Latest news with #BUILD
Yahoo
14-06-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
'Three-year journey': Train station back on track as BUILD projects advance
JOHNSTOWN, Pa. – Heritage Johnstown has finally outlined a plan for using the more than $11 million it was awarded in U.S. Department of Transportation Rebuilding American Infrastructure with Sustainability and Equity grant money to refurbish the Johnstown Train Station. The goal is to restore the structure, located at 47 Walnut St. downtown, to its original 1916 appearance while adhering to modern Americans with Disabilities Act and environmental standards. Dan Solomon, chairman of Heritage Johnstown, said the final idea was developed after meeting with Jennie Louwerse, the transportation business line leader for WSP, an engineering firm brought on by the Pennsylvania Department of Transportation to help with the project. Together, the organizations 'simplified the scope,' according to Solomon. Environmental engineering still needs to be done. But afterward, Phase One will consist of fully restoring the grand concourse and ticket office section, completing exterior restoration and ensuring structural stability for the second floor and baggage area. That part of the work is expected to cost approximately $7.2 million and be completed between November 2026 and April 2027, depending on when Amtrak builds a new platform as part of a separate project. The second phase will involve installing an elevator, restoring the second floor and improving the baggage area. Solomon expects Phase Two to last into late 2028. 'It's really a three-year journey,' Solomon said. Johnstown Train Station Johnstown Train Station on Walnut Street in downtown Johnstown on Thursday, June 12, 2025. 'Reinvigorate the core' Three local entities were awarded nearly $24.5 million combined in grants through the then-RAISE, now known as Better Utilizing Investments to Leverage Development (BUILD), program in 2021. The City of Johnstown received $8 million for a Main Street corridor redevelopment project. Cambria County Transit Authority got almost $880,000 for repairs to the Johnstown Inclined Plane and $3.6 million for upgrades to the Transit Center on Main Street. All of the money must be used for the specified transportation initiatives and cannot be directed elsewhere. The projects also 'have to be in lockstep,' regarding environmental studies and other plans, according to Johnstown City Manager Art Martynuska. Johnstown City Council has not picked a final Main Street design yet, but the idea is to add modern lighting, arts spaces, new sidewalks and safety features. Work on the rest of the corridor is expected to start after renovations are done to Central Park using a separate pool of American Rescue Plan Act federal dollars. It will be the first major redesign of Main Street since the years after the 1977 Flood. 'I think the last time we looked at anything was in the late '70s, early '80s,' Martynuska said. 'That's obviously when there was federal revenue sharing and some other things that happened, Main Street East (Parking Garage), so on and so forth. It's to reinvigorate the core of the city and hopefully move forward from there.' The Inclined Plane money will be used to 'replace three wayfinding signs and to improve the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) ramp used to access the pedestrian overpass/crosswalk over the Johnstown Expressway (PA‐56),' according to the project description from 2023. Meanwhile, 'the CamTran Downtown Transit Center will be upgraded with a dedicated bus lane in front of the center, along with passenger facility upgrades including an enhanced passenger waiting area, advanced passenger information systems, pedestrian/cyclist accessibility improvements to and around the station,' per information provided by the transit authority. All BUILD, formerly RAISE, funds must be expended by Sept. 30, 2029.
Yahoo
09-06-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
PNC, Greater Baltimore Committee join fight to end city's vacant housing problem
Hundreds of community organizers, religious leaders and officials filled West Baltimore's Greater Harvest Baptist Church Sunday afternoon as PNC Bank and the Greater Baltimore Committee pledged to explore a private investment to address Baltimore's vacant housing crisis. The city and state have committed billions to solve the decades-long vacant housing problem in Baltimore. There are currently 12,603 vacant homes, according to the city's Department of Housing and Community Development's dashboard. Baltimoreans United in Leadership Development, the community group that organized Sunday's event, said in a news release its new private sector partners plan to 'organize a significant private capital fund that will leverage the public funds already committed. This private investment will be critical to rebuilding housing markets in neighborhoods broken by the legacy of redlining.' 'Baltimore finds itself in a key moment in our history, one that could be transformational for us, our children and their children,' said Laura Gamble, regional president of PNC Bank, at the podium inside Greater Harvest. 'PNC is committed to help organize the fund that will support this crucial work, and we'll do it in line with our accepted community development process and appropriate standards,' she said. PNC will also use the Baltimore Vacant Reinvestment Council's values and guidelines, she said. PNC, Bank of America and BUILD, are 'committed to exploring a demonstration investment … to show what's possible, even as we work to bring other institutions and investors together to support the broader fund,' Gamble said. Elizabeth Reichelt, of BUILD, said the organization thinks the fund needs to be at least $100 million. Gamble said that was 'a very reasonable goal.' 'I've never seen such … universal support for an issue of our time that we can all collectively address, and so we're going to do everything we can to not only reach the goal, but exceed it over time,' said Mark Anthony Thomas, president and CEO of the Greater Baltimore Committee, when asked if he supported the commitment to raising $100 million for the fund. As a representative of the private sector, Thomas said he was asking to take the metaphorical collection plate from the community in its efforts to solve the vacant homes issue. He also committed to pass the plate to the Greater Baltimore Committee's corporate leaders. 'Now it's our time as a private market to really use this opportunity so that we can be at the table to help ensure that we rebuild the communities that desperately need investment, that desperately need opportunity,' Thomas said. The city is 'already building momentum' when it comes to tackling vacant homes, Mayor Brandon Scott said, noting the thousands less vacants there are now compared to when he was first sworn in as mayor in 2020. In December 2020, there were over 15,500 such properties, according to the data dashboard. But the community feels the momentum is lacking in some areas. Scott committed to addressing 177 issues inside a green folder handed to him by Greater Harvest's the Rev. Brent Brown. Brown said slow permitting is holding up projects across the city, including in Franklin Square. Scott committed to solving the permit issues inside the green folder within two weeks, the stabilization issues within 60 days and acquisitions within six months. Have a news tip? Contact Racquel Bazos at rbazos@ 443-813-0770 or on X as @rzbworks.
Yahoo
29-05-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
Gov. Cox creates new council to help prepare Utah for a bright future
As the state of Utah continues to grow rapidly, a new coordinating council will bring together various state agencies and other entities to coordinate and communicate plans for the future in order to keep quality of life in the state from decreasing. On Wednesday, Utah Gov. Spencer Cox signed an executive order to create the BUILD coordinating council. BUILD stands for: Blueprint for Utah's Infrastructure, Land, and Development. The council will coordinate efforts between multiple agencies for long-term planning in the state and will be chaired by state planning coordinator and senior adviser to the governor Laura Hanson. Hanson said the creation of this council comes as Utah is at a pivotal point where the state is growing rapidly. When this growth first started, many Utahns were excited about it, Hanson said. 'But we've hit a point where Utahns are starting to feel a little anxious about the growth and a little bit of concern, worry that the Utah of the future may not be as high quality as the Utah of today,' Hanson said. The council will include people from various state agencies such as the Department of Public Safety, the Department of Transportation and the Department of Environmental Quality. Other associations represented on the council include the Salt Lake Chamber of Commerce, Janet Quinney Lawson Institute for Land, Water, and Air, and the Utah Association of Counties. 'As Utah evolves, everything from water use to transportation is affected,' said Cox, according to a press release. 'This council will help us combine efforts and make better decisions to maintain the quality of life that makes Utah exceptional.' 'The goal of this coordinating council is to bring together decision makers and thought leaders and researchers in a whole variety of different policy areas, from transportation, air quality, economic development, housing, water, homelessness and public safety, the Olympics, but also local governments and private sector partners through the chamber to come together and have a conversation about what is the kind of Utah that we want for the future,' Hanson said. The council will meet to discuss the various planning efforts of the different groups and how to coordinate those efforts. Hanson said the goal is to 'ensure that we are moving toward the shared goals that we have as Utahns, and make sure that the future is just as great as it is today, and that we don't lose all the things that make Utah special, even as we bring in a larger population.' Different state agencies and other groups are developing their own long-range plans and goals within their areas, and this new council will provide a way for these efforts and different entities within the state to be aligned and coordinated. The creation of this council builds on HCR11, which was passed by the state Legislature in 2024 and focused on cross-issue impacts. 'Even if a policy area doesn't directly touch another policy area, there are indirect connections between these things like transportation and our air quality, like our housing and development patterns and our water consumption or preservation of agricultural land and open space. There are all these connections between these various different topics,' Hanson said. She added that, many times, policymakers and state agencies are focused on specific, individual issues, but regular Utahns are concerned about quality of life as a whole, and this council will be able to align many different issues in order to make sure Utah as a whole continues to improve. Specific areas that the council will be looking into include water, transportation, housing, air quality and recreation. 'It is very broad, which I think, is a challenge, but it's also an opportunity for us to think really holistically about where we want Utah to be in the future,' Hanson said. The coordinating council will meet together four times a year, with Hanson as the chair. Two yet-to-be-named co-chairs who will work with Hanson. One will be an executive branch co-chair and the other will be an external stakeholder co-chair. Hanson added that some sort of executive committee might also be formed within the council that can do work in between the quarterly meetings. The council's first meeting will be on July 22 at 9:30 a.m. at the Capitol. This meeting will be open to the public. At the first meeting, the group will start identifying what stakeholders want Utah to look like in the future and set statewide goals based on public input from the past. The different state agencies and entities involved will also be able to share their goals and plans for the future and how those can affect other areas and groups. 'So now we're building those connections, and it's really all about coordination. It's about talking together more. It's about being intentional about the future that we want.' The council will also develop an annual report that will be given to the governor and Legislature. This report will discuss changes that are happening in the state, constraints on natural resources and infrastructure, and will outline a list of high priority areas that need to be focused on as a state. 'We have limited resources, but we have tons of needs, and so this is an opportunity for us to come together and say, OK, with our limited resources, which focus areas are going to get us the biggest bang for the buck, what are the most critical things that can make or break quality of life in Utah,' Hanson said.
Yahoo
28-05-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
Gov. Cox seeks to unite state agencies, organizations to strategize on Utah growth
New homes are under construction in Spanish Fork on Tuesday, July 16, 2024. (Photo by Spenser Heaps for Utah News Dispatch) Utah Gov. Spencer Cox signed an executive order on Wednesday bringing a handful of state agencies together to try and better manage the state's growth. The order creates the BUILD (Blueprint for Utah's Infrastructure, Land, and Development) Coordinating Council, tasked with streamlining efforts and long-term planning related to housing, transportation, water, energy, open space, recreation, air quality and quality of life. Utah routinely ranks among the country's fastest growing states, and the executive order is the latest example of elected officials trying to wrangle the population boom. 'As Utah evolves, everything from water use to transportation is affected,' Cox said in a statement on Wednesday. 'This council will help us combine efforts and make better decisions to maintain the quality of life that makes Utah exceptional.' According to the executive order, the council has five main responsibilities — creating a shared vision for Utah's future; making sure state agencies are aligned in their long-term plans; identifying ways to 'leverage state investments for greater impact'; and collaborating across state agencies to address growth. The council is also required to produce an annual report to the governor, lieutenant governor and Legislature. The order builds on a resolution passed by the Legislature earlier this year. Sponsored by Rep. Bridger Bolinder, R-Grantsville, HCR11 encourages state and local governments, as well as the private sector, to consider 'cross-issue growth impacts in decision-making processes.' 'A growing population means an increased demand for housing, transportation, water, energy, and open space and recreation,' Bolinder said earlier this year. 'Growth issues are interrelated and decisions on one issue often affect other growth-related issues.' The council will be made up of the following: The senior adviser for long-range planning, who also serves as the Utah planning coordinator and will act as the chair of the committee The senior adviser for housing strategy and innovation The Utah energy adviser The state homeless coordinator The executive director of the Governor's Office of Planning and Budget The executive director of the Governor's Office of Economic Opportunity The executive director of the Utah Department of Natural Resources The executive director of the Utah Department of Transportation The executive director of the Utah Department of Public Safety The executive director of the Utah Department of Environmental Quality The executive director the Utah Department of Heath and Human Services The commissioner of the Utah Department of Agriculture and Food The commission will also include a number of representatives from higher education and local governments, like: The University of Utah's Kem C. Gardner Policy Institute Utah State University's Janet Quinney Lawson Institute for Land, Water and Air Southern Utah University's Utah Center for Rural Life Olympic and Paralympic Winter Games Salt Lake City 2034 The Salt Lake Chamber of Commerce The Utah League of Cities and Towns The Utah Association of Counties Envision Utah A rural region Association of Governments An urban region Association of Governments SUPPORT: YOU MAKE OUR WORK POSSIBLE
Yahoo
28-05-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
Gov. Cox signs executive order to establish new council focused on Utah's future and ‘quality of life'
SALT LAKE CITY () — On May 28, Utah Gov. Spencer Cox signed an to establish the BUILD Coordinating Council — a new council aimed at helping the state of Utah plan for the future. BUILD is an acronym for 'Blueprint for Utah's Infrastructure, Land, and Development,' according to Cox's executive order. According to the governor's office, the council will 'bring state agencies together' to help the Beehive State work toward meeting demands for housing, energy, air quality, and more. 'This council will help us combine efforts and make better decisions to maintain the quality of life that makes Utah exceptional,' Cox said. 6 Utah cities ranked among the best 250 places to live in the U.S. — and Salt Lake didn't make the cut The executive order establishes the council and describes some of its duties. It describes Utah as 'one of the fastest growing states in the nation' and says that means there is an increasing demand for resources in the state. The council will work to 'advance shared statewide goals' and 'facilitate greater coordination' in the state, as well as work to improve or maintain the quality of life for current and future Utahns. The members of the BUILD council will meet quarterly to establish goals, review changes occurring in the state, review and draft long-range plans, endorse final plans, and produce annual reports for the governor and lieutenant governor, among other duties. 'Chaired by the State Planning Coordinator, the council will include senior advisors and executive directors from key state agencies such as transportation, natural resources, environmental quality, health and human services, agriculture and food and others,' the governor's office said. Representatives from various other entities will also be invited to participate. The executive order does not apply to the legislative and judicial branches of the government, higher education institutions, independent entities, and a handful of other offices. The governor's office said the establishment of the BUILD Coordinating Council 'builds on the intent' of a 2024 concurrent resolution to recognize the 'importance of cross-issue growth impacts.' The executive order went into effect on May 28. Syracuse police seeking assault suspect that left victim in critical condition 19-year-old worker killed in accident at Eagle Mountain construction site Gov. Cox signs executive order to establish new council focused on Utah's future and 'quality of life' Trump punts on Musk criticism of 'big beautiful bill' White House to send DOGE cuts package to Congress as Speaker promises quick action Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
