time, but not like that,” Quade said.

Quade’s advice to first-time buyers in Sacramento is simple: be patient, competitive, negotiate terms, and focus on homes that have been in the market for at least a week.

According to Lundquist, there is good news for buyers: offers in the region are on the rise, and mortgage applications at the national level have been falling for three straight weeks. That means less competition.

Real estate boom: why people are paying thousands more than the asking price

It’s not all bad news for local real estate. In fact, Quade said this was the best time to sell. The only thing a seller is best at is finding a new home out of state.

Lundquist also gave advice to sellers: don’t be overzealous and put off potential buyers.

“Although buyers are hungry, they are not so desperate where they are literally paying for anything for any price and for any home,” he said.

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‘Artwork of imperfection’: San Francisco Bay Space man brings life to previous objects by creating musical devices

Sun, 21 Mar 2021 10:59:03 +0000

EL SOBRANTE, Calif. (KGO) – One man’s trash is another man’s treasure, and so is an East Bay man who brings old items back to life.

Steve Zwetsch combines improbable objects to create folk musical art. Five years ago Zwetsch came across a YouTube video of a guitar made from cigar boxes that was fascinated by the instrument.

As an autodidact, Zwetsch rose to the challenge and began to build the instrument in his cellar. Before the pandemic, he made five cigar box guitars a year, but after his bakery business was impacted by COVID-19, he made 14 guitars in six months.

Plum is able to resume a beloved hobby with the hope of profit.

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“What made me do it was the kind of music the guy was playing,” Zwetsch said. “He played an old blues song from the 1940s and I’m fascinated by that kind of music. Then I made one (cigar box guitar) and I could actually play it, that was exciting.”

THINK OUTSIDE THE BOX: This East Bay man is plucking his way through a pandemic creating guitars with improbable items to create folk art and music. pic.twitter.com/GnUzARu3TD

– ABC7 Melissa Pixcar (@ MelissaABC7) October 3, 2020

Zwetsch was unable to tease a normal size guitar due to a ligament injury on his left wrist. Since cigar box guitars are smaller, he can play the instrument with ease.

“Smaller body guitars are just easier to play, which is why a lot of people start with them,” said Zwetsch. “I can get all grades and don’t have to put as much pressure on my wrist.”

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Despite the coronavirus shutdown, the design of cigar box guitars has given Zwetsch an opportunity to think outside the box.

“I used a lot of different objects to build guitars,” said Zwetsch. “I made one out of a metal biscuit gift box. A pool shelf. I made one out of a bed pan. I used wine boxes. Anything that has a body that resonates with sound.”

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Zwetsch picks for items through flea markets, junkyards and his own garage to build the guitars.

“I like to call that the art of imperfection. It takes things that shouldn’t be together,” said Zwetsch. “A lot of the hardware I use is drawer pulls, knobs, and various things that I can find.”

He enjoys taking things that would otherwise end up in a landfill and “bringing them back to life”.

“These things are fun to do, and I do them more for art value than anything else,” said Zwetsch. “Then the fact that it has created more art with the music you can play with it is just phenomenal.”

Visit the Cigar Box Kitchen website for more information.

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Wrench Group, LLC, a Main Supplier of Dwelling Companies within the U.S., Companions With Service Champions North, Creating Flagship Presence in Northern California

Thu, 18 Mar 2021 05:15:28 +0000

MARIETTA, Ga .– (BUSINESS WIRE) – Wrench Group LLC (“Wrench”), a national leader in repair, replacement, and maintenance services that specialize in heating, ventilation, air conditioning, plumbing, plumbing, and electricity services, today announced the acquisition of Service Champions North (“Service”) known as Champions “), the first California location for Wrench.

Service Champions is a leading heating and air conditioning company with locations in Concord, Livermore, Pleasanton, Sacramento and San Jose. Since 2002, Service Champions has been committed to providing repair, maintenance, and replacement services for air conditioners and ovens to customers in the San Francisco Bay Area and metropolitan Sacramento. “The Wrench organization is excited to have a presence in Northern California,” said Ken Haines, CEO of the Wrench Group. “Service Champions has become a household name in their markets with an unmatched customer reputation.”

Haines continued, “Part of Wrench’s strategy is to partner with market leaders. Service Champions has seen impressive growth over many years and prides itself on its positive customer loyalty. We look forward to your joining the Wrench organization and look forward to working together to grow in the California market. ”

“Our culture is unique and special, and has been our competitive advantage for over 17 years,” said Kevin Comerford, owner and president of Service Champions North. “I am delighted to have found a partner whose core values align with ours. We are excited about the tremendous growth we see in our future and the opportunities that growth offers our team members both personally and professionally, ”added Comerford.

Comerford and his seasoned management team will continue to lead the organization during this next phase of growth.

ABOUT THE KEY GROUP

Wrench Group, LLC is a national leader in repair, replacement, and maintenance services specializing in heating, ventilation, air conditioning, plumbing, plumbing, and electrical services. The company serves over 550,000 customers annually in the metropolitan areas of Atlanta, Dallas, Denver, Fort Myers, Houston, Jacksonville, Phoenix, Naples, Sacramento, Sarasota, San Francisco Bay Area and Tampa. The locations have built a solid reputation with brands that date back to the 1940s. Further information is available at www.wrenchgroup.com

ABOUT SERVICE CHAMPIONS NORTH

Service Champions North specializes in heating, ventilation and air conditioning services for private households at five locations in Northern California. As part of the transaction, Service Champions was represented by Intrepid Investment Bankers, Greenburg Glusker LLP., Holthouse, Carlin and Van Trigt LLP., Buxbaum HCS.

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