Category: Construction

Scafflaws: Part 2, everybody knew the cameras were there

24 April, 2013 (09:00) | Affordability, building, Cities, Construction, Development, laws, New York City, safety, structures, Supply side, Zoning | No comments

[Continued from yesterday's Part 1.]   By:David A. Smith   How safe, whose responsibility, and at what price?   Yesterday’s post,, based on an article from Crains New York (March 12, 2013),  explored a little-known but large cost of construction in New York properties – the judicial standard of absolute liability that has the effect [...]

Scafflaws: Part 1, seven-figure settlements

23 April, 2013 (09:00) | Affordability, building, Cities, Construction, Development, laws, New York City, safety, structures, Supply side, Zoning | No comments

By:David A. Smith   Lunch atop a skyscraper: workers on the Empire State Building construction (The photo was staged, but it’s still a killer image.)   Though goodness knows I shouldn’t be, I am constantly surprised by the shortsightedness of those who defend anachronistic laws that nevertheless benefit them, and even more surprised by the [...]

The bio-thermostat override

5 October, 2012 (09:16) | air conditioners, Boston, Construction, Energy, Means testing, Property management, Public housing, Rental, tenants, utility allowances, Windows | 2 comments

By:David A. Smith   The weakest part of an automobile, my father used to tell me, was the nut behind the wheel.  It thinks it has free will, he might have added, and even if it didn’t have free will, it can certainly make noise, as we discovered a few months back with this ain’t-it-a-scandal [...]

The genius of small and self-helped

29 March, 2012 (10:12) | Communities, Construction, Hawaii, Homeownership, Innovations, Rural Development, Section 502, US News |

By:David A. Smith   On vacation on Hawaii’s Big Island, the Boss and I were passing through Hawi, about as remote as one can get in the Big Island (except the hostile hippie haven of Puna), and as we drive through the one-street one-light town I rubbernecked at what was obviously an affordable housing development [...]

Can you say ‘Pruitt-Igoe’ in Chinese? Part 2, why they’re doing it wrong

10 January, 2012 (10:37) | China, Construction, Economics, Global news, Housing, Pruitt-Igoe, Public housing, Recession, Urbanization |

[Continued from yesterday's Part 1.]   By:David A. Smith   Judging from a recent Wall Street Journal (December 31, 2011) article, China’s political leadership has turned to affordable housing production as the cure for what may ail its stalling economy:   Two women examining unfinished high-rises, Chongqing   The slowdown in China’s growth is becoming [...]