By Faughn Commercial • Economy 0 Comments

How you can support San Joaquin County small businesses, get up to $200 in rewards

There is a new way for you to support small businesses in San Joaquin County called Shop San Joaquin, where you can get up to $200 back in rewards. The rewards program, which is the result of $1 million in COVID-19 relief funding, encourages customers to shop local and support the independently owned businesses that are still dealing with the impact of the pandemic. Business that are participating have fewer than 500 employees and operated in the food-and-beverage, hospitality, or retail industries. So far, 1,625 businesses are participating.

Officials laid out this list, explaining how to participate:

  • Download the free Open Rewards: Shop Local app on Google Play or the App Store
  • Sign up
  • Go to a local restaurant or retailer listed within the app and spend $50
  • Pay for the purchase as usual
  • Upload the receipt to Shop San Joaquin — Open Rewards app (or link a credit card to automate this step)
  • Receive 100% cash back rewards in the account once the receipt is approved
  • Redeem the rewards on future purchases at eligible businesses or continue to save up the rewards.

There’s a $50 reward cap per transaction for a total of $200 in rewards per calendar year. Nicole Snyder, the deputy director for the San Joaquin County Employment and Economic Development Department, joined KCRA 3 Wednesday morning to talk about the program.

“What we really intend to do with this program is to continue the economic recovery of the retail and hospitality industries that were severely impacted by the pandemic,” she said. “It also benefits county residents by basically giving them funding to spend through a reimbursement model.”

This comes as new data from the Commerce Department shows retail spending has been holding mostly steady since the beginning of the year. Last month’s reading was better than the outright decline economists had projected.

https://www.kcra.com/article/shop-san-joaquin-rewards-small-businesses-program/61624215

By Faughn Economy 0 Comments

Stanislaus County’s $9.24 Million Investment Signals Circular Bioeconomy Momentum

On behalf of the dozens of organizations in BEAM Circular’s public-private partnership collaborative, we’re grateful for Stanislaus County’s continued commitment to unlocking the potential of the circular bioeconomy for our local community.

On Tuesday August 13, the Stanislaus County Board of Supervisors approved a cumulative $9.24 million contract with BEAM Circular to support a broad portfolio of local projects and activities that create quality jobs, strengthen the regional economy, and deliver environmental benefits. This investment by the County brings total aligned public and private funding commitments to regional circular bioeconomy development efforts to over $55 million since BEAM Circular’s launch in January 2023. This combination of local, state, federal, and private investment in our region will enable long-term impact through local innovation, sustainable industry scale-up, and workforce readiness.

The county’s investment is the result of three years of planning, research, and collaboration — beginning with the Stanislaus 2030 public-private planning initiative launched in 2021. That initiative created a shared vision for our community’s economic future, including a specific strategy for establishing our region as a global leader in the growing bioeconomy.

Over the past 18 months since BEAM Circular’s launch, we’ve received invaluable input from hundreds of community members and partners across industry, labor, education, environmental advocacy, community development, and local government to further refine that strategy. These inputs shaped the specific investment recommendations approved by Stanislaus County (detailed below).

Stanislaus County Investment Summary

The $9.24 million from Stanislaus County includes $500K previously awarded in June 2024. Adding to $760,000 previously awarded to BEAM Circular, this brings the County’s total investment of American Rescue Plan Act funding for regional bioeconomy development to $10 million, in alignment with a spending plan for Stanislaus 2030 strategy implementation approved by the County in January 2023.

The funding allocation includes:

  • $4.6 million for Cross-Cutting Initiatives that enable overall sector growth, community engagement, innovation, local capacity-building, and collaboration activities, including through BEAM Circular Initiative Leadership & Program Delivery ($2,894,889), Innovation Engine development via CBIO Collaborative ($332,611), a new BEAM Fellows Program ($250,000), and planning and design for a Circular Bioeconomy Innovation Campus that will support R&D, technology scale-up, community education, and workforce training ($1,200,000). Site selection for the Innovation Campus will begin later this year.

  • $2.2 million for Capital Connections to support local job creation, including an Anchor Firms Development Fund to support new projects that create large numbers of quality jobs ($2,000,000), and Matching Grants for Research & Commercialization Funds for local small businesses ($200,000).

  • $1.56 million for enabling Infrastructure, including Grants for Job Training Facilities & Equipment ($1,500,000) and Manufacturing Site Portfolio research and advancement ($62,500).

  • $800K for Talent strategies via a Workforce Development Fund that provides grants and technical assistance to local education and training institutions to deploy new industry-aligned programs, internships, and inclusive career training pathways ($800,000).

https://www.beamcircular.org/news-updates/stanislaus-county-investment-signals-circular-bioeconomy-momentum

By Faughn Economy • New Developments • Quality of Life 0 Comments

Construction to begin on improving Highway 99 and 120 junction

Construction will begin in August on upgrades to the junction of Highways 99 and 120 in Manteca. The $48.2 million project seeks to ease traffic between eastbound 120 and southbound 99. Many of the drivers are from Stanislaus County and points south, including commuters to the Bay Area. The work includes adding a second lane to the current connector ramp and a fourth lane on southbound 99 to about Austin Road. Austin will get a new bridge across the freeway and a new link to Atherton Drive and Woodward Avenue, key routes in south Manteca.

The project is scheduled for completion in summer 2026. It will be built by Teichert Inc. of Pleasanton on a contract with the San Joaquin Council of Governments. Construction will begin in August 2024 on a new connection between eastbound Highway 120 and southbound Highway 99 in Manteca, California. The project also involves replacing the Austin Road bridge over 99 and a new link between Austin and Moffat Boulevard. San Joaquin Council of Governments

OFFICIALS GATHER FOR GROUND-BREAKING SJCOG

oversees transportation funding for the county and its incorporated cities. It hosted a ground-breaking Wednesday, July 17, with local, state and federal leaders. SJCOG “recognized these improvements were essential to move people and goods within the region and across county borders,” Executive Director Diane Nguyen said. The new Austin Road bridge also will cross the freight tracks along 99, eliminating a safety hazard for drivers. By 2026, the tracks will be part of the expanded Altamont Corridor Express, which now takes passengers between Stockton and San Jose. The project is the first phase of an effort that eventually could involve other parts of the 99-120 junction, if funding is secured.

The second phase could cost about $28 million and open by 2033, according to the California Department of Transportation. It projects a $62 million cost and 2042 opening for the third phase. These phases would widen both 99 and 120 and improve connector ramps at the junction.

LOCAL SALES TAX HELPS FUND PROJECT

Local funding for the first phase includes the Measure K sales tax and fees on property developers. SJCOG also tapped state and federal transportation programs and federal payments to local governments amid COVID-19. The ground-breaking featured Lathrop Mayor Sonny Dhaliwal, who chairs SJCOG. “We’re bringing together our member agencies and public and private partners to build this highway-to-highway connector to serve the transportation needs of everyone who lives, works and travels in San Joaquin County,” he said.

https://www.modbee.com/news/local/article290199884.html

By Faughn Economy • Energy • New Developments 0 Comments

Hydrogen projects sprout in the Valley

Plans for using hydrogen to fight climate change are sprouting all over the San Joaquin Valley this summer. Projects are in the works in western Fresno County, in Pixley in Tulare County and in Orange Cove where SoCal Gas will blend 5% hydrogen with natural gas for retail customers reducing overall greenhouse gases.

When hydrogen is injected into a fuel cell, hydrogen generates electricity but emits only heat and harmless water vapor and has great potential to cut global carbon emissions and keep toxic pollutants out. Experts say hydrogen could make the biggest difference in sectors now mostly powered by fossil fuels — trucking, shipping and aviation.

In the westside of the Valley, the Darden Clean Energy Project would cover 9,500 acres owned by Westland Water District and include a trifecta of green technologies including a 3.1 million solar panel farm, a 1,150MW green hydrogen plant and a 4600MWE hour battery storage plant.

An electrolyzer water treatment plant would be powered by solar power capable of producing 220 tons of gaseous hydrogen per day that could be used as zero carbon transportation fuel. To bring electricity to the grid the sprawling energy farm would be connected to a 15 mile transmission line to a PG&E substation near Highway 5.

Instead of seeking approval through Fresno County, the massive project is going direct to the California Energy Commission (CEC) for final permitting under a new provision approved by the legislature in 2022 called opt-in, the first in the state to do so.

Largest in the world

The Darden Clean Energy Project, which more than rivals the largest solar battery storage combination in the world, is located in Kern County at Edwards Air Force Base and is said to be about 4,000 acres. It houses 1.9 million solar panels and generates 3287MWh for the battery storage facility. The Kern County project also does not include a hydrogen manufacturing component.

In terms of the hydrogen plant at the Darden site, the capacity at 220 tons of hydrogen a day compares to just three tons a day at the largest existing hydrogen production plant on 324 acres also in Fresno County that started up last year led by a Spanish firm.

The CEC must find that Darden has submitted a complete application and then has 270 days to approve the project, which is considered a fast-track process in order to get more battery storage in California online sooner.

Hydrogen’s flexibility as a fuel source including for transportation, industrial, and power generation sectors and its ability to be stored is helped by new tax incentives under the Inflation Reduction Act. Producing only water as a byproduct hydrogen can be injected into the natural gas distribution system managed by utilities like SoCal Gas and PG&E. Add the synergy of combining solar power generation and hydrogen manufacturing – the process is given a big boost by the power from the sun typically on-site.

Lawsuit in Tulare County

In Pixley in Tulare County, another company is proposing to build a 1.2 million square-foot 28-acre hydrogen plant that will manufacture, store and distribute pressurized liquid hydrogen fuel for trucks and include 114 acres of solar power generation. The location of the $120 million plant is at the southwest corner of Avenue 120 and Road 120 near Highway 99.

Last summer the County of Tulare determined their project was allowed by right under the CEQA common sense exemption since the property was already located in a manufacturing zone. In March 2024 a citizen group with members from Pixley filed a lawsuit objecting that the county had not properly followed CEQA rules and should require a full impact report.

Oil company wants in

Also this spring, Chevron New Energies, a division of Chevron U.S.A. Inc., announced it is developing a 5-megawatt hydrogen production project in Lost Hills.

The project aims to create lower carbon energy by utilizing solar power, land, and non-potable produced water from Chevron’s existing assets at the Lost Hills Oil Field in Kern County. This low carbon intensity electrolytic hydrogen will be produced through electrolysis, which is the process of using electricity to split water into hydrogen and oxygen.

“Hydrogen can play a vital role in our journey toward a lower carbon future,” said Austin Knight, vice president for hydrogen at Chevron New Energies.

Blending hydrogen

Use of hydrogen will hit the retail market in Orange Cove says SoCalGas.

At the direction of the California Public Utilities Commission, SoCalGas is proposing a local demonstration project that could safely blend up to 5% clean, renewable hydrogen into the natural gas system serving approximately 10,000 residents, along with commercial customers in the City of Orange Cove, in Fresno County.

SoCalGas is proposing an 18-month demonstration project that will blend clean, renewable hydrogen serving residents and businesses. This project would offer a real-world environment to better understand how clean hydrogen and natural gas can be safely delivered to customers in the future. This is part of a broader effort by California and utilities to develop a standard for safe hydrogen blending, which could reduce greenhouse gas emissions and improve air quality, says the company.

 

https://hanfordsentinel.com/business/hydrogen-projects-sprout-in-the-valley-john-lindt/article_2bb4ee2f-d177-5e65-ae81-3c037848c76b.amp.html

By Faughn Economy • Hi-Tech 0 Comments

High Speed Rail crosses 198 | John Lindt

Last week, crews from the California High Speed Rail project worked late night and early morning to place 84 pre-cast concrete girders across Lacey Boulevard and over State Route 198 to extend the Hanford Viaduct over the highway.

Girders ranged between 53 and 78 feet long and weighed as much as 79,000 pounds each.

The Hanford Viaduct spans more than a mile — 6,330 feet long and connects to the future Kings/Tulare Regional High-Speed Rail Station.

Hanford company sells just four cars in 23′

Start-up luxury car maker Faraday Future sold just four cars in the past year, the company reported recently. They leased six more.

The LA-based company has its only manufacturing plant in Hanford. But production at the million-square-feet facility has been slow. Faraday Future is facing delisting from NASDAQ as it looks to maintain its stock value above one dollar.

Adding to woes, Faraday has withdrawn its production guidance for 2024, citing current market conditions and lack of funding. Last November, the company planned to assemble 1,000 vehicles this year, “subject to availability of requisite capital.”

The company filed their annual report late with revenue of $0.8 million for 2023 and cost of goods sold of $43 million, compared with no revenue and cost of goods sold in 2022. This reflects that the company only began delivering vehicles in the third quarter 2023. Loss from operations was $286 million for 2023, as compared to a loss from operations of $437 million for 2022.

Last December Nasdaq notified the company that the bid price of its listed securities had closed at less than $1.00 per share over the previous 30 consecutive business days and, as a result, did not comply with Listing Rule 5550(a)(2). The company was provided 180 calendar days, or until June 25, 2024, to regain compliance with this rule. On April 18, 2024, Nasdaq notified the company that since it had not yet filed its Form 10-K it no longer complied with Listing Rule 5250(c)(1).This deficiency is now an additional basis for delisting. Now that report has been filed.

On April 24, 2024, the company received a letter from Nasdaq indicating that the company was not in compliance with Nasdaq Listing Rule 5810(c), as the company’s securities had a closing bid price of $0.10 or less for ten consecutive trading days. The letter indicated that, as a result, the Nasdaq staff had determined to delist the company’s securities from The Nasdaq Capital Market. On May 1, 2024, the company timely requested a hearing to appeal the Delisting Determination and requested an extended stay of the suspension pending such hearing with the Panel.

Faraday Future stock briefly climbed over a dollar in May for two weeks but, since May 28, has been below that threshold at about 50 cents as of this writing.

Faraday’s future is uncertain.

Williamson Act cancelation bill shelved

A bill in the California Assembly to make it easier for farmers in the Central Valley to cancel their Williamson Act contract due to water shortage had divided the farm community. The California Land Conservation Act of 1965, otherwise known as the Williamson Act, authorizes a city or county to enter into contracts with owners of agricultural land to preserve the land for agricultural use, as specified, in return for reduced property tax assessments.

To preserve farmland, it imposes a 25 percent cancelation fee.

This bill proposed by Fresno Assembly member Joaquin Arambula would authorize a landowner, if their land is located in the counties of Fresno, Kern, Kings, Madera, Merced, San Joaquin, Stanislaus, or Tulare, with a water basin in condition of critical overdraft, to petition the board or council to cancel a Williamson Act contract or a farmland security zone contract without penalty if the land meets specified criteria, including, among other things, not having permanent access to sufficient water.

That could speed its conversion to energy projects like solar farms and provide income to the land owner.

As of mid-May the bill was placed in the “suspense file” as it did not garner enough support in committee to move forward.

BOS dumps green energy saving project

Kings County Board of Supervisors had been studying making substantial investments in energy savings at the county campus similar to a project that the same supplier had done in past years. The supplier, Engie Energy, promised net savings over $4 million for the county. The County has completed four successful projects with ENGIE  — a $3 million microturbine co-generation project in 2005, an $8.4 million central heating and cooling plant upgrade in 2009, a $4.1 million solar project in 2011, and an $11.9 million solar project in 2020.

This year an earlier staff report noted that the County has been seeing huge increases in its electricity cost recently, as high as 15% per year. They would like its energy consumption to be reduced as much as possible to reduce the effect of utility price hikes.

Also, the HVAC units at many of the facilities are well past their useful lives and the County would like to use this project to replace its old HVAC infrastructure without dipping into the General Fund.

But in late May the staff and board decided not to move forward with the green energy project.

A staff report says, “Essentially, this project is viewed as being cash neutral, providing more of a benefit in the way of allowing the County a vehicle to replace aging infrastructure, not necessarily providing the County with additional cash on hand, due to project savings, that could be used for other County initiatives and priorities. Additionally, the County recently initiated a comprehensive debt analysis which looked at all current and potential future debt, which included this project, to identify the financial health of the County if it were to take on debt for this project.”

At the conclusion of the debt analysis, staff recommended not to incur long-term debt for this project at this time. The Board agreed.

Egg farmers worried about new bird flu

The current avian influenza outbreak is the “greatest threat” to American egg producers, according to United Egg Producers President and CEO Chad Gregory.

“On-farm biosecurity is at its most stringent levels, and despite these robust precautionary measures, the egg industry has lost flocks to [bird flu] in recent weeks,” Gregory said in a statement. This is a sad and difficult time for affected farmers, who must act swiftly to prevent the spread of the disease and go through an extensive recovery process.”

A massive flock of over 4.2 million egg-laying chickens in Iowa was detected to have bird flu last week.

Walnut acreage down 4%

California’s 2023 walnut acreage is estimated at 420,000 acres, with 385,000 acres bearing and 35,000 acres non-bearing. Bearing acreage was down 4% from 2022.

Strong summer outlook as clean energy grows

Elliot Mainzer — California Independent System operator president — says CAISO is in a stronger position heading into the summer compared to previous years. The agency manages the grid and guides energy investment in the Golden State.

CAISO expects its resources will be able to meet forecasted demand plus an 18.5% reserve margin for all summer months, according to its summer assessment. The grid operator anticipates it will have more than 3,500 MW of surplus supplies over forecasted demand plus the reserve margin during key early evening peak net load hours in September, Mainzer said in the memo.

https://hanfordsentinel.com/community/selma-kingsburg/news/high-speed-rail-crosses-198-john-lindt/article_f5b1da39-4a92-5bb4-8a6a-d135b2d967a9.html

By Faughn Economy • Quality of Life 0 Comments

Lathrop growing by leaps and bounds, ranks among top 5 nationwide in new Census data

Lathrop in San Joaquin County was among the fastest-growing cities in the country in recent years, according to newly released U.S. Census Bureau data. Among cities across the U.S. with 20,000 residents or more, Lathrop had the fifth-highest growth of residents between the start of July in 2022 and 2023, behind four cities in Texas, Census officials said Thursday. Lathrop’s population increase year-over-year was 13.6 percent and the Census as of July 2023 had the city’s population as 39,857. The four Texas cities that had a higher recent annual increase were Celina (26.6 percent), Fulshear (25.6 percent), Princeton (22.3 percent) and Anna (16.9 percent).

https://stocktonia.org/news/community/2024/05/25/lathrop-growing-by-leaps-and-bounds-ranks-among-top-5-nationwide-in-new-census-data/

By Faughn Economy • Energy • Renewable Energy 0 Comments

Valley To Receive $13 Million In Federal Funding for Electric School Bus Fleets

Millions in federal funding is coming to the Central Valley to purchase electric school buses.

Congressman Jim Costa (D-Fresno) announced $13 million in federal funding to purchase new electric for school districts across the Central Valley.

Fresno Unified and Selma Unified will receive a combined $8 million in federal funding. The funding comes through the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law, which Costa voted to pass through Congress.

“Fleets of clean electric school buses are coming to the San Joaquin Valley thanks to the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law. These investments will improve the air we breathe and save money for our school districts while building a more sustainable future for our children,” said Representative Jim Costa.

Borne out of the Biden’s Administration bipartisan Infrastructure Law, the EPA Clean School Bus Program received an unprecedented $5 Billion to transform the country’s school bus fleet.

It funds clean electric buses that produce zero tailpipe emissions and propane and compressed natural gas buses, which produce lower tailpipe emission than their older diesel predecessors.

Fresno Unified will receive $6.625 million in rebate funding to purchase 25 electric school buses.

Selma Unified will receive $1.38 million in rebate to purchase four clean school buses.

Caruthers Unified will receive to $345,000 in rebate funding to purchase one clean school bus.

Los Banos Unified has been selected to receive $2.4 million in rebate funding to purchase seven clean school buses.

Sierra Unified in Fresno County will receive $800,000 in rebate funding to purchase four clean school buses.

Wasco Union Elementary in Kern County will receive $1.38 million in rebate funding to purchase four clean school buses.

Costa wasn’t the only congressman to announce millions coming to the Central Valley this week.

At a check presentation held at the Tranquility Library Branch, Congressman John Duarte presented a check of $5 million in funding to Fresno County for infrastructure improvements in Tranquility and Cantua Creek.

Fresno County’s Cantua Creek and El Porvenir Sidewalk Improvements Project will receive $2 million in funding.

The Tranquility Complete Streets Project will be receiving $3 million in federal community funding.

The projects include a variety of efforts to improve motorist and pedestrian safety, increase accessibility for disabled residents and to reduce chronic flooding.

https://thebusinessjournal.com/valley-to-receive-13-million-in-federal-funding-for-electric-school-bus-fleet/

By Faughn Economy • Top Stories 0 Comments

Is prefab an ab-fab solution to housing in Bakersfield?

Between undulating yellow hills along the valley floor, workers inside a 270,000-square-foot warehouse are pre-building homes for the future. Their destinations: Santa Monica, Lake Tahoe, Mountain Village, Colo.

Since opening its $40 million facility last fall, Plant Prefab has commenced large-scale work on modular housing, where each section of a home is built and assembled in its factory in the Tejon Ranch Commerce Center before being conveyed by truck to a destined lot.

Whereas modern prefabs have historically been geared toward the custom-built dreams of the wealthy, founder, CEO and Chairman Steve Glenn said Plant Prefab’s operation is entirely focused on affordable housing. All of its projects are multifamily units, most of which are being sent to the Los Angeles or San Francisco Bay areas — “places where land is expensive, labor is expensive and labor is scarce,” he said.

Amid California’s housing shortage and staggering costs to construct, manufactured housing is increasingly sought out as a lucrative option — by developers and elected officials alike — to build homes as cheaply and efficiently as possible.

“I think, for a time, there was a perception that prefab housing was substandard,” said Bakersfield Councilman Andrae Gonzales, who in February toured the facility along with fellow Councilman Bob Smith and City Manager Christian Clegg. “We wanted to go out and see the facility for ourselves.”

According to the city’s regional housing needs assessment, Bakersfield needs more than 37,000 units built by the end of 2031. That breaks down to 4,600 homes annually, including 2,277 low-income units.

City officials have in recent years ramped up several options for increasing housing production locally. With $5 million allocated to its affordable housing trust fund each year, the city pays for the construction of public housing projects in tandem with a patchwork of state and federal grants.

At a committee meeting in November, officials found that 10 of the 16 affordable housing projects in Bakersfield, plagued by delays, won’t be completed until 2025 or 2026. Delays were blamed on rising costs of construction, pandemic-era gaps in supply chains and a lack of private investment that leaves public housing at the mercy of outside grants, which can take months to approve and administer.

The average affordable housing unit in Bakersfield costs about $300,000, Gonzales said.

“Sometimes even more,” he added.

But “solution is too strong a word” to describe modular housing, Glenn said. “Are they an incredible part of the solution? One hundred percent.”

Modular housing can be built much faster than standard construction — 20% to 50% faster, according to a Plant Prefab news release. The factory is capable of building 5 million square feet per year, Glenn said, or about 2,500 single-family homes averaging 2,000 square feet each.

A tour of the facility shows it operates like an assembly line, inheriting automotive-type techniques and applying them to the construction of buildings.

But improvements have come since the era of Henry Ford and the $5 workday. The solar-powered facility is largely automated, meaning panels and components are cut with surgical precision. This takes less of a bite out of the planet and that of a developer’s pocketbook, resulting in less than 2% waste compared with 30% to 40% seen on some on-site builds.

Of all the projects underway, however, zero are in Kern County. “But ironically, they’re the greatest in need of a solution because of the disparity between their costs and scarcity of labor in urban infill versus what we can do here,” Glenn said.

Modular construction has its limitations. For one, it’s not always cheaper to build in a factory as opposed to on-site, considering the cost to transport materials across several states. Site labor can sometimes be cheaper, also depending on the location.

Modular construction has not been able to avoid high interest rates that stall the scale and speed of projects slated for construction. “That’s impacted us,” he said. “We’re busy but not nearly as busy as we had hoped to be.”

The factory is running a single eight-hour shift. It employs 52 workers at a facility Glenn said could take on up to 200 people.

“It takes time to implement it well,” he said.

The only prefab affordable housing project currently in Bakersfield is the CityServe Elevate project along F Street just south of Golden State Avenue. Originally slated for a February opening, the 126-unit development has been delayed by earlier inclement weather and other delays.

Government officials and developers agree prefab is one of many tools cities should take advantage of. There’s also the prospect of building conversion; Bakersfield officials recently pledged to purchase the Ramkabir Motel for $1.4 million, with plans to convert the 37-unit site into affordable housing under the city’s community land trust program.

The city is also looking at updating its zoning laws to allow for more multifamily units in areas that don’t require parking. And Bakersfield’s financial department is halfway through an overhaul of its online permitting system, which a city spokesperson said should be done within the next two months.

“Right now, our permitting process is too unpredictable. It’s too complex, and it takes too long,” Gonzales said.

With a 37% rise noted in this year’s survey of Kern County’s homeless population — half of which lives within Bakersfield city limits — officials are desperately seeking prospective venues for more affordable housing.

“We have to be willing to look at new ideas and test them,” Gonzales said.

https://www.bakersfield.com/news/is-prefab-an-ab-fab-solution-to-housing-in-bakersfield/article_409ba05a-1a69-11ef-a2ec-7f30f755ec2a.html

By Faughn Economy • Education • Workforce 0 Comments

High-Speed Rail, High-Quality Jobs: Career Trek Shows Students Opportunities

California high-speed rail, a multibillion-dollar project designed to connect the Central Valley to Los Angeles and the Bay Area, promises swift transportation, the protection of agricultural land and contributions to a cleaner environment.

It’s also providing a lot of jobs – from design to construction to, eventually, operation.

UC Merced engineering students recently got the chance to see what opportunities might be available to them. Roughly 25 students took part in a Career Trek to visit the California High-Speed Rail Central Valley Regional Office in Fresno, as well as the Hanford and Cedar viaducts.

Career Treks are offered by the university’s Student Career Center. Students are taken on industry-specific recruiting trips to regions within California, hearing from employers about their professional journeys and the pathways they followed to career success.

Manny Machado, engineering career specialist in UC Merced’s Student Career Center, coordinated the March visit with help from two colleagues, employer services manager Magali Torres and internship and employer services coordinator Xue Lee.

“A Career Trek is when students have the chance to visit a nearby organization to hear more about their recruitment efforts, and to learn more about the work that they do,” Machado said. “During these trips, students get the opportunity to tour facilities, hear about job and internship opportunities they can get involved with, network with employees of that organization and hear more about professional pathways at said organization.

“These Career Treks are also a good way to expose scholars to different career industries while also giving them a chance to showcase their skillsets.”

Students met with engineering professionals at the rail project’s regional office.

“These professionals gave insight to their professional journeys, gave advice on how students can be proactive in their career development and talked about how the different engineering disciplines are needed on a large-scale project like this,” Machado said.

Final designs for the high-speed rail project call for about 500 miles of track stretching from Southern California to San Francisco. The first segment, in various stages of construction since 2015, is a 170-mile stretch from Merced to Bakersfield.

At the project’s Hanford Viaduct, students learned about environmental considerations for construction sites, toured the top of the structure, heard how the structure will become earthquake proof and learned more about the professional experiences of the construction site managers. Students learned more about these issues at the Cedar Viaduct; because it’s further along in construction, they could compare the sites’ development.

Students also learned about the different engineering disciplines required for this work. As the project continues to develop, there will be different roles needed at different times. For example, once construction is further developed, electrical engineers will be vital in incorporating components needed for the stations and tracks. Other opportunities soon to be available include internships with partner organizations such as Stantec and Caltrans. And once work begins on the rail’s Merced station, there likely will be more chances for UC Merced students to be involved.

For this particular Career Trek, participating students had a once-in-a-lifetime experience. Once construction gets further along and trains start to run stations, the tours currently being hosted will no longer be offered to the public.

Students interested in learning more about Career Treks get can look at Instagram and view the events calendar through Handshake or go to the Career Center website.

The Student Career Center typically offers one or two Career Treks during the academic year. Previous destinations include Gallo and LinkedIn.

https://news.ucmerced.edu/news/2024/high-speed-rail-high-quality-jobs-career-trek-shows-students-opportunities

By Faughn Economy • New Developments • Quality of Life 0 Comments

Ribbon cutting for McKinley interchange June 12, groundbreaking for 120 Bypass/99 work is July 17

Manteca — when Mayor Gary Singh and fellow council members along with other dignitaries cut the ribbon to open the McKinley Avenue interchange next month — will  have done something no other California city of under 100,000 has done this century.

And that’s complete three major interchange projects, including two done with lion’s share of the cost being funded by the city.

It started with the replacement interchange at Lathrop Road and Highway 99 that was completed in 2012.

It included completing the transformation of the Union Road and 120 Bypass interchange in 2020 as the first diverging diamond interchange in California.

And it will be marked Wednesday, June 12, with the Mckinley ribbon cutting for what will be the fifth interchange along the 6-mile stretch of the 120 Bypass.

That’s three new or revamped interchanges opening within 12 years at a cost in excess of $85 million.

And the city is just getting started.

On Monday, July 17, the groundbreaking for the first of three phases involved in the $154 million Highway 99/120 Bypass/Austin Road interchanges will take place.

That will address two more interchanges, bringing the number to five.

Meanwhile, the city is in the process of funding preliminary work to repeat the diverging diamond redo at Union Road including the separate pedestrian crossing for the 120 Bypass at Airport Way and Main Street.

The first of the two projects to break ground is expected to be Airport Way.

Singh’s goal is to see the three additional projects completed within the next 10 years.

If that happens, the city will have had a role in seven major interchange projects in 22 years with an overall tab in excess of $300 million.

The first phase of the 120/99 work includes more than $8 million in city funding to allow the replacement overpass on Austin Road that would also bridge Moffat Boulevard and the railroad tracks to be widened to four lanes.

The balance of the first phase funding has already been lined up. Work includes adding a second transition lane from the eastbound 120 Bypass to southbound Highway 99.

When the first phase is completed in two years or so, the funding is expected to be in place to add a second transition lane from northbound Highway 99 to the westbound 120 Bypass.

The third phase will require Manteca to secure much of the funding.

It involves long expensive braided ramps to restore access to northbound Highway 99 from Austin and access to Austin Road from southbound Highway 99.

Because the Austin Road and 120 Bypass/Highway 99 interchanges are so close, access for traffic going to and from Austin Road from the 120 Bypass requires ramps to start for such movements far away from the interchange.

It is needed to avoid traffic slowdowns, congestion, and reduce the potential for accidents.

As an example, it will require the off-ramp for eastbound 120 Bypass traffic heading to Austin Road to start just past the Main Street on ramp.

The ramp will then need a separate bridge structure to cross Moffat and the railroad tracks. As it curves alongside the transition lanes to Highway 99, another ramp for northbound  Highway 99 traffic seeking to exit at Austin Road will start at a point between the Yosemite Avenue and 120 Bypass interchanges on the Highway 99 corridor.

Those two ramps will braid somewhere between the 120 Bypass and 99 interchanges to allow access to both northbound and southbound Austin Road.

Given the ramps will open up a large swath of southeast Manteca to development, the city is pursuing a benefit district to fund the city’s share of the project.

The third phase will also include the widening of the Bypass from Highway 99 to Airport Way to six lanes with the potential for transition lanes between interchanges such as the one on either side of the Union Road interchange.

https://www.mantecabulletin.com/news/local-news/ribbon-cutting-mckinley-interchange-june-12-groundbreaking-120-bypass99-work-july-17/