Gov. Gavin Newsom plans to introduce a sweeping bill of laws and sign an executive order Friday to facilitate the construction of transportation, clean energy, water and other infrastructure across California. This step is intended to capitalize on a cash injection from the Biden government to promote climate-friendly construction projects.

The proposal aims to shorten the procurement process for bridge and water projects, limit environmental litigation deadlines, and simplify approval of complicated developments in the Sacramento-San Joaquin River Delta and elsewhere.

Overall, administration officials hope the package could accelerate project construction by more than three years and cut costs by hundreds of millions of dollars – efforts they say are needed to meet the state’s aggressive climate goals.

Newsom unveiled the proposal Thursday at an event in Sacramento, calling it “the most ambitious streamlining, licensing and judicial reform in our state in half a century.”

“This is a profound moment,” Newsom said.

Newsom is expected to formally release his 11-bill bill plan at a Friday morning news conference in Stanislaus County.

Administration officials said they want to integrate the package into the 2023-24 state budget, which has to be passed by both houses of the legislature by June 15. Lawmakers are currently negotiating the final details of the budget with Newsom’s office.

At the heart of Newsom’s plan is the California Environmental Quality Act — a polarizing 1970 statute that supposedly helps preserve the state’s natural beauty but is often criticized for putting needed housing, energy and transportation projects in litigation blocked.

The proposal makes no significant changes to the law, which requires officials, agencies and developers to fully consider and publicize a project’s impact on the existing environment. Rather, it seeks to limit the length of time that CEQA lawsuits can drag on in court.

The proposal aims to prevent lawsuits against certain projects in the water, transport, clean energy, semiconductor and microelectronics sectors from lasting more than nine months.

Eligible projects include the governor’s $16 billion plan to build a tunnel to transport water to southern California under the Sacramento-San Joaquin River Delta, water recycling and desalination plants, solar arrays, offshore wind farms and power transmission, according to government officials .

The idea is similar to existing practices that have helped speed construction of NBA arenas in San Francisco and Sacramento, as well as other major projects across the state.

Additional CEQA changes in the plan would give government agencies more control over deciding what is needed in a project’s official administrative records, overturning a recent Court of Appeals decision that required the inclusion of internal emails in those records. The litigation over the e-mail issue related to a large residential and commercial development in San Diego County lasted almost two years after it was approved.

For decades there have been debates about speeding up the state’s sluggish process of building critical infrastructure. Major reforms often foundered in the thicket of environmental, development, local government, and labor interests influential in the Capitol. Newsom said Thursday his administration had made an organized effort to get advocacy groups on board.

Gayle Miller, deputy director for policy at the state Treasury Department, told The Times that the plan offers a “sound approach” to addressing CEQA.

“We are not trying to destroy our environmental protection in California. But we’re definitely trying to say enough is enough,” Miller said. “We must move forward and transition the state to its clean energy future.”

Newsom said it’s important to make changes now because there is a projected $180 billion in state and federal funding available for infrastructure in California over the next decade, an amount increased by allocations from the President Biden-signed Infrastructure and climate change legislation is increased.

“It’s one of the most significant investments in California history,” Newsom said. “The only thing standing in our way is the world we invent.”

To kick-start this process, Newsom is expected to sign an executive order directing various government agencies to work together and form an infrastructure attack team, which will theoretically take care of projects that need to be completed and make sure they get to their destination come line.

The newly available federal money also includes many clean energy grants and other competitive grants. For California to win, it must show the federal government it can deliver, the governor said.

Newsom, a Democrat, said those investments would be at risk if talks in Washington about raising the debt limit collapsed.

Republican House Speaker Kevin McCarthy (R-Bakersfield) said Republicans would agree to raise the limit only if Biden agreed to roll back certain provisions of the Inflation Reduction Act, which include ambitious climate plans and funding for infrastructure projects.

“If Kevin McCarthy has his way, that’s going to set us back,” Newsom said Thursday. “What he promotes would have a devastating effect on our progress.”

Other elements of the Newsom package would remove contractual barriers that government agencies encounter when starting and completing their projects.

Newsom wants to allow the State Department of Water Resources and the California Department of Transportation to use a more flexible contracting process for up to eight complex projects each, which could streamline construction and reduce logistical issues that cause delays. Another proposal would allow the transportation department to use a simpler contracting model that could shave months off a project’s schedule.

Departments could use these streamlining tactics to build bridges more quickly, upgrade dams, repair aqueducts, or maintain the state’s highway system. The package would also expedite three planned wildlife crossings along Interstate 15 in San Bernardino County.

The final part of Newsom’s plan would streamline Caltrans’ conservation efforts and approval of projects that affect endangered species or are in the Sacramento-San Joaquin River Delta.

The post Newsom unveils plan to hurry up infrastructure in California appeared first on DAILY SAN FRANCISCO BAY NEWS.

As sea levels rise and torrential rains sweep the land, an invisible threat rises from beneath our feet, groundwater experts say. They urge municipalities to consider the massive infrastructure and public health risks posed by overflowing water tables.

The climate crisis is usually associated with water tables being depleted by extreme heat and drought. But “in some areas, thanks to rising sea levels and more intense rainfall, that water is actually rising higher, bringing with it a wave of problems that few communities are prepared for,” writes Grist.

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“Places in the United States where water tables are getting inch by inch — along the coasts, yes, but also inland, in parts of the Midwest — are already beginning to have infrastructure problems,” the message adds. Old, cracked pipes are flooded, making the pipelines unsuitable for rainwater and waste. “The road is deteriorating faster. Trees drown when the soil becomes more brittle and their roots are deprived of oxygen.”

For poor and low-lying communities, a dangerous concern is that “rising groundwater will mobilize pollutants that have lurked in the ground for years, left behind by industrial and military sites, and allow them to spread unnoticed beneath our feet.”

That threat is now a reality in West Oakland in the San Francisco Bay Area.

“A once thriving black community decimated by racist urban planning practices,” West Oakland has proven over the years to be the home of all manner of toxin-producing industries, from shipyards to smelters to a former military base.

In February 2020, a local high school was forced to close for several weeks after the carcinogenic industrial solvent trichlorethylene (TCE) was discovered in groundwater beneath campus. The source of the TCE was never located, but a local news organization reported at the time that it could be “any or all of five polluting sites within a half-mile radius of the school, including a metalworking shop and a former dry cleaner’s.”

The rise in groundwater is compounding an already acute environmental injustice, said Kristina Hill, a professor at the University of California, Berkeley who studies groundwater rise in urban coastal areas. “Now these areas have both polluted the soil through military or industrial activities, [and] They also have rising groundwater,” Hill said.

Across the country, in low-lying Beaufort County, South Carolina, rising groundwater is threatening septic systems. Just like in West Oakland, sea-level rise is pushing water not just up, but inland, “raising water tables miles from shore,” says Grist. This phenomenon occurs near coasts where the saturated soil below the water table itself sits on salt water from the ocean. “As sea levels rise, groundwater is pushed up because salt water is denser than fresh water,” explains MIT Technology Review.

And that’s not the only way oceans and groundwater are connected, notes Grist.

Daniel Rozell, a Stony Brook University engineer whose 2021 study warned that coastal cities are ignoring the dangers of rising groundwater, said policymakers need to recognize that groundwater is sinking into the sea in an ongoing process called “undersea drainage.” sea ​​shall flow.”

This means that seawalls designed to keep out the rising oceans must also be able to drain groundwater so it doesn’t back up behind the wall and cause the very problems the seawall was designed to prevent.

Septic tank failure is a real threat in places like Beaufort County because the process depends on there being adequate clearance between the septic tank and groundwater. Otherwise, there is no time or space for waste to be filtered off the ground and eaten by bacteria, and raw sewage ends up being washed up into local waterways.

About 20% of US homes depend on sewage systems, and even in offshore areas, groundwater will still rise after climate-related rains.

In some places along Illinois’ Vermilion River, “groundwater seeps into uncased pits that contain coal ash — a hazardous waste — and carry heavy metals into drinking water aquifers,” reports Grist.

Coal ash mines are concentrated in the Midwest and South and are a serious environmental threat. By 2019, the Environmental Integrity Project and Earthjustice had found that more than 90% had contaminated nearby groundwater with heavy metals such as arsenic, cadmium and mercury.

The post Rising Groundwater Poses Hidden Risk to Public Well being, Infrastructure appeared first on DAILY SAN FRANCISCO BAY NEWS.

How can the construction industry achieve sustainable development goals, address climate action and decarbonize infrastructure?We interviewed Rodrigo Fernandes, Director of Empowering Sustainable Development Goals at Bentley Systems and European Climate Pact Ambassador, to better understand the future of construction and how digital technology can help integrate sustainability.

Decarbonizing infrastructure is the biggest challenge for the construction sector. The infrastructure engineering software company Bentley Systems recently announced innovations to its iTwin platform. In order to support the sustainable development goals of infrastructure projects, the platform has integrated workflows for lifecycle assessment and embodied carbon calculation capabilities The software can be used for buildings, infrastructure, renovations, and construction products and materials. This is a sign that the construction industry is increasingly integrating sustainability.

Software such as the one you develop allows you to test constructions before they are built. Up until now, the digital twin has been presented as an indispensable tool for testing the technical resistance of buildings or for better considering population flows in large areas. Today, how can environmental data be integrated into digital tools?

“Environmental data is obviously linked to infrastructure, and the way we manage infrastructure will influence the environment. Since we believe that digital twins are the most efficient way to manage infrastructure, we think environmental data needs to be integrated into infrastructure digital twins.”

What environmental data are we talking about and what will digital twins enable the modeling of?

“It can be anything, it can be water, it can be weather, it can be materials, it can be trees. Digital twins enable the modeling of multiple aspects of infrastructure. We have some examples of the integration of environmental data in different types of digital twins.

For example, Mendoza City in Argentina used drones to collect images of the whole city and its infrastructure. They then built a reality mesh model for the whole city including the trees. Now they can analyze the trees in terms of their health condition: whether they need to be cut and whether they need any treatment. So the city can now manage the condition of the trees virtually with the digital twin that they have. This means instead of going there and taking pictures or analyzing directly, they basically have a digital twin of the green infrastructure so they can manage that.

Another example is the mobility, air quality and public health in the San Francisco Bay Area. San Francisco wanted to better understand the CO2 emissions in the city which entail air quality problems and public health issues. So they used our technology to study the patterns around mobility: people, cars, even the movements in the port, and they were able to establish hot spots in terms of bad air quality.

A last example is the city ​​of Porto in Portugal which used digital twins to manage water as a utility. Managing water is complicated for the city as it is facing both efficiency and environmental issues. They have water losses and problems with the water quality in coastal areas as they sometimes have discharge from sewage treatment plants or stormwater drainage networks. So they need a way of reducing these problems as well as energy consumption. They have used our technology to make what we call urban integrated water cycle management. They have a digital twin for the whole water network in the city with a lot of data, for example weather data. So when it is going to rain they have that information in the model and can control the water that is in the pipe network for water supply but also from wastewater treatment. They can therefore verify any anomalies in the system and understand if there is going to be a pipe leak or if there’s a probability of having a pipe leak. In coastal areas, they can be aware of the discharge that is expected to happen as a result of rainfall events. So they have new ways to manage water as well as a more sustainable water management system.”

And what about new constructions?

“Several companies are using some of our technology so they can understand the carbon footprint and how this can be reduced if they change materials for example. 70% of greenhouse gas emissions come from infrastructure. They come from the building stage, from what is called the onboarded carbon which is the carbon that is spent in the construction process involving the materials that are used.

If, for example, a construction player reduces their use of steel for a new building, they could improve the efficiency of the building and reduce its carbon footprint. For instance, our OpenBuildings software is a tool that can now be used for building energy performance. So you can optimize the energy performance in the building, reduce energy consumption, be more efficient and reduce the carbon footprint.

4D planning construction is also very important in terms of environmental performance. Planning tools like SYNCfor instance, are being more and more used in construction to help optimize all processes, for example reducing the time of construction, waste and materials as well as optimizing the transport of fuel etc.

Companies can now export a lot of data and information directly into life cycle assessment tools so that they can understand more and report the carbon footprint, but also establish immediate analysis like: “If I change the design of my structure now, I want to see immediately what it is going to reflect in terms of life cycle assessment.”

A few years ago you bought the company LEGION to help you integrate the idea of ​​population flows.

“LEGION is an interesting technology because during the pandemic we could use pedestrian simulation to better understand aspects related to social distancing. But pedestrian simulation is obviously also an important part of mobility. For instance, when building railway stations we want to ensure that we have an efficient way to manage pedestrian mobility and optimize the movement of people. That’s how we see pedestrian simulation right now at Bentley-as an important part of the sustainable mobility sector. Public transportation is really important from a clean and sustainable mobility perspective, and pedestrians are a strategic part of how you manage that.”

What other technologies could be mobilized to improve digital twins?

“Satellite-driven data is an important element. Imagine using satellite data to understand a pipe leak. It’s possible right now, so that’s one example of a technology that can be used. You can also use satellite data to detect if a dam is at risk of failure and to reduce the risk of fire for vegetation management.”

The post Transferring In the direction of Decarbonized Infrastructure: Interview with Rodrigo Fernandes from Bentley Programs appeared first on DAILY SAN FRANCISCO BAY NEWS.

How can the construction industry achieve sustainable development goals, address climate action and decarbonize infrastructure? We interviewed Rodrigo Fernandes, Director of Empowering Sustainable Development Goals at Bentley Systems and European Climate Pact Ambassador, to better understand the future of construction and how digital technology can help integrate sustainability.

Decarbonizing infrastructure is the biggest challenge for the construction sector. The infrastructure engineering software company Bentley Systems recently announced innovations to its iTwin platform. In order to support the sustainable development goals of infrastructure projects, the platform has integrated workflows for lifecycle assessment and embodied carbon calculation capabilities The software can be used for buildings, infrastructure, renovations, and construction products and materials. This is a sign that the construction industry is increasingly integrating sustainability.

Software such as the one you develop allows you to test constructions before they are built. Up until now, the digital twin has been presented as an indispensable tool for testing the technical resistance of buildings or for better considering population flows in large areas. Today, how can environmental data be integrated into digital tools?

“Environmental data is obviously linked to infrastructure, and the way we manage infrastructure will influence the environment. Since we believe that digital twins are the most efficient way to manage infrastructure, we think environmental data needs to be integrated into infrastructure digital twins.”

What environmental data are we talking about and what will digital twins enable the modeling of?

“It can be anything, it can be water, it can be weather, it can be materials, it can be trees. Digital twins enable the modeling of multiple aspects of infrastructure. We have some examples of the integration of environmental data in different types of digital twins.

For example, Mendoza City in Argentina used drones to collect images of the whole city and its infrastructure. They then built a reality mesh model for the whole city including the trees. Now they can analyze the trees in terms of their health condition: whether they need to be cut and whether they need any treatment. So the city can now manage the condition of the trees virtually with the digital twin that they have. This means instead of going there and taking pictures or analyzing directly, they basically have a digital twin of the green infrastructure so they can manage that.

Another example is the mobility, air quality and public health in the San Francisco Bay Area. San Francisco wanted to better understand the CO2 emissions in the city which entail air quality problems and public health issues. So they used our technology to study the patterns around mobility: people, cars, even the movements in the port, and they were able to establish hot spots in terms of bad air quality.

Another example is the city of Porto in Portugal which used digital twins to manage water as a utility. Managing water is complicated for the city as it is facing both efficiency and environmental issues. They have water losses and problems with the water quality in coastal areas as they sometimes have discharge from sewage treatment plants or stormwater drainage networks. So they need a way of reducing these problems as well as energy consumption. They have used our technology to make what we call urban integrated water cycle management. They have a digital twin for the whole water network in the city with a lot of data, for example weather data. So when it is going to rain they have that information in the model and can control the water that is in the pipe network for water supply but also from wastewater treatment. They can therefore verify any anomalies in the system and understand if there is going to be a pipe leak or if there’s a probability of having a pipe leak. In coastal areas, they can be aware of the discharge that is expected to happen as a result of rainfall events. So they have new ways to manage water as well as a more sustainable water management system.”

And what about new constructions?

“Several companies are using some of our technology so they can understand the carbon footprint and how this can be reduced if they change materials for example. 70% of greenhouse gas emissions come from infrastructure. They come from the building stage, from what is called the onboarded carbon which is the carbon that is spent in the construction process involving the materials that are used.

If, for example, a construction player reduces their use of steel for a new building, they could improve the efficiency of the building and reduce its carbon footprint. For instance, our OpenBuildings software is a tool that can now be used for building energy performance. So you can optimize the energy performance in the building, reduce energy consumption, be more efficient and reduce the carbon footprint.

4D planning construction is also very important in terms of environmental performance. Planning tools like SYNCHRO, for instance, are being more and more used in construction to help optimize all processes, for example reducing the time of construction, waste and materials as well as optimizing the transport of fuel etc.

Companies can now export a lot of data and information directly into life cycle assessment tools so that they can understand more and report the carbon footprint, but also establish immediate analysis like: “If I change the design of my structure now, I want to see immediately what it is going to reflect in terms of life cycle assessment.”

A few years ago you bought the Legion company to help you integrate the idea of ​​population flows.

“Legion is an interesting technology because during the pandemic we could use pedestrian simulation to better understand aspects related to social distancing. But pedestrian simulation is obviously also an important part of mobility. For instance, when building railway stations we want to ensure that we have an efficient way to manage pedestrian mobility and optimize the movement of people. That’s how we see pedestrian simulation right now at Bentley—as an important part of the sustainable mobility sector. Public transportation is really important from a clean and sustainable mobility perspective, and pedestrians are a strategic part of how you manage that.”

What other technologies could be mobilized to improve digital twins?

“Satellite-driven data is an important element. Imagine using satellite data to understand a pipe leak. It’s possible right now, so that’s one example of a technology that can be used. You can also use satellite data to detect if a dam is at risk of failure and to reduce the risk of fire for vegetation management.”

The post Shifting In the direction of  Decarbonized Infrastructure: Interview with Rodrigo Fernandes from Bentley Programs appeared first on DAILY SAN FRANCISCO BAY NEWS.

Donated 5-gallon water jugs, used for drinking and cooking, in the home of Erland Suppah Jr. on Dec. 7 in Warm Springs, Ore. The massive infrastructure bill signed earlier this year promises to bring change to some Native American tribes that lack clean water or indoor plumbing through the largest single infusion of money into Indian Country. (AP photo/Nathan Howard)

WARM SPRINGS, Ore. (AP) – Erland Suppah Jr. doesn’t trust what comes out of his faucet.

Each week, Suppah and his girlfriend haul a half-dozen large jugs of water from a distribution center run by the Confederated Tribes of Warm Springs to their apartment for everything from drinking to cooking to brushing their teeth for their family of five. It’s the only way they feel safe after countless boil-water notices and weeks-long shutoffs on a reservation struggling with bursting pipes, failing pressure valves and a geriatric water treatment plant.

“About the only thing this water is good for is cleaning my floor and flushing down the toilet,” Suppah said of the tap water in the community 100 miles southeast of Portland. “That’s it.”

In other, more remote tribal communities across the country, running water and indoor plumbing have never been a reality.

Now, there’s a glimmer of hope in the form of a massive infrastructure bill signed last month that White House officials say represents the largest single infusion of money into Indian Country. It includes $3.5 billion for the federal Indian Health Service, which provides health care to more than 2 million Native Americans and Alaska Natives, plus pots of money through other federal agencies for water projects.

Tribal leaders say the funding, while welcome, won’t make up for decades of neglect from the US government, which has a responsibility to tribes under treaties and other acts to ensure access to clean water. A list of sanitation deficiencies kept by the Indian Health Service has more than 1,500 projects, including wells, septic systems, water storage tanks and pipelines. Some projects would address water contamination from uranium or arsenic.

About 3,300 homes in more than 30 rural Alaska communities lack indoor plumbing, according to a 2020 report. On the Navajo Nation, the largest Native American reservation, about one-third of the 175,000 residents are without running water.

Residents in these places haul water for basic tasks such as washing and cooking, sometimes driving long distances to reach communal water stations. Instead of indoor bathrooms, many use outhouses or lined pails called “honey buckets” that they drag outside to empty. Some shower or do laundry at community sites known as “washeterias,” but the equipment can be unreliable and the fees expensive.

“You look at two billionaires competing to fly into outer space, yet we’re trying to get basic necessities in villages of interior Alaska,” said PJ Simon, a former chairman of an Alaska Native nonprofit corporation called the Tanana Chiefs Conference.

Many more tribal communities have indoor plumbing but woefully inadequate facilities and delivery systems riddled with aging pipes.

The coronavirus pandemic, which disproportionately hit Indian Country, further underscored the stark disparities in access to running water and sewage systems.

In Warm Springs, the water crisis has overlapped with COVID-19.

“During a worldwide pandemic, we’ve had a boil-water notice. How are we supposed to wash our hands? How are we supposed to sanitize our homes to disinfect, to keep our community members safe? How can we do that … when our water isn’t even clean?” said Dorothea Thurby, who oversees the distribution of free water to tribal members and food boxes to those who are quarantined.

A 2019 report by a pair of nonprofit groups, US Water Alliance and Dig Deep, found Native American homes are 19 times more likely than white households to lack full plumbing. And federal officials note tribal members without indoor toilets or running water are at increased risk of respiratory tract, skin and gastrointestinal infections.

On the Navajo Nation, Eloise Sullivan uses an outhouse and often drives before dawn to beat the crowd at a water-filling station near the Arizona-Utah border to get water for the five people in her household. They use about 850 gallons a week, she estimated.

Sullivan, 56, doesn’t mind hauling water, but “for the younger generation, it’s like, ‘Do we have to do that?'”

“It’s kind of like a big issue for them,” she said.

She once asked local officials what it would cost to run a water line from the closest source about 2 miles away. She said she was told $25,000 and never pursued it.

Libby Washburn, special assistant to President Joe Biden on Native American affairs, recently told tribes the infrastructure bill included enough money to complete all the projects on the Indian Health Service list. The agency said it’s consulting with tribes and won’t make allocation decisions before that process is over.

Until now, tribes and outside organizations have worked to address needs with their own funding, donations or federal money, including pandemic relief.

“If you live without running water, you understand the importance and the connection you have with it, deep down as a person, as a human being,” said Burrell Jones, who sets up water systems and delivers water around Dilkon, Arizona, with Dig Deep’s Navajo Water Project. “You can’t exist without water.”

Andrew Marks recently moved back to Tanana, a community of about 190 people in Alaska’s interior. He initially relied on a washteria but found the equipment unreliable. He now has running water and plumbing where he lives but hauls water for family members who don’t.

“I believe if we had more people with water, more people connected to the grid, it would drastically improve their life,” he said.

In Oregon, tribal officials have handed out about 3 million gallons of water – almost all of it donated – from a decommissioned elementary school on the reservation. A steady stream of residents pick up a combined 600 gallons of water a day from the building. Former classrooms overflow with 5-gallon containers and cases of bottled water.

“The infrastructure bill brought joy to my heart because now it gives me hope – hope that it’s going to be repaired,” said Dan Martinez, the tribes’ emergency manager, who expects to receive federal funds to replace underground pipes and address the 40- year-old treatment plant.

“If you came to work one day and someone said, ‘Hey, you need to go and find water for a community of 6,000 people.’ … I mean, where do you start?’”

The money won’t provide immediate relief. Funding to the Indian Health Service is supposed to be distributed over five years. There is no deadline for its use, and projects will take time to complete once started. The money won’t cover operation and maintenance of the systems, a point tribes have criticized.

In Warm Springs, tribal members don’t pay for their water, and proposals to charge for it are deeply unpopular. That provides little incentive for tribal members to conserve water and raises questions about how new infrastructure will be maintained.

“There are some Natives who say – and I believe this myself – ‘How do you sell something you never owned? The Creator has given it to us,’” said Martinez, a tribal member.

Building out infrastructure in remote areas can be onerous, too. Most roads on the Navajo Nation are unpaved and become muddy and deeply rutted after big storms.

In Alaska, winter temperatures can fall well below zero, and construction seasons are short. Having enough people in a small community who are trained on the specifics of a water system so they can maintain it also can be a challenge, said Kaitlin Mattos, an assistant professor at Fort Lewis College in Colorado who worked on a 2020 report on water infrastructure in Alaska.

“Every bit of funding that is allocated is going to help some family, some household, which is wonderful,” she said. “Whether it’s enough to help every single household, I think, remains to be seen.”

The post Infrastructure invoice to assist US tribes with water, plumbing appeared first on DAILY SAN FRANCISCO BAY NEWS.

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In Bisbee, Arizona, the Copper Queen Library, founded in 1882, is 114 years old — and it shows.

The library, on the National Register of Historic Places, a hub for Brisbee families, has a leaky roof, and cracks in the facade. The ceiling in the young adult room collapsed recently, forcing the room to close for three weeks.

“You can follow the story of Bisbee through the story of our library, because we’ve been here all along,” said library manager Jason Macoviak.

The Copper Queen is at the center of community life: From hosting an event every Halloween for the community to bringing fairytales to life; to create a separate room for teens — until the ceiling collapsed and the room had to be closed for a time.

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“That is the hardest demographic to reach,” said Macoviak. “We lost that engagement for a bit.”

The Copper Queen Library

Hundreds of library buildings in the US are more than 100 years old and are in dire condition, according to a recent report from the American Library Association which estimates many of the nation’s 17,000 libraries need $32 billion dollars for construction and renovation.

During the pandemic many libraries across the country became lifelines for residents, providing everything from Wi-Fi from parking lots, notary services and curbside crafts projects for kids.

Although the average age of a library building is more than 40 years old, there has not been dedicated federal infrastructure funding since 1997.

As a result the buildings are plagued with old wiring, plumbing, leaky roofs, malfunctioning fire alarms and sprinklers, the report found. Because of the old wiring, they often lack internet access. At current funding levels it would take 25 years for the work to get done, the report found.

The McAlester Library

Nine states — Alaska, California, Delaware, Hawaii, Illinois, Maryland, New York, Washington, West Virginia, and the District of Columbia — estimate their public libraries need more than $8 billion for construction and renovation.

American Library Association

The Build America’s Libraries Act, which was introduced back in January 2021, would fund upgrades to library infrastructure to recover from natural disasters, environmental hazards, and accessibility barriers. With Congress working on a $3.5 trillion budget reconciliation plan, the Senate has until September 15th to finish allocating the funds. The ALA has lobbied to include the Build America’s Libraries Act in the new plan.

“We know that libraries are well loved by communities across the country,” said ALA President Patty Wong. “This legislation offers us an opportunity to reinvest in our libraries in a significant way to bring about a stronger equity throughout our community, and to make sure that we have libraries in our future.

“Libraries are not just bricks and mortar, but they are anchors within the community that need a little bit of structure in order to provide the service we deliver,” Wong said.

Throughout the pandemic, communities relied on libraries. And libraries found ways to deliver while other public facilities shut their doors.

A good example of how libraries got creative during COVID-19 is in the work of a consortium of 34 public libraries in rural upstate New York.

“During COVID-19 it was sometimes the only place in town to get things,” said consortium director Sara Dallas of the branches. Hamilton County libraries provided access to materials and Wi-Fi 24/7, so their parking lots were filled, even to the streets across the library.

“The Indian Lake Public Library provided takeaway crafts to kids curbside so families would have activities to do with their children,” said Dallas, “and often these libraries were the only places with notaries and access to printing documents curbside.”

The Whitehall Free Library

The Whitehall Free Library

California libraries distributed Chromebooks, laptops and hotspots to students during the pandemic, Wong said.

“We’ve seen firsthand that so many in our community were lined up or parked in (library) parking lots, using the Wi Fi because they didn’t have digital access at home,” said Wong of libraries in her state of California.

Some projects have had to be put on hold because California libraries need close to $5 billion in infrastructure funds, she added.

At the Copper Queen in Bisbee, Arizona, Macoviak said last year’s Halloween party was called off because of the pandemic. This year he hopes the event will go on.

Teens have already started holding monthly planning meetings.

To Macoviak, the event and all the enthusiasm and planning surrounding it underscores the importance of libraries and the need to keep them functioning.

The Copper Queen Library

“They create their own program, and take ownership of their library,” said Macoviak. “It just shows the utter importance of having these spaces available.”

Libraries, he continued, “are safe. They’re open to everybody. No matter who you are, how much money you make, or what your status is.”

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The post Leaky Roofs, Unhealthy Plumbing, No Web: Advocates Say America’s Libraries Want $32 Billion for Infrastructure Upgrades appeared first on DAILY SAN FRANCISCO BAY NEWS.

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Hundreds March in SF to Mark Thai Grandfather Vicha Ratanapakdee’s DeathHundreds marched in San Francisco Sunday to remember Vicha Ratanapakdee who was fatally assaulted while on a walk in San Francisco a year ago. Shawn Chitnis reports. (1-30-22)

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First Alert Weather Sunday Night ForecastMeteorologist Darren Peck has the work week forecast. (1-30-22)

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KPIX Web Extra: Warriors’ Zaza PachuliaWarriors basketball operations consultant Zaza Pachulia talks with Betty Yu about transitioning from player to the front office and gives his take on the team’s strengths, Steph Curry and more. (1-30-22)

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First Alert Weather Sunday Morning ForecastNo rain on the horizon, but another round of windy weather expected early this week. Darren Peck has the forecast (1-30-2022)

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San Francisco Bay Ferry Service Gets Warriors Fans to Chase CenterBetty Yu reports on growing popularity of San Francisco Bay Ferry service to get to Warriors games (1-30-20220

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Oakland French Bulldog Owner Pleads for Return of 2 Stolen DogsDa Lin reports on latest theft of French Bulldogs from an Oakland pet owner (1-30-2022)

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PIX NowKPIX 5 Morning News headlines on Sunday, Jan. 30, 2022.

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PIX NowHere’s the latest from the KPIX newsroom. (1-29-22)

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First Alert Weather Saturday Night ForecastMeteorologist Darren Peck has the Sunday forecast. (1-29-22)

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As COVID Cases Drop, San Francisco Street Life ReturnsSunny weather, cultural celebrations and football fever brought people out Saturday to enjoy the sights and sounds of the city. Shawn Chitnis reports. (1-29-22)

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Pandemic-Inspired Plywood Murals Exhibited in San FranciscoA unique art exhibit was held this weekend in San Francisco with works created at the beginning of the pandemic that offered hope during a time of great fear. John Ramos reports. (1-29-22)

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49ers Fans Get Set for Classic North-South Face-Off49ers fans from all over the Bay Area are either in Los Angeles already or are headed to Los Angeles to see the 49ers take on the Rams in the NFC Title game. Vern Glenn and Max Darrow report. (1-29-22)

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Napa Crash Ends With Car Atop Storage ContainerA blue Honda careened off Highway 29 and landed on top of a 12-foot-high storage container in Napa. (1-29-22)

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PIX NowSaturday headlines from the KPIX 5 newsroom

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First Alert Weather 7-Day ForecastBeautiful weekend weather, threat of gusty winds next week

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Bay Area Projects Await Infusion of Infrastructure FundsBART and SFO are just two of several local institutions likely to benefit from Pres. Biden’s massive infrastructure investment. Andria Borba reports. (1-28-22)

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49ers Fans Look to Make Noise, Boost Team at NFC ChampionshipThe exodus began Friday with excited Niners Faithful heading en masse to Los Angeles for the 49ers showdown against the Rams for the NFC Championship. Maria Cid Medina reports. (1-28-22)

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PIX NowHere’s the latest from the KPIX newsroom. (1-28-22)

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SF Supervisors Approve Casa Sanchez Bldg. in Mission District for Landmark StatusThe former Mission District site of the Casa Sanchez business — known for its salsa, chips and tortillas — is closer to becoming a historic landmark. Shawn Chitnis reports. (1-28-22)

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The post Bay Space Initiatives Await Infusion of Infrastructure Funds – CBS San Francisco appeared first on DAILY SAN FRANCISCO BAY NEWS.

By GILLIAN FLACCUS, FELICIA FONSECA, and BECKY BOHRER, Associated Press

WARM SPRINGS, Ore. (AP) – The massive Infrastructure Act, signed earlier this year, promises to bring change to Indian tribes, who lack clean water or sanitation, through the largest single infusion of money into Indian land.

That includes $ 3.5 billion for the Indian Federal Health Service, which provides medical care to more than 2 million Native Americans and Alaskans.

It also provides funding for water projects through other federal agencies.

FILE PHOTO:
MOENKOPI, ARIZONA – DECEMBER 17: The Hopi community of Moenkopi will host a grocery and Christmas gift baskets distribution on December 17, 2021 in Moenkopi, Arizona. The event, at which food and other items were distributed to over 250 families, was organized by the “Walking in Beauty” foundation and consisted of several groups of different religious denominations. The proportion of residents living in poverty in neighboring Tuba City in 2020 was 26.9%, making the region one of the most economically disadvantaged regions in the United States. (Photo by Spencer Platt / Getty Images)

Tribal leaders say funding is welcome but won’t make up for decades of neglect by the U.S. government.

A list of sanitary shortcomings spans more than 1,500 tribal projects, from sewage treatment plants to pipelines.

Wreaths Across America ceremony December 18, 2021

As of December 18, 2021, more than 2.4 million wreaths were placed on veteran’s headstones in 3,136 locations across the United States. The initiative is spearheaded each year by the nonprofit group Wreaths Across America. The group was founded in 1992 by Morrill Worcester, a Maine businessman who laid wreaths in Arlington National Cemetery. Now, with the mission to “Remember, Honor, Teach” the group is laying wreaths at thousands of veterans cemeteries and other locations.

The “Firehouse Lights” competition by the Utica fire department

Here you can see each of the light shows in front of each of the fire stations of the Utica Fire Department. You can vote on their Facebook page and are welcome to take a tour of each of the houses.

LOOK: Food story from the year you were born

From product innovations to major product recalls, Stacker has researched what’s happened in food history every year since 1921, according to news and government sources.

2021 Gift Guide for film and TV fans

The movie or TV lover in your life will love these fun, cool, and silly gifts.

The post Infrastructure Invoice to Help US tribes with Water, Plumbing appeared first on DAILY SAN FRANCISCO BAY NEWS.

1911 View of the dock on Alcatraz Island
Image credit: NPS