September 2-8, 2002

IT'S OFF AND MAYBE RUNNING
Despite the failure of Livonia's Labrook DRC in 1998, a developer and operator of thoroughbred house racing tracks is eyeing the metropolitan Detroit area for a new facility. Magna Entertainment Corp., through its subsidiary, Michigan Racing, has announced a proposal to build a $200 million facility on a 220 acre site. It's located just north of I-94 between Vining and Merriman roads in Romulus, almost a stone's throw from the Detroit Metropolitan Wayne County Airport. A design consultant for the proposal was not announced but in its Aug. 29 edition the Detroit News published a sketch its club house and the track's overall layout. Included will be a 1-1/4 mi. long thoroughbred dirt track, a one mile turf track, and a harness track approximately seven-eights of a mile in length. Assuming a long process of viability studies and approvals is successful, Magna figures it could have it operational in 2004. Not to be included - at least at this stage - are slot machines. The lack of these electro-mechanical bandits, coupled with competition for gamblers by the four casinos in and adjacent to southeastern Michigan, has been cited as a significant reason for Ladbrook DRC's demise. Still Magna, which owns a wide variety of race tracks across the U.S. (including Pimlico, home of the Preakness, in Maryland), is arguably the best of its breed. Some say the company's idea of locating a modern track so close to the airport will enable it to fly in the world's top thoroughbred horses for races that'll turn international heads. If Magna can add the slot machines and bring in a fine restaurant or two, it'll certainly be hard to drag my equestrian wife away from it. So you say go with Glue Factory in the fourth? A sure thing? Really?

TRACKING DOWN CORRUPTION
Federal investigators have been making things pretty hot at the Washington, D.C., offices of the International Association of Bridge, Structural, Ornamental, and Reinforcing Iron Workers. I wish was all about glowing rivets and bucking up against columns. Alas, this time its about the heat being turned against several iron worker officials. On Aug. 22, Frank J. Massey, a partner in the accounting firm of Thomas Harvey Co., pled guilty to hiding $1.5 million in entertainment and dining expenses for the iron workers on annual U.S. Labor Dept. disclosure forms. He also agreed to cooperate with the government's criminal investigation of alleged embezzlement and fraud at the union. You may recall former iron worker President Jake West was charged last year with embezzling more than $50,000 from his union. On Aug. 7 another indictment was handed down against Mr. West as well as LeRoy Worley, his former general secretary. Reportedly they've been charged with more than $200,000 in addition embezzlement, in an arrangement linked to an effort made by Mr. West to encourage Mr. Worley to not oppose his re-election bid. Mr. West's trial is scheduled for Oct. 2. His lawyers claim he is in declining health and physically incapable of participating. Our friends in Washington say the investigation of the iron workers is only one of many probes of unions now underway. We should expect it all to take years to finish and that the presidents of many construction unions may have to face the challenge of touching the Bible and raising their right hand.

RALLYING UP THE VOTES
The Clean Water Committee's campaign for a $1 billion bonding proposal for improved wastewater and storm water efforts in Michigan is underway, aimed at voter approval in November. The committee is a coalition of environmental groups, businesses, and government officials. They unleashed their vocal firepower on Aug. 29 at press conferences held in Grand Rapids, Flint, and Harrison Township. Committee members emphasized current funding levels are inadequate for the job. Billions of gallons of untreated wastewater are still ending up in our state's rivers and lakes because treatment systems are worn out, undersized, or in some cases, absent. "Whether you care about the environment, a strong economy, or public health, there can not be a more pressing issue involving all three than the condition of our aging sewer systems," said State Sen. Ken Sikkema (R-Grandville), the committee's chairman. "If we don't change something now, we will only wind up paying a greater cost later - not just for cleanup but also in terms of the cost to our way of life." Currently financing for the majority of Michigan's clean water construction programs is arranged through borrowing from the State Revolving Fund (SRF). The fund was started with a federal grant and is matched with state funds provided through the sale of bonds. Money from the SRF backs low interest loans made to local governments for repairs. As the municipalities pay them back, the SRF is able to again lend the money out to others. Unfortunately, today's SRF doesn't have enough money to meet the state's pressing needs. While it is able to annually lend about $200 million to Michigan cities, they typically request around $400 million, and that demand is expected to increase to $500 million a year. If the $1 billion bonding proposal is passed, it will approximately double the SRF's annual lending capacity. "We know the problem and we have the solution," said Lana Pollack, president of the Michigan Environmental Council. "By approving the Clean Water Bond Proposal, we can pump $1 billion into local infrastructures and make a decisive impact on the quality of our water."

THE LAST WORD
On Aug. 28 Edward C. Sullivan, president of the Building & Construction Trades Dept., AFL-CIO, announced that an appeal will be made to the U.S. Supreme Court to block implementation of President Bush's executive order against project labor agreements (PLAs). The order was issued in February 2000 and was initially struck down by the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia. However that ruling was recently overturned by the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit. Unions contend the executive order violates long standing federal laws protecting workers' rights. PLAs have been successfully used on hundreds of projects in both the public and private sectors for over 50 years. "We are taking this case to the highest court in the land because we will not stand by and watch the National Labor Relations Act - which gives rights to both workers and employers - be disassembled by executive order," Mr. Sullivan said. "It is a misuse of Presidential power to restrict the use of federal funds allocated by the Congress, with total disregard for the impact such restrictions will have on labor laws that have stood over six decades." In the original suit challenging the executive order, the BCTD was joined by the city of Richmond, Calif.; the states of California, Maryland, Massachusetts, New Jersey, and New York; and the Sierra Club. The New York State Thruway Authority and several national contractor associations also filed briefs supporting the BCTD's position. "The executive order is a back door attempt to undermine the rights of millions of taxpaying construction craftspeople across this nation," Mr. Sullivan said. "President Bush and the Court of Appeals are just plain wrong about the executive order and we will bring this case and our cause to the Supreme Court to obtain the justice our hard working members so richly deserve."

JOURNEY TO SINAI
Plans calling for the relocation of Renaissance High School were disclosed Aug. 29 during a press conference conducted by Detroit Public Schools. Officials said a three story building to house 1,200 students would be built as part of a four building education campus to rise on ground formerly occupied by Sinai Hospital, at Outer Drive and Hubbell in northwest Detroit. Accommodated on the building's first floor will be an additional 330 students with disabilities. The new high school is to open in the fall of 2005. It will include a three story gymnasium with seating for 2,000; an indoor pool; and an auditorium that seats 600. Outside will be a football field, a 400 meter track, softball diamonds, and a soccer field. A site plan prepared by Gunn Levin & Associates, Detroit, shows the new high school directly east of the existing A. Randolph Career & Technical Center. The present Renaissance High School is located immediately north of Randolph. Plans call for it to be renovated and turned into the Foreign Language Immersion & Cultural Studies school. The total project cost for all this work has been pegged at approximately $110 million. Demolition of Sinai Hospital is already underway and is expected to be finished sometime next month.

ITEC NO MORE
Nucor Corp. reported on Aug. 26 that it was changing the name of its wholly owned subsidiary, ITEC Steel Inc. From now on it will be called the Nucor Steel Commercial Corporation. The subsidiary specializes in load bearing light gauge steel framing systems used in the commercial and residential construction markets. Its production facilities are located in Texas and Georgia. With operating facilities in ten states, Nucor bills itself as the largest recycler of steel in the U.S. It produces carbon and alloy steel in bars, beams, sheet, and plate; steel joists and joist girders; steel deck; cold finished steel; steel fasteners; metal building systems; and light gauge steel framing.

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!