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Home Prices Are Climbing at the Fastest Pace Since March 2006
by Mamta Badkar Nationwide home prices including distressed sales were up 10.5% year-over-year in March, according to CoreLogic’s latest home price report. On a monthly basis home prices were up 1.9%. This was the thirteenth straight monthly rise, and the fastest pace of increase since March 2006. Ex-distressed sales, home prices were up 10.7% year-over-year Read more
San Francisco Building Boom Brings Change
By Carolyn Said, San Francisco Chronicle April 29, 2013 A chorus line of more than two dozen skeletal construction cranes looms over San Francisco’s skyline. A stroll down Market Street – or sections of Mission or Octavia or many other major thoroughfares – is punctuated by the clatter of pile drivers and jackhammers. Around the Read more
Stone, the Original Green Building Material
From Building Green http://www.buildinggreen.com/auth/article.cfm/2013/3/29/Stone-The-Original-Green-Building-Material/ Stone was one of our first building materials. It has been used to construct everything from humble dwellings to our most iconic structures. As a building material, stone requires virtually no manufacturing and is so durable that stone structures built thousands of years ago are still used today—characteristics few contemporary “green” Read more
Salinas Update: Building, Farming Lead Positive Job Trends
This from D.L. Taylor of the Salinas Californian, , March 29, 2013 Jobless numbers for both Salinas and Monterey County continued to decline during February, according to data released Friday by the state Employment Development Department. It marks the second straight month the local economy has seen jumps in the number of employed residents. The unemployment Read more
Construction Coming Back to Life
On the front page of Sunday’s San Francisco Chronicle, writer Carolyn Said heralds a rebound in San Francsico’s construction job market. The housing downturn and recession clobbered the construction industry, wiping out 2.2 million jobs nationwide and about 380,000 in California. But now, those jobs are coming back — and the Bay Area with its Read more
Salinas Unveils New Economic Development Plan
From the March 29 issue of the Monterey County Business Council ‘”Friday Facts”: The city of Salinas (BCM) this week unveiled a new strategy to entice new companies, expand existing companies and grow local startups with the hope of bringing badly needed jobs to the Salinas Valley. Components of the economic development strategy include a Read more
Workers Saving Too Little to Retire
This from the Tuesday, March 19 issue of the Wall Street Journal: Workers and employers in the U.S. are bracing for a retirement crisis, even as the stock market sits near highs and the economy shows signs of improvement. New data show that powerful financial and demographic forces are combining to squeeze individuals and companies Read more
Rail Transportation – Protecting Our Environment Now and for the Future
Trains are one of the nation’s most environmentally friendly modes of moving freight, generating a carbon footprint that is 75 percent less than trucks. In recent decades, the railroad industry has developed new “green” technologies and environmentally responsible operating practices which have led to improved fuel efficiency. Since 1980, railroad fuel efficiency has increased 99 Read more
Carbon Tax Would Wallop Our Economy
Posted this week by Manufacturers.net: WASHINGTON — Today, the National Association of Manufacturers (NAM) released a study conducted by NERA Economic Consulting that shows a carbon tax would have a devastating impact on manufacturing and jobs. The report, titled Economic Outcomes of a U.S. Carbon Tax, found that levying such a tax would impact millions Read more
Hearing Highlights Federal Role in Infrastructure and Economic Importance of Transportation System
On Febraury 13, 2013, the House Committee on Transportation and Infrastructure began hearings. For more please go to http://transportation.house.gov/press-release/hearing-highlights-federal-role-infrastructure-and-economic-importance-transportation Washington, DC – The Committee on Transportation and Infrastructure held its first hearing of the 113th Congress today focusing on the importance of infrastructure to the U.S. economy and examining the role played by the Federal Read more
