Donald Drapkin, the late deal-making hedge fund manager and a close associate of financier Ron Perelman, had a mansion to make a billionaire drool. It was 40,000-square-feet in Alpine, New Jersey, filled with treasures including a Picasso painting, Chagall tapestries, a $2.5 million wardrobe, Elvis’s and Eric Clapton’s guitars and Joe Louis’s boxing gloves.
And every inch of it stunk of smoke.
Howard…
source https://www.wsj.com/articles/bringing-high-end-homes-back-from-the-brink-11560350827
The most recent federal inspections of Housing Authority of the City of Annapolis properties from 2018 showed poor scores of most properties with some, including Newtowne 20 and Morris H. Blum, showing no improvement from prior inspections.
According to the physical inspections conducted by Housing and Urban Development, the housing authority received scores below 60 out of 100 in 2018 with a 39 for Newtowne 20, a 51 for Morris H. Blum and a 41 for Robinwood. HUD, which distributes funding to the housing authority, did not provide scores for Harbor House Apartments/Eastport Terrace and Bloomsbury Square for 2018. Bloomsbury Square did not require an inspection last year because of a high score the prior year, at 81.
Residents from Annapolis public housing properties filed a lawsuit last month against the city and the housing authority stating the city failed to inspect and license properties. Residents in the lawsuit claim they lived in deplorable conditions and cited issues like water damage, sewage leaks and mold.
Through a random sampling of apartment units, federal inspectors review a property site including the building exterior, common area, units and the building system. The weight of the scoring comes down to what is called the “exigent health and safety” (EHS).
“Examples of EHS deficiencies include blocking of emergency fire exits, exposed wires and missing or inoperable smoke detectors,” HUD regional public affairs officer Nika Edwards said via email.
For properties that have one of those deficiencies, the public housing agency must address issues HUD identifies within 72 hours, according to Edwards. HUD identified those deficiencies at Newtowne 20, Morris H. Blum and Robinwood.
According to physical inspection report by HUD, Morris H. Blum has declined in score each year since 2015. In 2015, the property received a high score of 87 but two years later dropped to 66 and even lower with a 51 in 2018.
Harbor House went from a score of 62 in 2015 to 46 in 2016 and an increase to 54 by 2017. Other properties have ranked relatively low as well.
Robinwood went from 63 in 2015 to 30 by 2017 and 50 later that year. Newtowne 20 saw an extreme decline that has not gotten substantially better. In 2015, the property earned an 81 but in 2017 HUD inspectors gave Newtowne a 29 in January and then a 34 in October.
Housing authority officials did not respond for comment regarding the scores.
When a public housing property scores less than 80 it must be inspected every year. If the score is between 80 and 89, properties are inspected every two years and from 90 to 100, it is inspected every three.
As part of the physical inspections of public housing properties, HUD inspectors look at factors like overgrown vegetation, water leaks, health and safety, and the state of apartments or units to determine if the condition is decent, sanitary and safe, according to guidance regulation documents.
According to Edwards, the public housing team in Baltimore has worked with the housing authority by providing technical assistance to “think through other options,” when it comes to preserving affordable housing.
“Ultimately, we need to be thinking of what is best for the residents and the quality of life. What can we do to preserve it and what long terms strategies can we look to — to make a significant impact,” Edwards said.
The inspection routine is also undergoing changes after the federal agency realized housing authorities and private owners of HUD-subsidized housing have become used to the inspection process. One of the changes will be a shift from a 90 to 120 notification of inspection to 14 days.
Executive director of the housing authority and others are looking for ways to fund redevelopment of Newtowne 20. In May, Beverly Wilbourn and her agency applied for two programs through HUD for Section 18 federal subsidies, which can be used for obsolete properties, and 4% tax credits.
The agency hopes to start relocation in August or September, according to Wilbourn. The goal is to demolish and rebuild the property, which is made up of 78 aged units, in early 2020.
In response to a New York Times article recounting a 2008 fire described as “the biggest disaster in the history of the music business” in which thousands of Universal Music Group master recordings were destroyed, the company has issued a statement disputing the characterization of the damage it caused to the company’s archives, saying the article contains “numerous inaccuracies, misleading statements, contradictions and fundamental misunderstandings of the scope of the incident and affected assets.”
“Music preservation is of the highest priority for us and we are proud of our track record,” the statement reads in part. “While there are constraints preventing us from publicly addressing some of the details of the fire that occurred at NBCUniversal Studios facility more than a decade ago, the incident – while deeply unfortunate – never affected the availability of the commercially released music nor impacted artists’ compensation.”
The statement goes on to cite “the tens of thousands of back catalog recordings that we have already issued in recent years – including master-quality, high-resolution, audiophile versions of many recordings that the story claims were ‘destroyed,’” and says “UMG invests more in music preservation and development of hi-resolution audio products than anyone else in music,” listing several restoration and preservation projects.
A rep for the TImes did not immediately respond to Variety‘s requests for comment.
However, UMG’s statement does not dispute that the damage to the archives — which saw the destruction of 500,000 recordings, according to an estimate in a 2009 confidential UMG report cited in the article — was extreme. According to the article, the fire, which took place on June 1, 2008 on the backlot of Universal Studios Hollywood, destroyed “almost all of the master recordings stored in the vault … including those produced by some of the most famous musicians since the 1940s, [likely including] masters by Billie Holiday, Louis Armstrong, Duke Ellington, Al Jolson, Bing Crosby, Ella Fitzgerald and Judy Garland; as well as some of Chuck Berry’s greatest recordings, the masters of some of Aretha Franklin’s first appearances on record, almost of all of Buddy Holly’s masters and John Coltrane’s masters in the Impulse Records collection. Also lost were recordings by Ray Charles, B.B. King, the Four Tops, Joan Baez, Neil Diamond, Sonny and Cher, Joni Mitchell, Cat Stevens, Gladys Knight and the Pips, Al Green, Elton John, Eric Clapton, Jimmy Buffett, the Eagles, Aerosmith, Rufus and Chaka Khan, Barry White, Patti LaBelle, Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers, the Police, Sting, Steve Earle, R.E.M., Janet Jackson, Guns N’ Roses, Mary J. Blige, No Doubt, Nine Inch Nails, Snoop Dogg, Nirvana, Beck, Sheryl Crow, Tupac Shakur, Eminem, 50 Cent and the Roots.”
A source close to the situation confirmed that the damage from the fire was severe and that initial comments from representatives of the company, which was under different management at the time, were not entirely up-front about the extent of the damage. But the source took issue with the assertion that priceless recordings have been “lost forever,” the “breathless” tone of the article, and some comments by Randy Aronson, a former UMG employee quoted in the article.
The author of the article, Jody Rosen, described the loss as “historic, and even Universal Music Group itself — privately — viewed what happened in bleak terms,” he says, citing a 2009 internal document: “Lost in the fire was, undoubtedly, a huge musical heritage.”
Citing UMG documents, the article says the structure in question, Building 6197, was UMG’s main west coast storehouse of masters and a primary storage facility for the company, holding “analog tape masters dating back as far as the late 1940s, as well as digital masters of more recent vintage. It held multitrack recordings, the raw recorded materials — each part still isolated, the drums and keyboards and strings on separate but adjacent areas of tape — from which mixed or ‘flat’ analog masters are usually assembled. And it held session masters, recordings that were never commercially released.” The loss included recordings from the archives of labels UMG acquired or partnered with over the years, including Decca, Chess, Impulse, MCA, ABC, A&M, Geffen and Interscope, and many others.
Aronson “recalls hearing” that the company estimated the value of the value of the loss at $150 million, but such damage is impossible to value, due to the imprecise records of what exactly was on the tapes and hard drives in the vault.
A March 2009 internal document titled “Vault Loss Meeting” and cited in the article reads, “The West Coast Vault perished, in its entirety. Lost in the fire was, undoubtedly, a huge musical heritage.”
While the fire may well have been the single greatest loss of recorded music assets in contemporary history, it is hardly the first; in 1978 a vast number of classic Atlantic and Elektra recordings were lost in a warehouse fire. Nor would it be the last: a flood several years ago at Universal’s storage facility in New Jersey damaged many recordings, and recordings from Prince’s “vault” at his Paisley Park compound were found to have water and mold damage, although they have been restored and moved to a facility in Los Angeles. In the past, record companies and studios were notoriously cavalier with historic recordings, particularly when storage became an issue. In the mid-1990s a number of high-quality bootlegs by the Rolling Stones, the Who and others hit the market after Olympic Studios in London closed down and discarded the tapes in garbage bins.
Despite its at-times dramatic tone, the article does contextualize the assets that were lost, which are primarily historic in value. “John Coltrane and Patsy Cline music has not vanished from the earth; right now you can use a streaming service to listen to Coltrane and Cline records whose masters burned on the backlot,” it reads. “But those masters still represent an irretrievable loss. When the tapes disappeared, so did the possibility of sonic revelations that could come from access to the original recordings. Information that was logged on or in the tape boxes is gone. And so are any extra recordings those masters may have contained — music that may not have been heard by anyone since it was put on tape.”
BURKE COUNTY, N.C. (FOX 46 CHARLOTTE) — Cleanup continues in Burke County after runoff from nearby counties and communities that led to high water and evacuations.
The water has receded, nut we are now hearing the stories of heroism, and what’s been left behind.
A look around Shannon Burkes’ camper tells just how much of a mess she has to clean up. When it flooded this weekend, it came up to her bed. Her carpet is still soaked.
“The damage I’ve had to deal with… only God can help me with, because I’ve lost everything,” said Shannon.
FOX 46 was there Sunday as the water was still high. Authorities are organizing evacuations, but some neighbors opted to stay until it was nearly too late.
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One of them was Burkes’ grandfather, a man that neighbor Matt Pruett stepped in to save.
“It was past my ankles inside. The man was sitting in the water,” Matt said.
That was in the camper. The water itself was chest deep on the ground. Kristy Pruett looked on as her husband and another man waded through it.
“He’s going out there and the electricity was still on and all the contamination,” said Kristy.
Crews with Chesterfield Fire and Rescue in Burke County say the road closures and the high water led to their volunteer force being manned for around 60 straight hours.
The runoff from nearby communities came down to these areas, leading to all the problems.
“It ruined things. My mother and dad have passed away, and it ruined things I’ll never be able to get back,” Burkes said.
The big worries now for some that were affected by the floods now include mold and the fact the water was contaminated with raw sewage. Many we spoke with say they’re looking for new places to stay, on higher ground.
source http://www.fox46charlotte.com/news/local-news/burke-county-neighbors-concerned-about-water-damage
Here’s expert advice, from CR and Energy Star, on getting the most from your dehumidifier.
Set the humidity level. The optimal relative humidity level is between 30 and 50 percent, according to Energy Star (and 30 to 40 percent in colder areas during heating season). If the humidity is higher than that, it can breed dust mites, mildew, and mold, and trigger allergies.
Pick the right spot. Be sure to allow enough room for air to freely flow into and out of the dehumidifier. Most of the models in our ratings release air through the top, but some vent out the side or rear. Regardless, they should have free space all around the dehumidifier. Your owner’s manual will have specifics for your model.
Close all windows and doors. Enclosing your space allows the dehumidifier to work more efficiently.
Empty the tank regularly. When the tank is full, an indicator lights up and the dehumidifier shuts off. To keep the dehumidifier running when you’re out of the house, empty the tank regularly in high season. Or you can connect a hose to any of the tested dehumidifiers to divert the water to a drain nearby. Eight dehumidifiers in our ratings have a built-in water pump that pushes water horizontally or vertically through the hose and into a sink or even outside (through a basement window, for example). We note which dehumidifiers have a built-in pump on the Features & Specs page in the dehumidifier ratings.
Keep it clean. The filter cleans the air that flows through the dehumidifier, and when it’s dirty, your dehumidifier’s efficiency takes a hit. Most models in our ratings have an indicator light to tell you when it is time to clean the filter. Wash and dry it regularly, following your manual’s advice. While you’re at it, see the manual’s advice on cleaning the grill. When the grill is dirty, air movement is slowed.
source https://www.consumerreports.org/dehumidifiers/how-to-get-the-most-from-your-dehumidifier/
BIGELOW, Ark. — Lots of families are finally returning to their homes as the Arkansas River recedes following historic flooding. For many, the worry that comes with evacuating is being replaced by the sadness of damage and the exhaustion of demolition.
Doris Delph is trying to get into the process of repairing her Bigelow home as quickly as possible.
“I had no idea what I was coming back to,” she said Monday. “And at first, I thought it was just a small amount of water. But after I got inside, it was up, like, three or four feet.”
RELATED: Homeowners come to terms with muddy mess left behind from flooding
She returned Saturday for the first time since the flooding forced her to evacuate. “It was so hard to see,” she recalled. “You know, it took me a long time to build this house. And when I came in and saw the devastation and things floating around, the floors looking horrible. It was one of the hardest things that I’ve had to see.”
Delph got the water out of her house but saw how quickly flooded walls and floors can cause problems. “I noticed that there’s mold starting already that I didn’t see when I was here on Saturday,” she said.
She hired Amazing Grace Restoration to do the demo work after an inspection Monday afternoon. Stephen Ardeneaux, who owns the company, used an infrared camera and a moisture meter to determine the severity of the damage.
“The water was about a foot and a half into the home,” he said, holding a moisture meter to a kitchen wall, “but as we come up the drywall here, we’re still wet, because it’s going to wick.”
Ardeneaux said water will wick its way up insulation and drywall as long as the water is allowed to remain, which highlights the need for homeowners to promptly remediate flood damage.
All the water sitting inside Delph’s home during several warm days made the air inside incredibly humid. Mold was growing on all of her living room furniture and some of the furniture in her garage, and a thick layer formed on the wood dresser in a guest bedroom.
Ardeneaux said it is easy to develop breathing problems from mold, so the best way to protect yourself is to get rid of everything moldy or wet.
“On Facebook, I’ve seen a lot, people saying, ‘just take bleach and kill it,’” he mentioned. “Well, that’s not the end result that you want. You do want to kill it, but the best policy; we’ve been trained, the industry standard is remove and replace.”
Amazing Grace will help Delph document all the damage as they remove all the items from inside her home and discard the ruined floors and walls. It could be another week or two before her insurance company shows up, but with photos of her possessions and the damage to her house, she can proceed to demolition.
It’s a task she’s not looking forward to, but one she is ready to begin.
“It will be hard, because, you know, there is no place like home,” she said. “But you know, I’ve asked the Lord to give me peace, and I’ve got that peace from Him, a peace that surpasses no understanding.”
Ardeneaux said it is okay for homeowners to do the demolition on their own. His first tip is to be overly cautious of electricity.
“Think safety,” he advised. “Electrical issues could be a problem, especially if it rose into their outlets. If they’ve got electrical things plugged in and they’ve got standing water, things can short out, and you don’t want to get shocked or electrocuted. So, you want to shut the main power off to your house or have an electrician come in and clear the space by just checking to make sure that there are no issues with your electrical.”
RELATED: If your home was damaged during the Arkansas River flood, here’s what you can do
He said homeowners should open windows when they can to improve ventilation, and not take chances with mold. “Grab a couple of these small N95 masks,” he said. “They’re at Home Depot and Lowe’s, and just wear these when you’re inside the house, whether you’re in there just walking around. Protect you, protect your kids, people that might be helping you do the cleanup. This and gloves will help immensely to help with the contamination levels.”
He said homeowners should ask to see the certification of anyone they consider hiring to work on their homes, and that they should keep every receipt related to home repairs and take pictures of everything affected by flooding.
“Whether you have flood insurance through your homeowner’s policy or you’re applying for FEMA assistance, the number one thing that you need to do—whether you’re saving something or discarding something—is to take photos,” he stated. “Take videos and photos for when you’re filing, and you have to make all your lists out, you want to have photo documentation, so you remember everything, number one, but number two, you have proof that it was yours.”
LOCKHART, Texas (FOX 7 Austin) — Many people in the Lockhart area are still recovering following last night’s storm. The winds were strong enough to rip the roof off of a home as well as knock over trees.
“It hasn’t sunk in, I don’t know what I’m going to do,” said Veronique Matthews.
She was left to pick up the pieces after Sunday’s storm tore through her home near Lockhart. The roof gone and piles of debris are inside the living room
“The house was built with cement walls which I did and I think those cement walls literally saved us,” Matthews said. “We were downstairs between two cement walls and we are still here.”
In those 45 minutes Matthews was taking cover, she says she could clearly hear the moment she lost the roof.
“The noise was it was beyond understanding,” Matthews said. “We heard the roof start peeling back, it was a while before we realized the entire roof was peeling off the house.”
The storm left most of the roof right in their front yard and also caused damage to the inside, but to her surprise many wall decorations were untouched. Matthews had received roof and water damage from Hurricane Harvey two years ago but nothing to this level.
“There’s two bedrooms sort of livable but the fact that the ceilings were wet during the height of the storm that will be mold, those ceilings will be completely covered in mold,” said Matthews.
What concerned Matthews the most during the storm wasn’t the home. Her place used to also be a horse therapy ranch so she still has plenty of animals on her land, ranging from dogs to miniature horses. All were accounted for the next day.
“They are absolutely fine they were not stressed,” said Matthews.
Just down the road more storm damage can be found. People spent the day cutting up fallen trees. Matthews says it could have been a lot worse.
“The house can go, we are ok, we will make it,” said Matthews.
For now, she plans to take it day by day while she figures out what to do next.
source http://www.fox7austin.com/news/local-news/storm-rips-roof-off-home-near-lockhart
WEBBERS FALLS — «It’s devastating,» Hannah Shanks said as she threw flood-damaged textbooks into a dumpster. «It’s hard enough to get them, let alone throw them away. It’s devastating.»
Yet, it was something Shanks had to do. Late May floods swept through Webbers Falls School, making library books and most textbooks too wet and moldy to read. The books — along with bookshelves, desks, chairs and other ruined supplies — overflow from a massive dumpster outside the school. Long tables with attached benches line up outside the cafeteria, also no longer useable.
Inside the school, walls are dotted with black mold. Wood basketball courts buckled like ocean waves. Slimy, smelly mud coats the floors.
Hannah Shanks stacks flood-damaged textbooks on a cart before hauling the books to a trash bin.
School Superintendent Dixie Swearingen wore rubber muck boots over her jeans as she walked through the school on Thursday. She said anything below the waterline must be trashed. The entire interior must be redone.
«It’s going to have to be a total gut,» she said. «We’re going to have to gut everything.»
Swearingen said school officials came on Sunday to flip all the breakers, «because we knew all our outlets have been compromised.»
Soon came the arduous work of inspecting and cleaning up.
«All of our library books are destroyed,» Swearingen said, adding that she hopes to salvage some language arts, government and elementary textbooks.
«They’ve been in there for a long time. We don’t know how moist it is or whether they’re going to mold after storage,» Swearingen said. «We’re going to store them in a building that doesn’t have controlled air.»
Bobby Herriman of Buckhorn Volunteer Fire Department washes and dries the Webbers Falls gym lobby. Area fire departments have helped clean Webbers Falls School from flood damage and debris.
Flooding also destroyed district technology, Swearingen said.
«We had eight computer carts, which are gone,» she said. «We lost around 100 iPads and probably 180 Chromebooks.»
In the kitchen, flood waters pulled a walk-in freezer from the wall, Swearingen said.
Brenda Catron, Head Start advocate for Cherokee Nation, said everything in her area is gone.
«Mud everywhere,» she said. «It’s bad. It made me cry.»
Swearingen said other districts have offered to send textbooks and desks. Gore Public Schools is storing frozen food in its freezer and offering its band room as temporary Webbers Falls offices.
Tahlequah Public Schools offered 10 portable buildings, featuring 20 classrooms along one hall, if Webbers Falls pays to move them, she said.
Books, shelves, desks and a classroom floor at Webbers Falls School show effects of being submerged in floodwaters for days.
«We just have to make sure we have space to put them,» Swearingen said. «It costs around $6,800 to $6,900 to move them.»
The district also is working with its insurance company, adjusters and the Federal Emergency Management Agency on settling costs.
Swearingen said her goal is to start school the day after Labor Day.
Meanwhile, teachers, school employees, townspeople, FFA groups and others are helping with cleanup. Hannah Shanks, who has grandchildren at Webbers Falls, helped other volunteers pack the «salvageable» books and send them to Warner Public Schools for storage.
Volunteer Fire Departments also have helped. They included Texanna, Tenkiller, Buckhorn, Warner, Webbers Falls and Shady Grove.
Some school treasures, including years of trophies, have been saved because they were placed up high, she said.
She said she took senior panels — photos of each Webber Falls High School graduate since the 1950s — and stored them at her house.
«I thought, if I get devastated, I’ve got to have some memories of Webbers Falls Schools,» said Swearingen, who graduated from Webbers Falls in 1975. She said many people have texted her asking if the senior panels are safe.
Flood waters caused the Webbers Falls School basketball courts to warp like ocean waves.
Even with all the school damage, Swearingen sought to put things in perspective.
«This is important for the community,» she said. «But, I have students who lost their home. My community supporters have lost business. The farmers have lost millions of dollars in damage.»
MEMPHIS, Tenn. — Buying a car is stressful enough. Buying a flood-damaged car is more than most people bargain for.
Residents around the Memphis area woke up Friday morning to major rain and flooding.
Part of a Memphis car dealership lot flooded. Employees at the dealership are assessing whether any of the cars sustained water damage.
In the meantime, the FOX13 Investigative team set out to show consumers signs to look for when it comes to flood damage.
Download the FOX13 Memphis app to receive alerts from breaking news in your neighborhood.
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“Even as someone who works on cars, I wouldn’t want to buy a flooded car,” Joey Barton with Barton’s Car Care said. “When I get a vehicle, I want it to work right,” he said.
Barton said while it’s a good idea to look for mildew and mold inside a car, that aspect of flood damage can usually be cleaned up. He advised people to look under the hood for signs.
“Of course, you look at the airbox. If you have a wet air filter, or there are leaves at the bottom of the airbox, you know there was water in the engine at one point in time. That’s a red flag. If you see that, you don’t want to buy the car,” Barton said.
Other tips include checking the bottom of the vehicle for rust and inspecting underneath floor board mats for dirt or damp floors.
The Mid-South BBB advises that any car that has sustained anything beyond minor flooding damage is “a risky venture.”
Officials also said even low water levels can cause major damage to the electrical system. Barton agreed and said those issues are not only difficult to diagnose, but they can be pricey and expensive to repair.
While people at home can do many of these things on their own, Barton said a $25 car inspection may be the best idea for peace of mind.
“It can save you thousands, and make sure you’re not buying a lemon,” he said.
© 2019 Cox Media Group.
RAPID CITY, S.D. — Late Wednesday night the Cornerstone Thrift Store in Rapid City, was broken into. Money and gift cards were stolen from the safe, and the fire sprinklers were triggered. 
The fire sprinklers caused water damage in half of the store as well as in the offices. The store has managed the flooding but the amount of permanent damage is still uncertain. So far they have identified water damage to the walls, which may need further inspection and reparation.
In order to prevent more damage and issues with mold, they have fans set up all over the facilities.
Only half of the thrift store is closed and is being used to dry out damaged furniture. While the other side of the store is still open and operating. They are uncertain of when the closed area will be re-opened.
Law enforcement is currently looking for leads.
source https://www.newscenter1.tv/cornerstone-break-in-leaves-thrift-store-with-water-damage/
Damage Mold 