Plumbers Oppose Green Skyscraper Design For Philadelphia
by John Laumer, Philadelphia on 03.20.06
According to this Sunday's Philadelphia Inquirer, the local plumber's union is opposed to Liberty Property Trust's plans to complete 'the tallest LEED certified skyscraper'. "The 58-story Comcast Center rising over 17th Street is already destined to be Philadelphia's tallest and most environmentally friendly skyscraper. But its developer, Liberty Property Trust, dreams of claiming an even more prestigious title: America's tallest green building". It appears that the building permit disagreement between the Union and the City stems from the fact that less labor is required to install waterless toilets. Without the waterless toilet option included, the overall rating may not be as favorable, but more importantly, the finished building would consume an extra 1.6 million gallons of water per year. Also from the Inquirer: "Ironically, the Philadelphia Water Department has been looking for ways to reduce the water flowing into the city's overburdened sewer system".
"...Said Robert D. Solvibile Sr., who runs Philadelphia's Department of Licenses and Inspections, the agency that enforces the city's building code. "We're afraid that if they're not properly maintained, dangerous gases could come into the room and harm people."" Ohhhh,... Dangerous Gases oozing in through cracks! Now we're so confused about which toilet would be better. Compare: a made up threat of dangerous gases on the one hand; and on the otherhand, risks of climate change, drought impaired water supplies, and a polluted river.
If only there were a design that eliminated two kinds of spin at once: the obfuscating kind that a lobbyist produces and the kind you get with water swirling down the drain of a century-old urinal design. Quick someone...invent this magic, because : - - "If the 975-foot Comcast Center fails to win the council's certification, the title of tallest green building will fall instead to New York's 962-foot Bank of America Tower, going up across from Manhattan's Bryant Park - complete with waterless urinals".
Next it will be Chicago's turn to up the ante. Los Angeles? Barcelona? Tokyo? This is one race we're going to sit back and enjoy. Big picture: a plumber's union can't stop the flow.
I'm all for unions and workers rights - but I'm siding with the saving 1.6 million gallons of water on this one...
=== author's reponse follows ===
Thanks for the comment. I was concerned about appearing anti-labor with this post. A better strategy for the local union might have been to actively support optimal LEED certified development througout the city. LEED certified buildings are bringing a premium on the market (see Chicago post), and workers in LEED buildings are often reported to be more productive (based on anecdotal information at this point). Philadelphia has a chance at bringing more development in if they make certification easy. Philadelphia will not attract as many new businesses and construction projects as they might if other cities or suburban office parks green their developments faster. The union position as it stands is therefore self defeating. Will another union oppose bike trails because they reduce the amount of labor that otherwise might go into street and highway projects? Same lack of strategic understanding in that hypothetical.
Philly's (sorry, I mean South Jersey's - check the plates on the trucks at any given construction site) trade unions are rooted in a past based on political corruption/contribution and the construction monopoly this has granted them. This and the physical intimidation they peddle...
Philadelphia can be a charming place because of such provincialism - it's part of the reason much of its urban fabric is intact. But it will take a long time for these attitudes to change. Even recently, you couldn't get a building approved that didn't have air conditioning due to pressure from the sheet metal worker's union. So good luck getting them to suuport LEED.
I am an architect (in training) and I have heard about that same issue before. Unions really have to grow up to reality, because if they like it or not, there will be new technologies that change the way things are done. I agree that those technologies should undergo careful inspection and testing in regards to other harmful side effects, but as in this case the waterless toilets have been shown to work well. Codes can be useful ways of keeping the status quo. They really are meant to protect health and safety of the public, not the interests of a union. Evolve, please.
For me as a European the US unions are weird. I am used to unions that are not based in one particular branch, but represent workers in all economical branches, and therefore have a broader perspective.
Efficieny improvement never leads to jobs being lost, just to jobs being shifted. Money spared is spent on something else.
The dangerous fumes that are talked about maybe an echo of early experiments with compost toilets. But a waterless toilet is something completely else.
Polyethylene tubing (like PEX) in lieu of copper plumbing has been banned in California (or at least LA) due to pressure from plumbers unions. I think its really unfortunate.
All of you are right on the money. I am a union worker and have worked at 2 unions in 2 different fields and I can tell you they are harbors of mediocre performance and entitled behavior. Many unions, I assume the plumbers union as well, are based on seniority and not performance. In other words, it doesn’t pay to be smarter, more talented, or extra diligent… it pays to have been there longer. Believe me, I take advantage of all the benefits my union has to give, but they have not kept up with our modern ideas of smarter & more productive people being promoted and others being let go. Their systems are an antiquated way of thinking.
It's not hard to work out that if the plumbers learned to install waterless toilets and other LEED compliant items then they'd have a blossoming future ahead of them.
caldini,
I'm sure many plumbers can already install many LEED compliant items. The issue at hand is that the Union is trying to prevent their use as there is less overall labor involved, meaning fewer hours for them to charge.
Any details on the toilets they are/were planning on using?
==== author's response follows ====
Suggest you contact owner/developer at http://www.libertyproperty.com/
Chuckles, "I'm suprised they didn't simply announce that these toilets can't be installed by anyone but a LEED certified plumber, and sadly there are none in Philly."
What about another alternative - harvesting the rainwater off the roof and recycling the wastewater for reuse? An option that would even make the plumbers happy!
What about another alternative - harvesting the rainwater off the roof and recycling the wastewater for reuse? An option that would even make the plumbers happy!
This is the most ridiculous story I've heard in a long time! There's a lot of griping, but who do we write/email/call to let anyone with impact-potential know how we feel??
Thanks,
Erica
I agree with Erica, I'd really like to know who can intercede with the unions to prevent this travesty. I want to write a letter! In the depression, FDR created jobs to give people work, we don't need that anymore! Creating work for work's sake is stupid and in Comcast's view, they're just going to pass the cost on to the consumer in higher cable bills. Unions are ruining the economy in Philadelphia!
Has anyone seen how this waterless system works? If so, you would probably not be focusing your complaints towards the plumbers union. This waterless system is bascially a trap that sits beneath the urinal, the urine collects and sits in the trap until the next use. So basically if someone uses the urinal at the end of the day, that urine will just sit at the bottom until the next day when someone else uses it. Also, these filters have to be continuously changed. Who wants that job?
Are you joking? I have seen these urinals installed, and they're great. They need daily cleaning like any other toilet or urinal, and I don't see that it's any worse than scrubbing a toilet or taking out garbage. You wear gloves and put the cartridge in a bag. The cartridge changing frequency depends on usage -- generally about every 7,000 flushes (or about once per month for an office with 100 male employees and only one urinal).
Anyone interested in green building (or anything green or sustainable for that matter) definitely has their work cut out for them in Philly. Still, there are some amazing projects currently underway. Check out the Friends Center Green Renovation Project, scheduled to be completed late 2007. For more info visit their website- http://www.friendscentercorp.org/bp-index.htm
comments about an article that quotes another article..
educate yourselves..
dont be so quick to blame the evil union worker who wants nothing more than to subvert the economy and bring philadelphia to its knees.
these were installed and the plumbers knew they would be.
they wanted safeguards in place to protect their drainage piping. ever see what urine does to piping? its not pretty and it does corrode it . in the case of plastic drainage its not corrosion that is the problem so much as is the blocking of the drainage from crystalized wastes.
there is more cleaning and upkeep..ok fine clean them more. not a major concearn with a company like comcast.
green systems..great! grey water systems ..great!
we are all for them.. this is all "relatively new"
look before you leap as the saying goes..was the whole issue. we the women and men on the ground, in the ditches etc.. take pride in our work like everyone else.
these waterless products were installed before in philadelphia.
in septa locations..and then ripped out later when failing.
septa and comcast are to different animals..septa isnt getting the mr.clean award anytime soon.
another issue not mentioned was the disposal of the "traps" or cartridges..where do these go? where does the blue gel that comes with these traps go?
do these items end up in the land fill?
the traps/cartridges are plastic. and the gel for the trap just seeps back into the ground at the dump?
not so green.
this issue is in comcasts hands and the trade groups that pushed so hard for these urinals.
thread comments..
pex?
mmmm.. polyethylxylene...delish!
read the msds sheets and then find out what the components are made from..
plumbers union isnt based on seniority(no building trades union is) as someone assumed and then based an opinion upon that assumption and then passed it on as fact.
oh my! they get payed how much an hour? they get pention, annuity, paid bennies a 401 in some cases etc...?
unbelievable! im so mad! ... wait i dont get that ..maybe i should? maybe i should stop complaining about someone elses wages and demand better wages for myself?
hmm maybe.
other comcast issues..
isnt this building being built in no small part with state tax dollars?
tax dollars earmarked for highway construction/paving?
i dont remeber exactly where from.
comcast holding "jobs" over our collective heads..
there are many issues with this project...not saying the plumbing isnt one of them but just because one writer who admits to disliking unions writes many one sided "articles" lets just forget all the others issues.
i realize this is soooo last year but im bored at work..
maybe i should go do some more plumbing....mmm nah.
ill go to myspace now.
seeyas
love always,
billy (from philly)
690 drone
p.s. sorry so sloppy
next up..
chlorinated water and other additives in our philadelphia water dept brand water.
(why is this not an issue)
I actually heard about waterless toilets from a plumber who replaced a broken toilet for our museum. We will begin investigating this option as a water saving measure.