August 23-30, 2002

RIVERTOWN REBORN?
With decisions made on the locations for the permanent facilities for Detroit's three casinos, the city has turned its attention to their former, combined, and now abandoned, riverfront site. Known as Rivertown, it had served as home to a variety of warehouses and small manufacturing shops. During the 1970s and 1980s it underwent a small revival with an infusion of popular restaurants and bars. But that came to a stop in 1998 when then Mayor Dennis Archer disclosed a plan to purchase property in Rivertown for the casinos. Last week it was announced by Mayor Kewame Kilpatrick's administration that a "design firm" had been hired to develop plans for the redevelopment of Rivertown. The name of the design firm purposefully was not disclosed, but the mayor's office and the Detroit Economic Growth Corp. has been negotiating with General Motors Corp. to acquire 25 acres east of the Renaissance Center. Presumably it will be used in combination with land currently occupied by three concrete plants and their silos. When and if the city can complete negotiations to buy the plants, they are to be leveled to create more riverfront parkland. There's still a lot of secrecy being maintained about these developments - a fact I find rather disturbing - but considering the many years of controversy that have enveloped Rivertown, for now it may indeed be too early to go public with every spicy detail.

THE TAX MAN DELAYED?
In the August 9th edition of this column, you'll recall an item on an IRS proposal to impose excise and fuel taxes on off-road equipment used in construction. Since this news hit the streets the agency has received numerous complaints and requests for a delay to its September 4th deadline for comments. One fine fellow who told the IRS what he thinks was U.S. Sen. Kit Bond (R-Mo.), who sent in a letter also asking for more time. As this was being written my friends in Washington were saying a strong rumor about a 90 day extension for comments being granted by the IRS was dancing about. Let's hope it's true. Again, here are the details: You can access a copy of exactly what the IRS initially proposed for off-road equipment at www.irs.gov/pub/irs-regs/10382999.pdf. I suggest you download the June 6 notice, study it, and send your comments through the IRS web site at www.irs.gov.regs. They can also be mailed to CC:ITA:RU (REG-103829-99), Courier's Desk, Internal Revenue Service, 1111 Constitution Ave. NW, Washington, D.C. Be sure to send copies to your Congressional representative and Michigan's two senators. Information concerning the submission of comments can be obtained by calling Treena Garrett at 202/622-7180. Questions about the proposed regulations can be directed to Bernard H. Weberman at 202/622-3130.

ROLLING ALONG
You've read it here and probably in a number of southeast Michigan publications about a proposal to convert the old railroad tunnel under the Detroit River to accept truck traffic between the Motor City and Windsor, Ont. Before the conversion would take place, however, a new tunnel to convey modern railroad traffic between the U.S. and Canada would be built adjacent to the old one. Those plans, developed by the Detroit River Tunnel Partnership, located in Detroit and Montreal, appear to be still quite viable. Michael J. Sheahan is the partnership's general manager. He says the project should proceed to enable southeastern Michigan to accommodate future growth. While train travel through the old tunnel has been increasing from 4-6% annually over the last two years, from 1995 to 2000 it doubled. In 2001 some 400,000 railroad cars were pulled through. The new tunnel and the conversion of the old facility could be accomplished by 2007 at an estimated cost of $400 million, assuming approvals are made by the U.S. and Canadian governments in a timely manner. The tunnel partnership is a joint venture between Canadian Pacific Railway and the Borealis Trust.

ALLOWABLE STRESSES
The American Institute of Steel Construction has published its first supplement to its Specification for Structural Steel Buildings, Allowable Stress Design (ASD) and Plastic Design. The original document was released June 1, 1989, and the supplement was approved on Dec. 17, 2001. Some of its revisions include updated code and specifications, the inclusion of new materials such as ASTM A913 and A992, new filler metal toughness and shape material toughness criteria for certain conditions, and reduced wall thickness for hollow structural sections produced by the electric-resistance welding method. The limited nature of the supplement anticipates the AISC's integration of ASD with LRDF criteria into a single specification in 2005. The new ASD Supplement No. 1 can be received as a free Adobe Acrobat document accessible at www.asic.org/freedownloads. Or you can buy a printed version at a cost of $15 ($10 for AISC members) by calling 800/644-2400.

PLAY FAIR WITH UNCLE SAM
There's a bill active in the U.S. House of Representatives to enhance the federal government's ability to detect and debar contractors that have repeatedly broken the law or engaged in unethical conduct. HR 5292, the "Contractor Accountability Act," calls for the General Services Administration to set up a central database using material drawn from agencies and departments across the government on judicial actions, consent decrees, terminations, administrative agreements, and related decisions and settlements regarding contractors. In addition, if a contractor has been convicted of two exact or similar violations of laws or regulations, the bill would place the burden of proving responsibility and eligibility for government contracts or assistance on the contractor. Recently the Project on Government Oversight (POGO), a watchdog group, issued a study that observed that many of the U.S. government's largest contractors had either repeatedly broken federal law or engaged in unethical practices. However, POGO charged, they'd never been even temporarily suspended, much less debarred, from receiving additional federal contracts. Working from just an announcement of the POGO report and not having reviewed the entire document, I presume the group looked at a representative sampling of all federal contracts from all fields, including defense and social services, and didn't limit its focus to construction contracting. Even so, the organization's conclusions, as well as HR 5292, are worthy of serious contemplation.

MANITOWOC ABSORBS GROVE
On Aug. 12 the Manitowoc Co. announced it had finished its acquisition of Grove. The $271 million purchase was funded by a combination of cash to be paid at a later date, a private offering of $175 million of 10-1/2% senior subordinated notes due 2012, and Manitowoc stock. "We're pleased to officially welcome Grove to the Manitowoc family," said Terry Growcock, Manitowoc's president and chief executive officer. "It confirms our position as the world's leading provider of lifting equipment for the construction industry and allows us to provide equipment and lifting solutions for virtually any construction application." Grove will be adding its line of mobile hydraulic cranes, truck mounted cranes, and boom trucks to Manitowoc's line of lattice-boom crawler cranes and tower cranes.

PORTABLE FALL ARRESTING
The Vacuum Anchor System, available from DBI/SALA, is intended for situations where even temporary fall arrest anchoring systems would be too costly or impractical to install. It's to be used where there is a clean, non-porous surface. A single phase, 115 volt vacuum pump works with a specially designed pad, with the pump anchoring the pad into place with "no damage to the surface or structure," according to the company. The system features audio and visual alarms to let users know when the system is safe to hook-off to. Included is a DBI/SALA Force2 lanyard with a D-ring connection to the vacuum unit, a Hi-Vis work vest or ExoFit harness, and a cart or pelican case for the transportation and storage of the system. More information can be had by visiting www.salagroup.com or by call 800/328-6146.

Questions? Comments? Idea?
Please submit your responses to the Great Lakes Fabricators & Erectors Association as soon as possible. You can call our new offices in downtown Detroit at 313/309-2000. Or you can drop an email to Guy Snyder at guysny@concentric.net or call him at 313/961-9217. We hope to hear from you soon!