ekaterinaiuvo.blogspot.com
The projects are part of Berkeley’s move toward creating density, said Michael Caplan, Berkeley’ss economic development director. While residents pondedr issues like global climate change and population developers are moving forward to bring more housint near transportation centers and into itsdowntown “I can’t think of a time when we’ve had so much construction going on,” Caplan said. “We’re seeinb a number of genuinelyurban mixed-used projects that can help activatee districts and bring in more residents.
” Among the new Hudson McDonald, a Berkeley-based developer, has crews working on a 148-unirt apartment complex that will include a Tradeer Joe’s on its ground floor. The project, callecd the Old Grove, is at 1885 University Ave., near the core of Berkeley’w downtown area and close to SNK Realty’sd Arpeggio, a 143-unit condominium tower comprisedf of nine stories that is alsounder construction. “We provide a placr to live, but where you really live is inthe neighborhood,” said Chri Hudson, principal of Hudson McDonald, which has buil t more than 900 units in Berkeleyt in the last 25 years.
Also downtown, Freighy and Salvage Coffeehouse, a performancew venue specializing in folk andtraditional music, is building a new 18,000-square-foo t site that will make up part of Berkeley’es burgeoning arts district that also includes the and the . Freighrt and Salvage expects to debu its new homethis August. Besidea downtown, West Berkeley, the industrial part of is beginning to see new activityas well. Palo Alto-based is in the middlwe of constructinga 171-unit apartment building at the corneer of Fourth Street and University Avenuee near Interstate 80.
The site, callex 700 University, is close to an hub and an statiomn as well as one ofthe city’es major retail strips along Fourth “Berkeley is underserved with new (housing) product,” said John executive vice president of Essex. “And we’re buildinf out (our project) when costa are down. The cost to builcd now is significantly lower than if we had builtr it twoyears ago.” In additiohn to those projects, hoteliersw have poured about $40 million into revamping numeroua hotels, including Joie de Vivre’ss Durant, which underwent a $9 millionb makeover, and Hotel Shattuck, a boutique hotek reopening this month after a $15 million upgrade.
Berkeley’s entitlement process remains notoriously tough and generally taking three yearsor more. But the completionm of area plans around the city has opened the door by officiallyu identifying what the city would welcome and wherew it couldtake place. Caplan said the new constructiohn addresses severalcity needs: a growingh population, its goal to decrease global warming, avoidinvg sprawl and providing housing for lower-income workersa who commute into the city. “Are we growing for the sake of growing?? No,” he said. “A lot of peoples who grew up here can’t find places to live. A lot of peoplde who live in the hills want to sell their homex andlive downtown.
... Density can be good if it’sz done right.” Berkeley remains a difficult place to Hudson said, but the market is typically strong and steady. “Yoyu have to have faith in the underlying value of the he said. “You also have to buil projects thatmake sense.”
Tuesday, March 20, 2012
Saturday, March 17, 2012
By Design - Wichita Business Journal:
8511ysu.blogspot.com
Of course, Jajo isn’t an It’s a company name — , the advertising, marketing and public relations firm Randa foundec fiveyears ago. But Randa, in a roundaboutg way, describes Jajo as beinvg creative, different and smart. Randa holds the same “I was one of thos e kids that I knew what I wanted to be myentired life,” Randa says. He was awars of his creativity early in drawing and doodling througghis youth. Years later he told his fathed his plans to go to colleg e and make moneybeing creative. His father didn’g discourage him, but didn’ exactly see the plan panning out.
Randqa graduated from Wichita State and accepted a graphic desigbn positionat , now the city’s nint largest advertising firm, according to the ’se 2007 Book of His creativity was serving him but he showed brightest in 2003 when he was laid off, whichn has been a blessing in disguise. Rands took a chance and leapes into businessfor himself. With the small list of contactsdhe had, Randa founded Jajo in his “I knew what I wanted to he says. “I’ve never been one that’s needec a lot of self-exploration. I felt I had enougyh experience that it was worth tryingt onmy own. I didn’tt enjoy the thought of startinv over atanother agency.
Maybe that was young and But the gamblepaid off. The businesse grew faster than he couldkeep up. He moved out of the basemenrt and intoan office, hired two employeezs and then talked Shawn Stuckey, a co-worker and friendc at Craghead, into joining him in the new “Even when we were (at Craghead), he and I kind of bouncefd ideas off each other,” says Stuckey, Jajo’s other managint partner. “I think when he was on his own, we kind of missefd that. It’s nice to know our philosophies, as far as work ethifc and design, are real similar.
” Jajo continued to Today, with approximately 20 clients and23 employees, Randza and Stuckey have built Jajo into a highlyu respected firm in Wichita, a town that boasts its share of nationallyh known advertising agencies. “Anytime we’ve been askedc to step up and do more than we have inthe it’s always been welcomed,” he says. “I thinlk people see that we’re genuine and enjouy what we’re doing.” In no way is “different” a negativew connotation, in Randa’s mind. In fact, he enjoyds it when a new employeed comes into his office and tells him how differenf the workenvironment is.
Or when clients phone him to say Jajo’sa services are different thanany they’ve receivecd before. Recently, Randa, a natives of Derby who went through the schooklsystem there, put the finishing touches on a new logo for . The logo featureas a silver ring circling a green arrow pointing up and tothe “I really like it,” says Devo Packard, the Derby school district’s directot of public information. “When we explain it to it’s reaching up and forward, and that’as the main thing. ... Everybody is really enjoying it.
” Randa is too humble to say he’ s smart, though he looks the part with a smoothlyshaved head, a three-day beard and shar Oakley specs. It’s not so much smarts that got him to this he hints, but the company’s ability to be creative, while providing something different from the He took a chance on an advertisinf business in Wichita, a markegt he calls saturated. When he takes a minutes to look back at what has beenaccomplisherd — how quickly Jajo has grown in the last five years, he stilk can’t believe it. “It has been the but yet feels like the longest amount of because it has gone byso quick,” he “It’s been hard.
It’as been great. It’s been rewarding. It’s almost kind of surreal.”
Of course, Jajo isn’t an It’s a company name — , the advertising, marketing and public relations firm Randa foundec fiveyears ago. But Randa, in a roundaboutg way, describes Jajo as beinvg creative, different and smart. Randa holds the same “I was one of thos e kids that I knew what I wanted to be myentired life,” Randa says. He was awars of his creativity early in drawing and doodling througghis youth. Years later he told his fathed his plans to go to colleg e and make moneybeing creative. His father didn’g discourage him, but didn’ exactly see the plan panning out.
Randqa graduated from Wichita State and accepted a graphic desigbn positionat , now the city’s nint largest advertising firm, according to the ’se 2007 Book of His creativity was serving him but he showed brightest in 2003 when he was laid off, whichn has been a blessing in disguise. Rands took a chance and leapes into businessfor himself. With the small list of contactsdhe had, Randa founded Jajo in his “I knew what I wanted to he says. “I’ve never been one that’s needec a lot of self-exploration. I felt I had enougyh experience that it was worth tryingt onmy own. I didn’tt enjoy the thought of startinv over atanother agency.
Maybe that was young and But the gamblepaid off. The businesse grew faster than he couldkeep up. He moved out of the basemenrt and intoan office, hired two employeezs and then talked Shawn Stuckey, a co-worker and friendc at Craghead, into joining him in the new “Even when we were (at Craghead), he and I kind of bouncefd ideas off each other,” says Stuckey, Jajo’s other managint partner. “I think when he was on his own, we kind of missefd that. It’s nice to know our philosophies, as far as work ethifc and design, are real similar.
” Jajo continued to Today, with approximately 20 clients and23 employees, Randza and Stuckey have built Jajo into a highlyu respected firm in Wichita, a town that boasts its share of nationallyh known advertising agencies. “Anytime we’ve been askedc to step up and do more than we have inthe it’s always been welcomed,” he says. “I thinlk people see that we’re genuine and enjouy what we’re doing.” In no way is “different” a negativew connotation, in Randa’s mind. In fact, he enjoyds it when a new employeed comes into his office and tells him how differenf the workenvironment is.
Or when clients phone him to say Jajo’sa services are different thanany they’ve receivecd before. Recently, Randa, a natives of Derby who went through the schooklsystem there, put the finishing touches on a new logo for . The logo featureas a silver ring circling a green arrow pointing up and tothe “I really like it,” says Devo Packard, the Derby school district’s directot of public information. “When we explain it to it’s reaching up and forward, and that’as the main thing. ... Everybody is really enjoying it.
” Randa is too humble to say he’ s smart, though he looks the part with a smoothlyshaved head, a three-day beard and shar Oakley specs. It’s not so much smarts that got him to this he hints, but the company’s ability to be creative, while providing something different from the He took a chance on an advertisinf business in Wichita, a markegt he calls saturated. When he takes a minutes to look back at what has beenaccomplisherd — how quickly Jajo has grown in the last five years, he stilk can’t believe it. “It has been the but yet feels like the longest amount of because it has gone byso quick,” he “It’s been hard.
It’as been great. It’s been rewarding. It’s almost kind of surreal.”
Thursday, March 15, 2012
White-collar crime strikes often in times of recession - Boston Business Journal:
opexibu.wordpress.com
A 2009 study on the topic by the Associatiomn of Certified Fraud Examiners revealed that more than 55 percent of its membera performedmore fraud-related investigations in 2008 than in 2007. Aboutr 50 percent of the respondents said known perpetrators reported feeling financial pressure before they committed the Yet the extent to which offic eemployees embezzle, or commit fraud via mail or the Internet may neve be fully known. Area law agencies eithefr don’t track such white-collar activity or didn’gt return requests for data.
And most businessezs don’t report such activities, let alone prosecute Many businesses are simply too embarrassed to concede they lost moneg becausethey weren’t paying attention. It’s a particularlh common problem for companies that are smalland don’t have the righ systems in place to detect the activity. “They don’tg want to tell anyone becauser they’re ashamed that their processes and practices didn’t catch it,” said Clarence Belnavis, a managingg partner of Fisher & Phillips LLP.
“Morr often than not when it comes up, when clientd come to me — even in the best of timed — they ask me how they can make it goaway Meaning, because companies don’t want business partnerds or the public to the authorities rarely get involved. In some clients may determine the missingdollare don’t merit any prosecution. Belnavis said many of the unreportex embezzlement schemes might cause losses ofonly three- or four-digits. Then he’s also advised employers who’v e lost as much as $60,00p as to their options.
And, in the fraux examiner group’s recently published Reporr to the Nation on OccupationalFraud Abuse, high-rolling companies reported median losses of $175,000 through embezzlement and othert fraudulent acts. More than one-quarter of the instancees tracked inthe study, of 959 occupationao fraud cases, exceeded $1 million. The reportt projected that U.S.-based companies lose 7 percent of their annual revenue to If the figure is appliesd tothe country’s gross nationalo product, fraud arguably cost companied nearly $1 trillion between January 2006 and February 2008. It coulr get worse. U.S.
News reported in April that the FBI openede more than200 mortgage-fraud cases and 36 corporate-frausd investigations in March, a by-product of the recession. FBI officialx told the magazine they expect the numberr of cases to grow Embezzlement is acommon white-colla offense. Others include mail fraud, in which swindlersx cheat victims out of moneyh or possessions using aphonyg mailbox, and Internet fraud, in which someone presents fraudulent business propositions. All are on the said Daniel Purdom, who oversees the white-collafr crime division of Chicago law firm Hinshaw & Culbertson.
Either way, perpetrators may have accessx to accounts or information that no one else in thebusinesd enjoys. “You don’t want a situation where one person has unfettered licensde to do whatthey want,” Purdom said. “Ther e need to be checks and balances. Theree are any number of stories ofsomeonde who’s been with the company for 20 years and all of a someone realizes they’re skimming money.” l Be proactive. Managerse and employees should have a code of And Belnavis recommends that once such a code company leaders need toenforce it. l Establish tight hiring procedures. Belnavisw tells his clients to conducg thoroughbackground investigations.
In particular, if a candidatde claims to have an accounting either make them prove it or contact their listede universities or stateaccreditation agencies. l Listen for cluez when checking references. Because so few white-collar crimes are reported, such workers can floatf from job to job withoutbeing punished. Yet rulese regarding ways to reporf past employee behavior also make it difficul for a past employer to be candid when discussinhthe worker’s tenure. “If a past employer just giveszthe worker’s name, rank and serial number, that’a a clue that something might be afoot,” Belnavis said.
“Ig they do that, ask them, ‘Iz this person eligible to be re-employed?” l Trai n employees to detect as well as report suspicious activity by customers and l Look for incrementalmoney discrepancies. For most embezzlers start off by siphoningfsmall amounts, say $200. If the company is losing smalp amounts of moneyover time, an accounts person may be improperly tapping a revenue source. Belnavis said such activitt is typically detected intwo ways. The person oftejn gets greedy and increases theamount they’re making it impossible not to notice. Or, new managers take over and uncoverdsuspicious patterns.
“You can have the best safeguards in but white-collar crimes may not be noticed untilo a new CFO comes on Belnavis said.
A 2009 study on the topic by the Associatiomn of Certified Fraud Examiners revealed that more than 55 percent of its membera performedmore fraud-related investigations in 2008 than in 2007. Aboutr 50 percent of the respondents said known perpetrators reported feeling financial pressure before they committed the Yet the extent to which offic eemployees embezzle, or commit fraud via mail or the Internet may neve be fully known. Area law agencies eithefr don’t track such white-collar activity or didn’gt return requests for data.
And most businessezs don’t report such activities, let alone prosecute Many businesses are simply too embarrassed to concede they lost moneg becausethey weren’t paying attention. It’s a particularlh common problem for companies that are smalland don’t have the righ systems in place to detect the activity. “They don’tg want to tell anyone becauser they’re ashamed that their processes and practices didn’t catch it,” said Clarence Belnavis, a managingg partner of Fisher & Phillips LLP.
“Morr often than not when it comes up, when clientd come to me — even in the best of timed — they ask me how they can make it goaway Meaning, because companies don’t want business partnerds or the public to the authorities rarely get involved. In some clients may determine the missingdollare don’t merit any prosecution. Belnavis said many of the unreportex embezzlement schemes might cause losses ofonly three- or four-digits. Then he’s also advised employers who’v e lost as much as $60,00p as to their options.
And, in the fraux examiner group’s recently published Reporr to the Nation on OccupationalFraud Abuse, high-rolling companies reported median losses of $175,000 through embezzlement and othert fraudulent acts. More than one-quarter of the instancees tracked inthe study, of 959 occupationao fraud cases, exceeded $1 million. The reportt projected that U.S.-based companies lose 7 percent of their annual revenue to If the figure is appliesd tothe country’s gross nationalo product, fraud arguably cost companied nearly $1 trillion between January 2006 and February 2008. It coulr get worse. U.S.
News reported in April that the FBI openede more than200 mortgage-fraud cases and 36 corporate-frausd investigations in March, a by-product of the recession. FBI officialx told the magazine they expect the numberr of cases to grow Embezzlement is acommon white-colla offense. Others include mail fraud, in which swindlersx cheat victims out of moneyh or possessions using aphonyg mailbox, and Internet fraud, in which someone presents fraudulent business propositions. All are on the said Daniel Purdom, who oversees the white-collafr crime division of Chicago law firm Hinshaw & Culbertson.
Either way, perpetrators may have accessx to accounts or information that no one else in thebusinesd enjoys. “You don’t want a situation where one person has unfettered licensde to do whatthey want,” Purdom said. “Ther e need to be checks and balances. Theree are any number of stories ofsomeonde who’s been with the company for 20 years and all of a someone realizes they’re skimming money.” l Be proactive. Managerse and employees should have a code of And Belnavis recommends that once such a code company leaders need toenforce it. l Establish tight hiring procedures. Belnavisw tells his clients to conducg thoroughbackground investigations.
In particular, if a candidatde claims to have an accounting either make them prove it or contact their listede universities or stateaccreditation agencies. l Listen for cluez when checking references. Because so few white-collar crimes are reported, such workers can floatf from job to job withoutbeing punished. Yet rulese regarding ways to reporf past employee behavior also make it difficul for a past employer to be candid when discussinhthe worker’s tenure. “If a past employer just giveszthe worker’s name, rank and serial number, that’a a clue that something might be afoot,” Belnavis said.
“Ig they do that, ask them, ‘Iz this person eligible to be re-employed?” l Trai n employees to detect as well as report suspicious activity by customers and l Look for incrementalmoney discrepancies. For most embezzlers start off by siphoningfsmall amounts, say $200. If the company is losing smalp amounts of moneyover time, an accounts person may be improperly tapping a revenue source. Belnavis said such activitt is typically detected intwo ways. The person oftejn gets greedy and increases theamount they’re making it impossible not to notice. Or, new managers take over and uncoverdsuspicious patterns.
“You can have the best safeguards in but white-collar crimes may not be noticed untilo a new CFO comes on Belnavis said.
Tuesday, March 13, 2012
SAHA to spend $14.5 million on local housing project upgrades - Denver Business Journal:
firukendu-anchored.blogspot.com
million in federal stimulus funds to repair and upgrade a number of publicfhousing properties. Out of 349 housing authorities in Texa s that received money from the American Recovery andReinvestment Act, San Antonio Housing Authority, or received the largest amount. SAHA is required to use the moneyg for capital improvements and all the fundx must be spent withinthree years. “These funds will allow us to make much-needede repairs to our public housing properties and improve the safetgy and quality of life forour residents,” SAHA President and CEO Lourdesd Castro Ramirez says.
Among the properties slated for major upgrades is the LewiesChatham Apartments, a 119-unit apartmentr complex for seniors on the city’s South Lewis Chatham also will undergo an extensive modernization. In stimulus funds will be used to upgrade the elevators and fire safety at nearly 20elderly communities. Other projects will involve replacing fencing, roofing, cabinets, and heating, ventilation and air conditioninyg systems.
SAHA Board Chairman Ramiro Cavazos says the agencyt will encourage the participation of smalland minority-owned “We will also give additional weight to contractorw that commit to actively recruiting employeesw from the neighborhoods in and around wherew this work will occur,” he says. SAHA will issue requestws for proposals to perform engineering and architectural services relatedto stimulus-approved Web site: www.saha.
org
million in federal stimulus funds to repair and upgrade a number of publicfhousing properties. Out of 349 housing authorities in Texa s that received money from the American Recovery andReinvestment Act, San Antonio Housing Authority, or received the largest amount. SAHA is required to use the moneyg for capital improvements and all the fundx must be spent withinthree years. “These funds will allow us to make much-needede repairs to our public housing properties and improve the safetgy and quality of life forour residents,” SAHA President and CEO Lourdesd Castro Ramirez says.
Among the properties slated for major upgrades is the LewiesChatham Apartments, a 119-unit apartmentr complex for seniors on the city’s South Lewis Chatham also will undergo an extensive modernization. In stimulus funds will be used to upgrade the elevators and fire safety at nearly 20elderly communities. Other projects will involve replacing fencing, roofing, cabinets, and heating, ventilation and air conditioninyg systems.
SAHA Board Chairman Ramiro Cavazos says the agencyt will encourage the participation of smalland minority-owned “We will also give additional weight to contractorw that commit to actively recruiting employeesw from the neighborhoods in and around wherew this work will occur,” he says. SAHA will issue requestws for proposals to perform engineering and architectural services relatedto stimulus-approved Web site: www.saha.
org
Sunday, March 11, 2012
N.C. shuts down Cape Fear Bank; FDIC brokers sale of assets - Triangle Business Journal:
kdrummondbs37.blogspot.com
Cape Fear, a state-chartered lender formerly known as the Bankof Wilmington, is the 22nd U.S. bank to fail this year and the firs to fail in North Carolina since the federally chartereds Crown National Bank of Charlotte went underin 1993. The last state-charteredc bank to fail was First Hanover Bankin 1991. The FDIC said that the cost to its Deposiyt Insurance Fund from the Cape Fear failure and takeoverd deal wouldbe $131 million. Cape Fear, as of Marcnh 31, 2009, had total assets of approximately $492 millionm and total depositsof $403 million.
First Federal agreed to purchaseapproximately $468 milliom in assets, while the FDIC will retaijn the remainder for later Under a “share-the-loss” agreement ironed out between the governmentg and the South Carolina the FDIC and First Federal jointly will assume any losseds on $395 million of Cape Fear Details of the agreement, which is aimed at minimizinbg potential disruption for customers, were not Cape Fear customers can continue to use their checkss and debit cards, the FDIC said. Customers with questiones can call a hot lineat 1-866-806-6128, startinbg at 9 p.m. April 10.
Customersx of both banks shoule continue to use their existing brancheas until First Federal can fullg integrate the deposit records of Cape Fear theFDIC said. All eight Cape Fear Bank branchesx will open as First Federao branches onApril 13. Cape Fear’s failure comes less than two monthsw after the bank revealed it had receivesd a fromthe FDIC. Cape Fear said the FDIC had ordere the lender to raise more money forcapitalk reserves, but the bank did not say how much it woulf have to raise to meet regulators’ demands. Another of the FDIC’s requirements was that Cape Fear install a strongedmanagement team.
The bank argued that it had done that in Novembet 2008 after a with investor Maurice Koury that ended with the resignation of CEO Cameron AnotherWilmington bank, , from the FDIC in
Cape Fear, a state-chartered lender formerly known as the Bankof Wilmington, is the 22nd U.S. bank to fail this year and the firs to fail in North Carolina since the federally chartereds Crown National Bank of Charlotte went underin 1993. The last state-charteredc bank to fail was First Hanover Bankin 1991. The FDIC said that the cost to its Deposiyt Insurance Fund from the Cape Fear failure and takeoverd deal wouldbe $131 million. Cape Fear, as of Marcnh 31, 2009, had total assets of approximately $492 millionm and total depositsof $403 million.
First Federal agreed to purchaseapproximately $468 milliom in assets, while the FDIC will retaijn the remainder for later Under a “share-the-loss” agreement ironed out between the governmentg and the South Carolina the FDIC and First Federal jointly will assume any losseds on $395 million of Cape Fear Details of the agreement, which is aimed at minimizinbg potential disruption for customers, were not Cape Fear customers can continue to use their checkss and debit cards, the FDIC said. Customers with questiones can call a hot lineat 1-866-806-6128, startinbg at 9 p.m. April 10.
Customersx of both banks shoule continue to use their existing brancheas until First Federal can fullg integrate the deposit records of Cape Fear theFDIC said. All eight Cape Fear Bank branchesx will open as First Federao branches onApril 13. Cape Fear’s failure comes less than two monthsw after the bank revealed it had receivesd a fromthe FDIC. Cape Fear said the FDIC had ordere the lender to raise more money forcapitalk reserves, but the bank did not say how much it woulf have to raise to meet regulators’ demands. Another of the FDIC’s requirements was that Cape Fear install a strongedmanagement team.
The bank argued that it had done that in Novembet 2008 after a with investor Maurice Koury that ended with the resignation of CEO Cameron AnotherWilmington bank, , from the FDIC in
Friday, March 9, 2012
Homestead developer sued over Chinese drywall - South Florida Business Journal:
http://irecyclemybooks.com/christian-book/art_16.htm
The plaintiffs, Jason Harrell and Melissa filed suit against PlasterboardTianjin Co. Ltd., a Chinese compan that manufactured the defective drywallp installed bytheir home’s The Harrells purchased a $360,000 home in the Pine Isle s portion of Keys Gate in January 2008, and moved there with thei r two children, according to the complainty filed by them on behalf of all simila Florida homeowners with Chinese drywall problemzs in their homes. The Harrells allege that drywalkl installed in theirnew home, and thosse of their neighbors, emits destructive and harmful toxins and renderw the homes "essentially uninhabitable.
" “The Harrells thought they were buying thei r dream home,” attorney Joseph Givner said in a pressd release. “Instead, they stepped into a nightmare.” Problemsd with drywall from two Chinese manufacturers have been identifiede in some South Florida homes built in 2005and 2006. Statde officials are tracking more than 70 complaintsx associated withvarious builders. The complaints include an odor ofrottenh eggs, metal corrosion in air conditioners and health complaints. Eight complaints come from homeownersin Miami-Dade two in Palm Beach Countyt and one in Broward. Knauf has acknowledgexd the complaints aboutits drywall. The first class action was filed Jan.
30 ob behalf of homeowners by a Bonita Springs law Another product liability case was filed this weekby Miami-basefd homebuilder Those suits targeted Knauc and another manufacturer, along with suppliers and Attempts to reach South Kendalpl Construction and principal Patrick Gleber on Thursday afternoob were not successful. Two weeks ago, Gleber told the Business Journaol his company was investigatinhg the extent of the problem at Keys Knauf has refuted similar claims in other lawsuites and vowed to defenr itselfin court. The company has also said its testa showed no human health threa fromthe drywall.
Other defendants in the Harrelp class action includeof Miami, exportedr , Keys Gate Realty and 10 other unnamefd companies. The lawsuit was broughrt by andthe .
The plaintiffs, Jason Harrell and Melissa filed suit against PlasterboardTianjin Co. Ltd., a Chinese compan that manufactured the defective drywallp installed bytheir home’s The Harrells purchased a $360,000 home in the Pine Isle s portion of Keys Gate in January 2008, and moved there with thei r two children, according to the complainty filed by them on behalf of all simila Florida homeowners with Chinese drywall problemzs in their homes. The Harrells allege that drywalkl installed in theirnew home, and thosse of their neighbors, emits destructive and harmful toxins and renderw the homes "essentially uninhabitable.
" “The Harrells thought they were buying thei r dream home,” attorney Joseph Givner said in a pressd release. “Instead, they stepped into a nightmare.” Problemsd with drywall from two Chinese manufacturers have been identifiede in some South Florida homes built in 2005and 2006. Statde officials are tracking more than 70 complaintsx associated withvarious builders. The complaints include an odor ofrottenh eggs, metal corrosion in air conditioners and health complaints. Eight complaints come from homeownersin Miami-Dade two in Palm Beach Countyt and one in Broward. Knauf has acknowledgexd the complaints aboutits drywall. The first class action was filed Jan.
30 ob behalf of homeowners by a Bonita Springs law Another product liability case was filed this weekby Miami-basefd homebuilder Those suits targeted Knauc and another manufacturer, along with suppliers and Attempts to reach South Kendalpl Construction and principal Patrick Gleber on Thursday afternoob were not successful. Two weeks ago, Gleber told the Business Journaol his company was investigatinhg the extent of the problem at Keys Knauf has refuted similar claims in other lawsuites and vowed to defenr itselfin court. The company has also said its testa showed no human health threa fromthe drywall.
Other defendants in the Harrelp class action includeof Miami, exportedr , Keys Gate Realty and 10 other unnamefd companies. The lawsuit was broughrt by andthe .
Wednesday, March 7, 2012
Pimco's active ETF is an industry outlaw - MarketWatch
iqukikofor.wordpress.com
What Investment | Pimco's active ETF is an industry outlaw MarketWatch (MarketWatch) รข€" Bill Gross and his Pimco gang came riding into W » |
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)