Jobs

[Flat32]

During the corona shutdown jobs are being lost.  It seems to me this a perfect time to focus on every road construction need and doubling the workforce to take advantage of the empty streets.  Road workers are normally distanced adequately, usually wear gloves, many wear dust masks and work outside in virus killing uv sunlight.  Even fuel is cheaper now.

Infrastructure money is already available.

Am I missing something??

[DonW]

Well it seems that the highways policy here in Britain is to schedule the work to cause maximum disruption, as well as to cordon off as many traffic lanes as possible then do nothing for months - and even when work starts, it is stretched out for the maximum possible time - I often see miles of road mending equipment (as I crawl nose to tail down the one remaining open lane on a 3-lane motorway) with no road workers anywhere in sight. Your idea is too sensible and potentially effective to find favour with the powers that be. ?

[jchrisf]

2 hours ago, Flat32 said:

During the corona shutdown jobs are being lost.  It seems to me this a perfect time to focus on every road construction need and doubling the workforce to take advantage of the empty streets.  Road workers are normally distanced adequately, usually wear gloves, many wear dust masks and work outside in virus killing uv sunlight.  Even fuel is cheaper now.

Infrastructure money is already available.

Am I missing something??

They are doing just that in Florida.  Saw it on the news this morning.  The Gov. is pushing for it.

Edited April 2, 2020 by jchrisf

[TonyK]

I thought the same thing about road construction projects. I "heard" they weren't doing this and trying to find info on the Internet was useless. I saw a city utility pickup the other day with a couple of guys and cones on the road but maybe it was only to check out a problem.

I agree that projects could be done without much interference these days.

[TarheelRick]

Well they are still working on the I-77 parking lot through my county in NC.  Since this project started last summer there have been three major pile-ups resulting in 6 deaths, and all three happened within 100 yards of each other.  On a good day there will be 5-7 mile long two-lane traffic merging into one lane traffic jam.  But the crews are still working.  The estimated completion time of this project is sometime in 2021 or 2022.

[Bronzekeg]

now you're talkin' common sense. seems to be rare and frowned upon by the so called college educated idiots that count the beans and make the schedules.

[espo]

We are interring what is known as the "Orange Barrel Season" here. The good news is that the major road projects, and there are a few, are moving ahead nicely since the traffic has been reduced and as pointed out the workers themselves aren't in close contact with one another. 

[Tom Geiger]

I haven’t been out enough to see if there are any road projects going on in Pennsylvania. I did notice the big apartment building project up on the highway has come to a halt. 

[Mark]

I work for a construction company (in the office), and certain types of construction (infrastructure among them) are still considered essential, so right now we're back up to speed as normal on those jobs.  Residential construction (streets in new subdevelopments) are not considered essential, so those jobs aren't going right now.  Jobs at schools are kind of in the middle.  With students being away right now, those jobs should be up and running too, but that is still to be settled.

[Danno]

One of my sons owns/operates an artificial turf & landscaping business - usually busy this time of year, but much slower than usual under the “stay-at-home” mandate however, he started an off-season junk/debris removal operation that has remained active as essential construction projects still need to get rid of stuff.  My other son is a commercial construction electrician building a major hospital - busier than before as they work extra hours to accelerate the project to open more rooms faster.  Daughter worked from home before but now her travel is curtailed. Not much change overall.

I’m a fraud investigator; office at home so not a change there, but most of my clientele is transitioning from office to work-from-home so contracts have dried up for the time being. I’m staying busy filing, refilling, organizing files, reorganizing files, and rearranging the deck chairs. Oh, and launching, organizing, and operating the online DESERT SCALE CLASSIC Virtual Venue Model Car Championship (substitute for the Covid-19 cancelled DSC16.

Time on your hands? Check it out:  www.dscV16.com. Join us for some stay-at-home modeling activity!

 

[Tom Geiger]

1 hour ago, Danno said:

One of my sons owns/operates an artificial turf & landscaping business - usually busy this time of year, but much slower than usual under the “stay-at-home” mandate 

I’m hearing lawn mowers and noticed landscapers still working in my neighborhood here in Pennsylvania. 

My own consulting work dried up at the end of year and I had some great prospects, thought I was maybe a week away from starting a new project when this all hit.  And it’s come to a screeching halt. 

[TimNYC]

Here in Lower Manhattan, the streets are empty...whenever my wife and I step out for our daily walk, our first thought is "ah, Sunday morning"... but of course it isn't.  Not quite tumbleweeds blowing down the streets yet, but as empty as I've seen the streets since 911.  

Tim

[Jim N]

If they are federal projects, they can move forward since the federal government can and does run a budget deficit.  State and local governments may not have that flexibility as they may not be able to run a deficit.  Further with the unemployment numbers spiking, state and local budgets are cratering.

[Mark]

59 minutes ago, Jim N said:

If they are federal projects, they can move forward since the federal government can and does run a budget deficit.  State and local governments may not have that flexibility as they may not be able to run a deficit.  Further with the unemployment numbers spiking, state and local budgets are cratering.

They might be a bit too quick in spending money.  I've already heard one guy say that he might not come back to work right away, because the way he has it figured, he can make as much staying home and taking the special handouts as he would working. 

[Flat32]

Good time for driverless car testing.  Vehicular distancing?? No problem.  Same goes for Amazon's delivery drone testing. No airplanes to crash into and nobody outside with notions to shoot them down.  Good time to sanitize the entire N.Y. subway system.  Good time to pressure car insurance companies to reduce rates.  Vehicle accident deaths might be reduced enough to offset the virus deaths.

3 minutes ago, Mark said:

They might be a bit too quick in spending money.  I've already heard one guy say that he might not come back to work right away, because the way he has it figured, he can make as much staying home and taking the special handouts as he would working. 

A real patriot??  Doesn't matter how anybody gets their money so long as they spend it all. Our economy is dependant on consumer spending.  Free money is quite different from free stuff, unless it's toilet paper, same as cash.

[peteski]

48 minutes ago, Flat32 said:

Good time for driverless car testing.  Vehicular distancing?? No problem.  Same goes for Amazon's delivery drone testing. No airplanes to crash into and nobody outside with notions to shoot them down. 

LOL, sure if they were to designed to normally operate under sparse traffic condition.  Those vehicles should really be tested in a heavy traffic environment to make them usable and reliable in real life situations.

 

As for construction work, I heard few days ago, that in Boston (MA) the mayor stopped all the construction (to prevent spread of the virus).

Edited April 2, 2020 by peteski

[Flat32]

Just now, peteski said:

LOL, sure if they were to designed to normally operate under sparse traffic condition.  Those vehicles should really be tested in a heavy traffic environment to make them usable and reliable in real life situations.

Assuming you want them.  Better to see how they can crash in sparse conditions so they get delayed until I'm gone. IMHO

[Mark]

1 hour ago, Flat32 said:

 Free money is quite different from free stuff, unless it's toilet paper, same as cash.

No such thing as free money.

[peteski]

55 minutes ago, Flat32 said:

Assuming you want them. 

I most certainly do not.

[Snake45]

Speaking of jobs and working...

If you're in a place that's on lockdown,  as I am, don't forget to thank the people you run into who are staying on the job, doing their best to keep us safe, fed, and supplied with life's needs as best they can. I thanked the clerk at Walmart today for his service and he really seemed to appreciate it. 

[slusher]

Walmart here started only letting so many at a time shop. My wife will find out tomorrow some say 20 some say less. No couples singl shoppers.

[Scott8950]

13 hours ago, Snake45 said:

Speaking of jobs and working...

If you're in a place that's on lockdown,  as I am, don't forget to thank the people you run into who are staying on the job, doing their best to keep us safe, fed, and supplied with life's needs as best they can. I thanked the clerk at Walmart today for his service and he really seemed to appreciate it. 

We became essential this past week. I work in 1 of 6 textile mills left in the USA most have moved to Mexico and China. We are strictly running cloth for Fema and US Government. I operate a machine with 4 guys under me we Crank out 500k yards a week. Fema has an order for 6 million yards from us to make mask, gowns and hospital coats.

[Snake45]

27 minutes ago, Scott8950 said:

We became essential this past week. I work in 1 of 6 textile mills left in the USA most have moved to Mexico and China. We are strictly running cloth for Fema and US Government. I operate a machine with 4 guys under me we Crank out 500k yards a week. Fema has an order for 6 million yards from us to make mask, gowns and hospital coats.

Thank you for your work and your service! You might very well be saving thousands of lives! 

[espo]

Made a Costco run last night. There was as many employees as customers and if you did see another shopper everyone was avoiding each other like the plague, pun intended. Amazing assortment of masks including a few that looked like a couple of stage robbers from an old time western movie.  Somehow they misplaced a couple of pallets of Scotts TP and everyone was trying to grab one and still be at least 6 ft away from everyone else, hard to do in this case.  $1.59 a gallon for regular, about ten cents less than anyone else that I have seen. Got our provisions and scurried home. 

[Scott8950]

2 hours ago, Snake45 said:

Thank you for your work and your service! You might very well be saving thousands of lives! 

Thank you but no thanks needed im happy knowing i can do something to help people out during this terrible time.