What we're reading, following & covering

Taiwan earthquake toll rises to nine dead, with dozen missing

February 8 | The New York Times

Rescuers in Taiwan searched badly damaged buildings early Thursday, looking for scores of people missing after a powerful earthquake hit the island's east coast. The magnitude 6.4 quake struck at 11:50 p.m. Tuesday and was centered 14 miles northeast of the coastal city of Hualien. The shaking was felt across Taiwan, but in Hualien the force was disastrous, collapsing walls and leaving buildings resting at alarming angles. On Thursday officials put the toll at nine dead and 62 others missing. Read more.

Taiwan quake highlights hi-tech island's shoddy building past

February 7 | Yahoo

Taiwan has built itself a reputation for cutting edge technology, efficient public transport and safe streets. But an earthquake has again highlighted the well-off island's history of shoddy construction and questionable safety standards. It has become a familiar sight. A quake strikes Taiwan, rattling homes and nerves but leaving most of the epicentre intact, except for one or two isolated spots where it strikes with deadly force. Usually the collapsed buildings are old, built before Taiwan brought in better building codes, and still have not been reinforced. Read more.

Big earthquake could devastate bay area housing

February 7 | Kron 4

It's predicted there's a 72 percent chance of a 6.7 or greater earthquake in the Bay Area over the next 30 years. Now, there are some dire warnings about the impact of a major earthquake on housing in the Bay Area. For many, the 6.9 magnitude Loma Prieta earthquake was the catastrophe of a lifetime. But a new study finds the impacts of the next big one to hit, especially if centered in one of the nine Bay Area counties. Read more.

Despite progress, cities struggle with ambitious climate goals

February 7 | KOSU

On the 40th floor of a new Denver skyscraper, overseeing workers in hard hats and orange vests, construction manager Michael Bjes touts some of the measures that will make this building energy efficient: Energy Star appliances, LED lights, "water efficient toilet fixtures throughout the entire building." The requirements are aimed at meeting one of the most ambitious climate goals in the country. By mid-century, Denver aims to reduce its greenhouse gas emissions 80 percent below 2005 levels. Read more.

Smart containers offer affordable housing solutions

February 7 | Digital Journal

Paul Galvin is a designer, innovator and fabricator of container-based structures, and he has hit upon an idea for using container technology as an affordable housing solution. To find out how the idea is progressing, read our exclusive interview. Paul Galvin is Chairman and CEO of SG Blocks. Paul has proposes that his method of construction, using container-based structures, is an ideal solution for affordable housing. Read more.

Tiny houses begin to take off with new mortgage options

February 7 | The Mortgage Reports

At first, tiny houses were an oddity, but now they're increasingly gaining acceptance. Starting this year, there will be a tiny house section in the International Residential Code. This means it will be much easier to get approval to build such homes – and therefore much easier to get financing. Read more.

Shredded roofs, shattered lives: Storms smash Virgin Islands' middle class

February 6 | The Washington Post

More than four months after back-to-back hurricanes shredded the roof of his house, Charles Caines feels as if he's "living in a tent in the jungle." Sleeping under a blue tarp draped on the roof's steel beams, he and his wife are fending off lizards, frogs, rats and mosquitoes in what remains of their home. Caines spent much of his life stockpiling his paychecks of up to $700 a week to buy a home. Now, the 72-year-old worries that the Category 5 storms that took his roof also blew him and an entire generation of Virgin Islanders out of the middle class. Read more.

Floods are getting worse, and 2,500 chemical sites lie in the water's path

February 6 | The New York Times

Anchored in flood-prone areas in every American state are more than 2,500 sites that handle toxic chemicals, a New York Times analysis of federal floodplain and industrial data shows. About 1,400 are located in areas at highest risk of flooding. As flood danger grows — the consequence of a warming climate — the risk is that there will be more toxic spills like the one that struck Baytown, Tex., where Hurricane Harvey swamped a chemicals plant, releasing lye. Or like the ones at a Florida fertilizer plant that leaked phosphoric acid and an Ohio refinery that released benzene. Read more.

In Puerto Rico, a housing crisis U.S. storm aid won't solve

February 6 | WKZ

Among the countless Puerto Rico neighborhoods battered by Hurricane Maria is one named after another storm: Villa Hugo. The illegal shantytown emerged on a public wetland after 1989’s Hurricane Hugo left thousands homeless. About 6,000 squatters landed here, near the El Yunque National Forest, and built makeshift homes on 40 acres that span a low-lying valley and its adjacent mountainside. Wood and concrete dwellings, their facades scrawled with invented addresses, sit on cinder blocks. After Maria, many are missing roofs; some have collapsed altogether. Read more.

Extreme weather: Congress wants resilient rebuilding

February 6 | E&E News

Congress is weighing a House-passed $81 billion supplemental aid package for hurricane and wildfire victims in Texas, Florida, California and the territories. While Republicans are loathe to mention global warming, the measure includes a provision that would require post-disaster rebuilding be done with "resilience" to mitigate "future risks." With the threat of unpredictable and more severe weather events looming, lawmakers, engineers, scientists and urban planners are wrestling with what it means to rebuild "resiliently." And they are divided. Read more.

Resolution reached in 'House of Horrors'

February 6 | AZ Family

Marielyn Almeida can finally see the light regarding the nightmare she's had with her Glendale home. "I am very happy. It's like a new life for me. I will begin zero, like this never happened," Almeida said. She may be happy now, but that wasn't the case in January when she first spoke to 3 On Your Side. "The house was sold to me like brand new nothing, ready to move in," said Almeida. Read more.

Cadillac officials propose changes to fire, property maintenance codes

February 6 | Cadillac News

A few changes may be in store for Cadillac's Property Maintenance Code and Fire Code. Fire department officials have recommended some updates to the codes in order to stay current with the 2015 International Fire Code and International Property Maintenance Code. There are several primary changes associated with the update. The first is that it would remove redundancies in the city's codes specifically regarding noxious weeds and junk/abandoned vehicle codes. Read more.

Designing efficient office buildings with visual appeal: Automation and controls

February 6 | Consulting-Specifying Engineer

Office buildings can be highly complex, with complicated features for automation and controls and advanced technology. Experienced engineers share advice on how to handle these structures and identify trends impacting such structures now and in the future. Read more.

Acuity: Fundamental misunderstandings

February 6 | Seeking Alpha

Acuity Brands is a manufacturer of light fixtures, sometimes technically referred to as luminaires, and associated control components. The company has experienced a wide price swing over the last several years driven by the accelerating adoption of highly efficient LED lighting, although the earlier euphoria has been tempered over time. In this article, we divert our focus from the strictly financial aspects of the company to address a few of the key misconceptions and/or misunderstandings associated with Acuity's products and markets which we've seen in other discussions of the company. Read more.

A skyscraper made of wood? Newark developers give it a try

February 4 | The Wall Street Journal

In the contest to attract office tenants, many developers stick with the tried-and-true combination of concrete, steel and gleaming glass. Lotus Equity Group is embracing a more natural material: wood. The Manhattan developer said it is planning an 11-story Newark office building made with a wood structure for Riverfront Square, its 4.8 million-square-foot mixed-use development proposed on the site of the former Newark Bears and Eagles Riverfront Stadium and the old Lincoln Motel. Read more.

A tweak to the city’s plumbing code on tap to lower housing costs, but will Philly politics stand in the way

February 2 | WHYY

On Thursday, the city took a first step towards modernizing the city's plumbing code in ways that development industry insiders say could lead to more affordable housing and lowered construction costs across Philadelphia. Held in a crowded room on the 16th floor of the city's Municipal Services Building, first meeting of a newly reconstituted Plumbing Advisory Board initiated a long-awaited process that Mayor Jim Kenney and his administration hope will bring the code up to contemporary standards, while also serving the interests of the public and various industry groups, including the politically powerful trade unions — a challenge that no previous mayor has been able to accomplish. Read more.

Moving mitigation forward

February 2 | Natural Hazards Center

The devastation of 2017 might make it seem otherwise, but the United States is not helpless against disaster. We have, for years, been aware of many effective policies and practices that can diminish the impacts of extreme events. We even know something about why we don't implement them. Although the latest spate of hurricanes, landslides, floods, and wildfires will help create temporary momentum for mitigating against disaster, two other efforts will likely have more long term effects — the Natural Hazards Mitigation Saves 2017 Interim Report and a new National Mitigation Investment Strategy. Read more.

Resident upset over RV park property line issues

February 2 | KRGV 5

A Rio Grande Valley mobile home park is coming under scrutiny from residents and the city of Alamo. Casa del Valle is a mobile home park filled with Winter Texans. At the park, life is about the small things. "Play some horseshoes, play some golf, go bird watching," said Clarence Tracy, a Winter Texan hailing from Missouri. This snowbird says Casa del Valle Mobile Home Park put a house next to his home while he was away for the summer. "This thing is sitting here. Staking surveys are gone," said Tracy. "It's close to my house, very close." Read more.

Sioux Falls sues convenience store owners over unused gas tanks

February 2 | Argus Leader

The city of Sioux Falls is suing the owners of a convenience store to force the removal of an unused underground gas storage tank. The city filed its lawsuit this week in the Second Judicial Circuit against Selmata Mini Market, its current owners and the couple they're purchasing the property from. The market is run by Almaz Fisha and Amare Walle, who have been in business for more than eight years but haven't sold fuel for at least three years. Read more.

Will our cities survive the 21st Century

January 29 | Slate

The city is sinking. Yes, in the literal sense, swaths of the metropolis — built on flat, permeable limestone — will be swallowed by seas expected to rise 4–8 feet globally by the century's end. That includes the $50 million waterfront condos still being developed on Miami Beach. The working-class stucco homes miles from the coast in Hialeah. Beaches, hotels, office buildings, malls, hospitals, schools, highways, wastewater treatment plants, and airports in between. Read more.