[Washington Post, page A15, July 25, 2019, < https://www.washingtonpost.com/business/2019/07/24/private-equitys-role-retail-has-decimated-million-jobs-study-says/?utm_term=.6bc7148b27ac > Graphics at the website.]

Private equity’s role in retail has killed 1.3 million jobs, study says

Women and people of color have been disproportionately affected by closures at debt-saddled stores

[Photo caption: More than 33,000 Toys R Us workers lost their jobs when the company filed for bankruptcy and liquidated its stores. All told, more than 1.3 million U.S. workers have lost their jobs in the past decade because of private equity ownership in retail, data show. (Julio Cortez/AP)]

By Abha Bhattarai

She’s been looking for more than a year, but Giovanna De La Rosa has yet to find a job.

After 20 years with Toys R Us in San Diego, she was one of 33,000 workers laid off last summer when the company filed for bankruptcy and liquidated its stores. The retailer, which in 2017 had $11.5 billion in annual sales, had struggled to pay down billions of dollars in debt stemming from a 2005 leveraged buyout.

“It’s been really, really tough,” said De La Rosa, 39, who has a son with autism. “Losing my health insurance has been a big deal.”

More than 1.3 million Americans have lost their jobs in the past decade as a result of private equity ownership in retail, according to a report released Wednesday. That includes 600,000 retail workers, as well as 728,000 employees in related industries. Overall, the sector added more than 1 million jobs during that period.

[Read the report here < https://www.washingtonpost.com/context/report-on-private-equity-s-role-in-retail/3ca628da-aeb8-4509-898f-af46e6d0a196/?utm_term=.646fcac7decb >]

Women and people of color have been disproportionately affected by the layoffs as debt-ridden retailers closed thousands of stores, according to the report by six progressive nonprofit organizations and workers’ advocacy groups, including Americans for Financial Reform and the Center for Popular Democracy.

“Wall Street has become the new boss for an ever-growing number of workers across the country,” said Charles Khan, organizing director of the Strong Economy for All Coalition, a group of labor unions and community groups in New York that was involved in the study. “That’s meant layoffs, shrinking paychecks and benefits cuts for millions of people.”

Ten of the 14 largest retail bankruptcies since 2012 have been at private-equity-owned companies, such as Payless ShoeSource and Claire’s, according to the study.

More than 1 million of the nation’s 15.8 million retail workers continue to work for private-equity-backed companies, including Michael’s, J. Crew and Neiman Marcus, according to the study.

[Elizabeth Warren, in detailed attack on private equity, unveils plan to stop ‘looting’ of U.S. companies]

Private equity firms and hedge funds have been aggressively buying up retailers since the mid-2000s, when a booming economy and low interest rates made leveraged buyouts particularly attractive. The firms pooled money — often from pension funds, wealthy investors and financial firms — and relied on large swaths of debt to acquire companies like Mervyn’s and Linens ‘n Things, with the goal of turning them around.

In practice, though, they routinely sold off real estate holdings, cut workers’ pay and benefits, and jettisoned jobs to turn a quick profit for investors, according to Heather Slavkin Corzo, a senior fellow at Americans for Financial Reform and the director of capital markets policy for the AFL-CIO, a federation of labor unions.

“When a private equity firm steps in, it’s a classic case of ‘Heads I win, tails you lose,’” Corzo said. “They have a real short-term focus on extracting as much cash as possible, as quickly as possible.”

That often means selling off a company’s most valuable asset, its real estate, she said. Retail is a notoriously difficult industry, with intense competition and razor-thin profit margins. Owning their own buildings is one way for companies to shield themselves from economic uncertainty. For private equity firms, such holdings can translate into quick profits. But selling them forces retailers to rent out buildings they used to own.

The study comes a week after Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.) introduced legislation that would stop private equity firms from gutting companies and loading them with debt. Her plan would require such firms to shoulder those liabilities themselves instead of foisting them onto their acquisitions.

“For far too long, Washington has looked the other way while private equity firms take over companies, load them with debt, strip them of their wealth, and walk away scot-free — leaving workers, consumers, and whole communities to pick up the pieces,” Warren said in a statement last week.

The industry, she and others contend, faces few regulations that others, including mutual funds and investments banks, do. When a private-equity-backed company files for bankruptcy, executives are typically rewarded over workers, pension funds and other creditors. As a result, 100,000 workers and retirees have missed out on $128 million in pensions because of bankruptcies from 2001 to 2014, according to data from the Pension Benefit Guaranty Corp.

Industry groups say private equity firms make significant investments to help businesses grow, and that their returns help support pension funds for teachers, first responders and other government workers. They say such factors as increased competition and the shift to online shopping also have contributed to retail bankruptcies.

“This report is biased and is focused on a sector that experienced tremendous disruption over the past decade,” said Drew Maloney, president of the American Investment Council, which lobbies on behalf of the industry. “Private equity has a clear record of supporting millions of jobs across all sectors and investing in communities across America.”

But critics say large debt loads from leveraged buyouts make it difficult for otherwise profitable retailers to adapt to industry changes. When Toys R Us filed for bankruptcy in 2017, court documents showed that it had been paying $400 million a year toward its debt, often at the expense of profitability. The retailer’s three companies — Bain Capital, Kohlberg Kravis Roberts and Vornado Realty Trust — did not immediately respond to requests for comment.

[Analysts: Toys R Us might have survived if it did not have to deal with so much debt]

In November, Bain Capital and KKR set up a $20 million fund for laid-off Toys R Us employees. The retailer’s bankruptcy, the firms said, was caused by “an extraordinary set of circumstances,” including changes in the retail landscape and a push by creditors to liquidate operations. Although workers groups say the amount is less than the $75 million they were owed under the retailer’s severance policy, they say it could set a new precedent for future bankruptcies.

Private equity firms and hedge funds have made major investments in at least 80 retailers in the past decade, including household names such as Brookstone, David’s Bridal and Gymboree. All three companies have filed for bankruptcy in the past year.

When the hedge fund ESL Investments took over Sears in 2005, employees like Terry Leiker said the impact was nearly immediate: The company did away with workers’ 401(k) benefits and shifted to commission-based salaries. Leiker’s pay dropped from $13 an hour to nearly half of that, and there were repercussions if she didn’t get at least three customers to sign up for Sears credit cards each week. Full-time workers were replaced with part-timers, and there were changes in merchandise.

“Power tools weren’t made in the United States anymore,” said Leiker, who worked in Sears’s tools department for 18 years. “Clothing quality wasn’t what it used to be.”

Leiker, 65, was laid off in October, days before Sears filed for bankruptcy. She has applied for multiple retail jobs since — at Macy’s, JC Penney, Family Dollar — but has yet to find work.

In all, more than 260,000 Sears and Kmart workers have lost their jobs since ESL took over, according to Wednesday’s report, which is co-authored by Hedge Clippers, the Private Equity Stakeholder Project and United for Respect. Representatives for ESL Investments and Sears did not respond to requests for comment.

“It’s been horrible, absolutely horrible,” said Leiker, who is working with the advocacy group United for Respect. “We’re struggling. Most weeks we can either buy food or we can pay our bills. That shouldn’t be a choice anybody has to make.”

Retail jobs tend to be among the country’s lowest-paying and most volatile. Roughly 1 in 4 retail workers lives below or near the federal poverty line, which is $25,750 for a family of four.

[Toys R Us workers are training Sears workers to fight for severance]

Ann Marie Reinhart had been with Toys R Us for 29 years when its bankruptcy and liquidation left her without a job.

She said she’d applied for more than 100 positions before she finally found work at Belk, a Charlotte-based department store chain that had been acquired four years ago by the private equity firm Sycamore Partners.

On Monday, Reinhart, who had just returned from a family vacation to Ocean City, learned that her job fulfilling online orders at a Durham, N.C., store was being eliminated as part of a broader effort to cut costs. She isn’t sure what she’ll do next.

“It’s been a nightmare, honestly,” said Reinhart, 60. “It’s like private-equity deja vu.”

From the Washington Post, 10 July 2019 < https://www.washingtonpost.com/national/energy-environment/washington-state-sues-navy-over-expanded-flights-on-island/2019/07/09/bfcc156a-a289-11e9-a767-d7ab84aef3e9_story.html?utm_term=.5acbcebc8fbf >

How many admirals were busted back to midshipman for this stupid plan?
Oh, about zero.
How many admirals should have been busted back to midshipman for planning 100,000 takeoffs and landings per year for 30 years in an area with obvious impacts on human and natural ecosystems?
Each and every one.

= = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = =

Energy & Environment

Washington state sues Navy over expanded flights on island

[FILE PHOTO CAPTION – In this June 3, 2008, file photo, the Navy’s EA-18G Growler plane is seen in Oak Harbor, Wash., after it was unveiled in a ceremony at Naval Air Station Whidbey Island. Washington state sued the Navy on Tuesday, July 9, 2019, over its expansion of jet operations on Whidbey Island, saying officials failed to adequately consider the effect that additional noisy flights would have on people or wildlife. (Michael O’Leary/The Herald via AP, File) (Associated Press)]

By Gene Johnson | AP
July 9 at 6:06 PM

SEATTLE — Washington state sued the Navy on Tuesday over its expansion of jet operations on an island north of Seattle, saying officials failed to adequately consider the effect that additional noisy flights would have on people or wildlife.

“The Navy has an important job, and it’s critical that their pilots and crews have the opportunity to train,” Attorney General Bob Ferguson said in a news release announcing the lawsuit. “That does not relieve the federal government of its obligation to follow the law and avoid unnecessary harm to our health and natural resources.”

The Navy’s public affairs office said it does not comment on litigation.

The Navy in March authorized the expansion of its Growler program by up to three dozen jets, adding to the 82 already based on Whidbey Island, north of Seattle.

The low-flying jets conduct electronic warfare to jam enemy communications and launch systems, and under the expansion plans crews would perform around 100,000 takeoffs and landings a year for the next three decades.

That, Ferguson said, could have serious effects on nearby residents. The state Health Department has outlined how exposure to noise levels similar to those at Naval Air Station Whidbey Island could disrupt children’s learning and cause sleep disturbance, cognitive impairment and cardiovascular disease.

It could also disrupt the feeding and breeding of eagles and marbled murrelets, a type of seabird.

In the news release, Quinault Indian Nation President Fawn Sharp called on the federal government to strike a balance between national security and environmental preservation.

“Unregulated, unrestrained noise pollution from increased military training operations presents a clear threat to the health and solitude of our state’s fragile ecosystems, treaty protected resources and endangered species,” she said.

In its decision to approve the expansion plan, the Navy said the number of flights on the island would be comparable to those that occurred from the 1970s through the 1990s. It also said it would continue to invest in technologies to reduce engine and aircraft noise.

The state’s lawsuit alleges violations of the National Environmental Protection Act and the federal Administrative Procedure Act. Ferguson said he intended to add claims under the Endangered Species Act.

The National Parks Conservation Association said it supports the lawsuit, noting that the flights could also affect Ebey’s Landing, a historical preserve on Whidbey Island, and Olympic National Park. The association recently filed a lawsuit accusing the Navy of withholding information about noise pollution from the jets over Olympic National Park.

Navy Secretary Richard Spencer wrote a letter in March to the federal Advisory Council on Historic Preservation, rebuffing its call for additional noise monitoring and tracking of the effect on tourism. He said the Navy had already performed noise monitoring and noted it was spending $876,000 to refurbish a home at Ebey Landing built in 1860.

Copyright 2019 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.

From the <http://newsofstjohn.com/2019/06/03/caneel-bay-leaseholder-wants-70-million-to-walk-away/>

Go to the website to see the pretty sensible 46 comments. . . .

Great island story. Maybe they can get Jeffrey Eptstein to take over the lease and set up a (wink, wink) summer camp, ya think?

Caneel Bay Leaseholder Wants $70 Million to Walk Away
June 3, 2019 • 46 Comments
Caneel Bay, June 2, 2019 Caneel Bay, June 2, 2019

It’s been a bit since we updated you on the situation over at Caneel Bay. Here is the latest…

As you know, Caneel Bay suffered tremendous damage during the 2017 hurricanes. Virtually no cleanup happened for 18 months, and the property and front entrance remained an eyesore for those passing by. This past March, cleanup efforts began although they haven’t been extensive. Small sales have been happening on property in recent weeks where everything from Kid’s Club items to expensive wine glasses to potentially corked wine is up for grabs.

Gary Engle, of CBI Acquisitions, is the current leaseholder of Caneel Bay. His agreement with the National Park Service expires in 2023. In May 2018, he told a group of residents at a town meeting that he was only interested in operating Caneel Bay if he could get a 60-year extension on the Retained Use Agreement that he is currently operating under. (His current Retained Use Agreement allows Caneel to operate virtually tax-free. They also do not pay rent for the 170 acres it sits on.) In late 2017, USVI Congresswoman Stacey Plaskett introduced a Bill into Congress asking for a 60-year RUE extension, and it failed last year.

Fast forward to this past weekend. The Virgin Islands Daily News reported that Engle and CBI Acquisitions want out. And this little blogger could not be happier, and I’m pretty confident that several other St. John residents feel the same. But Engle’s demands are ridiculous.

According to the Virgin Islands Daily News, Engel is “demanding $70 million to prematurely ditch the resort’s stewardship agreement with the National Park Service, and protection from any environmental liability.” The newspaper cited Congresswoman Stacey Plaskett as the source of that information.

Engle received a substantial insurance payout after the hurricanes, and now he wants an additional $70 million to walk away. And what does St. John get? A destroyed resort? Please tell me where the logic is here.

I say we take that $70 million and require Engle to divvy it up between the hundreds of locals who are no longer working at Caneel because he refuses to rebuild.

Now let’s talk about the “environment liability” Engel referenced in his letter referenced above. This little blogger reported on that very thing back in October 2018 when writing about why lease negotiations have failed. Check it out:
News of St. John, October 7, 2018 News of St. John, October 7, 2018

I ditched my real reporter hat more than a decade ago, but this little blogger only prints facts. 🙂

The Virgin Islands Daily News could not obtain a copy of Engle’s letter. They did, however, print a statement from Engle himself:
Statement from Engel to the VI Daily News, June 2019 Statement from Engle to the VI Daily News, June 2019

Now please go back and reread that statement…

Engel attempted to get a 60-year RUE extension through Congress and failed. Now he is attempting to circumvent Congress and get a 60-year extension using the Department of the Interior. Not cool Engle, not cool.

And now Caneel is an “eco resort” as indicated in his statement? Well that’s the first I’ve ever heard that. Funny, there’s not one mention of it being an eco resort on its website either… A new tactic perhaps?

Regarding the comments about us “suffering” – we’re not. This island has been bustling. Restaurants are full. Vacation rentals are full. Our charter boats are full. Our beaches are full. We’re fine Engle. We don’t need you personally. We’d rather wait to have someone who actually cares about this island to renovate and operate Caneel Bay.

From the Washington Post, 14 May 2019, page A17, or <https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/my-district-was-gerrymandered-the-damage-is-easy-to-measure/2019/05/13/199c61e8-75b8-11e9-b7ae-390de4259661_story.html?utm_term=.3379840b9614 > — also copied at Pottersweal.com – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – –
Opinions

My district was gerrymandered.
The damage is easy to measure.

David Niven, a professor of political science at the University of Cincinnati, holds a map displaying the wide disparity of Ohio congressional district office locations, with orange locations representing areas whose offices are found outside their own district’s bounds. A federal court ruled May 3 that Ohio’s congressional map is unconstitutional and ordered a new one be drawn for the 2020 elections. (John Minchillo/AP)

By Marcy Kaptur
May 13 at 5:47 PM

[Marcy Kaptur, a Democrat, represents Ohio’s 9th Congressional District in the House.]

When I was first elected to Congress in 1982, women weren’t allowed in the House gym, American Motors was still producing cars such as the Gremlin and the Pacer in my hometown of Toledo, and Ohio had just elected 10 Democrats to Congress.

That last number might not sound like a big deal, but the chance of that happening today borders on impossible.

In 1982, Ohio sent 21 representatives — 10 Democrats and 11 Republicans — to Congress from districts that were drawn to be competitive and compact. Voting patterns haven’t changed much since: In 2018, 2,245,403 Ohioans voted to send a Republican to Congress and 2,019,120 Ohioans voted to send a Democrat. That’s 52 percent to 47 percent. Yet only four Democrats were elected last fall, compared with 12 Republicans.

We all know the culprit: radical, partisan gerrymandering.

From January 1983 to December 2012, my district stayed largely the same — always centered around Toledo. But after the Republican victory in 2010, Republicans redrew the lines in their favor, to appalling effect. When GOP operatives emerged from a closed-door hotel conference room in 2011, they delivered one of the most politically gerrymandered congressional maps the country had ever seen. Democrats were packed into as few districts as possible, suppressing the value of hundreds of thousands of votes.

Cleveland’s Democratic representative, Dennis Kucinich, and I were gerrymandered into the same district — now known as the “Snake on the Lake” — and forced to run against each another. This long, skinny district stretches nearly 100 miles from Toledo to Cleveland, is less than a mile wide in some places and is contiguous only by Lake Erie.

And though Ohio lost two seats to reapportionment in that year, Republican representation increased from eight to 12, while our party’s share fell from 10 to four. It’s stayed there ever since.

The damage done by gerrymandering isn’t difficult to measure. It breeds partisan legislators, who in turn breed a partisan Congress. Gerrymandering has made virtually all House seats safer — including mine — and the members who hold those safe seats are often less responsive to communities and unwilling to compromise in Washington.

The bipartisan camaraderie that once existed in the House is now all but gone. Because members come from safer seats, they have less incentive to build meaningful relationships with those outside their own party, and so they make fewer friends and rarely have constructive debates.

The result is both the decay of our national discourse and the failure of our institutions to fulfill their most basic functions.

More fundamentally, the gerrymander dilutes the popular vote to protect incumbents. Instead of the voters picking their leaders, the leaders pick their voters.

But there is hope.

Two weeks ago, a panel of federal judges for the Southern District of Ohio struck down Ohio’s congressional district map as an unconstitutional, partisan gerrymander — echoing similar rulings in four other states.

Judge Karen Nelson Moore of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 6th Circuit wrote in her opinion that Ohio’s map is “so skewed toward one party that the electoral outcome is predetermined, ” and concluded “the map unconstitutionally burdens associational rights by making it more difficult for voters and certain organizations to advance their aims.”

Ohio was ordered to submit new legislative maps to the court by June 14. If it fails to enact a remedial plan, or enacts a plan that the court finds illegal, the court will appoint a special master to redraw the lines.

Ohio’s Republican attorney general has said he will appeal the decision to the Supreme Court. This presents the court with an opportunity to consider the will of the voters, to uphold fairness and to restore democracy in Ohio. And it is clear the public wants change: In 2018, Ohio voters approved bipartisan map-drawing by an overwhelming majority — 75 percent to 25 percent.

Given how close our elections have been over the past 30 years, my state should probably have eight Republicans and eight Democrats representing it in Washington.

In the meantime, gerrymandering contorts communities and makes too many lawmakers politically untouchable. Everyone, in Ohio and the nation, suffers when outcomes are preordained and engineered to the extremes. Restoring representative delegations to Congress must be the first step in restoring the public’s confidence in our government. Liberty and justice must be restored.

Bruce Potter443-454-9044

From the STT Source <https://stthomassource.com/content/2019/05/08/volunteers-help-rebuild-st-croix-roofs/>, as reprinted on the PottersWeal.com blog.

It’s 19 months and counting since Hurricanes Ivan and Maria visited the Virgin Islands, and it doesn’t seem that recovery has moved very far . . .

A list of cruiseship stops scheduled in St. Thomas for the entire month of May shows 23 visits — a lot less than one-ship-per-day average — and this isn’t even slow season.

And the following story gives a picture of the extent of recovery needed for the homes of a very large portion of the residents of St. Croix:
_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

Volunteers Help Rebuild St. Croix Roofs
By Susan Ellis – May 8, 2019

Lutheran Disaster Response volunteers work on Grimilda Quinones house in Frederiksted.[Caption]

Virgin Islanders are getting used to the heavy traffic of equipment each morning as bucket trucks, pickups loaded with lumber and construction crews head to work. Despite the hundreds of man-hours, many blue tarp roofs and collapsed buildings still litter the island.

Already, FEMA has spent millions of dollars and other organizations have donated money, supplies and volunteer time in hopes of getting ahead of the game. But it is slow and tedious.

According to FEMA public affairs specialist Eric Adams, more than $32.9 million has been distributed on St. Croix, more than $38.6 million on St. Thomas and more than $12.3 million on St. John to more than 20,000 families.

Various programs supported survivors with rental and replacement assistance, temporary home repairs, leasing housing leasing and permanent repairs. Funding is continuing through June he said.

Additionally, more than $280 million has been provided through the V.I. Housing Finance Authority for the Emergency Homes Repairs V.I. program to more than 7,100 homes. The EHRVI program ended April 15 and will soon be replaced by the $90 million EnVision Tomorrow project, through a community development block grant administered also by VIHFA. So help is still available for weather-beaten homeowners.

“A lot of work still needs to be done,” Adams said, citing the the territory’s hospitals, schools and roads.

Currently there are about 500 roofers working in the territory and they have repaired around 7,100 homes, according to the VIHFA website.

While the paid roofers work at a feverish pace, there is another contingent of roofers who are not talked about – volunteers from the mainland. They leave their homes and come to the Virgin Islands with their own tools and maybe a few friends to spend two weeks toiling on roofs in the heat of the day for people they have never met. Most are members of stateside church groups and either travel together or one-by-one, joining a group when they arrive.
Terry Cline, Grimilda Quinones, Darion Barnhart and Danny Barnhart take a break from working on Quinones roof.
Terry Cline, Grimilda Quinones, Darion Barnhart and Danny Barnhart take a break from working on Quinones roof.

In the past, they have paid their own airfare, but during this recovery FEMA has paid the airfare for hundreds of volunteers to travel to the islands and help with rebuilding. To date, almost $370,000 has been spent by FEMA on travel for over 400 volunteers from religious groups such as United Methodist Volunteers in Mission, Presbyterian Disaster Assistance, and Catholic Charities. The groups specialize in repairing and rebuilding homes, providing emotional and spiritual care and managing disaster cases.

“FEMA has been very integral to us in what we do,” said Chris Finch, director of Lutheran Disaster Response.

Lutheran Disaster Response worked on Virgin Islands rooftops after Hurricanes Hugo and Marilyn. The revival of the temporary agency is headquartered with Lutheran Social Services of the Virgin Islands in Frederiksted.

Lutheran Disaster Response alone has managed 455 volunteers in 35 groups who worked on one property at a time during their two-week stays on St. Croix. Most are from United Methodist Volunteers and there have been some Catholic Youth Group volunteers as well. So far, they have donated 27,000 hours of work time, Finch said.

Most of their time is spent replacing roofs. A few walls and wheelchair ramps have been built as well, along with a handful of windows and doors. Finch said 38 properties have been remediated so far and another 60 property owners are awaiting help from Lutheran Disaster Response.

“Some needs are so extreme – there is nothing but a slab. It’s beyond our capacity to build a whole house,” Finch said. “We’re part of the bottom of the safety net, so people don’t fall through the cracks.”

Finch and five staff members organize, schedule and transport the volunteer teams. The volunteers usually arrive on a Saturday and have an orientation meeting to learn about the projects and the island.

Some team members are highly skilled, working with drywall and lumber. Others paint and do what they can. Accommodations are not luxurious – most sleep at Sunny Isle Baptist Church. They cook breakfast and dinner together and sleep on cots with the wind and noise of giant turbine fans.

“The heart and soul of everything is the volunteers,” Finch said.

The Lutheran Disaster Response clients who spoke to the Source applied for and received some government aid, but did not get enough to do the necessary repairs.

Scholastica Calixte lives in Estate Carlton and lost her roof in Hurricane Maria. After the storm, she received a blue tarp from FEMA and $4,000. She said she didn’t know how to apply for more financial aid and she didn’t expect much because the V.I. government “has no money in the treasury.” The check wasn’t nearly enough to build a roof, so she used the money to remove mold and fix the side of her house. Then she contacted Finch, who sent a Lutheran Disaster Response crew with materials to rebuild her roof.

Grimilda Quinones said her roof in Estate Whim was peeled off in the hurricane along with a wall. Only one bedroom was left with part of the roof, which she shares now with her grown son. After the storm moved away, she was left with saturated walls, standing water and soggy, ruined furniture. At one point, a piece of the sodden roof fell on the 81-year-old retiree’s head that required stitches.

Quinones received a $500 FEMA check that was enough to fix some of the cracks in concrete and put up a blue tarp and some galvanized aluminum on the roof. Then she applied for and was approved for a $25,0000 SBA loan.

After living without protection from the weather for more than a year, Quinones had a new roof and wheelchair ramp finished by Lutheran Disaster Response, allowing her to use her loan for other repairs and to replace furniture.

Quinones said she is “very happy with the work” by the volunteers, who were from Colorado, Nevada, Tennessee and Virginia. She has lived in her house for 50 years and did not want to leave.

Finch said he climbs on every repaired roof after the work is completed. He surveys the neighborhood.

“When I look 360 degrees I still see a lot of destruction. When that changes, I’ll believe we’re in recovery,” he said.

from the Washington Post

By Christopher Ingraham

April 5 at 6:00 AM

The well-respected survey that’s been a barometer of American politics, culture and behavior for more than four decades finally got around to the question that has bedeviled many a household.

Dog or cat?

In 2018, the General Social Survey for the first time included a battery of questions on pet ownership. The findings not only quantified the nation’s pet population — nearly 6 in 10 households have at least one —they made it possible to see how pet ownership overlaps with all sorts of factors of interest to social scientists.

Like happiness.

For starters, there is little difference between pet owners and non-owners when it comes to happiness, the survey shows. The two groups are statistically indistinguishable on the likelihood of identifying as “very happy” (a little over 30 percent) or “not too happy” (in the mid-teens).

But when you break the data down by pet type — cats, dogs or both — a stunning divide emerges: Dog owners are about twice as likely as cat owners to say they’re very happy, with people owning both falling somewhere in between.

Dog people, in other words, are slightly happier than those without any pets. Those in the cat camp, on the other hand, are significantly less happy than the pet-less. And having both appears to cancel each other out happiness-wise. (Since someone’s bound to ask, it isn’t possible to do this same type of analysis for say, rabbit owners or lizard owners or fish owners, since there aren’t enough of those folks in the survey to make a statistically valid sample).

These differences are quite large: The happiness divide between dog and cat owners is bigger than the one between people who identify as middle and upper class, and nearly as large as the gap between those who say they’re in “fair” versus “good or excellent” health.

However, correlation doesn’t equal causation, and there are probably a number of other differences between dog and cat owners that account for some of the differences. The General Social Survey data show that dog owners, for instance, are more likely to be married and own their own homes than cat owners, both factors known to affect happiness and life satisfaction.

Previous research on this topic yielded mixed results. In 2006, the Pew Research Center found no significant differences in happiness between pet owners and non-pet owners, or cat and dog owners. However, that survey did not distinguish between people who owned “only” a dog or a cat, and those who owned “either” a dog or a cat, potentially muddying the distinctions between exclusive dog and cat owners.

A 2016 study of dog and cat owners, on the other hand, yielded greater happiness ratings for dog owners relative to cat people. It attributed the contrast, at least in part, to differences in personality: Dog owners tended to be more agreeable, more extroverted and less neurotic than cat owners. And a 2015 study linked the presence of a cat in the home to fewer negative emotions, but not necessarily an increase in positive ones.

Other research makes the case that some of the pet-happiness relationship is causal, at least when it comes to canines. A 2013 study found, for instance, that dog owners are more likely to engage in outdoor physical activity than people who don’t own dogs, with obvious benefits for health and happiness.

Research also has shown that dog owners are more likely than other folks to form friendships with people in their neighborhoods on the basis of the random encounters that happen when they’re out walking their pets. Those social connections likely contribute to greater well-being among dog owners.

The General Social Survey also asked a number of questions about how people interact with their pets, and the answers may also explain some of the happiness gap. Dog owners, for instance, are more likely to seek comfort from their pet in times of stress, more likely to play with their pet, and more likely to consider their pet a member of their family. Those differences suggest a stronger social bond with their pets, which could create a greater sense of well-being.

Stepping away from the data, cat owners might protest that ownership isn’t about “happiness” at all: There’s something about felines that is grander and more mysterious — something that can’t be captured in a public opinion poll.

“A cat has absolute emotional honesty,” as Ernest Hemingway put it. “Human beings, for one reason or another, may hide their feelings, but a cat does not.”

931 Comments,

. . . as of 10 AM 6 April — not that anyone cares . . .

 

Christopher Ingraham Christopher Ingraham writes about all things data. He previously worked at the Brookings Institution and the Pew Research Center. Follow

From the Washington Post <https://www.washingtonpost.com/climate-environment/2019/04/03/great-barrier-reef-is-being-battered-by-climate-change-it-might-only-get-worse/?utm_term=.4467b32e9ee5>

Climate and Environment

The Great Barrier Reef is being battered by climate change, and it might only get worse

“It’s not something that might happen in the future. It’s unfolding right now,” the study’s lead author says.

The Great Barrier Reef off the northeastern coast of Australia in December 2017. (Kyodo)
By Brady Dennis

April 3

The damage caused in recent years to the Great Barrier Reef by ocean heat waves has compromised the massive reef’s ability to recover, and climate change could make the problem more severe in the future, according to research published Wednesday.

The world’s largest coral reef, which stretches for more than 1,400 miles off the coast of Australia, has suffered four mass “bleaching” events driven by above-average sea temperatures over the past two decades, including back-to-back episodes in 2016 and 2017.

Scientists studying the reef’s capacity to bounce back from those episodes detailed a disheartening set of findings in the journal Nature on Wednesday. Climate change, which has caused extreme heat stress on some reefs, has severely hindered the reef’s ability to heal, they found.

“The replenishment ability of the reef has been diminished,” Terry Hughes, the study’s lead author and director of the Australian Research Council Center of Excellence for Coral Reef Studies at James Cook University in Queensland, said in an interview. “Our study shows that [corals] are pretty much struggling to cope with rapid-fire bleaching events.”

Hughes said the researchers’ findings center on a key reality: Dead corals don’t make babies.

The massive bleaching events in 2016 and 2017 devastated nearly half of the Great Barrier Reef, which is a sprawling collection of nearly 3,000 individual reefs. The heat wave affected some parts of the reef more than others, and some species died off at a greater rate than others — an outcome that scientists said would forever alter its character.

Coral bleaching occurs when corals lose their color after the symbiotic algae that live in coral cells and provide them with nutrients are expelled because of heat stress. The longer this state of stress lasts, the less likely corals will recover. So scientists tend to distinguish between moderate bleaching, which can be managed, and severe bleaching, which can kill corals and leave surviving corals more vulnerable to disease and other threats.

Historically, after the damage from events such as bleaching or a hurricane, the remaining adult corals in the reef spawn trillions of larvae each year, which spread and slowly begin to revitalize the reef by replacing dead corals with new ones. But that’s not happening as it once did.

According to Wednesday’s study, the number of new corals settling on the Great Barrier Reef declined by 89 percent after the recent bleaching events. In addition, because it can take a decade or longer for even the fastest-growing corals to recover, a reef needs a long respite to return to its former state.

But climate change makes it less likely that the Great Barrier Reef will catch such a break. Already, it has suffered four mass bleaching events since 1998, and climate models project that the reef will bleach twice each decade by 2035 and annually after 2044 if the world does not sharply cut its greenhouse gas emissions, the study says.

“It’s highly unlikely that we could escape a fifth or sixth event in the coming decade,” Morgan Pratchett, a study co-author and professor at James Cook University, said in a statement. “We used to think that the Great Barrier Reef was too big to fail — until now.”

Kim Cobb, a coral reefs expert and climate scientist at Georgia Tech University who was not involved in Wednesday’s study, called the work of gathering the data behind it “painstaking” and its findings “devastating.”

“This is part of the ongoing train wreck that just never seems to stop,” Cobb said, adding, “We know that these reefs are going to be taking some very near-term hits with repeated heat waves.”

Even so, she said questions remain about whether the lack of coral replenishment in the Great Barrier Reef will prove to be a short-lived problem as reefs become more adaptable to the changing climate — or something that will become the new normal.

“The big question right now is, do they have enough time to recover the basic functions that will make them more resilient in the next heat wave?” Cobb said. “How much can they come back? How much time do they have?”

Unfortunately, they might not have long.

A study in the journal Science last year found that coral reefs around the globe are bleaching four to five times as frequently as they did around 1980.

We’re “looking at 90 percent of reefs seeing the heat stress that causes severe bleaching on an annual basis by mid-century,” Mark Eakin, one of the study’s authors and coordinator of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s Coral Reef Watch, said at the time.

The study surveyed 100 major coral reefs, from 1980 through 2016, and found that only a handful had not suffered severe bleachings during that period. It also found that the rate of severe bleaching is increasing over time. The average reef in the group bleached severely once every 25 or 30 years at the beginning of the 1980s, but by 2016, the recurrence time for severe bleaching was 5.9 years.

“As global temperatures continue to rise,” the authors of Wednesday’s study wrote, “the probability of avoiding further bleaching events on the Great Barrier Reef in the next decade or two is vanishingly small.”

Hughes said the damage to the Great Barrier Reef is about more than the corals. “It’s about the whole ecosystem that depends on them,” he said, noting that reefs help to protect coastlines from tropical storms and provide shelter and habitat for an array of marine organisms.

The world has warmed about one degree Celsius (1.8 degrees Fahrenheit) over preindustrial levels, but scientists project that warming to continue to increase unless nations drastically cut carbon dioxide emissions. Each bit of additional warming further threatens sensitive coral reefs, and a report backed by the United Nations found last fall that the vast majority of the world’s reefs could disappear if warming exceeds two degrees Celsius.

Still, Hughes said scientists shouldn’t assume that future bleaching events will affect the reef in quite the same way as past ones have. Recent research has found that corals that survived the 2016 bleaching were more resistant to a recurrence of the hot ocean conditions a year later. So there is hope that corals will adapt, even as world leaders try to keep global warming to no more than 1.5 degrees Celsius below preindustrial levels.

“I don’t think we’re going to lose coral reefs at 1.5 or even two degrees [Celsius], but we are certainly already changing the nature of reefs. That change is already underway,” Hughes said.

And there’s little doubt what is fueling the shift.

“We’ve always anticipated that climate change could affect reefs,” he said. But “it’s not something that might happen in the future. It’s unfolding right now.”

[As of noon 5 April 2019, there were 180 comments on this article, in its on-line version at the URL above.]

From the St. Thomas Source <https://stthomassource.com/content/2019/03/29/bridge-to-nowhere-illustrates-v-i-s-poor-construction-management/>

[I’m surprised that it’s only been 21 years in the works — I thought this project had been proposed back in the early 1980’s. The other notable fact about this particular site is that it is (or was) the only freshwater marsh in St. Thomas. The extent of the marsh was either 0.7 of an acre, or 0.7 of a hectare, and it was just downstream from the Turpentine Run bridge. As I recall, a study was done by a researcher working for Island Resources Foundation in the early 1970’s — when the kennels and horse stables were established in the area later there was a concern that stream channelization and pollution from the facilities had destroyed the marsh. bp]

‘Bridge to Nowhere’ Illustrates V.I.’s Poor Construction Management

By
Dave MacVean –

March 29, 2019

The Turpentine Run project is still a far cry from the architectural rendering.The architectural drawing for the Turpentine Run project.

The Turpentine Run construction project on St. Thomas stands as a prime example of poor construction management in the U.S. Territory. After 21 years, the joint efforts of the V.I. government and the U.S. Department of Transportation have failed to complete the project.

In 1997, the V.I. and U.S. governments agreed to fund construction of a bridge over a stream that is prone to catastrophic flooding.

Costing more than $28 million to date, Turpentine Run was 87 percent complete as of Jan. 31, the U.S. Department of Transportation reported. The official date of completion is two months away, on May 31.

The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers will host a public meeting for the Turpentine Run project From 5 to 7 p.m. Wednesday, April 3, at Bertha C. Boschulte Middle School Auditorium. Public Works Commissioner Nelson Petty Jr. will attend.

The architectural rendering of Turpentine Run still looks a far cry from the construction zone that remains today.

On Oct 9, 2018, former Gov. Kenneth Mapp declared it the “Bridge to Somewhere,” and opened the bridge to traffic with a ribbon cutting ceremony.

Although the new bridge was passable on that date, there were no traffic signals and contractors provided a makeshift “round about,” which was nothing more than an asphalt hump. Many drivers ignored the hump and drove directly over it, then navigated the open trenches that remained all around the project.

As of today, the hump and open trenches remain, and there are no working traffic lights.

Still pending is a final inspection by the project manager, Federal Highway Administration, the owners (the V.I. Department of Public Works), and contractor Island Roads Corporation according to Jose David, the Department of Transportation manager assigned to Turpentine Run.

Repeated emails to the V.I. government, beginning on Nov. 13, 2018, asked for detailed financial statements on Turpentine Run or “any completed road project.” There was no reply. After the arrival of Gov. Albert Bryan’s administration in January 2019, emails were sent to VITEMA, DPW, and the Governors Office, again with no response.

On Jan. 11, the Source submitted a Freedom of Information Act request to the Federal Highway Administration asking for detailed financial statements for all road projects on the USVI, specifically Turpentine Run. The Department of Transportation produced documents on March 9 showing verification of funds delivered to the V.I. government totaling $17 million from 2013 to 2017 for the project.

But similar to research into the V.I government, where detailed financial statements are difficult to obtain, the U.S. Department of Transportation took two months to produce six, single page, financial reports. The reports only have major line items, like “Veterans Way, $43 million,” but scant details.

The cover letter from the DOT said, “Certain documents have been withheld which protects attorney-client and other pre-decisional intra-government communication.”

Complicating construction was the need to purchase private property through eminent domain, as well as environmental contamination from an Esso gas station on site. The project was abandoned in 1998, the half-span of the bridge eventually overgrown by vines.

In 2012, when $12 million was budgeted for the project, Wystan Benjamin, who at the time was federal aid program manager at the Department of Public Works, said, “I’m not sure how long it will take to build it but 18 months at least,” he said.

“The bridge was built first to allow for the gut to be moved away from the homes,” according to Benjamin.

In September 2016, Island Roads was awarded a contract for $9.5 million to finish the 0.34 mile project.

Charles Electrical Services, LLC, was awarded a $220,000 contract in September 2017 for traffic signals and lighting.

The Department of Transportation’s Fiscal Year 2017 budget listed $4 million spent on the Turpentine Run Bridge, with $11 million available.

One professional working in road construction on St. Thomas, who requested anonymity, said there are questionable consultant contracts awarded, and projects show a lack of construction management, skilled labor, and financial control. Yet he went on to say, “Its working better than you think.”

The 2019 V.I. Government Budget lists $61 million in road construction projects, with the largest being $12 million for Main Street enhancements.

The $43 million Veterans Drive project has spent $13 million as of January, according to the DOT, and is reported to be 31 percent completed.

FEMA was contacted about its role in road construction in the USVI since the hurricanes of 2017. Their role is limited to non-federal, local roads. Some work can be done not related to storm damage.

On the home repair program they have obligated more than $222 million for example, sheltering and essential power. There have been repairs to more than 7,000 homes, he said.

FEMA media relations specialist Eric Adams said they don’t do projects.

“The territory drives, plans and administers projects on roads and public buildings. FEMA’s role is to support the territory with technical assistance and funding. FEMA obligates funding, the local government administers projects,” Adams said.

For example, FEMA obligated funds for tsunami sirens, then VITEMA has the plans to get the work done, he said.

FEMA provides funding to VITEMA, which provides it to individual agencies like the Housing Finance Authority or Water and Power Authority or Department of Education. They then hire contractors like AECOM or APTIM, which hire subcontractors, who have subcontractors who have subcontractors, on down to the people actually swinging hammers or laying asphalt. The federal government will ultimately closeout the projects and determine if the work was done properly and decide whether to release the funds, Adams said. Meanwhile, the local government agencies would have any detailed financial statements.

This convoluted process may preserve accountability at the federal level but leaves room for smaller contractors to have employees who wait to get paid while the process unfolds.

The V.I. government official website reports $1.6 billion in FEMA Hurricane Recovery Funds.

The most recent financial statement on the VITEMA website is from 2014.

Jose David of the Department of Transportation replied to our emails on March 25. He referred additional questions to DOT Public Relations, which was the same möbius loop that led to the Source filing the January 2019 Freedom of Information Act request.

Editor’s Note: This has been updated to clarify FEMA’s role in the funding process.