Miami developer to build landmark oceanfront tower

The SkyRise Miami tower is pictured in  this artist's  rendering courtesy of Berkowitz Development Group, Inc. Credit: Reuters/Berkowitz Development Group, Inc.



(Reuters) - Paris has the Eiffel Tower and now a developer is hoping to give Miami its own eye-catching landmark.

Jeff Berkowitz plans to raise $300 million to $400 million, partly from Chinese investors, to build the 305-meter tall SkyRise Miami tower. It will feature fine dining, as well as a bungee jump platform, and a vertical "drop ride" that will send thrill-seekers plummeting 50 stories.

"This is going to become Miami's Eiffel Tower," Berkowitz said, estimating it will attract 3.2 million visitors annually.

The structure will have the shape of a vertical hairpin and will be open at the sides to allow hurricane-force winds to blow through.

The steel and glass monolith designed by Arquitectonica, one of Miami's top architecture firms, will have to go through the permit process with local authorities. It has the support of city officials, including Miami Dade County Mayor Carlos Gimenez.

The Federal Aviation Administration, which must approve building heights and flights paths in and out of Miami International Airport, okayed the building project a few days ago.

Jeff Berkowitz is negotiating an agreement with South Florida-based General Growth Prosperities, the owners of the waterfront shopping center in Miami where the proposed tower will be built.

The project started three years ago. In 2011 and 2012 developers and architects made several trips to Toronto for wind tunnel testing to ensure the tower can withstand the hurricane-force winds that sometimes hit Miami.

Tishman Construction, builder of both the original and new World Trade Center will serve as general contractors. Montreal-based gsmprjct°, which designed the observation deck atop the Burj Khalifa in Dubai, once the world's tallest building, will handle the one that will sit on the SkyRise tower.

Berkowitz  is planning a three-city tour of China in the coming month to attract potential investors. The plan is to tempt potential investors with the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Service's EB-5 visa program, which offers green cards to people who invest $500,000 and $1 million and create or save 10 jobs in two years.

adapted from Reuters

Shocking Road Safety Ad Goes Viral (video)

"Mistakes", the latest road safety ad by the New Zealand Transport Agency, uses powerful imagery and emotion and has a grim message for drivers who love speeding.

The 60-second video of the ad campaign has gone viral on the Internet, which is exactly what the agency hoped for.

"Mistakes" aims to reduce the number of deaths and injuries from road accidents. National media manager of the transport agency, Andrew Knackstedt, explained that the ad targets regular drivers who drive "comfortably" fast, usually going beyond the speed limit.

The hard-hitting road safety ad features two drivers both making mistakes while driving. The ad explains that when people drive, they share the road with others. The speed drivers choose should consider the possibility of errors along the way.

New Zealand's Transport Agency got their point across as hundreds of people left comments and expressed their support for the powerful campaign. Others who have watched the video felt scared because it could happen to them in real life if they're not careful.

According to Mr Knackstedt, 20 per cent of fatal and serious injuries from vehicle accidents in New Zealand are caused by speed. The thought-provoking ad will run for two years.

The New Zealand Transport Agency and the Auckland Council are investigating road safety improvements, including a discussion of plans to protect pedestrians and cyclists.






                             Here's the SHOCKING ad

 


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Aarticle dapted from "International Business Time - Australia"

Chemical spill in West Virginia (video)

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Cuba to Privatize State Taxi Firm

                                             A man drives his Soviet-era Russian Lada taxi in Havana.

HAVANA — Thousands of Cuban state taxi drivers will soon lease their vehicles and work on their own as part of a reorganization of the country's taxi service aimed at improving efficiency, according to rules published on Wednesday.

In 1968 Cuba nationalized all retail business and fixed all prices. But in an attempt to stimulate the stagnant economy and reduce bureaucracy, it is giving some of it back in a form of legal private enterprise.

Drivers will become self-employed and lease a vehicle from Cubataxi - the official state taxi company - at a daily rate, according to the resolutions published in the official Gazette.

“Cubataxi will be downsized. The idea is to eliminate irregularities in the service and reduce inflated administrative payrolls. Cubataxi drivers are notorious for not using their meters” said Debora Canela Pina, a transportation ministry specialist at Cubadebate, an official on-line news site.

The new system is based on a pilot project that began in 2010 at a single garage in Havana. Thirty of the more than 2,000 state taxi drivers in the capital began leasing their vehicles instead of working for a wage and a small percentage of the tips.

The reorganization will improve service and 60 percent of taxis, many old Russian Ladas, will be replaced by newer models.

Outside the Havana Libre Hotel, two Cubataxi drivers said "We hope our new status will prove beneficial. Besides, we have no choice but to accept it or lose our jobs".


“We will pay 595 CUC (Cuban Convertible pesos) for the car and then after a month 39 CUC plus 40 CUP (Cuban pesos) a day,” Elio, one of the drivers, said at the time.

The drivers will be responsible for maintaining their taxi and gasoline, but will be able to buy parts and services from the state-company at reduced prices.

“This law will benefit us because the driver will have total control of his taxi and its maintenance,” said one driver, Alejandro Perez.

adapted from VOA