Window Cleaning News

CALGARY - The father of a three-year-old girl tragically killed in a freak accident is struggling to cope with the sudden death of his little girl after a piece of metal debris fell from the construction site of an 18 storey building and struck her. Paul Muresan visited his brother-in-law Miroslav Krsek in hospital Monday and said the father of two is in mental and physical pain. Saturday, one week before her fourth birthday, Michelle was walking with her family — father Miroslav Krsek, mother Mariana, seven-year-old brother Eric, an uncle visiting from Romania and Muresan’s family — to visit the Calgary Tower. The large piece of debris blew off when a sudden and fierce windstorm hit the city. The piece fell from the roof of the 18 storey building, Le Germain Calgary. Officials from the company have said they are investigating what happened, as are police, who are being assisted by the Alberta Workplace Health and Safety. Muresan said he saw two pieces fall from the building. “When I saw the pieces coming from the roof, I started to scream. I tried to save us. I (caught) Eric but his feet were (injured) pretty bad. But Michelle was smashed.”
Brad Stock, who was driving on 9 Avenue Saturday, also dropped off flowers. He saw the debris’s shadow before hearing the crash. He stopped and saw Miroslav injured, Michelle laying face down and heard Mariana screaming. Stock called 911 and leaned over to check Michelle’s pulse. “I haven’t been able to get the sound of the mom screaming out of my head. That’s all, over and over again, that’s all I can hear,” said Stock. But the highrise window washer said he’s struggling to understand how anything could fly off a building. “I know that even if I go to lunch, I’m supposed to tie things down so my initial reaction is, ‘Yeah, I’m upset about it,’” said Stock. “Regardless of if it’s windy or if it’s calm, there’s always the chance that something could blow off or another worker could knock it off. “That’s the law, it’s mandatory, it’s common sense when you’re not around it, it’s supposed to be tied down.”

ABU DHABI: If the pavement outside your house is full of potholes, or the walls are emblazoned with lewd graffiti, the solution should be simple: call the municipality’s free hotline on 993 and the problem will be fixed in no more than a month and a half. The reality, The National has discovered, is somewhat different. While calls may generate plenty of talk, they often result in minimal action. Officials charged with following up complaints blame red tape and the shirking of responsibility for the slow and often non-existent response to callers’ concerns. But the hotline does have its successes. During excavation work at Salam Street, authorities made sure it was available to nearby residents and businesses who were suffering due to the construction.
Vera Nur, 18, said her friend, Tania Gilmore, 19, from Britain, had a positive experience contacting the municipality after window cleaners at a neighbouring building caused soapy water to drip on to her car below. “Her car was messed up, it was covered in soap and you couldn’t even see out the windows,” said Ms Nur, from Ukraine. “We saw the commercials and the billboards for 993, so we called and some people came two days later and put up a warning, saying, ‘Be careful of parking here because they’re washing the windows.’ They were very friendly.”

Raft-O-Rama event on Clark Lake: "Happy Raft-O-Rama," said John Karkheck, a chairman of the event, as he greeted attendees of the 49th annual gathering. "Everything is my favorite," he said about the event. The event, which featured an occupation-themed raft contest, raffles and chicken dinners, drew hundreds of people to Clark Lake on Sunday. Karkheck said more families attend the event each year. About 25 occupation-themed rafts paraded around Clark Lake on Sunday morning. A crowd favorite was a firefighter-themed raft that sprayed water (pictured). Karkheck, who entered a window washer-themed raft to the contest, said each year the rafts get more creative. "The ability of people to do these things is amazing," Karkheck said about people's designs. "It's all about community, family and fun. "Everyone dresses up and acts like hooligans."

An earthquake measuring 6.9 struck Monday in Mexico but people in San Diego's downtown high rises felt the shaking. The U.S. National Earthquake Information Center reported the quake struck at 11 a.m. about 50 miles northeast of Santa Isabel in Baja, Calif., 330 miles southeast of Tijuana. Civil protection officials in the two states on either side of the quake - Baja California and Sonora - said there were no reports of damage or injury. The quake came minutes after two others calculated at magnitudes 5.8 and 5.0, according to the earthquake center. In San Diego one city employee reported seeing crowds of people filing out of her building. By 11:30 a.m., the crowd of people had moved back inside. It was more of a strange sound than a rattling according to one downtown worker. “Wasn’t so much that I felt it but I heard it,” said Greg Shimansky. “It lasted so long it didn’t feel so much like an earthquake.” Charles Washington was sitting at his desk in a building downtown. “It felt like a creaking noise. It lasted up to 40 seconds,” said Washington. “We thought it was a window washer at first too.”

Clunkers drive car sales: Carl Pedersen of Old Town traded in his gas-thirsty 8-cylinder 2002 Ford Explorer on Monday for a 2009 four-cylinder Ford Escape, and reaped the full $4,500 credit under the "Cash for Clunkers" program. "My wife will be very happy driving [the new car]," said Pedersen, who with his brother, Allen, runs two window-cleaning companies in DuPage County. Carl, 63, a lifelong Ford man, bought his new car at Willowbrook Kia/Ford for $26,000 -- after figuring in the clunker rebate and a repeat-customer rebate. He also received 0 percent financing for 60 months. He won't have to visit the gas station as often: His old car, with 165,000 miles under its belt, got 16 mpg, while the new one gets 28 mpg.

A Swindon man was scarred for life during an assault in Walcot. Sean McLellan was left with two holes in his face following the attack near a children’s play area at about 6pm on Sunday. Part-time window cleaner Mr McLellan, 40, from Lennox Drive, Walcot, was walking home from shops in Marlowe Avenue when the incident occurred in Mountford Manor Park. He was left with a wound which went through his chin and out of his cheek, and a three inch gash on the back of his head. Mr McLellan’s injuries required stitches to his chin, his cheek and the back of his skull. His partner Bella Smyth said: “He literally just fell in the doorway. There was blood absolutely everywhere – over the floor, the stairs, the front door and the living room door.” The couple have appealed for information about the man who helped Mr McLellan back home after the attack. Miss Smyth said: “I’m just really chuffed somebody brought him home.” Detective Constable Phil Walker said: “Serious assaults like this one are rare in the town and we are currently investigating the circumstances surrounding this incident to establish the series of events, and exactly how the injuries were inflicted.

DANVILLE — City officials say they haven’t abandoned the idea of bringing new businesses to Danville’s downtown, but they are putting more emphasis on retaining the ones they have. “We’re putting a higher priority on helping the businesses that are already here,” said Dana Schaumburg, director of Downtown Danville Inc. “If we can take care of what we have, (the attraction of) new business will take care of itself.” “We’ve been encouraging people to just put up blinds or curtains in the upper-story windows,” he explained. “We’ve got to get rid of that abandoned look. These things impart a doom and gloom over the whole look of downtown. Little things like that can lift the psychology of downtown.” Even something as simple as window-washing can improve that feel, he added. City officials have maintained building-viability inspections to be sure owners of currently unused buildings repair old windows rather than leave them boarded up.

Police hunt for sneak-in thief: Police in Barnsley have had eight sneak-in burglaries reported in the last two months, where purses and wallets have been stolen. On each occasion, between May 20 and July 25, the victims had been in their gardens when thieves targeted their homes in the Kendray, Wosbrough and Birdwell areas. Witnesses have reported seeing a white man loitering outside all the homes. Whe questioned he claimed to be a window cleaner.

"Lay off the hard stuff," the ad proclaims. And this window cleaner actually does so by cutting down on the amount of isopropyl alcohol in its ingredients. Cute campaign as well-quite clever.