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5/28/2003 Issue |
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February 23, 2004 Issue of
ConstructionTechnologyToday.com |
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(2/23/04) Chicago Tries "e-Permits" To Unclog Traffic in City
Hall By Tudor Hampton for ENR
Source ENR Magazine |
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What
the City of Chicago is trying to do for local builders is similar
to what financial institutions have done for their Internet-savvy
customers. However, the city is banking on its new online
“e-permitting” system to help users save money rather than spend
it. The system promises to save time for city employees and
project teams. “We’ve tried to create a mechanism for contractors
who do large-volume work to get their permits 24/7,” says John A.
Roberson, director of Chicago’s Dept.
of Construction and Permits. Through an Internet connection, the
department is allowing contractors and homeowners to apply for
routine building permits and check status with a click. In
January, DCAP officially launched its online portal and made it
available for users needing permits fast to add or change
hot-water heaters, residential garages or simple electrical
systems, at a surcharge of $1 per request. There has been
little feedback so far because few people have used it. Last year,
the city received 70,830 permit applications. Dawson says only a
few of the permits required extensive plan reviews (9,631), while
a much larger portion did not (54,789). The city wants to drive
more of these routine applications on line, he says. For
the complete story, visit
www.enr.com |
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(2/23/04)
Security Alert! Source: BUILDER Magazine by Steve Zurier
If you think a Trojan Horse is the mascot of the University of Southern
California's football team or Klez is Jewish folk music, it's time to focus
on information technology (IT) security. Builders are not immune to the
threats posed by the hacker community's bag of tricks, the top three of
which IT security research group the Computer Security Institute (CSI) says
are computer viruses, identity theft, and denial-of-service attacks.
Builders have long put IT issues on the back burner and not having a plan
for IT security is asking for trouble. It's time to understand that the
threat is real: The CSI's 2003 survey of 530 mid- to large-sized companies
found that the average company lost $803,973 to cyber crime last year. And
e-mail security service MessageLabs estimates that by this April, 70 percent
of Internet e-mail traffic will be spam, some of which contain malicious
codes and viruses. What can builders do? For starters, get religious about
backups, don't give access to employees beyond their job definitions, and be
sure you have anti-virus software covering all the computers on your
network. "I see a number of our builder clients concerned about the
Internet, but too many don't have up-to-date, anti-virus software [or]
backups of their data, or they set up a firewall but leave it and don't
change the default password from the vendor," says Bruce McCully, owner of
Dynamic Edge in Ann Arbor, Mich., a technology consulting firm that works
with local builders. For the complete story, visit
www.builderonline.com
===================
(2/23/04) CE
NEWS Magazine 2004 Contest re: Best Civil Engineering Firm to Work For Is
Underway Source CENews.com CE News sponsors the
annual Best Civil Engineering Firm To Work For Contest to provide meaningful
recognition of top-notch firms. Such an honor is intended to aid in their
staff recruitment and retainment initiatives. A side benefit of the contest
is that it challenges firms to improve and helps raise the bar of civil
engineering firms nationwide. To participate in the contest, visit the
CE News website and
download the application
form. To view the results of past contests,
check out the October 2001, 2002, and 2003 issues, visit the
past winners webpage.
==========================
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(2/23/03) Structural Engineers Association of California
Puts Out Call for Abstracts - Deadline 3/1/04 Source: EERI.org Abstracts are requested for papers to
be presented at the technical sessions of the 2004 SEAOC Convention, to be
held in Monterey, CA on Aug. 25 - 28, 2004. Papers may either focus on
a recent project or a research and development effort. Abstracts
of not more than 250 words are due by March 1, 2004. For more
information, visit the
SEAOC Call For Papers page of the EERI's website.
==============
(2/23/04) NYC Dept. of Design and Construction to Hold Competition for Street Light Design
Registration Deadline 3/12/04, Stage 1 Submission Deadline 5/14/04
Source: SEAINT.org
New
York City's Department of Design and Construction in partnership with the
Department of Transportation is pleased to announce an international design
competition for a new streetlight for the City of New York. The winning
design and its variations will be used to light streets, sidewalks, and
parks within the city's five boroughs. The design challenge facing the
competitors is to create an innovative, state-of-the-art design that
responds to the unique diversity of the city's architecture and urban
landscape while meeting the technical performance standards for a New York
City streetlight. Jurors include Elizabeth Diller, Peter Eisenman, Paul
Marantz, and Guy Nordenson. This is a two-stage, international design
competition. The competition format asks competitors to submit their concept
ideas in Stage I, and for a jury to select three competitors who will
receive an honorarium to produce more detailed designs in Stage II. Stage I
of the competition is open to the entire design community including
architects, artists, engineers, landscape architects, planners, urban
designers, lighting designers, product and industrial designers, and
manufacturers. For more info, visit
the Design Competition
webpage.
===============
(2/23/04) 2004 NOVA AWARDS Banquet Scheduled for April,
Nominations Can Be Viewed Online Source: CIF website The
2004 NOVA Awards will be
presented at the 16th Annual Innovation Celebration Banquet on Thursday,
April 29, 2004 at the Ford Conference and Event Center in Dearborn,
Michigan. Early Bird reservations have been extended to March 1. For a
complete list of this year's nominees, and for information about making
reservations, visit www.cif.org. |
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