In case you were wondering, Lussenhop's really just the patsy. Ask yourself
where he could possibly be getting enough money to pay for his white-shoe
lawyer from Klehr Harrison, or to keep shoving the bucks to Sam Olshin to keep
changing his renderings and showing up at meetings to go over (endlessly)
floor
plans that aren't the issue for anybody in the community. Especially in the
economic climate that's been driving the country into a recession since last
June, when projects are being canceled left and right because investors have
pulled back from financing construction projects.
No, Penn isn't putting up the dough. All they're doing is sitting back while
the Nobel Laureates in the Real Estate Dept try to cover up for an
ill-advised decision to buy a building they now claim nobody at the University
wants.
Campus Apartments is paying for it all. Why? Because it's really their
project. As proof:
1. Ed Datz (one of those Nobel Laureates) wrote a letter to the Woodland
Terrace Neighbors Assn in which he blurted out that "the University of
Pennsylvania (Penn) has a Letter of Intent (LOI) with the West
Philadelphia-based developer Campus Apartments to redevelop this site." And,
further, "Campus
Apartments is responsible for managing the development process."
2. Note the highlighted section of the item below from today's DP:
When I met Bob Bark outside of Fresh Grocer last week, I thought I'd be
writing a simple pro-union column.
Bark had handed me a flyer that announced: "Newsflash! Campus Apartments has
decided to hire an electrical contractor who does not pay what the
government says is a fair wage."
Bark is an ordinary guy, a Philadelphia native whose black hair is tinged
with the first signs of gray. He's also a representative of the local chapter
of the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers, the major union for
electricians in Philadelphia. That's why Bark has been out there for the past
month or so, handing fliers to anyone who will take them.
The union's cause is simple. Campus Apartments is developing condos at 43rd
and Spruce, and they hired a non-union company called Primary Electric for
the job. The IBEW Local 98 - that's the Philadelphia chapter - says this is
wrong, since Primary Electric is a small company that can't afford to pay its
employees as well as the union does.
Instead, the IBEW Local 98 argues, Campus Apartments should exclusively hire
union laborers, who are guaranteed fair wages and health insurance for
themselves and their families.
"It's very important to me," Bark says. "I have four children. Being [in]
middle class America, I only want my kids to do better than me."
Unions are controversial in a city like Philadelphia, where tales of strikes
and bureaucracy permeate the local news. They have a reputation for being
slow and expensive.
Talk to Bark for a few minutes, however, and you might be convinced
otherwise.
He's worked as an electrician for years because he dreams that one day,
he'll be able to send his kids to a school like Penn. Since the union provides
excellent benefits, he hasn't had to worry about health care or not being able
to find a job.
I admit I was on Bark's side of the story when I went to check out the
Campus Apartments construction site. The way he described Primary Electric, I
expected sweatshop conditions and a tyrant boss who provided no health
coverage
for his employees.
But instead, I talked to a young Primary Electric employee remarkably
similar to Bark - just trying, he said, to earn a living for his family.
The electrician wouldn't tell me his name, but he said he graduated from
Temple University a few years ago.
Primary Electric only has a few employees, but he's happy with the benefits
the company provides for him and his family.
"I love my small, family business," he said. "I gotta feed my kids, too."
According to Campus Apartments CEO David Adelman, whether or not his company
contracts with union laborers is really just a question of cost. He chose a
non-union company for this job, but IBEW workers will be completing the next
major Campus Apartments project, the new hotel at 40th and Baltimore streets.
"It's not [the IBEW's] God-given right to get the work," Adelman said.
"We award work on price, quality of work, the time at which the work will be
completed."
Adelman should add one more criterion to that list: Contractors must pay
their workers fair wages and provide comprehensive health insurance to their
families.
Unions do a lot of good, ensuring rights for workers who otherwise might
have none. But small businesses often succeed where unions fail, doing
efficient
and locally-specific work. There's no easy answer in the union vs. non-union
debate.
But one thing's clear: it's up to big companies like Campus Apartments to
make sure they only do business with socially responsible contractors. Both
Bark and the Primary Electric workers have the right to health insurance and
fair pay, whether or not they join a union.
Remember, you read it first here, on the popu-list
,
Al Krigman
**************Create a Home Theater Like the Pros. Watch the video on AOL
Home.
(http://home.aol.com/diy/home-improvement-eric-stromer?video=15?ncid=aolhom00030000000001)
