Friday, March 5, 2010

Almanacs “White gold for local snow removers - Reporter” plus 3 more

Almanacs - Bing News

Almanacs “White gold for local snow removers - Reporter” plus 3 more

Five Filters featured article: Chilcot Inquiry. Available tools: PDF Newspaper, Full Text RSS, Term Extraction.

Five Filters featured article: Chilcot Inquiry. Available tools: PDF Newspaper, Full Text RSS, Term Extraction.

White gold for local snow removers - Reporter

Posted: 05 Mar 2010 03:14 AM PST

By TONY Di DOMIZIO

Click to enlarge

GEOFF PATTON/THE REPORTER Contractors clear snow from the parking lot at the Meadowbrook Plaza shopping center in Lower Salford last week.

The ones who think all the snowfall is great — aside from schoolchildren and avid skiers — are the ones who get paid to remove it.

"It is definitely a benefit to us," said Mike Romano, branch manager of ValleyCrest Landscape Companies in Norristown. "We try not to budget too much (for snow removal), and you can't count on it. When it does come, it is a bonus."

This time of year, the 100-plus laborers, 25 loaders and 30-plus plows are generally doing nothing, save some tree work here and there, he said.

"Snow removal does help our bottom line," Romano said. "With customers holding back so much this year with the economy, it definitely helped us out."

The extra revenue stream is one that the company does not usually get on the maintenance end for extra work, he said.

"Revenue was down this year," he said. "It won't affect us at all moving forward. We look at it as a bonus."

ValleyCrest plows the parking lot and

shovels the walkways at Montgomery Mall.

Romano said the company bills at an hourly rate for the equipment. Some customers are billed for a set amount of inches of snow at the beginning of the year, while others opt for a seasonal billing.

"It helps them fix their budget for the year," he said.

Each retail tenant in the mall pays a monthly fee that covers all maintenance costs.

"Collectively, they pay into that and it's typically on a square footage rate," said Kirsten Boettcher, marketing manager for Montgomery Mall. "The maintenance fee covers snow removal, as well as other landscaping outside the mall and maintenance inside the mall."

In Lansdale Borough, retail tenants at The Pavilion on South Broad Street pay for snow removal as part of the contracted common area maintenance through the property owner, JGKM Associates LLC of Philadelphia.

The Pavilion runs from Abington Bank/Saxby's Coffee to Total Body Fitness.

"Every month, we pay for outside lighting, grass cutting and general maintenance," said Brett Hendricks, owner of Pedaller Bike Shop, located in The Pavilion. "We pay about $320 per month, and that covers insurance, taxes and snow removal."

Hendricks said the contracted snow removal company, which is EMC2 Landscape Services, did a good job this past snowstorm.

The rate, he said, has gone up since JGKM Associates took over.

"There will be an increase to offset the extra cost of snow removal," said property owner Joe Grasso, a Philadelphia developer and owner of the partnership JGKM Associates. "I'm sure they are all anticipating it. The snow is only good for plowers; it's not good for business owners. It's horrible and very costly. Nobody does well in snow business."

The common area maintenance, he said, is split up among all tenants in the space by square footage and all pay a proportionate share of the cost.

"This year, tenants will have a big increase because of the cost of snow removal," Grasso said.

The fee covers sprinkler certifications, lighting, electric, sweeping of the lots, trash removal and electric, he said. If someone needs to unclog a drain on the roof, the fee covers that.

"The fee is something created on a yearly basis by actual costs," Grasso said. "All costs to operate that shopping center are part of the CAM charge."

Snow removal, he said, is the most expensive, next to taxes.

"The biggest problem in the shopping center in Lansdale is with multiple snows, there's no place to put the snow," Grasso said. "They had to truck it out and that gets very expensive."

A representative of Spring Hill Realty Inc., of Harleysville, said some tenants at Shelly Square Shopping Center in Upper Salford have triple net leases, where they pay a partial of the common area maintenance.

"They pay an estimated CAM every month with rent. At the end of the year, there's a CAM reconciliation," the representative said. "If they owe more, we give them a bill. Sometimes we credit back."

On a gross lease, she said, tenants pay a little bit higher fee for maintenance. The CAM price is based on square footage, she said.

In Hatfield Borough, prior to the completion of the public parking lot that spans The Trolley Stop and the strip mall next to it, the business owners of the four properties were set to come together and find a snow removal contractor to plow the lot.

Trolley Stop owner Scott Shull took it upon himself to clear the lot.

"I'm doing it, and I'm charging the other businesses accordingly," he said. "I give them a break and it gives us all a break on the price. It's expensive to remove snow anymore today."

By not paying another party to clear the lot, it has saved money, he said.

Shull often uses a snowblower for the sidewalks, and sometimes revs up a four-wheeler with a snowplow on the front of it.

"It works pretty good. Less strain on the back," he said.

He said the borough opted out of plowing the lot, as its main focus was the roadways. Business begins at 5 a.m. for Shull, he said, and they wanted it plowed before then.

Shull hoped all the talk of 40 inches of snow coming soon was just a rumor.

"That Farmer's Almanac stuff, it's never right," he said.

No matter what Old Man Winter throws at us, it doesn't stop landscapers from planning for the spring.

"As long as we can keep snow out of the beds, we should be landscaping in the next couple weeks," Romano said.

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Oops! Forecaster admits he's wrong - Allentown Morning Call

Posted: 05 Mar 2010 12:51 AM PST

Remember that Berks County weather-watcher who predicted we'd get walloped with 40 or so inches of snow this weekend? The guy who garnered rabid media attention and had everyone in a tizzy about another impending Snowpocalypse?

Anyway, he's now willing to admit that, well ... oops.

Lester Moyer, the amateur forecaster and almanac-writer from Exeter Township who's accurately predicted several major storms, said he's no longer expecting any kind of historic weather Sunday.

''What I saw was a potential'' for a major storm, he said Thursday. ''But now that potential is going away.''

The affable retired hog farmer, who's delighted dozens of friends and family members over the years with his annual Moyer's Almanac, said he didn't do a good enough job stressing that he only saw the ''potential'' for a major storm -- and that such factors as temperature and the amount of moisture in the air would have to develop in certain ways for it to materialize.

He also said reporters were too eager to build up the story.

''The news media, they took it and ran with it,'' he said.

Indeed, Moyer's prediction was much buzzed about by newspapers and television reporters in the Lehigh Valley, Philadelphia and Lancaster regions.

It spread out of state, too. Moyer said he got a call this week from a reporter in Virginia asking how the storm he thought might develop would affect her state.

Interest in his almanac has also spiked -- Moyer said people from as far away as Florida have requested it.

''It's spread all over the East Coast,'' he said.

Moyer said he's sorry if his earlier prediction upset anyone, but stressed that his forecasting is mostly just a form of personal recreation.

He eschews the computer-aided form of modern broadcasting, instead relying on factors such as the moon's cycle to help predict what the weather will do.

''This is not an exact science what I do.Â…It's a hobby of mine, and I want to really emphasize on this fact, and you can put it out to the people: I have a passion for keeping the early settlers' pioneer lifestyle alive, the folklore and the weather lore.

''This is a hobby. It's what I do. I don't do it for business.''

For the record, the National Weather Service's forecast for the Lehigh Valley this weekend includes mostly clear skies and moderate winds, with temperatures nearing 50 degrees on Sunday.

brian.callaway@mcall.com

610-820-6168

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My View: Our so-called lives -- Is techno-chatter replacing ... - The Almanac Online

Posted: 05 Mar 2010 12:51 AM PST

About the author: Samantha Bergeson of Portola Valley is a freshman at Menlo School in Atherton.

By Samantha Bergeson

It is said that life is what happens when we are too busy texting friends, e-mailing clients, and arranging birthday parties — or something of the sort.

High school itself seems to be lost in such a country.

Data from Nielsen Co. surveys shows that the average teenager types more than 80 text messages a day. How many moments of living are we missing?

In this technological age, life is not fully being experienced, and is instead replaced with abbreviations of emotions, a "LOL" instead of hearing someone laugh. Classmates now meet first on Facebook, the magic of introductions lost. Our lives are being consumed by the loss of instant moments, of true personal connections and simple communication.

Such a lack of contact between people is diminishing relationships, particularly among the young. Many of today's youth do not recall a time without a small, handheld cell phone.

According to the New York Times, texting, Twittering, and other "social media" threaten to affect how youth comprehend academic material. Research has shown that a student's relationships affect academic and social performance. A classroom filled with students sneaking text and Facebook checks may seriously detract from an individual's success in education.

Words themselves have become melded into easier, quicker ways to communicate. Texts barely contain vowels, with strings of sentences overlapping to make an obscure form of sense.

How can such simple letters replace a hug to a friend in need? Perhaps some view these new forms of technology as safer, more distanced. To some, it is easier to write than talk, hiding behind computers to find the comfort they need.

Yet emotions can get lost in translation, a typed smiley face viewed not as a welcoming, friendly approach but instead shown as sarcastic and mocking.

A romantic white orchid is now replaced with an "i luv u" text message, a birthday card with an e-mail from a singing pet.

No, these are not the courting days of Jane Austen's Darcy, nor even of Bridget Jones. Today, we show feelings, whether angry or kind, loving or worried, through abbreviated texts and instant messages.

How long will this anti-relationship frenzy last among high school students? If this isolation continues, how will our society change? What will the new definition of living be?

Project offers finance option for green homes - The Almanac Online

Posted: 05 Mar 2010 12:36 AM PST

An invitation for financing help from the state government will be coming soon to local property owners who want to improve energy efficiency, and eventually water efficiency, at their homes and businesses.

CaliforniaFIRST, a pilot program, will give property owners access to financing from bonds issued by the state on behalf of 14 counties.

The counties, including San Mateo County, pooled $16.5 million in federal stimulus funds and engaged Oakland-based Renewable Funding Corp. to get the program up and running, Woodside Assistant Town Manager Kevin Bryant said in an interview.

It has been well received. The Woodside and Portola Valley councils recently approved resolutions affirming their participation, as have councils in Menlo Park, Atherton and most other cities and towns in San Mateo County, Mr. Bryant said.

Starting sometime this summer, residents in participating cities and towns can apply for financing of $5,000 to $75,000. Commercial maximums will be based on property value.

The pilot program includes Bay Area counties Alameda, Santa Clara, Santa Cruz and Solano counties. Later on, any California city or county can participate. Go to this link for more information.

Under the plan, the state and a property owner enter into a contract for the financing, with an obligation levied against the property tax bill, Mr. Bryant said. Repayments will be tax-exempt and spread over 5 to 20 years, and the obligation transfers with the sale of the property, he said.

The municipal-bond-like treatment lowers overall costs and "should really decrease initial capital costs," Mr. Bryant said.

An arm of the California Statewide Communities Development Authority is partnering with the Royal Bank of Canada to administer the program, leaving cities and towns the happy task of simply offering greener lifestyles to property owners.

"Sounds like there's no down side," Woodside Mayor Dave Burow said, after hearing Mr. Bryant's presentation.

This program is appealing, Portola Valley Councilwoman Ann Wengert said in an interview, because it allows homeowners to improve their homes without worrying about a large upfront cost working against the possibility of moving to a new home.

"That's a huge positive," she said.

The Portola Valley council had heard from town Sustainability Coordinator Brandi de Garmeaux and two representatives from the county on Feb. 24. The response was enthusiastic.

"This is a marvelous example of inter-government cooperation," Mayor Steve Toben said. "I'm very excited."

So was Councilwoman Maryann Moise Derwin. "I'm so excited I'm almost jumping out of my pants," she said, to the amusement of all. "I have tights on," she quickly added. "They are hard to jump out of."

Councilman Ted Driscoll, one of many residents who have improved the efficiency of their homes well before this program came on the horizon, asked the county officials if reimbursement was a possibility under this program. They will look into it, they said.
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