September-October 2020

AMAZ NG BU LDINGS YOU NEED (OR MIGHT WANT) TO KN W

PROFILE OF LOUIS SULLIVAN POLITICAL CORNER ARTCH TECTURE EGAL VIEW THE FACTOR THE ARCHITECTURE OF ROTTERDAM HAGIA SOPHIA

THE RAILROAD COMMISSION OF TEXAS

DESIGNING WITH COVID-19

THE RIGHT TO BEAR ARMS TR E DAT THE LIGHTER SIDE OF THE PANDEMIC

BY TH3 NUMB3RS REAL ESTATE F THE FU URE THE ARCHITECTURE OF DETROIT

THE FUTURE OF THE LAND BROKERAGE INDUSTRY THE THREE-FIFTHS COMPROMISE

The VOICE OF REAL ESTATE IN TEXAS

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16

THE BLUEPRINT

THE AMERICANS WITH DISABILITIES ACT (ADA) TURNS 30

An interview with Brian Soukup, Vice President for Government and Public Affairs of the ASID.

18

THE RAILROAD COMMISSION OF TEXAS

The who, what, why and how of the agency which oversees the development of Texas’s energy resources as told by Andrew Keese, the Commission’s spokesperson.

The ancient edifice and UN World Heritage Site is in the news as it reverts back to its religious roots.

THE TOBY AWARDS

The winners of BOMA’s 2020 international competition include two Texas buildings!

Contributing Editor Rose-Mary Rumbley compares the 1920s to the 2020s.

37

THE PAGE

The Three-Fifths Compromise.

38

LEASE CONCESSIONS AND COVID-19

CPA Ane Ohm offers what you need to know about the differences between lease concessions and lease modifications.

40

THE FUTURE OF THE LAND BROKERAGE INDUSTRY

Aaron Graham looks to technology as the pandemic is affecting the industry.

42

The Motor City is among the finest cities in the nation for its variety of styles and surviving collections of historical architecture.

TECHNOLOGY IS DISRUPTING (AND IMPROVING) THE RESIDENTIAL REAL ESTATE INDUSTRY

Made necessary by the coronavirus, positive changes are taking place.

44 27

RETURNING TO WORK

Designer Maike Cheng offers important design considerations in the era of COVID-19. FOUNDATIONS OF REAL ESTATE (FoRE)

The Urban Land Institute launches a new online learning curriculum. 28

LOUIS SULLIVAN – “FORM FOLLOWS FUNCTION”

A pictorial retrospective of the “father of skyscrapers.”

30

THE ARCHITECTURE OF ROTTERDAM

Awe-inspiring commercial buildings and medieval masterpieces jostle for space in this ever-expanding modern Dutch city.

BOOK REVIEWS

Mary Trump’s Too Much and Never Enough and Joe Jackman’s The Reinventionist’s Mindset.

48

EGAL VIEW – THE GOOD SAMARITAN

Attorney and Contributing Editor Anthony Barbieri examines how it works in Texas.

ARTCH TECTURE – SEEING THE ORDINARY AND MAKING IT EXTRAORDINARY Moscow painter Stanislav Plutenko brings his vivid dreams to life.

BUILDING AMERICA STARTS HERE

Contributing Editor Angela O’Byrne tells us about a revolutionary property which generates enough power for itself, its neighbors and a regional transportation network.

Saudi Arabia’s NEOM is not just a place, it’s a mindset – and an audacious dream.

Entrepreneur Siloh Moses presents an opportunity where one can invest in real estate and help others at the same time.

NS

CHECK

ABOUT US

Now in our 28th year, we’ve outgrown the ability the list all of our real estate affiliated associations and include their logos on just one page. reaches over 50,000 Texas real estate professionals quarterly! We proudly serve and service any and all real estate associations in the state of Texas - including (but not necessarily limited to) the ones you see here. If your group isn’t shown and you’d like for us to include pictures, information and event-coverage, please let us know. Email: editor@crestnetwork.com or call the number above.

EXECUTIVE STAFF

ANDREW A. FELDER: Publisher/Managing Editor. aafelder@crestpublicationsgroup.com

XENIA MONTERO: Graphic Designer. xeniam.design@gmail.com

ANNETTE LAWLESS: Social Media Manager. annettelawless@hotmail.com

MARK ANGLE: Director of Business Development. mark@crestnetwork.com

CONTRIBUTING EDITORS

ANGELA O’BYRNE, AIA: Amazing Buildings.

ROSE-MARY RUMBLEY: Herstory.

ANTHONY BARBIERI: Legal.

JULIE BRAND LYNCH: Professionals on the Move.

ADVISORY BOARD

ANDY GABEHART: President & CEO of Office Interiors Group, 247Workspace.com, United Electronics Recycling.

KIM GHEZ: Director of Marketing, Presidio Title.

KRISTIN HIETT, CAE: Executive Director/CEO – IREM Dallas Chapter.

KIM HOPKINS: Executive Director, CREW Dallas.

JONATHAN KRAATZ: Executive Director, USGBC Texas Chapter.

MYCHELE LORD: CEO, Lord Green Strategies.

DOUG MCMURRY: Executive Vice President, San Antonio AGC.

LAURA MCDONALD STEWART, RID, FASID, ILDA LEED AP: Editor of PLINTH and CHINTZ, an interior design blog.

JESSICA WARRIOR: Director of Property Management, Granite Properties.

STAFF, EDITORS & ADVISORY BOARD

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CONTRIBUTING WRITERS

Our Digital Edition is an exact replica of the printed magazine, only better! Browse, save articles, or even check the archives for something you want to read again!

MAIKE CHENG (P. 44) is the founder and president of MC Collaborative Designs with locations in Dallas and Seattle. The firm specializes in holistic design with an emphasis on space planning and functionality. In addition, he is the creator of YouTube series Debriefing Design (debriefingdesign.co), and co-hosts a podcast of the same name (podcast. debriefingdesign.co). He is a NCIDQ-certified Interior Designer and real estate broker in Texas and Washington. He is on the NAF Advisory Board for the North Dallas High School and you can find him regularly volunteering at the Network of Community Ministries food pantry.

ALEX DOUBET (P. 42) is the CEO & Founder of Door.Com, a technology-based real estate brokerage company based in Dallas and operating throughout Texas. Door.com is a flat-fee agency that has specialized employee agents focusing on service over sales by doing away with the outdated, traditional six percent real estate commission. A committed entrepreneur, he serves as a national mentor and visionary in the real estate technology space. As a graduate of Highland Park High School and Harvard University, he works with the Harvard Club of Dallas as a leader on its schools committee and technology shared interest group (SIG). He has a degree in economics and is passionate about youth financial education. His vision of Door corporate responsibility includes teaching middle school age children how money works, the value of compounding and the importance of saving.

AARON GRAHAM (P. 40) serves as the Chief Innovation Officer at National Land Realty and is President and Partner of National Land LLC. He lives in Ashland, NE with his wife, Kim, and their 4 children, Cooper, Baylen, Landrie and Nash and is an Accredited Land Consultant with the RLI, licensed in NE, IA & KS. He entered the real estate business in 2004, after retiring from a successful NFL career where he played for the Arizona Cardinals, Oakland Raiders and Tennessee Titans. Since then he's brokered over $300,000,000 of land transactions.

ANDREW KEESE (P. 18) serves as the spokesperson for the Railroad Commission of Texas. He had been quite content as a newspaper reporter and editor for many years but realized the long-term economics for most of that industry were failing. He switched gears and became an editor for a university while going to graduate school, which became so distracting that he ended up with a PhD in English from Texas Tech University, where he continues to teach writing and literature on occasion. He previously served as a spokesperson for the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality. He and his wife, Anita, are doing their best to raise a 10-year-old boy and 7-year-old girl. Among his many quirks, he daydreams about hiking the Appalachian Trail one day in the far distant future after retiring, provided his legs are still capable of propelling him.

SILOH MOSES (P. 52) is an award-winning social entrepreneur, brand creator, and author. Specially recognized by The United States Congress and The United States Senate for his unwavering commitment and leadership to help the disadvantaged people of Las Vegas, he's been awarded Las Vegas Top 100 Men of the Year, Esquire Magazine Top 40 under 40, and a Las Vegas Hometown Hero. He has been featured in Future Sharks, INC., and Entrepreneur Magazine. Most recently, he is the founder of #ServingHopeLV, iHeartConCap and Ambassador of Client Onboarding at Equity & Help LLC.

ANTHONY BARBIERI (P. 50) is a shareholder at Kessler Collins, where he enjoys a broad legal practice. He has been a speaker for ICSC, IREM, and BOMA, has taught continuing legal education seminars, and has been named a Texas Super Lawyer Rising Star for many years, as well as being a Fellow of the Litigation Counsel of America. He and his wife, Cathy, enjoy traveling and spending time with their extended families, getting involved in their church and supporting the community through various programs – including raising awareness of muscular dystrophy, education and exercise to fight heart disease, providing care and treatment for autism, and counseling domestic-violence victims. He is also a Contributing Editor of and his Legal View appears in every issue.

ANGELA O’BYRNE (P. 32) is the president of national architecture, design-build, and real estate development firm Perez, APC. She champions the principles of smart growth in her home community of New Orleans and in her frequent travels across the country and abroad. Born in Cali, Colombia, Angela is a licensed architect in over a dozen states, a licensed general contractor in Louisiana, a Fellow of the American Institute of Architects, and a member of the National CREW Network (Commercial Real Estate Women) Board of Directors. A singer, golfer, music-lover, and globetrotter, she relishes spending free time with her three grown children and large extended family. She is a Contributing Editor of and her Amazing Buildings feature appears in every issue.

ANE OHM (P. 38) is CEO of LeaseCrunch, and a Certified Public Accountant.  Named by Accounting Today as one of the top new products of 2019, LeaseCrunch provides cloud-based lease accounting software for CPA firms, designed to help organizations implement the new lease accounting standards, ASC 842, GASB 87, and IFRS 16. Designed by CPAs, former Big 4 public accounting auditors, software development veterans and a former member of the FASB staff, the application offers an easy-to-use customer interface that delivers “audit in a box” lease accounting services, reducing the time it takes clients to prepare for an audit.  LeaseCrunch allows companies to identify policy elections for the leasing standard through templates for both US GAAP and IFRS.

ROSE-MARY RUMBLEY (P. 48) holds a Ph.D. in communications from the University of North Texas. She is a well-known speaker in Texas and enjoys researching each and every topic. She is a Contributing Editor of and Herstory appears in every issue.

BRYAN SOUKUP (P. 16) is the Vice President of Government and Public Affairs for the American Society of Interior Designers (ASID). He leads the Society’s strategic efforts to advocate for the interior design profession from a legislative, regulatory, and policy perspective before the federal and state governments, and he is the Society’s sole registered federal lobbyist and chief advocate at the state and local levels. Prior to joining ASID, he served as Director of Resilience Initiatives and as a registered federal and state lobbyist for the International Code Council (ICC), the nation’s foremost model construction codes and standards developer, where he was responsible for government advocacy, outreach, and policy concerning resilience and disaster mitigation. He served as the International Code Council’s chief ambassador to national and international resilience and sustainability projects, including two years as the founding-Executive Director of ICC’s subsidiary, the Alliance for National & Community Resilience (ANCR). He is a licensed attorney in the District of Columbia and in the Commonwealth of Virginia, where he resides.

YOU NEED (OR MIGHT WANT) TO KNOW Editor’s note

ANDREW FELDER aafelder@crestpublicationsgroup.com Managing Editor & Publisher

THINGS ONLY A MOTHER CAN TEACH

MEMORANDUM

To: All Employees

From: Human Resources

Re: Layoffs

As the result of the reduction of funding for many departmental areas, we are forced to cut back on the number of full-time staff. Under the approved plan, older employees will be asked to take early retirement, thereby permitting the retention of many of the younger employees who represent our future. A program to phase out older personnel via retirement by the end of the current fiscal year will take effect immediately.

This program will be known as SLAP (Sever Late-Aged Personnel). Employees who are SLAPPED will be given the opportunity to look for jobs outside the company. SLAPPED employees can request a review of their employment records before actual retirement takes place. This phase of the program is called SCREW (Survey of Capabilities of Retired Early Workers).

All employees who have been SLAPPED or SCREWED may file an appeal with upper management. This is called SHAFT (Study by Higher Authority Following Termination). Under the terms of the new policy, an employee may be SLAPPED once, SCREWED twice, but may be SHAFTED as many times as the company deems appropriate. If an employee follows the above procedures, he/she will be entitled to get HERPES (Half Earnings for Retired Personnel’s Early Severance) or CLAP (Combined Lump sum Assistance Payment) unless he/she already has AIDS (Additional Income from Dependents or Spouse).

After getting HERPES or CLAP, an employee may no longer be SLAPPED or SCREWED by the company. Management wishes to assure the younger employees who remain on board that the company will continue its policy of training our employees through our Special High Intensity Training (SHIT) program. This company takes great pride in the amount of SHIT our employees receive. We have given our employees more SHIT that any company in this area; if any employee feels that he/she does not receive enough SHIT on the job, please see your supervisor immediately. Your supervisor is specially trained to make sure that you receive all the SHIT you can stand.

My Mother tAught Me about ANTICIPATION. (“Just wait until your father gets home!”) My mother taught me about RECEIVING. (“You are going to get it when your father gets home!”) My mother taught me how to confront a CHALLENGE. (“What were you thinking? Answer me when I’m talking to you! Don’t talk back to me!”) My mother taught me LOGIC. (“If you fall off that swing and break your neck, you won’t be able to go to the store with me.”) My mother taught me about MEDICINE. (“If you don’t stop crossing your eyes, they’re going to lock up that way.”) My mother taught me to THINK AHEAD. (“If you don’t pass your spelling test, you’ll never get a good job.”) My mother taught me about ESP. (“Put your sweater on. Don’t you think I know when you’re cold?”) My mother taught me HUMOR. (“When the lawn mower cuts off your toes, don’t come running to me.”) My mother taught me how to BECOME AN ADULT. (“If you don’t eat your vegetables, you’ll never grow up.”) My mother taught me about SEX. (“How do you think you got here?”) My mother taught me about GENETICS. (“You’re just like your father.”) My mother taught me about my ROOTS. (“Do you think you were born in a barn.”) My mother taught me about the WISDOM OF AGE. (“When you get to be my age, you’ll understand…”) And she taught me about JUSTICE. (“One day you’ll have kids of your own, and I hope they turn out just like you. Then you’ll see what it’s like.”)

ON A SERIOUS NOTE

tAke A MoMent to think about this: If you die tomorrow, the company for which you work could replace you in a matter of days. But the family you leave behind will feel the loss for the rest of their lives. Many of us pour ourselves into our work much more than into our families - an unwise investment, indeed. The meaning of family:

FAMILY = (F)ather (A)nd (M)other, (I) (L)ove (Y)ou.

Share more time with them as they get older. Create and maintain a balance of all things and fill your life with love, laughter and live it to the fullest. n

A recent Trump University poll indicated that Trump is ahead in all 72 states.

I don’t normally write letters, but the cover of your July August issue was so timely (with all of the social distancing) that it was almost spooky. Paul Bond’s other work was also really interesting. Thank you for the articles on how the coronavirus is impacting various aspects of the industry – and for everything about . It is both educational and entertaining!

Andrea Auriemma, Houston, TX

The pictorial on Wuhan and the other (gigantic) Chinese cities was a real eye opener for me. So many places in the world are every bit as modern as here! I never would have suspected it.

James (JJ) Quigley, Tyler, TX

The Dunning-Kruger Effect IS Donald Trump. I don’t know how I haven’t seen this somewhere – everywhere, actually – before. It’s frightening to think that there must be a lot of people out there who demonstrate this. Obviously, they knew about it before Trump. Unfortunately, it’s too late to stop the harm he has caused, but hopefully it will make people think – and VOTE!

Ellen

Campbell,

Poughkeepsie, NY

I always enjoy Rose-Mary Rumbley’s Herstory page and I appreciate the information in the adjacent History page which adds to the historical context.

Pamela German, Nashville, TN

I was looking forward to the Political Corner after the (sadly) hilarious album covers in the May-June issue and it did not disappoint. And the bonus of a second one and the Diversions ‘Boycott’ were LOL funny, too. You find such interesting stuff – the Neologisms piece was classic!

Tom Hudson, Granbury, TX

ON

COVER

ABOVE THE CITY BY

STANISLAV PLUTENKO

Stanislav Plutenko’s original method of painting involves a mixed technique using oil, tempera, acrylic, and watercolors. The work is characterized by its emphasis on color contrasts. Although his subjects are often earthy and bloated, they are always on the move- running, fluttering or flying somewhere. The artist says, “Inspiration comes like a hallucination or a vivid dream. With time, these dreams become bleaker, fainter, and disappear. First, I feel nostalgic; then the artistic drive takes over, and I dissolve into the canvas, losing all track of time.”

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THE RIGHT TO BEAR ARMS

the second AMendMent to the United States Constitution protects the individual’s right to keep and bear arms. It was ratified on December 15, 1791 as part of the Bill of Rights. In District of Columbia v. Heller (2008), the Supreme Court affirmed for the first time that the right belongs to individuals, for self-defense in the home, that the right is not unlimited and does not preclude the existence of certain long-standing prohibitions such as those forbidding "the possession of firearms by felons and the mentally ill" or restrictions on "the carrying of dangerous and unusual weapons. "State and local governments are limited to the same extent as the federal government from infringing upon this right.

The Second Amendment was based partially on the right to keep and bear arms in English common law and was influenced by the English Bill of Rights of 1689. Sir William Blackstone described this right as an auxiliary right, supporting the natural rights of self-defense and resistance to oppression, and the civic duty to act in concert in defense of the state. Any labels of rights as auxiliary must be viewed in the context of the inherent purpose of a Bill of Rights, which is to empower a group with

the ability to achieve a mutually desired outcome, and not to necessarily enumerate or rank the importance of rights. Thus, all rights enumerated in a Constitution are thus auxiliary in the eyes of Sir William Blackstone because all rights are only as good as the extent to which they are exercised in fact. While both James Monroe and John Adams supported the Constitution being ratified, its most influential framer was James Madison.

In Federalist No. 46, Madison wrote how a federal army could be kept in check by state militias, "a standing army... would be opposed [by] a militia." He argued that state militias "would be able to repel the danger" of a federal army, "It may well be doubted, whether a militia thus circumstanced could ever be conquered by such a proportion of regular troops." He contrasted the federal government of the United States to the European kingdoms, which he described as "afraid to trust the people with arms," and assured that "the existence of subordinate governments... forms a barrier against the enterprises of ambition".

By January 1788, Delaware, Pennsylvania, New Jersey, Georgia and Connecticut ratified the Constitution without insisting upon amendments. Several amendments were proposed but were not adopted at the time the Constitution was ratified. For example, the Pennsylvania convention debated fifteen amendments, one of which concerned the right of the people to be armed, another with the militia. The Massachusetts convention also ratified the Constitution with an attached list of proposed amendments. In the end, the ratification convention was so evenly divided between those for and against the Constitution that the federalists agreed to

the Bill of Rights to assure ratification. In United States v. Cruikshank (1876), the Supreme Court ruled that, "The right to bear arms is not granted by the Constitution; neither is it in any manner dependent upon that instrument for its existence. The Second Amendments [sic] means no more than that it shall not be infringed by Congress, and has no other effect than to restrict the powers of the National Government." In United States v. Miller (1939), the Supreme Court ruled that the Second Amendment did not protect weapon types not having a "reasonable relationship to the preservation or efficiency of a well-regulated militia."

In the 21st century, the amendment has been subjected to renewed academic inquiry and judicial interest. In Heller, the Supreme Court handed down a landmark decision that held the amendment protects an individual's right to keep a gun for self-defense. This was the first time the Court had ruled that the Second Amendment guarantees an individual's right to own a gun. In McDonald v. Chicago (2010), the Supreme Court clarified that the Due Process Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment incorporated the Second Amendment against state and local governments. In Caetano v. Massachusetts (2016), the Supreme Court reiterated its earlier rulings that "the Second Amendment extends, prima facie, to all instruments that constitute bearable arms, even those that were not in existence at the time of the founding" and that its protection is not limited to "only those weapons useful in warfare." The debate between various organizations regarding gun control and gun rights continues.

I’m friends with 25 letters of the alphabet. I don’t know

YOU NEED (OR MIGHT WANT) TO KNOW YOU NEED (OR MIGHT WANT) TO KN W

é James Madison

TO BE A COP

To become a barber in several states requires significantly more training time than to become a police officer

In North Carolina, for example, licensed barbers need 1,528 hours of training; police officers need only 620 hours. There’s a similar split in Florida between licensed interior designers (1,760 hours) and police officers (770 hours). In Louisiana, it requires more training to become a licensed manicurist (500 hours) than a police officer (360 hours. (Source: cnn.com) Of related interest: According to the Kaiser Family Foundation, most Americans support measures to curb police violence, including requiring police officers to intervene when they see another cop using excessive force (95%) giving verbal warning before shooting (89%), requiring states to release police disciplinary records (76%) and permitting citizens o sue officers for excessive force (73%).

UNDERSTANDING STATUES

In the U.S. and the U.K., it is widely believed that if a statue depicts a person on a horse with both front legs in the air, the person died in a battle. If the horse has one front leg in the air, the person died as a result of wounds received in a battle. If the horse has all four legs on the ground, the person died of natural causes. There are a few exceptions to this – but as a general rule, it’s very reliable.

AMPERSAND

The ampersand can be traced back to the 1st century A.D. and the Old Roman cursive, in which the letters E and T occasionally were written together to form a ligature. (A ligature is where two or more letters are joined as a single symbol. It (&) developed from a ligature in which the handwritten Latin letters e and t [spelling et, from the Latin for "and"] were combined.) There was a time when the ampersand was regarded as the 27th letter of the English alphabet.

Traditionally, when reciting the alphabet in English-speaking schools, any letter that could also be used as a word in itself ("A", "I", and, at one point, "O") was repeated with the Latin expression per se ("by itself"). It was also common practice to add the "&" sign at the end of the alphabet as if it were the 27th letter, pronounced as the Latin et or later in English as and. As a result, the recitation of the alphabet would end in "X, Y, Z, and per se and". This last phrase was routinely slurred to "ampersand" and the term had entered common English usage by 1837. In contrast to the 26 letters, the ampersand does not represent a speech sound.

SINGLE QUOTATION MARKS

The most common reason to use single quotation marks is to quote someone who is quoting someone else. In American English, you enclose the primary speaker's comments in double quotation marks, and then you enclose the thing they are quoting in single quotation marks. (For example: He said, “I told you to say ‘Open, sesame’ when you want to come in.”)

TARRANT COUNTY COMMISSIONERS COURT

The Commissioners Court is the general governing body of Tarrant County. The Court is made up of the County Judge who is elected countywide and presides over the full Court, and four County Commissioners – each elected from one of the County's four precincts.

The four County Commissioners have both countywide and precinct responsibilities. Each commissioner is responsible for construction and maintenance of County roads within his or her precinct. Commissioners maintain offices both at the Administration Building and within their precincts. They are responsive to the particular needs of people living within their areas of the County. In Tarrant County, each member of Commissioners Court serves as a liaison to a particular board or agency of the County such as the Hospital District. Despite the name, Commissioners Court is not a judicial court

but is the general governing body of the County. Among the major duties of the Court, the Court is to:

1. Set the tax rate and adopt the County budget;

2. Appoint County officials and hire personnel;

3. Fill elective and appointive vacancies;

4. Establish voting precincts, appoint precinct judges and call County bond elections;

5. Let contractsand authorize payment of all County bills;

6. Build and maintain County roads and bridges;

7. Build, maintain and improve County facilities, including jails;

8. Provide for hospitals, public welfare and veterans assistance;

9. Manage all County facilities;

10. Provide for the data service and archival needs of the County;

11. Appoint an Administrator to oversee the operations of those departments reporting to the Court. n

DIVERSI NS RALPH & EDNA

stayed there. Edna promptly jumped in to save him. She swam to the bottom and pulled him out. When the Head Nurse Director learned of Edna's heroic act, she immediately ordered her to be discharged from the hospital, as she now considered her to be mentally stable.

Ralph and Edna were both patients in a mental hospital.

One day, while they were walking past the hospital swimming pool, Ralph suddenly jumped into the deep end. He sank to the bottom of the pool and

When she went to tell Edna the news, she said, “Edna, I have good news and bad news. The good news is you're being discharged, since you were able to rationally respond to a crisis by jumping in and saving the life of the person you love. I have concluded that your act displays sound mindedness. The bad news is, Ralph hanged himself in the bathroom with his bathrobe belt right after you saved him. I am so sorry, but he's dead.”

Edna replied, “He didn't hang himself, I put him there to dry. How soon can I go home?”

Life and beer are very similar –Chill for the best results.

YOU NEED (OR MIGHT WANT) TO KNOW BY TH3 NUMB3RS BY TH3 NUMB3RS: PRESIDENT DONALD J. TRUMP

COST TO TAXPAYERS: According to People Magazine Secret Service stays at Trump properties have cost taxpayers more than $471,000 (as of 2/7/20).

PARDONS: President Trump issued his first pardon in August 2017, just about seven months into his presidency. It went to former Maricopa County, AZ, Sheriff Joe Arpaio, who was convicted of contempt of court after he warned him to stop targeting Latino drivers. According to Mark Osler, a law professor and clemency scholar at the University of St. Thomas' School of Law, "Until Trump, no president has ever used clemency primarily to reward friends and political allies." Three dozen clemencies later, in July, Trump commuted the sentence of his longtime political confidant Roger Stone just days before he was set to report to prison.

DIVERSI NS THE LIGHTER SIDE OF THE PANDEMIC - PART 3

LIES: According to The Washington Post, it took President Trump 827 days to top 10,000 false and misleading claims in The Fact Checker’s database, an average of 12 claims a day. But on July 9, just 440 days later, the president crossed the 20,000 mark — an average of 23 claims a day over a 14-month period, which included the events leading up to Trump’s impeachment trial, the worldwide pandemic that crashed the economy and the eruption of protests over the death of George Floyd in police custody.

GOLF: According to golfnewsnet.com, since taking office on Jan. 20, 2017, Mr. Trump has reportedly been on the grounds of his golf courses or played golf elsewhere 278 times (as of July 19, 2020). The cost of Trump's golf rounds to the American taxpayer varies by round and course, but so far it has totaled in the tens of millions of dollars. The Secret Service has spent at least $550,000 in third-party golf cart rentals and over $500,000 to stay overnight at Trump-owned properties, including his Bedminster, NJ country club.

WEIGHT: President Trump remains clinically obese. According to a summary released by the White House on June 3rd, Trump weighs 244 pounds and stands 6 feet and 3 inches tall. n

Irony –the opposite of wrinkly.

Working From Home.

THE ADA AT 30 AN INTERVIEW WITH BRYAN SOUKUP

tive on January 1, 2009 and made a number of significant changes to the definition of ‘disability’.

July 2020 MArked the 30th anniversary of the Americans with Disabilities Act. Far more than a law to end behavioral discrimination in practices like hiring, the ADA has fundamentally changed many of the building and design standards and spaces that surround us. So it shouldn’t come as a surprise that a key player in the ADA’s creation and continuation is the American Society of Interior Designers (ASID). ASID supports the design industry through resources, research, and advocacy, seeking to showcase the power that design has to impact lives. sat down with ASID Vice President for Government and Public Affairs Bryan Soukup to discuss the Society’s history with ADA advocacy, the importance of design considerations in public policy, and what’s on the horizon for disability-focused design.

In 2010, the ADA was updated to include specific building design requirements to make public buildings – like movie theaters, libraries, restaurants, hotels, medical facilities, and health clubs – accessible to people with disabilities.

: How has the ASID been involved with the ADA, from its development to current state?

Soukup: Advocating on behalf of designers and helping policy makers understand the impact design has on lives through every space surrounding us has been a key mission of ASID. William L. Wilkoff, FASID, was a crucial advocate of the ADA throughout its creation and was influential on much of the Act’s final language. More recently, Shelley Seigel, FASID sits on the U.S. Access Board. He was appointed by President Barack Obama in 2016.

Design and accessibility go hand in hand: designers are the ones behind the scenes having an effect on the life, health, safety, and welfare of all members of the general public, and ASID understands the responsibility designers have to ensure fair accessibility for people of all abilities. Design can be the ultimate equalizer, and the ADA is a great example of that.

: What are some of the key ADA considerations interior designers take?

pliance in public spaces. In a bigger picture, interior designers can create key safety features like accessible wayfinding and emergency egress pathways to safeguard disabled people in times of distress or natural disaster.

Components like these show how the profession’s work goes above and beyond mere aesthetics, to public health and safety to impact lives. These elements also showcase why our advocacy work is so important: if interior designers have a seat at the table in these discussions, we can inform and educate decision makers on how to create spaces to benefit all populations. On the other side of the coin, we at ASID are always staying up to date on the latest codes and regulations to inform our designers and help them understand what considerations they need to take for occupant health and safety.

: At its core, what is the ADA?

Soukup: The ADA is a civil rights law that prohibits discrimination against individuals with disabilities in all areas of public life, including jobs, schools, transportation, and all public and private places that are open to the general public. The purpose of the law is to make sure that people with disabilities have the same rights and opportunities as everyone else. The ADA is divided into five titles (or sections) that relate to different areas of public life.

Although it was passed 30 years ago, the ADA continues to evolve. In 2008, the Americans with Disabilities Act Amendments Act (ADAAA) was signed into law. It became effec-

Soukup: In both commercial and residential settings, designers strive to shape a world which those of every ability level can experience concurrently. They are an integral part in making sure spaces adhere to federal and state accessibility regulations. In practice, interior designers are always looking ahead to how the end user will interact with a space, so they look at every detail to guarantee that a space is comfortable, functional, and accessible. Interior designers are incredible problem solvers, as well empathizers. At their best, they approach ADA design with both of these qualities in mind so that it doesn’t feel tacked on as an afterthought, but rather, carefully considered from square one.

Elevator controls, door hardware, countertop heights, restroom fixtures, and doorway clearances are everyday elements many of us take for granted for which designers ensure com-

: The ADA has been around for 30 years now. What’s next?

Soukup: Much of the ADA currently is focused on physical disabilities, as it was originally crafted with those in mind. Neurodiversity must now enter the equation and be taken under consideration by builders and designers so we can create healthy spaces for people with neurological differences, too.

Additionally, ADA has been relatively confined to commercial, public spaces. I think we will see a shift to ADA considerations in residential environments too, as many families think more about universal design and aging in place. ASID has played a central role in drafting and supporting federal legislation mandating that any single family home that receives federal funding must be built to ADA standards, and I believe that more creativity and innovation on incorporating these standards into homes will continue to emerge and contribute to a more accessible environment. n

I’m pining for a good tree pun. I wish they were more poplar.

é Bryan Soukup

ANDREW KEESE

andrew.keese@rrc.texas.gov

THE RAILROAD COMMISSION OF TEXAS OVERSEEING RESPONSIBLE DEVELOPMENT OF THE STATE’S VALUABLE ENERGY RESOURCES

of railroads. However, that responsibility has since been transferred to other governmental entities. The last of RRC’s rail functions was transferred to the Texas Department of Transportation in 2005.

EVOLUTION

the rAilroAd coMMission of Texas plays a critical role in the development and regulation of the state’s energy resources. It is responsible for the oversight of the oil and gas industry, the safety of pipelines, natural gas utilities, liquified petroleum gas (LP-gas), and coal and uranium surface mining operations.

Not only do these industries make a significant contribution to the state’s economy, but they impact our daily lives in ways the public may be unaware of. For instance, Texas lignite coal provides the raw material for activated carbon, which is used in water filters, air purifiers, and even kidney dialysis machines. And there are many other examples. LP-gas is used as a propellant in aerosol cans, including hairspray and deodorant. Hydrocarbons are in many of our everyday items, such as lipstick, the fiber in most clothes, chewing gum, CDs, DVDs, aspirin, and even toothpaste. Crude oil is used to make asphalt shingles, which roof our homes and protect us from the elements. And, yes, these resources are also used to heat our buildings, fuel our cars, supply our electricity, and more.

Natural gas, for instance, accounts for more than half of Texas’s electric production and 38.5% of the nation’s, according to the Energy Information Administration. And because of

Texas’ rich resources, the cost of electricity in the state is much cheaper than other parts of the country. In fact, it costs 49% less than California and 43% than New York!

Texas is the largest energy producer in the United States, accounting for more than 40% of crude oil production and 25% of natural gas production, according to EIA’s Texas State Energy Profile, which was last updated in July.

The Railroad Commission (RRC) ensures that the development of these resources is done in a manner that protects the safety of Texans and the environment.

The agency, which currently has more than 800 employees spread across the state, is proud of its long service to Texas. When RRC was created in 1891, it was charged with oversight

Over the course of the Commission’s history, its duties have evolved. As of today, the Commission has regulated the pipeline and oil and gas industries for more than 100 years. Multiple pieces of legislation have been introduced to change the name of the agency to better reflect its current regulatory jurisdiction, but to date, none has been passed. As part of its duties as energy regulator, the agency’s critical mission is to protect public safety and the environment. RRC exists under provisions of the Texas Constitution and exercises its statutory responsibilities under state and federal laws for regulation and enforcement of the state’s energy industries. The Railroad Commission also has regulatory and enforcement responsibilities under federal law, including the Surface Coal Mining Control and Reclamation Act, Safe Drinking Water Act, Pipeline Safety Acts, Resource Conservation Recovery Act, and Clean Water Act.

Sustainability is a central guiding tenet for the agency, which means RRC not only ensures that natural

resources are produced responsibly, but also that resources are not needlessly wasted. When an energy company is through with its use of a property, RRC makes sure that the property is safe for other uses. It has also made a strong commitment to utilize information technology and other tools to improve operational efficiency and transparency. This has helped the RRC adapt to changing times.

Even with the major global upheaval of the COVID-19 pandemic, the Railroad Commission has not relaxed its responsibilities. It continues to conduct inspections of regulated facilities and review permit applications. It has adapted many of its processes, too, so they can be conducted electronically. The agency has even made much of its training available online.

PERFORMANCE TARGETS AND TRANSPARENCY

In April, the Commission exceeded its Fiscal Year 2020 performance target four months ahead of schedule for the number of oil and gas well and facility inspections. The RRC has also exceeded the five-year well inspection frequency goal for the year. This year, the agency also launched a statewide drone program to enhance emergency response. The drones help inspectors immediately monitor oil spills and well blowouts and respond to other emergencies in rough terrain when time is of the essence.

Sweet dreams are made of cheese. Who am I to dis a brie?

Andrew Keese is the spokesperson for the Railroad Commission of Texas.

The Commission is committed to transparency and has been making more and more of its records available online. For example, the agency unveiled the Case Administration Service Electronic System, or CASES, which allows the public to look-up documents in agency hearings dockets (https://rrctx.force.com/s). The RRC Online Inspection Lookup allows users to examine results of oil and gas inspections by its field staff, including violations ( http://webapps2.rrc.state. tx.us/PDA/ice/pdaIceHome. xhtml). The Commission makes other types of data it collects publicly available, as well. It has a webpage dedicated to numerous types of research queries (https://rrc.texas.gov/about-us/ resource-center/research/onlineresearch-queries). To assist the public, the agency also curates its information in user-friendly formats through data visualizations and has already made eight available this year (https://rrc. texas.gov/data-visualization).

industry that contributes to economic vitality as well as the everyday lives of Americans. The RRC is led by three commissioners, who serve six-year terms. The

her position as Commissioner at the Railroad Commission.

Since her tenure on the Commission began in November 2012, Craddick has pushed to maximize the effectiveness and efficiency of an energy industry that is driving the state’s unparalleled economic success.

Read more about the Commissioner here: https://rrc.texas.gov/about-us/ commissioners/craddick.

the Irving area. He is a graduate of Texas A&M University where he earned a degree in Mechanical Engineering and met his wife, Jennifer. Following college, he went to work as an engineer in the energy industry. In 2006, Ryan and Jennifer founded Pinnacle Advanced Reliability Technologies, an engineering and technology company focused on reliability and integrity programs for the oil, gas and petrochemical industries.

Read more about the Commissioner here: https://rrc.texas.gov/ about-us/commissioners/sitton n

current commissioners are: Chairman Wayne Christian is a lifelong conservative businessman. He was elected as the 50th Texas Railroad Commissioner in November 2016 and, in June of 2019, he was elected to lead the agency as Chairman by his fellow commissioners.

Prior to his time at the Commission, Christian served seven Sessions in the Texas House of Representatives, accumulating a strong record of standing for free markets and against burdensome regulations.

Read more about the Chairman here: https://rrc.texas.gov/ about-us/commissioners/christian.

Commissioner Ryan Sitton is is a native Texan who grew up in

Texas is blessed with an abundance of oil and gas resources, and the RRC’s work is important in helping the United States to be independent of oil and gas from troubled parts of the world. According to a U.S. Geological Survey assessment in 2018, portions of the Delaware Basin in Texas and New Mexico’s Permian Basin area contain an estimated 46.3 billion barrels of oil, 281 trillion cubic feet of natural gas, and 20 billion barrels of natural gas liquids. In 2016, USGS estimated that the Midland portion of the Permian Basin contains 20 billion barrels of oil, 16 trillion cubic feet of associated natural gas, and 1.6 billion barrels of natural gas liquids.

The agency will continue to strive for excellence in its mission in an

Commissioner Christi Craddick is in the forefront of the newest wave of conservatives in leadership roles in Texas. Raised in a strong conservative house hold, retained as legal counsel by prominent Texas firms, and shaped by more than a decade as a trusted political adviser, she has set a clear standard of integrity, self-reliance and innovation in

Turning Vegan would be a big missed steak.

HAGIA SOPHIA: A SYMBOL OF CIVILIZATIONS AN ANCIENT EDIFICE - IN THE NEWS

the iconic hAgiA sophiA (which means ‘Holy Wisdom’ or ‘Saint Sophia’) reverted to a working mosque in July, due to the ruling of a Turkish court and the decree of President Recep Tayyip Erdogan. Recognized by the United Nations as a World Heritage Site and a museum since 1935, the move drew widespread criticism from secular and religious leaders worldwide.

The first Hagia Sophia was built in 360 AD. It was rebuilt in 405 after it was burnt down during an uprising and was reopened in 415. The monument today is the third Hagia Sophia built on the same ground. Justinian (482-565), a great ruler of the Eastern Roman Empire, entered the world stage here.

Nearly 30,000 died during an uprising in Istanbul (then Constantinople) in 532. The people suffered greatly, and Justinian had to do something unprecedented in order to distract people from their thoughts and memories and to redirect their efforts.

He named two prominent scientists (Isidoros and Anthemios) to build Hagia Sophia with about 100 masters or architects under their command. At the time, it became the fastestbuilt church. The emperor had to use ready

materials for fast progress, so he had material brought to Istanbul from temples, marble and stone quarries from all across Anatolia. The works of numerous Anatolian civilizations were brought to Istanbul with these materials. In this way, Justinian unified the Eastern Roman Empire in Hagia Sophia and brought in the elements of civilization that had remained within the borders of the Eastern Roman Empire until then – a great new temple for humanity which has stood for centuries.

Hagia Sophia served as the main cathedral in the Byzantine Empire until the city was captured by the Ottoman Empire in 1453. It was converted and used as a mosque until the founding of modern Turkey in 1935, becoming an informal marker of the country's secular foundation. The building is considered one of the greatest examples of Byzantine architecture but has become a flashpoint for Muslim-Christian relations.

See 360-degree photos of the structure here

é After more than eight decades as a museum, Turkey’s iconic Hagia Sophia reopened for Islamic worship for the first time with the participation of thousands of people.

I have a chicken proof lawn. It’s impeccable.

Drink wine. It isn’t good to keep things bottled up.

TR E DAT: WHODDATHUNKIT?

The word "gymnasium"

comes from the Greek word ‘gymnazein’ which means to "exercise naked."

Diana Spencer of Wales is descended from Mary Boleyn— sister of the beheaded Queen Anne Boleyn and the mistress of Henry V||| himself. Diana’s daughter-in-law, Kate Middleton, also shares Mary’s blood.

All six of Henry VIII’s wives have a common ancestor: Edward I of England. That makes all the queens, and Henry himself, varying degrees of cousins to one another.

ADAM RAINER (1899 – 1950)

was the only person in recorded history to have been both a dwarf and a giant. In 1917, when he was 18 years old, he was just four feet tall and considered too short to join the army. Due to a genetic condition (acromegaly), however, at the age of 32 he had grown to over seven feet! He kept on growing and died at the age of 51 at a height of seven feet, ten inches.

The Anglo-Zanzibar War in 1896 is the shortest war in recorded history. The conflict lasted between 38 and 45 minutes.

In 1939, Adolf Hitler was nominated for a NOBEL PEACE PRIZE. This nomination was almost certainly a satirical joke by a member of the Swedish parliament, E.G.C. Brandt, who was a dedicated antifascist.

THE GREAT BOSTON MOLASSES FLOOD OF 1919 KILLED 21 PEOPLE AND INJURED 150. A LARGE MOLASSES TANK BELONGING TO THE PURITY DISTILLING COMPANY BURST, RELEASING A WAVE OF MOLASSES THROUGH THE STREETS THAT FLOWED AT 35 MPH OVER MAN, WOMAN, CHILD, AND BUILDING. ACCORDING TO FOLKLORE, YOU CAN STILL SMELL THE MOLASSES ON HOT BOSTON DAYS.

Kate Middleton

At the Building owners and Managers Association (BOMA) International’s (virtual) annual conference in July, commercial properties were honored with The Outstanding Building of the Year® (TOBY®) Award.

The TOBY Awards recognize and honor excellence in commercial building management and operations in specific categories of building sizes or types. To win an International TOBY Award, a property first must win both local and regional competitions. Judging is based on community impact, tenant and employee relations programs, energy management systems, accessibility, emergency evacuation procedures, building personnel training programs and overall quality indicators. A team of expert industry professionals also conducted comprehensive building inspections.

The 2020 TOBY Award winners are pictured here. n

AFFILI TE NEWS

é Corporate Facility 110 North Carpenter. Chicago, IL Sterling Bay Property Management, LLC

é Public Assembly Building Whitney Ranch Recreation Center Henderson, NV City of Henderson

é Historical Building Graybar Building. New York, NY St. Green Realty Corp.

é Mixed-Use Building MaRS West Tower. Toronto, ON MaRS Real Estate

é Industrial Building Depot Park. Sacramento, CA Cushman & Wakefield

é Earth Award 488 Almaden. San Jose, CA Embarcadero Realty Services Cows have hooves because they lactose.

é Medical Office Building Baylor Scott & White Charles A. Sammons Cancer Center. Dallas, TX Physician’s Realty Trust

é 500,000 - 1 Million Square Feet 401 North Michigan. Chicago, IL Zeller Management Corporation

é Over 1 Million Square Feet 1201 Third. Seattle, WA Wright Runstad & Company

é Under 100,000 Square Feet 11 Corporate Boulevard. Alpharetta, GA The RMR Group LLC

é 100, 000 - 249,999 Square Feet 1515 West Webster. Chicago, IL Sterling Bay Property Management, LLC

é Retail Yorkdale Shopping Centre. Toronto, ON Oxford Properties Group

é Suburban Office Park Low-Rise Las Cimas II & III. Austin, TX Cushman & Wakefield

é A 250,000 - 499,999 Square Feet 95 St. Clair Avenue West. Toronto, ON Colliers International

é Suburban Office Park Mid-Rise The Water Garden. Santa Monica, CA CBRE, Inc.

é Renovated Building 1 North Dearborn. Chicago, IL MB Real Estate Services Inc.

THE ARCHITECTURE OF DETROIT

the Architecture of MetropolitAn Detroit attracts the attention of architects and preservationists alike. The Motor City’s waterfront panorama shows a variety of architectural styles. The post-modern neogothic spires of Ally Detroit Center (formerly One Detroit Center ) /1/ are exemplary of city's historic Art Deco skyscrapers. Together with the Renaissance Center, /2/ they form the city's distinctive skyline. Detroit's architecture is recognized as being among the finest in the U.S. The city has one of the largest surviving collections of late 19th and early 20th century buildings in the U.S. Because of the city's economic difficulties, the National Trust for Historic Preservation has listed many of Detroit's skyscrapers and buildings as some of America's most endangered landmarks. In 2015, Detroit was named a "City of Design" by UNESCO, the first U.S. city to receive that designation. (Watch for more on Cities of Design in the November-December issue of .)

4/ The Guardian Building is a landmark skyscraper also, within the Financial District. It is a class-A office building (originally called the Union Trust Building) and another bold example of Art Deco architecture. At the top of the Guardian Building's spire is a large U.S. flag. The building was designated a National Historic Landmark in 1989, and the associated Detroit Financial District is on the National Register of Historic Places. During WWII, the building served as headquarters for war time production. Last night I played a blank tape at full blast. The mime next door went nuts.

5/ Chrysler House - a 23-story, 325 ft skyscraper class-A office building adjacent to the Penobscot Building - is an office building that was completed in 1912 and known for many years as the Dime Building (for its primary tenant, the Dime Savings Bank). It was later renamed the Commonwealth Building, briefly known as Griswold Place and became the Dime Building again in 2002, before being given its current name in 2012. Picture by Mikerussell at the English Wikipedia, CC BY-SA 3.0

1/Ally Detroit Center (formerly One Detroit Center) is a skyscraper and class-A office building located downtown which overlooks the Detroit Financial District. At 619 feet, the 43-story tower is the tallest office building in Michigan and the second tallest building overall in the state behind the central hotel tower of the Renaissance Center, just a few blocks away.

3/ The Penobscot Building, is a class-A Art Deco office tower in in the heart of the Financial District. It was built in 1928 and, at the time, was the eighth-tallest building in the world, the fourth-tallest in America and the tallest outside of New York and Chicago. The building is named for the Penobscot, a Native American tribe from Maine.

2/ The Renaissance Center (a/ka the GM Renaissance Center and nicknamed the RenCen) is a group of seven interconnected skyscrapers on the Detroit International Riverfront. It is owned by General Motors and used as its world headquarters. The central tower, the Detroit Marriott at the Renaissance Center, is the third tallest all-hotel skyscraper in the Western Hemisphere. It has been the tallest building in Michigan since it was erected in 1977. (John Portman was the principal architect for the original design.). Picture by Crisco 1492Own work, CC BY-SA 4.0

6/ The Fisher Building - an ornate 30-story Art Deco style building completed in 1928, is one of the major works of architect Albert Kahn. The Fisher family financed the building with proceeds from the sale of Fisher Body to General Motors. They located it across from the General Motors Building, now Cadillac Place. The building, which contains the elaborate 2,089-seat Fisher Theatre, was designated a National Historic Landmark in1989 alsot also houses the headquarters for the Detroit Public Schools and the studios of radio station WJR.

7/ Cadillac Place (formerly the General Motors Building) was completed in 1922, and served as General Motors’ world headquarters from 1923 until 2001. It is approximately 2 miles to the southwest of the plant where Cadillacs are currently built. It was renamed for the French founder of Detroit, Antoine Laumet de La Mothe, sieur de Cadillac and was listed as a National Historic Landmark in 1985.

Skyline along the Detroit International Riverfront. By Shakil Mustafa, CC BY-SA 3.0

For chemists, alcohol is not a problem; it’s a solution.

8/ In the late 19th century, Detroit was called the Paris of the West for its architecture and open public spaces. Architects John and Arthur Scott designed the Wayne County Building in 1897. Expense was not a factor in construction of its lavish design, and it may be America's finest surviving example of Roman Baroque architecture. Picture by Michael Barera, CC BY-SA 4.0

12/ Also in the late 19th century, Frederick Olmsted, landscape architect of New York City's Central Park, designed Belle Isle park. – a 982-acre island park owned by the City- and the largest city-owned island park in the United States. The U.S.-Canada border is in the channel south of Belle Isle such that the island is not in Canada.

16/ The Buhl Building is a 26-story class-A office center designed by Michigan-born Wirt C. Rowland (who also designed #3 and #4) in a Neo-Gothic style with Romanesque accents. It was constructed in 1925, and the architectural sculpture on the building was designed by Corrado Parducci. The combination of Rowland's natural design talent, Harvard education, and Detroit's healthy economy positioned him to make major contributions to the city's architecture.

17/ World-renowned Eliel Saarinen was the architect for the Cranbrook Educational Community in the suburb of Bloomfield Hills. (This one has 3 pictures) The New York Times called the Cranbrook House "one of the greatest campuses ever created anywhere in the world."

9/ Stanford White designed Detroit's Neoclassical Savoyard Centre in 1900. The development of archaeology was crucial in the emergence of Neoclassical architecture. Excavation sites like those in Pompeii allowed architects to make in depth interpretations of classical architecture and synthesize their own unique styles. Part of the Financial Historic District, it is a Michigan State Historic Site, and on the National Register of Historic Places. Picture by Andrew JamesonOwn work, CC BY-SA 3.0

14/ And

10/ In 1885, French-American architect Paul Philippe Cret designed the Detroit Institute of Arts (DIA), which is home to one of the largest and most significant art collections in the United States. It is regarded as among the top six museums in the United States with an encyclopedic collection which spans the globe from ancient Egyptian and European works to contemporary art - a collection valued up to $8.1 billion according to a 2014 appraisal.

in the suburb of Rochester Hills which was completed in 1929. It is the fourth largest in the U.S. and has 110 rooms and 88,000 square feet. Now part of Oakland University, the building is a Registered Michigan State Historic Site, and on the National Register of Historic Places. Parducci’s work can also be seen on the Guardian Building (see 4), the Penobscot Building (see 3) and the Buhl Building (see 16).

18/Eliel's son, the famed modernist Eero Saarinen, designed a complex of buildings in the suburb of Warren for General Motors known as the GM Technical Center. The campus has been the center of the company's engineering effort since its inauguration in 1956. In 2000 it was listed on the National Register of Historic Places; 14 years later it was designated a National Historic Landmark, primarily for its architecture. Picture by Local hero - Own work, CC BY-SA 3.0

19/ Designed by Harry J. Rill, French Gothic styled St. Paul Catholic Church (1899) in Grosse Pointe is among the metropolitan area’s many historic churches. The complex includes a French Gothic-style church, a Neo-Tudor rectory, a Colonial Revival parish hall, a Neo-Tudor school building, and an Elizabethan Revival convent. It was designated a Michigan State Historic Site in 1992 and listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1994. Picture by Umdet - Own work, CC BY 3.0

Downtown Detroit is mostly high-rise buildings, while the majority of the surrounding suburbs consist of low-rise structures and single-family homes, featuring the architecture of the times with wood frame and brick houses, larger brick homes in middle-class neighborhoods, and ornate mansions throughout the city's many historic districts. The mansions are among the nation's grandest estates. (See 14, 17 and 20.)

15/ David Stott Building is a 38story mixed-use building and the 13th tallest in Detroit). It was designed in the Art Deco style by the architectural firm of Donaldson and Meier and completed in 1929.It is named after David E. Stott (1853–1916), an English-born businessman who owned a mill company, Like the Fisher Building (#6), and those mentioned in #14, it has Parducci’s sculptures).

11/ The Detroit area is home to light houses, yacht clubs, and many unique monuments. Cass Gilbert (who designed the United States Supreme Court) also designed the marble Detroit Public Library in 1921. Detroit has the 21st largest library system (and the fourth-largest public library system) in the United States. Picture by Andrew Jameson - Own work, CC BY-SA 3.0

20/ McGinnis and Walsh designed this Tudor Revival mansion known as the Bishop Gallagher Residence in 1925 in the Palmer Woods Historic District. The 40,000-square-foot residence is the largest within the city of Detroit. n

13/ Renowned Marshall Fredericks' sculptures, which include the Spirit of Detroit, may be seen throughout the metropolitan area.

famous sculptor Corrado Parducci's work adorns many notable buildings such as the Gothic revival style Meadowbrook Hall mansion

Detroit Institute of the Arts

Spirit of Detroit

Meadowbrook Hall

Bishop Gallagher Residence

The David Stott Building

Buhl Building

Savoyard Centre

The James Scott Memorial Fountain and Belle Isle Casino in Belle Isle Park

The Wayne County Building

Cranbrook

The art museum and library at the Cranbrook Academy of Art. Fountain pool with sculptures by Carl Milles. St. Paul Catholic Church

Q2 2020 Industrial MarketV iews

AUSTIN: Fundamentals fall flat halfway through 2020

Vacancy: 10.1%

Net Absorption: 21,412 sq. f t.

DALL AS/ FORT WORTH: Year-to-date absorption on pace despite headwinds

Vacancy: 5.9%

Net Absorption: 2,063,494 sq. f t.

HOUSTON: Strong absorption still behind record amount of supply

Vacancy: 6.9%

Net Absorption: 3,866,584 sq. f t.

E. Mic helle Miller Researc h Operations Manager mic helle.miller@cbre.com

Net Absorption and Vacancy

DFW Industrial Market (Annual)

Historical Construction Activity, Net Absorption, & Vacancy Rate

To learn more about CBRE Researc h, or to access additional researc h repor ts, please visit the Global Researc h Gateway at www.cbre.com/researc h.

FoRE

the urBAn lAnd institute announced the launch of its new online learning curriculum, Foundations of Real Estate (FoRE), a key part of the Institute’s efforts to identify, diversify, and broaden the pool of young people interested in a real estate career. ULI is a global, multidisciplinary real estate organization whose work is driven by more than 45,000 members dedicated to responsible land use and building thriving communities.

FoRE, which debuted at Colgate University during the 2019–2020 academic year, is designed to provide students not pursuing business studies with real estate fundamentals in an easily digestible format that is accessible, convenient, and that can be completed on an individually determined basis. The curriculum consists of five modules: Foundations of the Development Process; Foundations of Pro Forma Modeling; Foundations of Commercial Real Estate (with a specific focus on multi-family and office sector valuation); Foundations of Real Estate Finance and Investment; and Introduction to the Foundations of Real Estate. Upon completion of all the modules, participants receive a FoRE certificate confirming that they have finished the course successfully and have a basic understanding of the industry. The online curriculum can be accompanied by in-person training from real estate executives who are alumni of FoRE’s higher education institution partners and are supplementing the program with their own content, knowledge, and industry experiences, which exemplifies the Institute’s longstanding tradition of knowledge sharing.

“The goal of assembling this curriculum was to place interested and committed students in a position to learn enough so that when they enter the marketplace, they can be competitive for an entrylevel position, as opposed to starting from

scratch. This benefits both the students and companies that hire them,” said ULI global chief executive officer W. Edward Walter. “So often, the way people get into real estate is because one of their parents or relatives was in the business. FoRE gives us the opportunity to broaden the number and the diversity of people who might be interested in real estate and show them that it involves much more than merely selling properties, that they could pursue investment, development, or other aspects of the industry.”

cisco. “The opportunity to create communities that are more diverse, equitable, and inclusive, through a real estate career, is a timely message and mission that can be delivered through FoRE,” said Abbey. “ULI is committed to maximizing the role of philanthropy in affecting deep and meaningful change at a time in the Institute’s and the country’s history when issues like equitability and inclusiveness have emerged as necessary and game-changing concerns and considerations.”

The program is being expanded to additional colleges and universities in the United States during the 2020–2021 academic year; ULI hopes to have the FoRE curriculum available at 100 institutions within five years. An emphasis will be placed on offering the program at historically Black colleges and universities (HBCUs), including four in 2020–2021. This is one part of ULI’s efforts to attract more people of color to the industry and the Institute. Read more about ULI’s work on Diversity, Equity and Inclusion. n

DIVERSI NS

FoRE was made possible with a gift to the ULI Foundation from Foundation Chairman Doug Abbey, who is also chairman of Swift Real Estate Partners in San Fran-

é Colgate University.

é W. Edward Walter

é Doug Abbey

WISDOM

LOUIS SULLIVAN “FORM FOLLOWS FUNCTION”

louis henry sullivAn (1856 – 1924) was an American architect who has been called both the "father of skyscrapers" and "father of modernism". He was a mentor to Frank Lloyd Wright, and an inspiration to the Chicago group of architects who have come to be known as the Prairie School. Along with Wright and Henry Hobson Richardson, Sullivan is one of "the recognized trinity of American architecture." The phrase "Form follows function" is attributed to him, although he credited the origin of the concept to Marcus Vitruvius Pollio, an ancient Roman architect. In 1944, he was the second architect to posthumously receive the AIA Gold Medal.

Prior to the late-nineteenth century, the weight of a multi-story building had to be supported principally by the strength of its walls. The taller the building, the more strain that this placed on the lower sections of the building. Since there were clear engineering limits to the weight such "load-bearing" walls could sustain, tall designs meant massively thick walls on the ground floors, and definite limits on the building's height.

The development of cheap, versatile steel in the second half of the nineteenth century changed those rules. America was in the midst of rapid social and economic growth that made for great opportunities in architectural design. A much more urbanized society was forming and the society called out for new, larger buildings. The

mass production of steel was the main driving force behind the ability to build skyscrapers during the mid1880s. By assembling a framework of steel girders, architects and builders could create tall, slender buildings with a strong and relatively lightweight steel skeleton. The rest of the building elements—walls, floors, ceilings, and windows—were suspended from the skeleton, which carried the weight. This new way of constructing buildings, so-called "column-frame" construction, pushed them up rather than out. The steel weight-bearing frame allowed not just taller buildings, but permitted much larger windows, which meant more daylight reaching interior spaces. Interior walls became thinner, which created more usable (and rentable) floor space.

Two elements that were characteristic of Sullivan’s work were terra cotta embellishments and semi-circular arches. Both were used in his widely admired (1895) /1/ Guaranty Building in Buffalo and the (1899–1904) /2/ Carson Pirie Scott Department Store (now known as the Sullivan Center) in Chicago.

In 1896, Louis Sullivan wrote: “It is the pervading law of all things organic and inorganic, of all things physical and metaphysical, of all things human, and all things super-human, of all true manifestations of the head, of the heart, of the soul, that the life is recognizable in its expression, that form ever follows function.” That would become one of the prevailing tenets of modern architects.

Sullivan's legacy is contradictory. Some consider him the first modernist. His forward-looking designs clearly anticipated some issues and solutions of Modernism; however, his embrace of ornament makes his contribution distinct from the Modern Movement that coalesced in the 1920s and became known as the "International Style". Sullivan's built work expresses the appeal of his incredible designs.

Among the still standing and memorable buildings designed by Louis Sullivan are /3/ the Auditorium Building in Chicago, /4/ the National Farmer’s Bank in Owatonna, MN, /5/ the Wainwright Building in St. Louis, /6/ the Holy Trinity Russian Orthodox Church in Chicago, and /7/ St. Paul’s United Methodist Church in Cedar Rapids.

Among the ‘lost’ (demolished) famous structures designed by Sullivan are /8/ the Schiller Building (later called Garrick Theater) in Chicago, /9/ the Transporation Building at the World’s Columbian Exposition in Chicago, /10/ New Orleans Union Station, and /11/ the Pueblo Opera House in Pueblo, CO. n

THE ARCHITECTURE OF ROTTERDAM

whAt MAinly sets rotterdAM apart from other Dutch cities is its modern and innovative architecture. The city’s buildings stray away from the traditionalist Dutch style. As a result, the city arguably has the most prominent skyline of any city in the country. It has even picked up the nickname, ‘Little New York’.

It may be the Netherlands’ second city, but the giant port of Rotterdam is a world capital when it comes to architecture. Revolutionary living spaces, awe-inspiring commercial buildings and the occasional medieval masterpiece jostle for space in this ever-expanding metropolis. It’s hardly surprising that the city hosts the International Architecture Biennale and the Netherlands Architecture Institute.

Crazy like Rotterdam, when completed in 2022, /3/ The Sax will be 2 towers connected by an air bridge. There will be a hotel, a restaurant and apartments, and underneath will be shops and restaurants, right by Hotel New York. On top of the air bridge, there will be a sky-bar, The whole building will be about 500 feet tall.

/7/ Rotterdam Central Station opened in 2012, Its most prominent architectural feature - a shiny metal roof, has led to nickname ‘Station Kapsalon’. (Kapsalon refers to Rotterdam’s most famous dish and is also the Dutch word for hairdresser). The lettering on the station’s façade, as well as the clock, were originally part of the first central station.

/9/ Built in 1982-1984 and designed by award-winning Dutch architect Piet Blom, the Kubuswoningen, or Cube-Houses, offer an inimitable living experience. These 40 small yellow dwellings are shaped like tilted cubes, each with three floors and a panoramic viewing gallery. On street level, there are shops, a school and a children’s playground. To live here, furniture needs to be custom-built, and framed decorations can only be placed on the outward-slanting lower walls.

Completed in 2010, a pair of riverside skyscrapers are the tallest buildings at 542 feet. /1/ The Maastoren are office towers (on the River Maas). In a few years, /2/the Zalmhaven Tower (under construction) will be the largest tower at 705 feet. This gigantic residential unit is accompanied by two smaller towers of 230 and 606 feet respectively each will have a publicly accessible viewing platform.

When it opens in 2025, /4/ the Dutch Windwheel is expected to be one of the landmarks of Rotterdam and shows how far innovation has come in the Netherlands. At 570 feet it will have a hotel, a sky-bar, apartments and provide an incredible view of the city. The circular design means that it’s better for energy production (plus it looks cooler too); it’s sustainable and technological.

/8/ Markthal (Market Hall) was featured in The Wow Factor in the July-August 2020 issue of . It became a landmark of architecture in Rotterdam even before its completion in 2014. The massive arch contains mostly residential apartments throughout its upper sections, but the ground floor is open to the public daily. It is home to a paradise of food, and the ceiling has one of the world’s largest artworks in Arno Coenen’s Hoorn des Overvloeds, which covers approximately 118,000 sq. ft.

The Erasmusbrug, or /10/ Erasmus Bridge is modern, elegant, and practical. The 2,600 foot-long structure connects the north and south parts of the city and has the name of the city’s most famous scholar It also has a nickname - The Swan.

Known affectionately as ‘De Reus van Rem’ (The Giant of Rem), /5/ De Rotterdam (a/k/a Vertical City) was designed by Rem Koolhaas. It was completed in 2013. Although not the tallest, it is the largest building in the Netherlands, with a total floor space over 1.7 million sq. ft. It contains the Nhow Hotel Rotterdam, several apartments, and a number of offices, many of which are owned by the municipality. The Council on Tall Buildings and Urban Habitat even awarded the structure the ‘Best Tall Building in Europe’ Award in 2014.

/6/ The Montevideo is home to apartments and offices, and it stands at 458 feet tall It has a giant ‘M’ on top which adds another 9 feet and also serves a weathervane.

Silence is golden. Duct tape is silver.

Built in 1960 to celebrate the Floriade International Horticultural Exhibition, architect H.A. Maaskant’s /11/ Euromast is an unrivalled observation tower to admire the city’s skyline. At 607 feet, it features a restaurant whose curved shape and all-round windows have encouraged locals to liken it to a ship’s bridge. It was given its name because the word ‘mast’, or close variants of it, is used in 12 languages.

The original /12/ Pauluskerk (St. Paul’s Church) was built in the late 1950s in a city center that was still recovering from the damage it suffered during the Second World War. It developed into a refuge for the outcasts of Dutch society: asylum seekers, homeless people and drug addicts. The controversy surrounding its mission brought it slowly but steadily onto a collision course with the redevelopment of the area, and eventually lead to its demolition in 2007 and the construction of a new church building designed by British architect William Alsop.

/13/ The Groothandelsgebouw (meaning Wholesale Building or Offices) is an extensive building and monument next to the Central Station (#7) of the city. Completed in 1953 it is one of the first major buildings built after the bombing of Rotterdam in the Second World War.

/14/ Stadion Feijenoord more commonly known by its nickname De Kuip (The Tub) is a stadium thatwas completed in 1937. Its original capacity was 64,000. In 1999, a significant amount of restoration and interior work took place at the stadium prior to its use as a venue in the UEFA Euro 2000 tournament.

/16/ The Red Apple is a 40-story, 407 ft residential skyscraper designed by KCAP Architects & Planners and Jan des Bouvrie. The eighth tallest building in the city, it was completed in 2009, and features 121 units, and a 338-space multi-story car park.

/18/ Wilhelminapier is a small peninsula at the south bank of the river Maas at the foot of the Erasmus Bridge (#10). It is known for its skyscrapers. The Montevideo (#6) tower, the World Port Center and the New Orleans tower are all clustered closely together, like in Manhattan, NY. The icing on the cake is a brand new building De Rotterdam (#5), the biggest building in the Netherlands.

/15/ Cooltoren (Cool Tower) is a 505-foot-tall residential tower which will be completed next year.

/17/ The Pencil Tower is a sixsided (just like a pencil) residential building adjacent to the Cube Houses (#6) (In Dutch – the Blaaktorn).

/19/ The Floating Pavilion is intended as a pilot for building on water and a first step towards floating urbanization. n

TITLE YOU NEED (OR MIGHT WANT) TO KNOW AMAZ NG BU LDINGS

ANGELA O’BYRNE aobyrne@e-perez.com

NET POSITIVE

NORWAY’S POWERHOUSE BRATTØRKAIA TURNS ENERGY CONSUMPTION AROUND

According to the world Green Building Council, construction and buildings currently account for approximately 39% of global energyrelated carbon dioxide emissions. However, that figure could (and may well have to) drop precipitously with broader adoption of sustainable building practices. As more governments and builders take the emerging global climate crisis seriously, certifications like LEED and BREEAM have progressed from a badge of honor to standard operating procedure and green materials have become standard. At the highest levels of design, environmental impact is now nearly as fundamental a consideration as questions of form and material.

Building sustainably requires keen consideration of context, taking advantage of the building’s natural surroundings and available resources to control a building’s temperature, harness natural light, and process waste. As such, it’s far easier to build sustainably in temperate areas, where temperature holds steady and the sunlight is plentiful.

So how do you build sustainably in more extreme climates? Aren’t solar panels a luxury of the equatorial? What about Trondheim,

Norway’s northernmost major city, where daylight fluctuates wildly between seasons and temperatures stay below freezing for months during the dark winter seasons? That’s a lot of heating and lighting.

Trondheim is an unlikely location for an energy-neutral building, let alone an energy-positive one. Nevertheless, Snøhetta architecture’s Powerhouse Brattørkaia is exactly that: an 18,000 square-meter office building that, on average, produces more than twice the energy than it consumes daily. Thanks to nearly three thousand square meters of solar paneling, the fittingly named Powerhouse Brattørkaia generates enough power for itself, its neighbors, and a regional transportation network that includes electric buses, cars, and a local ferry system. The building was awarded BREEAM’s highest rating of Outstanding.

Rising in a striking, angular mass, Powerhouse Brattørkaia overlooks the port without overwhelming its neighbors, a precisely cut gem of a building. The imposing structure’s steeply-canted wedge shape offers a large and perfectly-angled roof for harvesting solar energy. The building’s highly efficient 1,157 solar panels are oriented around a circular cut-out that creates a generous central garden

Stressed spelled backwards is desserts.

Angela O’Byrne, FAIA, is President of Perez, APC, a 70+ year-old architecture, planning, interior design, and construction firm. She is also a Contributing Editor of

atrium, affording natural light to all its inhabitants. No matter where your desk is at Powerhouse Brattørkaia, a window isn’t far away.

As one might expect, the building leverages a host of green best practices to keep energy consumption low. While clad in handsome black aluminum, the majority of the building’s massing is concrete, ensuring a high degree of insulation to keep the building warm through Norway’s long winters. A heat pump system takes advantage of a nearby fjord to efficiently control the building’s temperature with seawater, and collected rainwater is used for the building’s toilets. When needed, the building’s sophisticated LED lighting system responds to supplement ambient daylight and can detect human presence to ensure efficiency. The result is a building that uses about half as much energy on lighting as a comparablysized office building would.

A partnership between Snøhetta, the Swedish construction giant Skanska, the environmental organization ZERO, and the consulting company Asplan Viak, the Powerhouse initiative is meant to inspire sustainable buildings with an ambitious new target inspired by the Paris Agreement. The Powerhouse designation isn’t merely a reflection of a building’s day-to-day energy consumption; the project’s energy accounting also includes the creation of the project’s building materials, emissions produced in its construction, ongoing operational demands, and finally, the eventual energy costs of its eventual demolition and disposal.

Powerhouse Brattørkaia is one of four existing Powerhouse projects. Others in portfolio include a breathtaking Montessori school and an ambitious renovation of a 1980’s office complex, proving that energy positivity isn’t restricted to new construction projects.

If the Powerhouse philosophy of energy positive building sounds ambitious, it’s because it is. Snøhetta’s founder Kjetil Trædal Thorsen is pursuing nothing less than a paradigm shift in building design, spurred by a sense of climate urgency. “Energy-positive buildings are the buildings of the future,” says Thorsen. “The mantra of the design industry should not be ‘form follows function’ but ‘form follows environment.’”

REAL ESTATE F THE FU URE NEOM IN SAUDI ARABIA

neoM is A Bold and audacious dream - a vision of what a new future might look like. (In fact, “Neom” means “New Future”.) It’s an attempt to do something that’s never been done before and it’s coming at a time when the world needs fresh thinking and new solutions.

NEOM is being conceived on a blank slate that will introduce a new model for urbanization and sustainability. It is being designed, constructed and independently administered in a way that is unencumbered by the outdated and inefficient economic and environmental infrastructure that constrains other countries. In doing so, NEOM will build an economy that is oriented to the future, not the present, serving as a model for the Kingdom and the world. It will introduce a new model for urban sustainability and be a place that is focused on setting new standards for community health, environmental protection and the effective and productive use of technology. And it is ideally located to achieve these goals.

NEOM is not just a place – it's a mindset. Citizens of NEOM will embody an international ethos and embrace a culture of exploration, risk-taking and diversity - all supported by a progressive legal system compatible with international

norms and conducive to economic growth. Imagine: A community of doers from all over the world – from a mix of homelands, religions and backgrounds – all living and collaborating toward a common goal.

The region is located at the crossroads of the world: 40 percent of the world’s population will be able to reach NEOM in less than four hours; approximately 10% of the world’s trade already flows through the Red Sea. Flying into NEOM’s new airport, London is only five hours away, Dubai and Cairo two, Zurich five and a half.

NEOM: A bold vision. A living laboratory and hub for innovation. A sustainable ecosystem for living and working. A model for the New Future. NEOM is built on five fundamental and interconnected principles.

SUSTAINABILITY

Not an optional extra or an item on a checklist, it’s not even a duty. It will be the way of life in NEOM, where they don’t just

I danced like no-one was watching. My court date is pending.

pop cans is soda pressing.

tread lightly. The residents will give back more than they take because they will leave this world in a better condition than the found it.

COMMUNITY

NEOM will have a distinctive sense of place and purpose. Setting the stage for NEOMians to create an ever-strengthening culture of difference, diversity and open-mindedness. Adaptable, inclusive and progressive, a mutual respect

and lively exchange of ideas will be encouraged so that the brightest minds of every generation can focus on what really matters – living well together.

TECHNOLOGY

Innovation will happen faster than anywhere else, giving people the perfect environment to conceive and develop technology that works seamlessly with society technology that is simple, intu-

itive and enriches the human experience, while working in harmony with nature to enhance and empower people and serve humankind as a whole.

NATURE

Our planet is our most precious treasure and NEOM will lead the shift in attitude to respect and protect it. Nature will be entwined with all aspects of NEOMian lives, respecting the natural balance and diversity of life within, always enhancing it for the next generation.

LIVABILITY

The environment that is created, enriched with smart technology and the benefits that come from sustainability, will work to enhance the physical, mental and social aspects of life. NEOM will offer an unequaled quality of life, setting the benchmark for the perfect living environment.

Learn more at: https://www.neom.com/ en-us/#what-is-neom

Download the NEOM brochure: https:// www.neom.com/en-us/static/pdf/en/ NEOM_BROCHURE_EN.pdf n

DIVERSI NS THE LIGHTER SIDE OF THE PANDEMIC – PART 4

What do you call panic-buying of sausage and cheese in Germany? The wurst-kase scenario. Back in my day you would cough to cover up a fart. Now, with COVID-19, you fart to cover up a cough.

You know who buys up all the toilet paper? Assholes.

Nail salons, hair salons, waxing center and tanning places are closed. It’s about to get ugly out there.

Why don’t chefs find coronavirus jokes funny? They’re in bad taste.

You know what they say: feed a cold, starve a fever, drink a corona.

What should you do if you don’t understand a coronavirus joke? Be patient.

The grocery stores in France look like tornadoes hit them. All that’s left is de brie.

I’ll tell you a coronavirus joke now, but you’ll have to wait two weeks to see if you got it.

Finland just closed its borders. You know what that means. No one will be crossing the finish line.

What do you tell yourself when you wake up late for work and realize you have a fever? Self, I so late.

Did you hear the joke about the germ? Never mind, I don’t want to spread it around.

Where do sick boats go to get healthy? The dock!

Why do they call it the novel coronavirus? It’s a long story...

Yeah, I have plans tonight. I’ll probably hit the living room around 8 or 9.

Crushing

ROSE-MARY RUMBLEY rosetalksdallas@aol.com

Rose-Mary Rumbley has written three books about her native city – Dallas. She has also written “WHAT! NO CHILI!” and a book about the 300th anniversary of the invention of the piano. She has appeared on the stage at the

THE ROARING TWENTIES

there will AlwAys be an asterisk by the year 2020. The year will always come with an explanation as in, "The year of the pandemic, therefore..."

One hundred years ago in 1920, a most engaging title was given to that decade -The Roaring 20's. They roared in with some similarities to this year, 2020.

First, the country had just gotten over the Spanish Flu epidemic, which killed thousands. My mother's brother, an uncle I never met, died of the flu. He was ready to go to France and fight in WWI, when he died. Dallas ran out of cemeteries, so my grandfather bought grave sites at the new cemetery, Grove Hill. Thus, my family is buried at Grove Hill on Samuell Boulevard in East Dallas.

Second, some great social changes came about with two amendments to the U.S. Constitution. The 18th amendment outlawed alcohol! Bars were closed. Mother always said, "We were so happy. No more drunks!" Ha! The liquor industry went underground. The Mafia, led by Al Capone, controlled not only the sale of liquor but also the US regulators, the FBI.

The call went out! Quick! We must get someone so "squeaky clean," he will not be tempted by a pay off! The gentleman they found was Elliot Ness and with his sinless aides, the Untouchables, they went after Al Capone, the leader of the mob! That TV show, the Untouchables, presented only the truth, when each week Robert Stack (as Ness) was able to get Scarface Al and his gang! They were a colorful group - Machine Gun Kelly, Pretty

Dallas Summer Musicals and at Casa Mañana and was head of the drama department at Dallas Baptist University for 12 years. Today she is on the speaking circuit and teaches drama classes at Providence Christian School. Her loving views of Texas history appear in every issue of

Boy Floyd, and John Dillinger. In those days one had to have a distinct personality trait to be a criminal. Today, anyone can be a criminal.

My father spoke fondly of Dagger Pruett, a well-known killer in Dallas during the 20s. When one stopped at a red light, he was in danger. Dagger would open the driver's door and shove a dagger into the driver's ribs. One dark and dreary night, my father was coming home from work. He had stopped at the grocery store and when he left, as he came up to a red light, the grocery sack in the front seat fell over on him and a can of peas surged into his side. His first thought – ‘Dagger got me!’

beer, and graciously gave my father a bottle. Mother screamed, "You're not going to drink that poison!" NO! Daddy poured it down the sink. The neighbors had been complaining to the city about a stopped-up sewer line. That bottle of home brew cleaned out the sewer line easily. Mother loved to tell that story.

Then there was the 19th Amendment which gave women the right to vote. Hooray! Women won their centurylong fight for the voting privilege. The suffragettes could celebrate. One little-known suffragette was Inez Milholland Boissevain, who in 1916 made her last trek across the nation demanding women's suffrage. She became ill during the trip and died at the age of 30. It was said that she died to make women free!

duced the radio and ‘moving pictures’; and they were called ‘moving pictures’. The word movies was coined in

Of course, Dallas also had Bonnie and Clyde! Mother and Daddy went to a wedding, and as the newly married couple left for the honeymoon, someone said, "My, they look like Bonnie and Clyde!" That was not very complimentary. Mother always said, "Bonnie and Clyde were ugly lowdown common trash!" The movie glorified them!

Without a bootlegger (the one who furnished alcohol), people might make some ‘bathtub brew’. Mother and Daddy had a neighbor who made

To celebrate 100 years of women's voting, Dallas based author, Jeanine Michna-Bales, is publishing a book, Standing Together: Photographs of Inez Milholland’s Final Campaign for Women’s Suffrage

Some of the theatres where Inez spoke have been torn down, but in Dallas, the Majestic stands, and a reenactment of Inez's speech will be photographed. The book will bring Inez Milholland to the foreground.

In 2020, we're all depending on our phones for communication, the news, and pleasure. The Roaring 20s intro-

the 20s when many words took on the suffix ‘ies’. If one ate wheat cereal, one ate, ‘Wheaties’. Women's underwear became ‘panties’. e e cummings, the poet, coined the word ‘partied’, and Franklin Delano Roosevelt pointed out that some actions were ‘iffy’, another new word.

The movies were "silent." Thus, the brilliant British mime, Charlie Chaplain, became a great movie star. My mother loved Charlie, but she thought Fatty Arbuckle was funnier. Alas, Fatty got involved with a young girl. A man couldn’t do that in the 1920s, so Fatty's career was finished. Scandal was not tolerated in Hollywood in those days.

The first commercial radio station in the US was KDKA in Pittsburgh, PA. This was in 1922. In the early days of radio, sports pretty well dominated the airwaves. The transmitter was easily taken to boxing matches, so the boxing stars became well known - Gene Tuney, Max Baer, Jack Dempsey. However, the trans-

Dead people can get goosebumps!

é Al Capone.

é Charlie Chaplin.

é Bonnie and Clyde.

é Elliot Ness.

é Jack Dempsey.

é Inez Milholland Boissevain.

mitter could not be taken to a baseball game. This is what made Ronald Reagan famous. He sat in a studio, miles from the game. The action of the game and the scores were sent to him by wire, and Ronnie with his

great imagination described the game as though he were there! "Ah, the sun is shining, the crack of the bat, the runner is on first!" No one knew that he was not present at the stadium.

Ronnie excelled as a sports announcer before making it in the movies.

There were other happenings. Clarence Birdseye introduced Frozen Food, Jacob Schick invented his razor, and juke boxes were playing everywhere. The reading public loved F. Scott Fitzgerald, Earnest Hemingway, George Kaufman, Moss Hart, and Dorothy Parker. They assembled for lunch daily at the Algonquin Hotel, New York City and became known as ‘The Round Table’.

Music lovers enjoyed Paul Whiteman and Duke Ellington. The Duke was given that name as a little boy because he was so classy and could

THE THREE-FIFTHS COMPROMISE

play the piano. Ah, but there was dance that made the Roaring 20's really roar. The story began in Charleston at an orphanage for black children. The director of the orphanage would take some of his children to a downtown corner in Charleston, and there they would dance. They did an African dance called the Juba or the Geechee, brought to this country by slaves. People gave them money

and suggested that the director take them to Harlem. There they could perform at the Apollo Theatre (created by Cab Calloway) and bring some notoriety to Charleston. This he did!

The audiences at the Apollo went wild over the kids! Those people knew nothing of the Juba or the Geechee, because they lived in New York, and they shouted, "Charleston, do your dance!" And the dance became known as the Charleston, made more popular by a Broadway show, Runnin’ Wild, and a song in that show, The Charleston!

There are many more tales of the Roaring 20s. Let's hope that fine stories will also be told of the 2020's. n

A contentious issue At the 1787 Constitutional Convention was whether slaves would be counted as part of the population in determining representation by the states in the House of Representatives or whether instead they would be considered property and, as such, not be considered for purposes of representation and taxations for the next ten years. The Three-Fifths Compromise solution was to count three out of every five slaves as people for this purpose. Its effect was to give the Southern states a third more seats in the House and a third more electoral votes than if slaves had been ignored, but fewer than if slaves and free people had been counted equally

When he presented his plan for the frame of government to the Convention, Charles Pinckney (of South Caro-

lina proposed that for the purposes of apportionment, a "House of Delegates" be determined through the apportionment of "one Member for every thousand Inhabitants 3/5 of Blacks included." Delegates from states with a large population of slaves argued that slaves should be considered persons in determining representation, but as property if the new government were to levy taxes on the states on the basis of population. Delegates from states where slavery had become rare argued that slaves should be included in taxation, but not in determining representation. (The Pinckney compromise was not completely original. This ratio

had already been established by the Congress which adopted the Articles of Confederation in 1781 as the basis for national taxation.)

The three-fifths compromise had a major impact on U.S. politics for decades to come. It allowed slave states to have a disproportionate influence on the presidency, the Supreme Court, and other positions of power. It also resulted in the country having a roughly equal number of free and slave states.

The Three-Fifths Compromise is found in Article 1, Section 2, Clause 3 of the United States Constitution, which reads:

Representatives and direct Taxes shall be apportioned among the several States which may be included within this Union, according to their respective Numbers, which shall be determined by adding to the whole Number of free Persons, including those bound to Service for a Term of Years, and excluding Indians not taxed, three fifths of all other Persons.

The three-fifths clause remained in force until the post-Civil War 13th Amendment freed all enslaved people in the United States, the 14th amendment gave them full citizenship, and the 15th Amendment granted black men the right to vote. When the 14th Amendment was ratified in 1868,

it officially repealed the three-fifths compromise. Section 2 of the amendment states that seats in the House of Representatives were to be determined based on “the whole number of persons in each State, excluding Indians not taxed."

The repeal gave the South more representation since former slaves were now counted fully. Yet, the formerly slave population continued to be denied the full benefits of citizenship. The South enacted laws such as “grandfather clauses” meant to disenfranchise African-Americans, even as the black population gave them more influence in Congress. The additional voting power not only gave Southern states more seats in the House but more electoral votes, too.

Until as recently as the 1960s, Southern Democrats (Dixiecrats) continued to wield a disproportionate amount of power in Congress based, in part, on the former slave population, who were counted for the purposes of representation but who were prevented from voting through grandfather clauses and other laws that threatened their livelihoods and even their lives.

It wasn’t until federal legislation such as the Civil Rights Act of 1964 and the Voting Rights Act of 1965, during the civil rights movement, that AfricanAmericans became an influential voting bloc. n

é Ronald Reagan.

ç General Charles Cotesworth Pinckney.

George Washington presiding over the Constitutional Convention in 1787. (Painting by Howard Chandler Christie)

Ane Ohm is a CPA and CEO of LeaseCrunch.

since the outBreAk of the COVID-19 pandemic in March 2020, CPA firms are seeing a large increase in the number of clients asking about lease concessions.

No one, including the Financial Accounting Standards Board (FASB), could have foreseen a global pandemic causing this much uncertainty around lease accounting. Between the move to working from home and the major economic disruption, many businesses’ needs have shifted dramatically, particularly as it relates to real estate.

Many businesses are negotiating shortor long-term lease concessions to preserve cash flow and strengthen their financials. However, there’s a big difference between what qualifies as a lease concession and what requires a lease modification. Combine that with the fact that many public companies are still adjusting to the new lease accounting standard, and it’s created a lot of confusion for clients.

Businesses will be navigating many months—if not years—of lease concessions and lease modifications resulting from the COVID-19 pandemic. Here’s the latest on what you need to know to help.

LEASE CONCESSIONS VERSUS LEASE MODIFICATIONS

A lease concession occurs when the lessee enacts an enforceable right or obligation in

LEASE CONCESSIONS AND COVID-19

WHAT YOU NEED TO KNOW

an existing contract. For example, a lease may contain a reduced lease escalation clause capping the amount of escalated rent or prevent rent escalation until a certain amount of time.

A lease modification is a change in the scope of the original contract. For example, the scope of the lease could expand to include more assets. The new lease standard differentiates between creating a new lease separate from the original lease, or simply changing the scope of the original lease. Entities must now account for these modifications in a specific way.

FASB OFFERS GUIDANCE ON LEASE CONCESSIONS

On April 10, FASB staff issued a Staff Q&A on Topic 842 (and Topic 840) regarding lease concessions related to the pandemic. FASB staff acknowledged the problem the pandemic brought: “It may be exceedingly challenging for entities to determine whether existing contracts provide enforceable rights and obligations for lease concessions and, if so, whether those concessions are consistent with the terms of the contract or are modifications to a contract.”

As a result, FASB deemed it acceptable for entities to treat any lease changes made as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic as a lease concession rather than a lease modification. Even if the enforceable rights and

obligations were not in the original lease, entities don’t have to go through the extra work required to treat it as a lease modification.

Firms can treat these lease concessions as they would any other lease concession according to Topic 842 or Topic 840, depending on whether you have implemented the new lease standard yet. Entities may decide to accrue deferred payments (with lessors continuing to recognize income and lessees recognizing expenses) or to account for deferred payments as variable lease payments.

MAKING AN ELECTION TO ACCOUNT FOR LEASE CONCESSIONS

Making this election saves the time of pouring over leases to determine whether the provision is included or requires a lease modification.

There are two requirements to be able to make an election to an account for a lease concession rather than a lease modification:

· The lessee must be affected by the economic disruptions of COVID-19.

· The lease concessions cannot result in a substantial increase in the lessor’s rights or lessee’s obligations. There must be a reasonable expectation that the total payments of a modified lease contract will be the same or less than the original. n

Beer nuts for sale$1.25 per bag. Deer nuts are under a buck.

THE FACTOR THE WORLD’S MOST EXPENSIVE HOME

AntiliA is A privAte home in Mumbai, India. Named after the mythic island Antillia, it is the residence of Indian billionaire Mukesh Ambani and his family, who moved into the 27-story, 568 feet tall, over 400,000 square feet structure in 2012. It has amenities such as three helipads, 9 elevators, multiple swimming pools, a 168-car garage, a ballroom, 50-seat theater, terrace gardens, spa, and a temple. As of May 2020, it was valued at $2.2 billion, deemed to be the world's second most valuable residential property (after British crown property Buckingham Palace) and the world's most valuable private residence. Not surprisingly, its controversial design and ostentatious use by a single family has made it infamous in India and beyond, including severe criticism in the architectural press and mockery in popular media.

The home's 27 floors have extra-high ceilings. (Other buildings of equivalent height may have as many as 60 floors.) It was also designed to survive an earthquake rated 8 on the Richter scale and includes space for a staff of 600.

Watch a video to see more: https://www. youtube.com/watch?v=irm9Ax44mcQ n

Mukesh Ambani is the richest man in India with a net worth of $22.3 billion. He is pictured here earlier this year with his wife (Nita) and their three children (Akash, Anant and Isha).

AARON GRAHAM aaron@nationalland.com

Aaron Graham is the Chief Innovation Officer at National Land Realty and is a licensed real estate broker in NE, IA & KS.

As neArly All Businesses are forced to pivot quickly in order to meet consumer expectations amid the coronavirus pandemic, a glimpse into the land brokerage industry—which has been evolving rapidly due to technological advancements and changing consumer behavior—is extremely relevant in today’s climate.

TECHNOLOGY AND CORONAVIRUS PANDEMIC DISRUPTING THE LAND BROKERAGE INDUSTRY

Prior to COVID-19, technology was already making a noticeable impact on both our businesses and personal lives. Technology has forever changed communication, shopping, banking, education, entertainment, and, recently, even how we visit our doctors. But we didn’t fully understand how suddenly the benefits of technology would shift from being a convenience to an absolute necessity. Most of the world came to a screeching halt a few months ago. Meanwhile, the innovative, forward-thinking businesses have proven they don't need to stop their dribble to pivot; they’re going straight to the hoop for the score. Those who effectively wield the technology are dominating the marketplace, whether we like it or not.

Before the pandemic, it had been predicted that 40% of both blue and white-collar jobs would be lost to technology over the next 15 years. Since the onset of COVID-19 and the shutdown of our economy, it’s become very clear that the loss of jobs to technology will occur more rapidly than originally predicted.

Long before coronavirus had become a household name, massive disruption had been going on in the residential sector. Companies which were leveraging technology, data, google rankings, artificial intelligence, and social media were covering ground faster than Murder Hornets. We should learn from these residential companies, which are changing their industry’s message with marketing slogans such as “Real Estate, Made Simple” and “Finally, the Way Real Estate Should Be.” Some of these businesses are demonstrating how

THE FUTURE OF THE LAND BROKERAGE INDUSTRY

the residential real estate industry has been ripe for disruption.

On another note, businesses are generally seeing consumers demand more transparency. Consumers expect relevant, accurate, free-of-charge data to be at their fingertips to help them make decisions. If you’re unable to give it to them, they’re on to the next vendor.

THE FUTURE OF THE LAND BROKERAGE INDUSTRY

An Oxford University study predicted that automation is 98% likely to replace all real estate agents over the next 20 years. This statistic could be scary, but I’m not here to dim your light with doom and gloom. The question is, will you increase the odds of automation taking over by being pushed aside, or will you be a part of the elite who are taking the time to learn how to stand out, stay relevant, and remain valuable? If we can better serve our clients by providing exactly what they need on a personal, emotional, and technological level, while saving them time and money, we become invaluable.

HISTORICAL REALTOR MEMBERSHIP FIGURES:

As real estate brokers, our path ahead may not be as easy as it has been in the past, but it’s important to find opportunity in every challenge; do not sit victim to the changing circumstances. Be coachable and seek mentorship from others who can provide

valuable tools and insight into changes and updates in our industry.

As consumers take the lead in telling us what they want from land brokers and our services, it’s important to go above and beyond to protect our brands and our reputations, at all costs. Take caution: the service industry is being placed under a microscope more than ever before through tools like Yelp, Google, and Facebook reviews. Consumers will have access to how well (or poorly) we’ve performed. They’ll base their buying decision on that information, and for many, that information alone.

THE BOTTOM LINE

There is no way to slow the pace of technology. We need to embrace the impact it’s making in all industries, especially in new ways of connecting and presenting valuable information to consumers. The consumer is the ultimate shot caller, deciding who wins and who loses. Amy Somerville stated it best when she said:

Only those companies that can reach customers and provide the best experiences will win. Participation trophies in the land brokerage business are a relic of the past. n

“We are the advocate, the educator, the advisor; we are not the decision maker”

THE FACTOR THE UMEDA SKY BUILDING

At 568 feet And built in 1994, the Umeda Sky Building is the nineteenth-tallest building in Osaka, Japan, and one of the city's most recognizable landmarks. It consists of two 40-story office towers that connect at their two uppermost stories, with bridges and an escalator crossing the wide atrium-like space in the center. It was originally conceived in 1988 as the "City of Air" project, which planned to create four interconnected towers, but the economic bubble of the 1980s burst and brought the number of towers down to two. The rooftop observatory - The Floating Garden Observatory - and an underground market and urban garden at ground level with walking trails and water features are among the special features of the property. The British newspaper The Times called it one of the “Top 20 Buildings Around the World.” (Watch a video riding the middle escalator at this building: https://youtu.be/ 2pqC5tBui8Q)

For perspective, the tallest building in Osaka is Abeno Harukas (below) is 985 feet tall (and has 62 floors). It is actually the tallest building in all of Japan and contains a hotel, an art museum, a rooftop garden and a massive department store with extensive shopping and dining facilities (and, of course, an observation deck).

Osaka (which means "large hill" or "large slope") is a cosmopolitan city near the ancient capital, Kyoto, best known for its dynamic food and drinking culture, and famously outgoing people. With a metropolitan population of approximately 20,000,000, it’s not as large as Tokyo (38,000,000)– or as culturally renowned as its neighbor Kyoto (population of 1,470,000) n

The youngest Pope in history was Pope Benedict IX who was 11 years old at the time of election. He is also the only person to have been the Pope more than once.

é Osaka Cityscape ç Abeno Harukas

ALEX DOUBET adoubet@door.com

Alex Doubet is the Founder/CEO of Door, Inc. (Door.com), a residential real estate startup company based in Texas.

with covid-19 cAses spiking again, it is more important now than ever to take safety precautions in home buying and selling. Mask mandates, social distancing efforts and health scares are changing the way buyers and sellers approach the residential real estate market. The industry was obviously disrupted by the sudden pandemic, but its next moves are critical. It is important to bring value and transparency to customers and, in doing so, utilize available technology. The traditional real estate industry must adapt to the changing norms, laws and regulations, and the technology boom that has shaken things up for the past few years.

Here’s how the evolving world of home buying and selling has changed over the past five years and continues to develop in the midst of the COVID-19 pandemic.

ONLINE SEARCHING

95% of buyers are looking for their home online, and over half find it before engaging an agent. Even though this big chunk of the traditional real estate agent’s job has been cut out, the commission is still the same and the buyer will have to pay it indirectly through a higher listing price. Evolving past commissions and working towards a focus on the customer experience is the only way to provide value and stay relevant.

ACCURATE VALUATIONS

Algorithms and accuracy are imperative to a successful real estate transaction. Traditional agents will often come to a potential seller/client with high dollar signs, telling them they should list their home for a high price. This is a tactic used to earn the seller’s business. Where is the data? What kind of algorithm did the agent use? In today’s marketplace, brokerages should utilize advanced valuation algorithms to bring an accurate home price to the seller instead of wooing them with an unattainable number.

TARGETED MARKETING

Due to the high dependency on the internet and many stay-at-home orders still in place, mass marketing in physical publi-

DIVERSI NS POLITICAL CORNER

cations isn’t as effective as it once was. Consumers have more options to find what they need faster. Fifty percent of people that will ever see a home that is advertised online will see it in its first seven days on the market. We all know the importance of target marketing, and here’s where social media comes in. Targeting the right people on social media will get a home sold faster than a newspaper or magazine can even be published. Effective agents will have built online audiences for each type of home to ensure a faster sale.

SIMPLIFYING, INCREASING VISIBILITY

Transparency is one of the most important traits in real estate. Streamlining the process is just as important. Luckily, there’s an easy way to solve both: custom portals. Clients love logging in and having their entire real estate experience in one convenient tool. Services can be scheduled, data can be viewed, and the closing process can be managed. Easy, right? With this capability, no one going through a transaction should be burdened with uncertainty. And during a pandemic, this is crucial.

The modern tools now available to real estate brokerages should enhance, rather than diminish, service. Acting as a specialized guide and using technology to provide incredible value should be the new real estate norm. n

TECHNOLOGY IS DISRUPTING (AND IMPROVING) THE RESIDENTIAL REAL ESTATE INDUSTRY (DURING THE PANDEMIC)

The only thing wrong with a perfect drive to work is that you end up at work.

2021 NTCCIM BOARD OF DIRECTORS

OFFICERS DIRECTORS AT LARGE

President Howard Fuerst, CCIM Ten-X hfuerst@ten-x.com

Vice President Calvin Wong, CCIM Sperry Commercial - Engvest calvin.wong@sperrycga.com

Secretary Dan Campanella, CCIM Alliance Tax Advisors dcampanella@atatax.com

Treasurer Pamela Spadaro, CCIM Investment Solutions Group | Real Estate Investments Bank of America Private Bank pamela.spadaro@bofa.com

Past President Timothy Veler, CCIM Transwestern Timothy.Veler@transwestern. com

Allyson Yost Colliers International allyson.yost@colliers.com

Daniel Zale, CCIM Guaranty Bank & Trust dzale@gnty.com

Allen Gump, CCIM, SIOR Colliers International allen.gump@colliers.com

Max Schwartzstein, CCIM Providential Realty Partners max@providentialrp.com

Welcome: Cheryl Gray, CPM, IREM 2020 President.

Keynote Presentation: Innovating Through Chaos with Jeremy Gutsche – CEO of Trend Hunter and New York Times bestselling author. Panel Discussion: Perspectives on the Way Forward with Top Industry Leaders representing Office, Retail, Industrial and Multi-Family.

Registration and details: https://iremaustin.org/ meetinginfo.php?id=186&ts= 1597086684

My relationship with whiskey is on the rocks.

MAIKE CHENG

maikec@mccd.co

Maike Cheng is the founder and president of MC Collaborative Designs, focusing on real estate and interior design in Dallas and Seattle.

RETURNING TO WORK

IMPORTANT DESIGN CONSIDERATIONS IN THE ERA OF COVID-19

going BAck to work in an office environment after a worldwide pandemic is not a decision to be made lightly and needs to be assessed holistically in order to determine the best plan of action to accommodate a business and its employees.

social distancing measures in place, the logistics of transporting personnel via limited numbers of elevators may prevent employees from ever reaching their office. Gone are the days of overcrowding an elevator followed by the unbearable screech of the overload warning alarm.

THE VERTICAL TRANSPORTATION SYSTEM

Depending on the building type, the simple act of getting to one's floor may prove to be a bigger obstacle for most employees in an urban environment. With

To protect the workforce willing to return to their offices, office design needs to start with vertical transport. A couple of options have been discussed including limiting each elevator ride to 4 individuals, all facing different corners of the elevator cab. There’s also the possibility of installing plexiglass divider 'booths' for potentially more bodies to fit in one ride. A more realistic approach that needs to be con-

sidered is whether the workday of any high-rise buildings could be extended or staggered into various shifts throughout the 24-hour day in lieu of the 9-5 workday. By staggering work hours or cycling three 8-hour shifts in a day, the demand on a building's vertical transportation can be better controlled, also allowing regular sanitization intervals throughout the day. For low- and mid-rise buildings, an escalator may be the most pragmatic solution to transfer occupants from floor to floor with the least impact on the workday.

‘TOUCHLESS’ DOORS

The security desk of a building and also the reception desk of an office needs to serve additional functions as both a temperature check and a sanitization station. Meanwhile, disinfecting and sanitization stations will need to be installed on each floor at main wayfinding and travel thoroughfares.

ON THE SURFACE(S)

Surfaces will be an important topic to address as the need for non-porous surfaces will allow the most effective disinfecting and sanitization. This may be a difficult adjustment as the majority of modular office furniture uses fabric panel dividers. In lieu of porous woven fabrics, offices needing sound attenuation may turn towards polyurethane or silicone fabrics that may be wiped down or sprayed with bleach. For spaces that don’t have sound concerns, changing to glass, solid surface, porcelain, or laminate surfaces will allow cleaning crews to do their job thoroughly without worrying about damaging surfaces.

Within the building itself, retrofitting automatic door openers on all public area doors appears to be the logical way of reducing touched surfaces. Should space permit, an automatic revolving door is a great solution for touchless entry into a building or space. Where electricity is limited, a foot-operated door opener is also a viable alternative.

Something that needs to be considered in an organization is the type of disinfecting and sanitization to be utilized as certain types of antimicrobial technologies are prone to lead to the development of superbugs. Making sure everyone is on board with facility maintenance methodology will be critical as we enter the next phase of returning to the office.

The brain is our fattiest organ, being composed of nearly 60% fat.

In 2005, Mark Zuckerberg unsuccessfully tried to sell Facebook for $75 million. Back then it was called TheFacebook.

MAXIMIZE SPACE UTILIZATION

In terms of the workspace, priority needs to be given to workers who are high risk or have high risk members in their family. Ideally these individuals will be allowed to continue working from home; however, should they need to physically work in the office, it may make sense for these individuals to take over a private office in lieu of an open work area layout. Small conference rooms may also be converted into safe spaces for these individuals with a focus on keeping them and their family healthy.

For large conference rooms, furniture can be adapted to utilize donutstyle table layouts instead of a conference table. This will allow social distancing to occur while reducing the number of people that can occupy the room at any given time. If more people need to be in one meeting, perhaps all employees remaining at their own desks and dialing into a virtual meeting is the best solution for the time being.

Where space allows, perhaps a move towards working outdoors may help with distancing employees and improving mental health and productivity. Studies show that exposure to natural daylight enhances one’s mood and outdoor air circulation provides less chances of transmitting or becoming infected with the virus.

As organizations are contemplating the big shift returning to work in the office, there are more logistics to consider than just the office environment itself. Businesses have to make the decision based on the benefits of every employee acknowledging that what works for one group may not necessarily work for another.

The return to the office will require an in depth discussion among all levels of an organization: IT, to provide enough bandwidth and security protocol for workers to communicate with their working from home counterparts; facility management, to implement the best types of sanitization without damaging equipment; security, to determine the proper protocol for dealing with someone who fails a temperature check or exhibits signs of sickness; and leadership, to determine who needs to return to the office.

In open work spaces, vertical dividers need to be added between all users, depending on the type of furniture utilized. Panels should accommodate for users at sitting or standing height and should extend a minimum of 30” over the height of the work surface. Each space should also be equipped with its own personal air filtration device and noise-cancellation machine.

Hexagon shaped layouts may allow the maximum usage of a space while providing social distancing; however, they do take up more space than their 90-degree counterparts. In 90-degree lay-outs, consider either reducing the number of desks or alternate days for employees working from the office. Another solution may be a 4-day “work from office” work week alternating days between 50% of staff with working one day from home which will allow the entire office to be disinfected and sanitized on a weekly basis.

Another decision that needs to be made is whether the need for office real estate is necessary for the operation of the business. Some businesses may decide to terminate their office leases and move towards a co-working space that allows a hybrid work environment for their staff. The next phase of this worldwide pandemic starts by having a conversation with all parties involved. n

sAntA cruz de tenerife (a/k/a Santa Cruz), is the capital of the island of Tenerife, and capital (jointly with Las Palmas) of the Canary Islands - a Spanish archipelago and the southernmost autonomous community of Spain located in the Atlantic Ocean, 62 miles west of Morocco. The Canary Islands (which are comprised of eight major and many smaller islands and islets) are part of the European

THE FACTOR

THE AUDITORIUM OF TENERIFE ANOTHER

CALATRAVA MASTERPIECE

Union, despite their geographical proximity to Africa. They have a population of 2,153,389, mostly concentrated in the two capital islands (about 43% on the island of Tenerife and 40% on the island of Gran Canaria).

The urban zone of Santa Cruz extends beyond the city limits with a population of over half a million. It is the second largest city in the Canary Islands and

the main city on the island of Tenerife, with nearly half of the island's population living in or around it. The port is the communications hub between Europe, Africa and Americas, with cruise ships arriving from many nations.

The Auditorium of Tenerife (Auditorio de Tenerife), designed by Santiago Calatrava, was constructed in 2003. It has an organic structure in the shape of sails with white blue rollers.The auditorium has a big room for concerts, a room for opera and is an emblem of the city; it is also one of the main attractions of Tenerife and the Canary Islands.n

HAMBERDER REPTILE DYSFUNCTION DIVERSI NS

Electricians have to strip to make ends meet.

The dysfunctional chameleon thought he had changed color, but it was only a pigment of his imagination.

on July 14th, siMon and Shuster released the long-awaited tell-all from the president’s niece, a clinical psychologist. If you’re planning to vote to re-elect this president, you should read this book first because he might yet destroy our republic and the details remains important

From Kirkus Reviews

Donald Trump, writes the author early on in this scathing critique, “understands nothing about history, constitutional principles, geopolitics, diplomacy (or anything else, really.)” Her account of a night spent at the Trump International Hotel begins with her discomfort at finding her name plastered on every object in the room: “TRUMP shampoo…TRUMP shoe polish, TRUMP sewing kit, and TRUMP bathrobe... I opened the refrigerator, grabbed a split of TRUMP white wine, and poured it down my Trump throat so it could course through my Trump bloodstream and hit the pleasure center of my Trump brain.” As readers will quickly realize, there is a fate

BOOK REVIEW

TOO MUCH AND NEVER ENOUGH HOW MY FAMILY CREATED THE WORLD’S MOST DANGEROUS MAN

BY MARY L. TRUMP

worse than having Donald J. Trump as president: being related to him.

The author describes wandering around her house in shock the morning after the 2016 election. “It felt,” she writes, “as though 62,979,636 voters had chosen to turn this country into a macro version of my malignantly dysfunctional family.” Few fairy tales were ever colder and greedier than the story of Donald’s father, Fred Trump; the author, who specializes in psychopathology, prefers the technical term, “high-functioning sociopath.” Donald and his siblings were “essentially motherless” from a very early age, and they were subjected to an ongoing form of abuse summarized by the book’s title. But once Donald was tapped as his father’s favorite, he was ushered into the proverbial counting house while his siblings were left to fight for the scraps. The author’s father was repeatedly humiliated and all but disowned, and he was left to die alone. The author’s aunt "wouldn't have been able to feed herself or her son" without Crisco cans of dimes and quarters collected from the laundry machines in the Trump apartments, sneaked to her by her mother. And it goes on, coming to a head in the unbelievable story of Fred Trump’s will. Does Mary Trump, Ph.D., have an ax to grind? Sure. So do we all. Dripping with snideness, vibrating with rage, and gleaming with clarity—a deeply satisfying read.

To stay relevant, organizations need to look beyond the “next best thing”—and that means cultivating proactive solutions in the face of change. To be meaningful to customers, brands and businesses need to abandon reactive thinking and embrace the transformative nature of today. Widely considered to be the leading expert on rapid reinvention, Joe Jackman’s book, The Reinventionist Mindset: Learning to Love Change and the Human How of Doing It Brilliant, repositions change as a force to be welcomed. From his early years as EVP of Marketing at Loblaws, where he steered the company’s initial restructuring, to overseeing successful reinventions at Duane Reade, Walgreens and Dave & Busters, he has guided over 50 companies to become the most powerful and relevant versions of themselves in record time.

BY JOE JACKMAN

In today’s world of rapid change, brands and businesses have three choices: fight it (until an inevitable downfall); fix it (making incremental tweaks that don’t lead to genuine growth); or embrace it (by using bigger, bolder, transformative strategies).

A must-have resource for today’s business leaders on the true success of transformation, Jackman provides a roadmap for leaders to thrive through change and explores topics such as:

• There is a serial killer on the loose and it’s coming for every slow-moving business on the planet

Excerpts from the book:

“The media failed to notice that not one member of Donald’s family, apart from his children, his son in law and his current wife, said a word in support of him during the entire campaign.” She published the book to help “take him down” because “a second term... would be the end of American democracy.”

“Donald’s pathologies are so complex…. I have no problem calling (him) a narcissist — he meets all nine criteria” (in the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders) but he also has an “undiagnosed learning disability that … has interfered with his ability to process information.”

Donald developed “powerful but primitive defenses — a willful callousness and “an increasing hostility to others … narcissism, bullying, grandiosity.”

“If he can keep forty-seven thousand spinning plates in the air, nobody can focus on any one of them. So there’s that: it’s just a distraction.” “Donald, following the lead of my grandfather and with the complicity, silence and inaction of his siblings, destroyed my father. I can’t let him destroy my country.”

• How to reprogram yourself, your team and your organization to see change as a good thing

• The most efficient and effective way to reinvent a business

• Simple secrets of successful disruptive strategies

• Brand isn’t a logo or communication alone; it is cultural—the entire way in which a company behaves and shows up based on who it is, what it values, and its DNA

• How to rally your organization and make momentum together

“The human before and after in reinvention can be stunning,” says Jackman. “There is nothing better than winning after losing. There is no greater bond than that formed between people who have faced adversity together and overcome it. The very best thing about down is that it makes up that much sweeter.” n

THE REINVENTIONIST MINDSET

YOU NEED (OR MIGHT WANT) TO KNOW EGAL VIEW

ANTHONY J. BARBIERI ajb@kesslercollins.com

THE GOOD SAMARITAN

MAny things in life are unfair, as cynically pointed out by the idiom “no good deed goes unpunished.” Oftentimes we find ourselves in the aftermath of an attempted good deed that went awry – whether we try to cheer up a friend or family member going through a rough patch in their life, or we try and “do a solid” to help a stranger. But a “good deed” can create legal liability if that stranger you help accuses you of injuring them or their property. This potential liability concerns a lot of people, and often discourages people from rendering assistance. We have all seen stories on the news where innocent people were assaulted or injured in broad daylight, while dozens of people pass by without bothering to help.

Fortunately, many states have passed so-called “good samaritan” laws that offer legal protection to people who give reasonable assistance to those who are, or who they believe to be, injured, ill, or in peril. Public policy considerations are the guiding force behind such laws. Most states, such as Texas, value human life and do not want a bystander to be discouraged from rendering necessary aid because he or she is afraid of being sued if the care he or she provides causes harm to the victim. Good Samaritan laws vary from state to state, and they often are intertwined with other legal principles. Most laws do not apply to medical professionals or first responders who are working on scene of an accident.

samaritan law will help you avoid liability if you unintentionally injury someone or damage their property. The protection is intended to reduce bystanders' hesitation to assist, for fear of being sued or prosecuted for unintentional injury or death. In order to get protection under the Good Samaritan Law, the Samaritan has to be acting in good faith, but if your good-faith actions cause property damage, injury or other harm, you are protected from liability by the injured party. Additionally, the Texas Good Samaritan law expressly gives protection to someone who in good faith administers emergency care using an automated external defibrillator, and to first responders who are acting in a volunteer capacity. However, there are several situations where the Texas Good Samaritan Law does not apply, as discussed below.

always easy to tell what willful and wanton behavior is. Generally speaking, “willful and wanton” conduct means an action that shows actual or deliberate intention to harm someone; or, if not intentional, shows a conscious disregard for the safety of others. Basically, your state of mind has to be such that you intentionally harmed someone or you knowingly ignored their safety.

Producing Cause: Additionally, Texas law does not give liability protection to an individual who caused the emergency situation. For example, if a driver of a car negligently causes a car wreck, and that same driver renders aid to the victims in the other car, he or she could still be held civilly liable for damages that result from providing emergency aid.

TEXAS GOOD SAMARITAN LAW

Texas has a good-samartan law which limits the civil liability of people who, in good faith, administer emergency care to others in need. In other words, suppose you witness an accident or see a baby trapped in a car on hot afternoon. If you stop to give first aid or smash in the car window to get the baby out, then the good

Expectation of Remuneration: The Texas Good Samaritan Law also does not apply if the person rendering aid was expecting to be paid for these emergency services. The legal question is whether the individual expected remuneration, so if you stop and render aid and send the victim a bill for such services, you are not protected under the Good Samaritan Law even if the bill is never paid. Additionally, if the individual at the scene of the emergency situation was soliciting business, the protection does not apply.

Willful or Wanton Conduct: The protection does not apply if the person rendering aid acted in a willfully or wantonly negligent manner. It is not

TEXAS CHARITABLE IMMUNITY ACT

In addition to the Good Samaritan law discussed above, Texas has a similar law applicable to volunteers of charitable organizations, called the Texas Charitable Immunity Act. Much like the Good Samaritan Law, the Texas Charitable Immunity and Liability Act protects volunteers from liability in connection with works performed for certain non-profit entities. The public policy consideration is to encourage Texans to become active in “charitable” work without facing liability for certain actions. This law does not eliminate liability for a nonprofit organization or its volunteers, but it can reduce it.

Anthony J. Barbieri is a shareholder of Kessler Collins, PC in Dallas, Texas. He is a Fellow of the Litigation Counsel of America and a member of the State Bar of Texas, Dallas Bar Association and the American Bar Association. He is also a Contributing Editor of .

The Act applies to most 501(c)(3) and 501(c)(4) organizations, homeowner associations, and other similar types of non-profit companies. It states that all volunteers are protected from civil liability for any act or omission resulting in death, damage, or injury if the volunteer can prove they were acting in the course and scope of their duties or functions, including an officer, director, or trustee within the charitable organization. Since the Act requires the volunteer to be performing a duty within the “course and scope” of their volunteer duties, it excludes any liability for torts or other wrongdoings that go beyond a volunteer’s functions. It also only applies to those who do not receive compensation, including stipends, for their volunteer services. This immunity does not apply to the liability of the organization for the acts or omissions of volunteers. The major exception to the volunteer immunity rule is when the act or omission in-

In Texas, The Good Samaritan Act says that if a person administers emergency care in good faith in a hospital or at an emergency scene that the person will not be liable for civil damage for any act that is performed in an emergency unless this act was wantonly or willfully negligent. There are some exceptions to this: The “good Samaritan” was at the emergency scene because they were attempting to solicit business or services,

• The good Samaritan expected remuneration (pay) for their assistance.

• The good Samaritan is someone who regulalrly administers, like a hospital or emergency room worker.

• The good Samaritan is a physician of a patient with a health-care liability claim.

• The good Samaritan is the person is responsible for causing the injury to begin with.

volves the operation of a motor vehicle, including an airplane. This immunity does not extend to intentional, willfully or wantonly negligent acts or omissions, or those done with conscious indifference.

In order for a volunteer to avail him or herself to immunity under the Act, the applicable nonprofit company or entity must have liability insurance coverage in effect at the time of the act or omission creating the basis of the claim. To qualify, the insurance coverage must be no less than $500,000 per person and $1,000,000 per single occurrence for death or bodily injury, and $100,000 for each single occurrence of property damage. Further, the insurance coverage must expressly apply to the acts or omissions of the non-profit organization, its employees, and its volunteers. If the organization qualifies as a nonprofit and has the proper insurance coverage

discussed above, then the liability of its volunteers (including an officer, director, or trustee) is limited to the policy amounts listed above, and such limits apply even if the organization has coverage amounts in excess of those required under the Act (as stated above). Accordingly, the liability should not exceed that of the insurance coverage significantly reducing a risk of any excess judgment. These liability limitations do not apply to an act or omission that is intentional, willfully negligent, or done with conscious indifference or reckless disregard for the safety of others.

These days, we need all the good deeds we can get. Hopefully those citizens who are familiar with the Texas Good Samaritan Law and Charitable Immunity Act won’t hesitate be on the lookout for good deeds, whether they occur coincidentally or if they decide to volunteer to help a good cause. True, life is unfair, but at least these two Texas laws are fair. n

Ed. Note: This piece originally appeared in the December 2017 of . Tony Barbieri’s article on tortious interference with contracts will appear in the next issue.

“No good deed goes unpunished.”

Clare Luce Boothe

If you fart consistently for 6 years and 9 months, enough gas is produced to create the energy of an atomic bomb.

STANISLAV PLUTENKO

SEEING THE ORDINARY AND MAKING IT EXTRAORDINARY

chArActerized By his deeply honest means of expression and fascination with Orientalism, Surrealism, and social commentary, Moscow painter Stanislav Plutenko brings his vivid dreams to life.

Like a rush of blood to the head, inspiration for his next painting overwhelms Moscow realist Stanislav Plutenko with authority — and the artist must act quickly to record his visions before they fade. “At times when I look at the snow-white canvas in front of me, I see obscure images and my mind tries to freeze the moment and not lose any of those feelings or visions,” he writes. “I try to complete and develop these visions in order

to transmit the fragile world that I see onto the canvas.” For Plutenko, this fragile world, experienced during his travels abroad to Asia, the Middle East, and India, are focused and reinterpreted artistically.

He continues, “Inspiration comes like a hallucination or a vivid dream that only children have. With time, these dreams become bleaker, fainter, and disappear. First, I feel nostalgic, then the artistic drive takes over, I dissolve into the canvas, losing all track of time.”

“Cock Fight” is a representative example, recording Plutenko’s observations from India, Pakistan, and the Middle East. As he draws upon his love of Orientalism, we find an energetic group of men who crowd around a pair of cocks, their feathers raised in powerful, aggressive fashion. Despite the painting’s subject, the painting is — in fact — an intense study of emotion, individuality, culture, and expression. Plutenko writes, “This painting is an illustration of human passions and the human character. There are mixed emotions in this work —

the excitement of the approaching victory, greed, cruelty, and disappointment. So many emotions at the same time — a treasure trove for genre painting.” Indeed, each onlooker is treated with astonishing sensitivity, their expressions, gestures, individuality, and emotions captured with clarity. The captivating composition and attention to each character recall the traditional works of Baroque masters and has a timeless quality.

“Christ in the Desert” is a fantastic modern reinterpretation of a traditional artistic theme. Sitting at center among piles of rubbish and debris, a weary Christ appears in worn white and green robes. Christ does not engage the viewer, but gazes downward with a saddened expression. “This painting is how I see the second coming of Christ,” writes the artist. “War and urbanizations have ravaged the land, physically and spiritually. Who should be saved? Who will listen to the truth?”

Especially fascinating is how open Plutenko is to his artistic communication, describing

Cow stumbles into pot field! The steaks have never been higher.

himself like a chef who has several key ingredients or spices at his disposal. He writes, “I am like a chef who has several spices (themes) in my arsenal — Romanticism and sugar, Surrealism and salt, Orientalism and spice, the grotesque and hot peppers. I mix everything and hope to nourish the world with the ‘soup.’ ”

Indeed, Surrealism comes to the fore in works like “Tree-Cloud,” which recalls the famous poetic tale The Little Prince by French poet Antonie de Saint-Exupéry. The painting here shows an otherworldly escape in the clouds. Plutenko describes, “‘TreeCloud’ is my escape from the big world into a tiny, quiet and cozy world.”

In the future, Plutenko wants to continue pushing his artistic boundaries and working in a variety of mediums. “There are times that I wish to get away from the usual subject matter and paint a series of works that are uncharacteristic of my usual style,” he asserts. “Maybe someday I will do something under a pseudonym!”. n

Plutenko is represented through a number of galleries and private collections in the United Kingdom, Germany, Canada, Monaco, Finland, France, Switzerland, and the United States at East West Fine Art (formerly Gallery on Fifth in Naples, Florida (https://eastwestfineart.com)

WHY ARTCH TECTURE ?

Great art is among the most sublime, meaningful, and redeeming creations of all civilization. Few endeavors can equal the power of great artwork to capture aesthetic beauty, to move and inspire, to change perceptions, and to communicate the nature of human experience. Great art is also complex, mysterious, and challenging. Filled with symbolism, cultural and historical references, and often visionary imagery, great artworks oblige us to reckon with their many meanings.

Architects and designers (many of our readers) have a lot of influence on the way we perceive the world. A structure often plays a significant part in how we experience a place. (Think of a restaurant, a museum, an arena, a stadium... even an office building - virtually anywhere!) The interior design impacts our sensory perception, our comfort, and our physical connection and there is also artistry in the exterior design. (That’s why we call it artchitecture.)

SILOH MOSES

hello@iheartconcap.com

Siloh Moses is the Founder of iHeart ConCap.

would you Be interested in helping families while making a positive cash flow of 8-12%? Here’s how.

In the 1940's the average price to own a home in America was $3,000 ($30,000 in today’s dollars) and from the 1940’s-1970’s, as mortgage prices rose, so did wages (growing 90% in those days), but since the 1970’s, average wages have risen just 12% , meaning that the cost of living has been rising faster than income for forty years. As a result, homeownership rates have decreased. Today, a majority of Americans will never own their own home. What was once the middle class is now the working poor - paying their bills on time, but barely making ends meet and sacrificing other needs such as medical care and a better education for exorbitant rental prices. For nearly half of Americans (especially Texans), almost half of their income goes to rent.

But there are others in the United States and other countries with the means to invest. Many would like to see their investments make a difference, while providing them with significant cash flow. With the Philanthroinvestor program, it’s

REBUILDING AMERICA STARTS HERE!

possible. As a unique PhilanthroInvestment program, we use industry secrets to allow investors to buy a large amount of properties handsfree in a way that also secures and protects investors assets Here’s how it works.

One: we select and research and purchase the best foreclosed homes across the US.

Two: You buy a minimum of three homes for forty-five percent below after market value for $150,000 and pay us $15 a month to manage these vacant properties.

Three: At our expense, we do the minimum basic repairs and put the home on the market.

Four: We then find and qualify buyers who want to acquire these homes from you with owner financing for more than you paid for it. These families will improve the home themselves while paying tax and insurance and all maintenance costs.

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Six: Families pay a $2,000 dollar down payment to you and you finance the balance with a 12%

DIVERSI NS PLETHORA

interest rate for an average of 20 years. This is how you as an investor receive an 8-12% return on investment.

Seven: You recover your investment in 5-6 years while still owning your asset. This asset will give you passive income, a reliable double digit return and you get to enjoy your life free of real estate headaches.

One of the many advantages of our system is that through the use of our industry secrets you have anonymity and a buffer between you as the investor and the home buyers.

When you look at the statistics, the majority of Americans will never own their own home. FICO (a data analytics company based in San Jose, California that places a focus on credit scoring services) states that 50% of Americans have a credit score that disqualifies them for a traditional mortgage. The Social Security Administration states that 51% of Americans make less than $30,000 per year. Also, the Department of Numbers (a repository for real-time social, economic and financial data relevant to the broad public) states that the average U.S. rent is $1,050 per month ($12,600 a year.)

This is how your investment will change communities all across the

country by granting hard-working, blue collar families the opportunity to become homeowners. You help children. Children of homeowners who statistically perform better in school and have lower drug use and crime rates. You help communities. Homeowners invest more in their local community, volunteer more and report a greater sense of self control and worth.

Are you looking to make a difference while also gaining reliable cash flow, financial freedom, retirement income, and something that you can leave to future generations?

You can make a difference and you make money while doing it! We are currently looking for investors like you. Go to our website, open up an account today and call me directly.

To open an account, go to https:// equityandhelp.com/contact/ account-application

How did you find out about Equity and Help Inc? Enter: “Siloh and The Network Magazine”.

It’s that easy to improve your life while improving the lives of children, families, and communities with Equity & Help Inc. and the PhilanthroInvestor Program. n

Afraid of Santa? You may be claustrophobic.

“I have a daughter who goes to SMU. She could’ve gone to UCLA, but it’s one more letter she’d have to remember.” (Shecky Greene)

THE FACTOR THE MEITAN TEA MUSEUM

the MeitAn teA MuseuM is a uniquely shaped building that resembles a teapot. It is located in Guizhou in the People’s Republic of China, definitely the perfect place to build a building in the shape of a teapot, because Meitan is the hometown of Chinese green tea. It is the largest teapot building in the world (according to the Guinness Book of World Records*) – 243 feet high and reaches a maximum diameter of 79 feet. In addition to the giant clay teapot, there is another building that has the form of a teacup which together seen from a distance look like a large and somewhat weird sculpture, but as one moves closer to the building, the windows give away its true purpose.

*Yes, there is actually a Guinness World Record category for teapot shaped museums! The Meitan Teapot Museum trounces the previous Guinness World Record for the Largest Teapot Monument - the Chester Teapot, built in West Virginia in 1938 – which is just four meters high. n

YOU NEED (OR MIGHT WANT) TO KNOW CALL ME WHAT?

PAIRS

WHAT’S THE DIFFERENCE BETWEEN CARTOON AND COMIC?

Can you name these comic/cartoon characters?

(Answers on page 62).

Definition:

A cartoon is an illustration drawn in a non-realistic or semi-realistic artistic style.

A comic is a publication that consists of comic art in the form of sequentially juxtaposed panels that represent individual scenes.

Structure:

Cartoon may have different structures.

Comic books use a specific structure which includes, the size of the panels, the placement of the panels, the textural devices such as balloons and captions, etc.

Humor:

Cartoons are often humorous.

Comic books are often not humorous.

Publications:

Cartoons can be found in magazines and newspapers.

Comic books are separate publications.

YOU NEED (OR MIGHT WANT) TO KNOW PROFESSIONALS ON THE

JULIE BRAND LYNCH

julie@LYNOUS.com

Julie Lynch is the principal of LYNOUS, a talent management firm that provides recruiting, interim staffing and training to the real estate industry. She is also a contributing editor of .

Did you recently take a step in your career?

01/ Mason Mote joined the law firm of McGuire Woods as a real estate partner in Houston and Austin.

02/ David M. Slaugenhoup was promoted to vice president of RT Specialty, LLC’s National Environmental and Construction Professional Practice. He will be based in Hamilton, NJ.

03/ Jason Young joined Conor Commercial Real estate as Vice-PresidentMulti-Family and Dallas Market Officer.

04/ Erica Stoltz, Esq. joined Alliant National Title Company as Southwest Underwriting Counsel.

05/ Rob Sepanek joined the North Texas office of Adolfson & Peterson Construction as the Director of Scheduling Operations.

06/ Mark Slicker joined Southern Botanical as a Business Developer.

07/ Kim SolCruz joined Southern Botanical as a Business Developer.

08/ KC West was promoted to Senior Vice President and Southwest Region Manager of Alliant National Title Company.

09/ Lacee Jacobs joined Midway in Houston as Vice President of Strategic Leasing and Advisory Services.

10/ Jacob Quinn joined CBRE in El Paso as a Senior Associate.

11/ Taylor Stell was promoted to Director at Lee & Associates in Dallas.

12/ Harlan Davis was promoted to Executive Vice President at CBRE in Dallas.

13/ McCord hired of Shawn W. Cloonan as General Counsel in Houston.

14/ Iliana McQuown joins Billingsley Company as a Senior Property Manager in Dallas.

15/ Nutan Engels, CPM joined Fritz Duda Company as a Senior Property Manager in Dallas.

SH UT-OUTS

the results Are in for USA Today’s 10 Best Zoos, and kudos to the Fort Worth Zoo on being named #1 in North America USA Today assembled a panel of industry experts who created a list of 20 zoos that excel in animal care and enrichment, while also creating meaningful interactions between animals and humans. The news organization opened the voting, asking people nationwide to choose their favorite. This is the fourth year the Fort Worth Zoo has finished in USA Today’s top five and the first time in the No. 1 spot.

The zoo plans to debut the second phase of its $100 million master plan, A Wilder Vision, next spring. Phase two, Elephant Springs, nearly triples the size of the zoo’s current elephant exhibit and offers numerous enriching experiences with natural habitats, splash pools and multiple lush grass settings in which the elephants can roam. A Wilder Vision will completely redesign the zoo with renovated and reimagined habitats. The plan will not only allow guests to observe and interact with animals in ways

that weren’t possible before, but it will also allow the zoo to continue to be an international leader in conservation and animal care.

Zoo board of directors chair Ramona Bass said, “It is the work of our dedicated staff and the support from our loyal guests and friends that make the Fort Worth Zoo truly special. With more than 1 million guests each year, the Fort Worth Zoo provides the best in an educational and entertaining family experience.”

Another Capital Performance: Austin also scored high (coming in 2nd in the entire U.S.) in Wallet Hub’s comparison of the pet-friendliness of the 100 largest cities across 25 key metrics. The data set ranged from minimum pet-care provider rate per visit to pet businesses per capita to walkability. For the full report, visit this link.

The Austin-Round Rock area is one of the fastest growing in the United States.

WalletHub compared the 150 largest U.S. metropolitan statistical areas, or MSAs, across 11 key metrics ranging from the share of adults aged 25 and older with a bachelor’s degree or higher to the racial education gap to the quality of the public-school system. Congrats to Austin-Round Rock which came in as the 9th most educated MSA in the country. For the full report, visit this link

Congratulations and best of luck to Jerry and Deby Merriman who are stepping down from their namesake architecture firm, Merriman Anderson/Architects (MAA), at the end of September after 33 years. The pair founded the firm in 1987, and the once small family business has grown into an internally recognized architecture firm with offices in Dallas, Austin and Charlotte. MAA’s Milton Anderson, Vice President and former Director of Design, will be named President of the firm. Milton Anderson along with MAA’s seven principals will advance the firm’s familial culture, client service and renowned design excellence. n

Jack Daniel (the founder of the whiskey) died from kicking a safe. When he kicked it, he broke his toe which got infected. He eventually died from blood poisoning.

THE RES URCE PAGE

DIVERSI NS IQ TEST

é CDC: Office building employers, building owners and managers, and building operations specialists can take steps to create a safe and healthy workplace and protect workers and clients. Create a COVID-19 workplace health and safety plan Start by reviewing the CDC Interim Guidance for Businesses and Employers. This will provide guidelines and recommendations that all employers can use to protect their workers and clients. Before resuming business operations, check the building to see if it’s ready for occupancy. Ensure that ventilation systems in your facility operate properly. For building heating, ventilation, and air conditioning (HVAC systems) that have been shut down or on setback, review new construction start-up guidance provided in ASHRAE Standard 180-2018, Standard Practice for the Inspection and Maintenance of Commercial Building HVAC Systems Evaluate the building and its mechanical and life safety systems to determine if the building is ready for occupancy. Check for hazards associated with prolonged facility shutdown such as mold growth, rodents or pests, or issues with stagnant water systems, and take appropriate remedial actions. Conduct a thorough hazard assessment of the workplace to identify potential workplace hazards that could increase risks for COVID-19 transmission.

é The Mid-Year Sentiment Survey provides an invaluable look at what industry insiders are expecting to see in commercial and residential real estate for the next year. Twice a year, RCLCO polls its extensive network of knowledgeable contacts, including hundreds of C-suite executives and other experienced leaders in various sectors of real estate, to ask them what they think about the current and future state of the real estate industry. Upon analyzing the responses, the results are used to construct the RMI which expresses sentiment about current conditions by sector, as well as the outlook one year from now. Some of the key takeaways include:

• Industry leaders see the severe declines as being behind us, but some sectors still face a moderate downside.

• Only a relatively small percentage (fewer than 16%) believe the markets will be significantly worse over the next 12 months;

• The pandemic has provided a boost to the industrial space market due to increased demand for deliveries during lockdowns.

• Not surprisingly, the mid-year RMI showed an absolute free fall to the bottom.  Of note, certain sectors, including hotels, are expected to begin recovery within the next twelve months.

• The sectors respondents expect to be most impacted are Retail-Regional Malls, Hospitality, and Big Box Retail.

• The sectors they expect to suffer minimal impact include Industrial, Healthcare/Medical and Rental Apartments.

Read the report here

Read the following sentence:

FINISHED FILES ARE THE RESULT OF YEARS OF SCIENTIFIC STUDY COMBINED WITH THE EXPERIENCE OF YEARS.

é Hines released its ninth sustainability report, a detailed review of the company’s own environmental, social and governance performance, compiled in accordance with the Global Reporting Initiative (GRI). The new report celebrates how the firm strives to improve the built environment for people and communities by creating, managing, and investing in buildings that meet the needs of the present and remain resilient into the future. In order to fulfill our vision of being the best real estate investor, partner, and manager in the world, we integrate sustainability into everything we do. The report can be viewed at:  hinessustainability.com

Now, ONE TIME ONLY, count ALOUD the F’s in that sentence. Do not go back and count them again. Answer

There are six F’s in the sentence. A person of average intelligence finds three of them. If you spotted four, you’re above average. If you got five, you can turn your nose up at almost anybody. If you got all six, you’re a genius. There’s no catch. Most people miss the ‘OF’’s. The human brain tends to see them as Vs not Fs – or not at all.

ç In 2019, the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) published Voices of the City: Creative Cities moving towards the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development Read it here and watch in the next issue of for more on the Creative Cities Network and Design Cities of the World. n

Baked beans are actually not baked but stewed.

A. One thousand

DIVERSI NS POLITICAL CORNER REDUX

COMING (AND GOING) ON JANUARY 20, 2021

THE ALL NEW SOLO ALBUM BY DJ TRUMP

Q. If you were to spell out numbers, how far would you have to go until you would find the letter "A"?

Confusion, Disorder & Deflection

My Corona(virus)

I Don’t See Why He Would No Collusion

It’s a Beautiful Thing

Many Many

It’s Really Incredible, Frank Lee.

It’s Unbelievable. (Just Like Me)

I Must Say

I Don’t Take Any Responsibility

You Better Be Good to Me

People Are Talking (Some People Say)

A Very Stable Genius

I Know More About ____ Than Anybody

A Lot of Good Things Are Happening

Nobody’s Ever Seen Anything Like This Before

What Have You Got to Lose?

Russia, If You’re Listening

We’re Looking at it Very Strongly Total Authority

Let’s See What Happens

Scuse Me, Scuse Me

I Alone Can Fix This

Very Good People on Both Sides

It Will All Just Magically Go Away Slow Down the Testing

the trust for puBlic lAnd works to protect the places people care about and to create close-to-home parks— particularly in and near cities, where 80 percent of Americans live. Its goal is to ensure that every child has easy access to a safe place to play in nature. They also conserve working farms, ranches, and forests; lands of historical and cultural importance; rivers, streams, coasts, and watersheds; and other special places where people can experience nature close at hand.

Founded in 1972 with the goal of protecting land in and around cities and pioneering new

land conservation techniques, its work has expanded to include projects from the inner city to the wilderness. In cities, they’re turning vacant lots into community-designed parks and playgrounds. And we’re addressing the looming climate crisis with strategies to help reduce greenhouse gasses, promote climate adaptation, and create park-rich, climatesmart cities.

The Trust for Public Land’s ParkScore® index is the most comprehensive tool available for evaluating park access and quality in the 100 largest U.S. cities. With the permission

of and thanks to The Trust for Public Land, this is the seventh of thirteen installments of the results of that study. For Arlington, Austin, Corpus Christi, Dallas, El Paso, Fort Worth, Garland and Houston, please see our archived editions at www.crestnetwork.com. In the issues ahead, look for Laredo, Lubbock, Plano and San Antonio. If you can’t wait to see all of the results – or want to see where your or another city rates, go to:

www.tpl.org/node/110916 n

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Links listings require a 4-issue (non-cancellable) commitment

1” Full Color ad .............. $138 per issue

2” Full Color ad .............. $193 per issue

3” Full Color ad .............. $275 per issue

DIVERSI NS THANK YOU

Give your client/friend the gift of smiles –smiles that that keep on giving. J

A handsome, artbook-style, personalized volume (with your dedication page and advertisement) with over 100 pages of the best Diversions to appear in over the last decade. A waiting room or coffee table book (s)he will treasure for years to come.

Call today for availability, pricing and requirements: The CREST Publications Group: 682-224-5855

THE BACK PAGE

ANSWERS FROM THE JULY-AUGUST CONTEST – BUT THAT WAS YESTERDAY

1 Alec Baldwin

2 Julia Louis-Dreyfus

3 Cindy Crawford

4 Deion Sanders

5 Mary Tyler Moore

6 Paul Simon

7 Dolly Parton

8 Bill Murray

9 John Wayne

10 Jon Stewart

11 Bette Midler

12 Lucy Liu

13 Jane Fonda

14 Lisa Kudrow

15 Jay Leno

16 Jennifer Lopez

17 Henry Winkler

18 Bill Clinton

19 Madonna

20 Donald Trump

21 Emmitt Smith

22 Ellen DeGeneres

ANSWERS FROM PAGE 53: CALL ME WHAT?

1. Chip and Dale (Chip 'n' Dale) are chipmunk brothers created at Walt Disney Productions in 1943. Their names are a pun on the name of the 18th-century cabinet maker and furniture designer Thomas Chippendale. In most cartoons, they are paired with Pluto, Mickey Mouse, or (most often) Donald Duck, who act as antagonists to them. Chip is safe, focused, and has a mind for logical scheming. Dale is more laid-back, dim-witted, and impulsive, and has a strong sense of humor. They were given their own series in the 1950s.

2. Li'l Abner Yokum was a satirical American comic strip that featured a fictional clan of hillbillies in the impoverished mountain village of Dogpatch, USA. Written and drawn by Al Capp (1909–1979), it ran from 1934 through 1977 and was the first strip based in the South. It had 60 million readers in over 900 American newspapers and 100 foreign papers in 28 countries. Abner was 6' 3" and perpetually 19 years old. A naïve, simpleminded, gullible and sweet-natured hillbilly, he lived in a ramshackle log cabin with his pint-sized parents. (The family name "Yokum" as a combination of yokel and hokum.) Daisy Mae Yokum (née Scragg): was hopelessly in love with Dogpatch's most prominent resident throughout the entire 43-year run of the comic strip.

3. Fearless Fosdick was a long-running parody of Dick Tracy. It appeared intermittently as a strip-within-a-strip in Li'l Abner. Fosdick was the unflappable comic book idol of Abner and an object of undying hero worship. Hayseed Abner mindlessly aped his role model. Prudence Pimpleton was Fosdick's homely, long-suffering fiancée (formerly known as "Bess Backache." (Her name was a direct parody of Dick Tracy's sweetheart, Tess Trueheart.) They were perpetually "engaged for 17 years.".

4. Huey, Dewey, and Louie Duck are triplet cartoon characters created in 1937 - the nephews of Donald Duck and the great-nephews of Scrooge McDuck. They typically wear shirts and colorful baseball caps, which were sometimes used to distinguish them. They are the sons of Donald's sister Della Duck (though in Donald's Nephews, their mother is instead named Dumbella), and are noted for their identical appearances and personalities and they end up permanently living with Donald in the fictional city of Duckburg, in the fictional state of Calisota.

5. Snagglepuss is a Hanna-Barbera pink cougar sporting an upturned collar, shirt cuffs, and string tie that debuted in 1959. He enjoyed the finer things in life and had a particular affinity for the theatre. His character addresses the audience in self-narration, soliloquy, and asides. (e.g., "Heavens to Murgatroyd!", "Exit, stage left!", and a fondness for closing sentences with the emphatic "even". No matter what he did, he always wound up back where he started or worse off than he was before. A few episodes involved him trying to court a lioness named Lila but she always rejected his advances.

6. Forsythe Pendleton "Jughead" Jones III is one of the fictional characters in Archie Comics who first appeared in 1941. He has a white sheepdog named Hot Dog and a younger sister, Forsythia "Jellybean" Jones and is the best friend of Archie Andrews. He is a smart, sharp-tongued, laid-back, and eccentric high school student obsessed with eating food and can be identified by his long nose, half-closed eyes, "S" sweatshirt, and crown-like button beanie hat, called a whoopee cap.

CONGRATULATIONS TO ALL OF OUR CONTEST WINNERS!

Teresa Lambert of San Angelo, TX and Irene Rokee of Wichita Falls, TX each won Coolibar gaiters

Kevin Sandler of Beaumont, TX won a Coolibar hat. Reed Paulson of New Orleans, LA won Tracy’ McLaughlin’s book, Real Estate Rescue

Noah Tomlinson of Lubbock,TX won a CjhargeHub X5

Pauline Ferrantino of Phoenix, AZ won a copy of Sufficiency Thinking by Avery and Bergsteiner

Beverly Sondheim of Corpus Christi, TX won a Kinivo ZX 100 mini speaker

BOLO (BE ON THE LOOK OUT FOR WHAT'S COMING NEXT)

Contributing Editor Angela O’Byrne’s Amazing Buildings will examine REI's Bellevue brand new, idyllic corporate headquarters, which, due to the Coronavirus, is now on the market. And Contributing Editor Tony Barbieri’s Legal View will examine legal issues involving tortious interference. With permission from and thanks to The Trust for Public Land, we will continue to present the results of their study on parks for the sixth of thirteen Texas cities –this time for Laredo.

Contributing Editor Rose-Mary Rumbley looks at the England – their finest hour! When she was in middle school during WW II, there was a girl in her class from England, sent here to "Save the children!"

A recently released book on Winston Churchill

tells how the British made it through WW II. She’ll tell what we did here on the "home front!" Totally unrelated, our History Page will acquaint you with someone who’s name you know, but about whom you probably know nothing else – Lucrezia Borgia.

In You Need to Know, we’ll take a snapshot look at Election Day – then and now as well as the Electoral College. And you’ll learn about the UNESCO Creative Cities Network and the Council on Tall Buildings and Urban Habitat (CTBUH) award winners

We’ll present a pictorial tribute to renowned architect Frank Lloyd Wright and we’ll continue our look at the architectural treasures of American cities, this time Washington DC, our capital city with one impressive monument after another. And we’ll bring

you pictures of what Hiroshima looks like today – 75 years after the A-bomb.

Specially contributed articles from various industry segments will continue to discuss issues presented by COVID-19, and don’t be surprised if we sneak in some election related information as well. And our featured/cover artist – Ed Wheeler – might just be Santa Claus! You’ll have to decide for yourself.

Of course, we will have our affiliates’ awards and special events, the Wow Factor, Diversions, By the Numbers, True Dat, You Need to Know, Political Corner, Professionals on the Move, The Resource Page, Shout-Outs, In the Loop, Real Estate of the Future, and much MUCH more. We get a lot into 64 pages!

C NTEST: GONE BUT NOT FORGOTTEN

it wAs Announced in June Aunt Jemima and Uncle Ben were being terminated as brands by PepsiCo and Mars respectively because of what the Wall Street Journal called their “origins in racist imagery.” Cream of Wheat, with its more than a century old image of a black chef, and Mrs. Butterworth are also being subject to packaging review. Eskimo Pie is going to change its name, and Land O' Lakes and Mrs. Butterworth may, too. That’s all in the wake of the police murder of George Floyd in Minneapolis. It got us to thinking: There are many brand names that have gone away for a whole lot of reasons.

So, here’s the challenge... We’ll start the list. You complete it with the number of requested fill-ins. (There are many possibilities. If you need help, look it up. Write the names in the spaces provided. (You don’t have to draw the logo. J)

Then, scan or copy this page and send your entry to editor@crestnetwork.com or fax it to 817.924.7116 on or before October 1st for a chance to win a valuable prize. (The answers will appear in our November-December issue.)

AUTOMOBILES

Edsel, Mercury, Oldsmobile, Pontiac, Saab. Name 5 more:

AIRLINES

AirTran, Eastern, Hooters Air, PanAm, Trans World Airlines.

Name 5 more:

MAGAZINES

Life, Mademoiselle, Playboy.

Name 3 more:

CIGARETTES

Benson&Hedges, Doral, Kent, Lucky Strike. Name 4 more:

TOOTHPASTE

Gleem, Ipana, Macleans.

Name 2 more:

CEREALS

Crazy Cow, Mini Buns, Oreo's, Quisp. Name 4 more:

CAMERA

Minolta. Name 1 more:

PROFESSIONAL/ BROKERAGE SERVICES

EFHutton, Lehman Brothers.

Name 2 more:

CHAIN STORES

Blockbuster, Circuit City, Montgomery Ward, The Limited, Toys'R'Us.

Name 5 more:

SOFT DRINKS

Coca Cola C2, Cyrstal Pepsi, Teem.

Name 3 more:

...BECAUSE SOMETIMES IS WHAT YOU KNOW

We Speak Real Estate

The Arsenal Companies are a diversified consulting, educational and publishing group, dedicated to service in the real estate industry. With national reach, regional strength and local sensibilities, we serve and service large and small companies as well as governmental entities in acquisitions, dispositions, leasing, licensing, contracting, procurement, insurance certificate tracking, educational program development, mediation services and collections.

Our Contracts and Procurement Services Division provides solutions and services that help real estate owners and companies effectively manage their contractual needs and commitments. We provide industry knowledge and we practice deal facilitation rather than obstruction. Whether you are a property, facility or asset manager, your functions are integrally related to real estate contracts. Quality management is all about contracts.

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Customized Purchase Orders

Are the contracts for services and supplies which your organization uses prepared for your organization – or are they the vendor’s or contractor’s agreement forms? Wouldn’t you be better off if those agreements and purchase orders were revisited from your perspective? Isn’t it time you fortified your real estate related contracts?

Contract Negotiation and Drafting Services

Anyone with experience.

Don’t assume that problems won’t occur. Plan what you can do to avoid them. A small reduction in costs can be the equivalent of a substantial increase in value. We suggest ‘refinements’ to improve language and reduce direct and indirect costs. Our attorneys have successfully resolved leasing issues for both small and Fortune 100 corporations – effectuating $millions in savings.

Do you have contract issues that call out for review, interpretation and the advice of a specialist? Do you have a service contract which is about to expire and will need to be renewed or replaced? Do you have oversight of a real estate or facilities function which has been given savings targets? Have you considered ‘outsourcing’ this part of your real estate function but fear a loss of control?

We analyze the details of your proposed service contracts before they begin - while you still have leverage. Or, we can review your existing service contracts, help reveal cost efficiencies and/or savings opportunities. We look for pragmatic solutions that are sensitive to your business interests, anticipating issues that may arise, and we assist in minimizing those risks that cannot be avoided.

Leases are highly specialized documents. A few words can make a world of difference.