Window Cleaning News

PHILADELPHIA: Evacuees look up at a window that cracked during the quake on Market Street in Philadelphia, Tuesday, Aug. 23, 2011. A 5.9 magnitude earthquake centered northwest of Richmond, Va., shook much of Washington, D.C., and was felt as far north as Rhode Island, New York City and Martha's Vineyard, Mass., where President Barack Obama is vacationing.

Area quake unusual for East Coast: The Tuesday earthquake was roughly 30 times less powerful than the strongest recorded quake to strike the East Coast, said Jonathan Nyquist, chair of Temple University's department of earth and environmental sciences. That was the temblor that struck Charleston, S.C. in 1886, measuring an estimated 6.6 to 7.3. Still, Tuesday's event was unusual, Nyquist said. Currently estimated at 5.9, the number is likely to undergo some revision as more reports from seismographs are factored in, he said. "Anyway you look at it, it's a pretty good size for an East Coast earthquake," Nyquist said. And the quake was especially easy to feel because its epicenter was at a fairly shallow depth of just 1 kilometer, and because the East Coast's rocky crust is pretty solid. "The rock's pretty solid, not as much busted up and broken and faulted as in some places out west," Nyquist said. "We sort of ring a little bit like a bell when we get an earthuqake."

Though no injuries were reported, Philadelphia area people were taking precautions. At about 2:15 p.m., Jenkintown Building Services owner Marty Tuzman said he was ordering his commercial window-washing crews to come down from buildings "at least for awhile." None of his workers reported any falls or injuries as a result of the tremors. The last earthquake in Pennsylvania was actually just July 6, about six miles west of Bristol in Bucks County, according to a preliminary earthquake report by the U.S. Geological Survey's Earthquake Hazards Program. But its magnitude was just .4.

Window Washer Injured in Accident: A window washer was injured Friday when a truck struck a lift he was on and pushed him into a window at the University of Arkansas.

Nonsense billhurts business, limits workers - Imagine you own an office building. Imagine you have hired a company that washes the windows weekly. Imagine this window-washing company habitually leaves your windows so smeared and streaked you can't tell whether it's day or night. So you fire the window-washing company and hire a new one. Imagine your surprise when, on the appointed day, the very same incompetent guys show up with buckets and squeegees. Imagine no longer. This is the infuriating new world of AB 350, the Displaced Property Service Employees Opportunity Act, which has inexplicably passed through the Assembly and one Senate committee. It's now before the Senate Appropriations Committee.

AB 350 would require newly hired contract service providers, such as window washers, to hire the employees of the previous service provider. This is no joke. The new contractor would have to keep the previous contractor's employees on the job for at least 90 days. This union-supported Assembly bill (Jose Solorio, D-Santa Ana) would amend the 10-year-old Displaced Janitor Opportunity Act to add new categories of protected workers: window washers, landscape workers, licensed security, and cafeteria and dietary services.

The bill will neither add jobs nor help business. In fact, AB 350 will create a possible disincentive for smaller contractors to seek out new jobs because success would mean hiring new workers that the company might not be able to pay - unless, in some cases, it lays off a corresponding number of its own, existing workers. It could also split workers between two employers, forcing them to choose one at a potential loss of overall hours. Sometimes the Legislature needs to manage the economy a little. Sometimes the Legislature needs to back off and leave well enough alone. This is one such case.

When I’m cleanin’ windows - Anyone following recent housing developments in Weymouth and Portland will be aware of the growing trend for blocks of flats. Old businesses or large perfectly sound family homes in their own grounds are being demolished to make way for this type of accommodation. If you buy such a home on the ground floor then cleaning windows is not a problem but first floor homes require a decent ladder and second floor flats are really dodgy if you don’t like heights. So how do you clean homes on the fifth floor if you don’t have swivel windows? I came across the answer the other day when, from a distance, I saw what looked like a man trying to push a building over with a stick. Closer inspection revealed him to be a window cleaner and he was working 40ft up the side of one block… all while stood comfortably on the ground. The state of the art rod he was using transported water up to a brush which he was working back and forth across each window to clean it. He was quite cheery about what he was doing and said he hadn’t fully extended his equipment and still had several feet in reserve. Then he made passers-by smile and me chuckle by adding: “You know, you’re not the first person to talk to me about the size of my pole!”

Body in Eel River identified as missing Santa Rosa man: The body found in the Eel River last month is a Santa Rosa man who may have been the victim of a homicide, authorities confirmed Wednesday, Aug. 3. Edward Burton Jensen Jr., a 54-year-old man who had been living in Blocksburg, had been missing since April. The Humboldt County Coroner’s Office identified Jensen in a press release sent out last Wednesday. ”Investigation into the circumstances of Jensen’s death is ongoing,” the release said. Jensen was last seen at a rural residence in the Larabee Creek subdivision area of Blocksburg, walking away from the residence after an argument with another subject. His body was discovered on July 28 in the river off of the 2400 block of Dyerville Loop Road.

Responding deputies reportedly located the body in a small pool of water on a stump in the river. It appeared that the body had been in the river for a while. Jensen’s father, Edward Jensen Sr. of Santa Rosa, told the Santa Rosa Press Democrat that the coroner’s office contacted him last Wednesday to confirm his son’s identity. Jensen Sr. said his son grew up in Santa Rosa and graduated from Montgomery High School. The elder Jensen said he last spoke with his son on April 14, two days before he went missing. ”It’s just a terrible thing. We just found out a couple of days ago that he was the victim of a homicide,” he told the Press Democrat. He said his son had been living in Blocksburg with a relative. He had worked as a window cleaner in Sonoma County, but it’s unclear whether he held a job at the time of his death. His father couldn’t think of any reason why anyone would want to harm his son. He said he was an avid fisherman who enjoyed spending time at the river.

Two years ago, Ms. Joseph, an architect in her 50s, and Dr. Ravetch, 60, an immunologist at Rockefeller University, wanted a new garden on the terrace of their Midtown Manhattan penthouse. The previous garden had been demolished to fix a leaky roof, and the 720-square-foot space was bleak and bare: covered in concrete pavers, it was empty except for the davits (I-beams that hold the pulleys attached to window-washing platforms) in each corner.

The couple wanted a garden on wheels that would move to accommodate the window washers, who need access to the terrace. They envisioned a functional space where they could not only entertain friends and have barbecues with their family — Ms. Joseph’s teenage son and daughter from her second marriage, who live with them, and Dr. Ravetch’s two sons from his first marriage — but also wash the mud off their two golden retrievers after a weekend at their home in the Hudson Valley. The total cost of the garden was in the “high five figures,” Ms. Joseph said, but it was money well spent. “It’s formally elegant, and it’s whimsical.”

APG Asset Management US is a subsidiary of the Dutch based APG, based in New York. It manages US pension fund assets of $60 billion (May 2011). APG carries out collective pension schemes for participants in the education, government, and construction sectors; cleaning and window-cleaning companies; housing corporations; and energy and utility companies. APG manages pension assets of approximately 280 billion euros in total (May 2011) for these sectors. Neither APG Asset Management US nor APG provide advisory services to persons in the United States. APG works for over 30,000 Dutch employers and provides for the income of around 4.5 million Dutch participants.

Restored Metrodome gets ready to meet public - Window washers clean the glass on luxury boxes in the stadium. Since the roof's collapse, the Metrodome has been an outdoor stadium in much of the winter, spring and summer. Window washers are cleaning the glass in front of the luxury boxes, workers are putting out folding chairs and construction crews are sealing the seams in the roof.

The parents of a six-year-old girl have spoken of their shock and anger after she was viciously attacked in a busy Watford supermarket. Afternoon shoppers watched in disbelief as little Tilly Bennell was repeatedly punched and slapped by a large man in his 30s. The unprovoked assault took place in Iceland, in Albert Road South, shortly after 5pm last Thursday afternoon as her mother, Jackie, waited to pay for shopping. The “20 stone” attacker, who has mental health problems, landed several blows on the terrified child as her 12-year-old sister, Olivia, bravely tried to protect her.

Mr Bennell, a window cleaner, said serious questions had to be answered about how his daughter’s attacker – a man with severe behavioural problems – was allowed to do what he did and still be released on bail. He said: “One of the policemen who spoke to us afterwards said the man had done this before back in 2008 to a child that was even younger than Tilly. He should be locked up – I would be distraught to find out that this had happened to anybody else.” The arrested man was interviewed by officers yesterday afternoon but had not been charged at the time of going to press.

Leeds United: My Whites playing days - Martin Dickinson, now 48, is remembered by Leeds United fans as a tough-tackling, no-nonsense defender, also able to play the enforcer’s role in midfield and a true 100 per center of his time. The ex-Foxwood School pupil was the envy of his classmates after following in the footsteps of fellow attendee David Harvey to realise his boyhood dream of playing for his hometown club, while earlier representing both Leeds City Boys and West Yorkshire Boys. Dickinson made 119 appearances in all competitions for the club before switching to West Bromwich Albion in February 1996. Dickinson eventually headed to the Midlands when top-flight strugglers West Brom snapped him up for £40,000 – on the same day that then United boss Billy Bremner signed Brendan Ormsby from neighbouring Aston Villa. He made over fifty appearances for the Baggies in a productive two-and-a-half year spell before heading back to Yorkshire when former Sheffield United chief Dave Bassett signed him in July 1988 - and not too long after, his career unravelled after a serious car crash.

I just thought: ‘Why has it happened to me with three young kids?’. I just that I have to just get on with my life now, it’s happened and I can’t do anything about it. “I started selling sportswear. I actually got in touch with Aidan Butterworth who worked for Adidas. That kept me going for a couple of years, but that eventually went under because the trade in Nottingham and Leicester (where I covered) just went with all the factories. “I then ended up cleaning windows, but I fell off the ladder straightaway and thought I’d broken my ankle as I couldn’t walk for about ten weeks. Ronnie Moore, manager at Rotherham United, then called me up and got me fit and I did a lot of work in the treatment room. “I’m still doing the windows now and putting fascias on houses up with my son. It’s steady-away....

Fire Blotter: Aug. 22 - On Aug. 13, a man fell off a ladder while pressure washing a roof. He landed on his chest on top of the pressure washer. Medics transported him to the hospital for a possible broken rib.

The embarrassment of Wii Fit - Being a gentleman with his finger firmly on the pulse of modern technology, I recently purchased a Wii Fit, the popular video console accessory first released about four years ago and possibly on the verge of being discontinued. Although it no doubt pales in comparison to the latest mind-controlled, tweet-powered thingamajig currently getting kids giddy, it is a remarkably clever contraption. What I didn't realise was just how obnoxious the Wii Fit would be. Before you can get the games going (and embarrass yourself in front of the window cleaners, something I accomplished a day later), it must conduct a "body test", checking your weight and centre of balance to offer an overall fitness level.

Wilson Access adds more CTE’s - UK based Wilson Access Hire of Elland, West Yorkshire has purchased two new 21 metre CTE Zed21J truck mounted lifts. The new units were purchased to meet increased demand that the company is seeing for self-drive truck mounted lifts, particularly from sectors such as window cleaning, gutter maintenance and sign installation. The new models on 3.5 tonne Nissan Cabstar chassis, feature a dual sigma type riser with perfect parallel lift from a working height of around three metres up to over 11 metres, ideal for window and fascia cleaning. It also includes a 2.1 metre articulated jib, up to 10 metres working outreach and 360 degrees continuous slew.

Injury forced powerhouse Paul Wood to retire from the UK's 105kg Strongest Man finals in Whitstable on Sunday: The 40-year-old Whitstable window cleaner was hoping to retain the title he won last year but tore a bicep muscle in the first event while pulling a 4x4 car. He tried to continue but the injury was too severe and he was forced to watch the rest of the contest from the side lines. He was among 13 strongmen from around the country battling for the title at Whitstable Rugby Club. It was a painful and frustrating exit for Paul who had previously announced it would be his last contest. He said: "I'm gutted because I had trained hard for the event, was injury free for the first time in ages and felt confident. "I also wanted to put on a good show for all the people who turned out to support me." Strongman training is notoriously tough on the body and Paul was one of four of the 14 finalists from around the country who had to retire through injury. The contest was eventually won by Adam Bishop from the Midlands who picked up the £300 first prize and a sea kayak donated by Whitstable Marine.

Bogus window cleaner conned victims to pay for drugs: A bogus window cleaner, who conned people into paying for work he had not done in order to fund his drug habit, has been placed on a Drug Treatment and Testing Order for 18 months. Steven Walton victims included an 82-year old woman from whom he stole £1000 after she gave him her bank card and pin number and a 73-year old woman who gave him £20. Walton, 36, a prisoner in Saughton, had pleaded guilty previously at Edinburgh Sheriff Court to stealing the £1000 between March 13 and March 21 this year; to obtaining £5, £10 and £20 by fraud on April 18; and stealing £15 from a house on the same day. Fiscal Depute, John Kirk, told Sheriff Alistair Noble that Walton was estranged from his family, but his father, who had a window cleaning business, allowed him to sleep in his van from time to time.

Walton had helped his father with the window cleaning on occasions in the past. Walton went to the 82-year old woman's home and asked for money, but she had no money on her and she asked him to assist her in getting cash from an ATM. She gave him her bank card and the pin number which he then used on a number of occasions. The Fiscal added that Walton had two minor previous convictions. Defence solicitor, Angus McLennan, said the 82-year old woman had become suspicious and contacted the police and another customer realised that Walton was not their regular window cleaner, when the real man turned up looking for his money.

Walton, said Mr McLennan, knew that it was often the practice for window cleaners to clean windows and return for payment at a later stage. His client had met the 82-year old in the course of helping his father. She had given him her bank card and the pin number willingly, he said. "It was an opportunistic theft. The temptation proved too much for him". The solicitor added that Walton had had a heroin addiction since the age of 17. As for going round other houses, Mr McLennan said Walton had been "Simply chancing his luck by knocking on doors of homes he knew his father had cleaned windows."

Walton's father, said Mr McLennan, was very disappointed by his son's actions which had caused a great deal of embarrassment and impacted on his window cleaning business. He had refunded the money taken from people on his round. The solicitor said the father had not known about the theft from the 82-year old woman.

Window-cleaning business opens - Tom and Gloria Rokosz have opened Fish Window Cleaning, 1481 Dean Forest Road, Building 100, Suite C1. The new business is the 231st Fish location and provides window cleaning services to commercial and residential customers in Savannah, Thunderbolt, Tybee Island, Pooler, Garden City and Port Wentworth, as well as Bluffton and Hilton Head, S.C.

Spring Hill residents Nicole and Jeff Burrows have acquired a Window Genie franchise to serve Hernando County and surrounding areas. Prior to moving to Spring Hill, the Burrows lived in Atlanta and Tampa. Jeff Burrows spent the past 13 years as a sales manager in the commercial food service industry; Nicole Burrows worked in office administration. Best known for window cleaning that includes a "no streak" guarantee, Window Genie also offers other home services such as window tinting, deck and fence cleaning, concrete and brick cleaning and sealing, house washing, gutter clean-out, gutter protection, tile and grout cleaning and solar shades.

Glass industry organizations join together to address life cycle assessment: The American Architectural Manufacturers Association, Glass Association of North America, Insulating Glass Manufacturers Alliance and Window and Door Manufacturers Association have joined together to collectively address life cycle assessment of fenestration products. "LCA has become a critical component in clearly determining how environmentally friendly a product is by fully analyzing its effectiveness over its entire life cycle," says Rich Walker, president and CEO of AAMA.

LCA is being used by organizations including the National Institute of Standards Technology to rate building products and complete buildings. "It is important for the fenestration industry as a whole to understand the critical assumptions included in the NIST Sustainability Calculator, as these assumptions form the basis for the development of window Product Category Rules that will be the guidelines for developing specific LCA values through [Environmental Product Declarations]," Walker says. "This work provides the foundation for standardizing and analyzing the environmental performance credentials of windows. The group's initial meeting output included two tables populated with critical assumptions for the NIST Sustainability Calculator. These assumptions included U-factors and SHGC, along with window type, operability and window-to-wall ratios for model building types. It is imperative that all industry voices are heard and contribute to this building block for the EPDs.

"The four industry organizations signed a memorandum of understanding in late June, creating the Window Industry Ad Hoc PCR Task Group. "The task group serves as a discussion forum, and the meetings are considered informal with voting only taking place on procedural items. WDMA and AAMA rotate in the facilitator role every three months," Walker says. The next step for the task group is collecting data from industry companies, as representative members from the four organizations will be sent confidential questionnaires to gather LCA data. The task group will meet twice monthly via conference call to discuss questions on the submitted data and "plan for the next stage in the process," Walker says.

Are you my new sugar daddy? At the Hudson Terrace on Monday night, women slunk about in skintight dresses, showing ample cleavage and nibbling on complimentary snacks. Many of the ladies were drinking water; despite the $40 entrance fee — $80 for men — there was no open bar. Most New York gals have no problem shelling out $16 of their own money for a cocktail, but these women were having none of that. When you’re at a function whose sole purpose is to match so-called “sugar daddies” with their prospective “sugar babies,” you expect the gentlemen to pick up the bar tab — and a whole lot more. Manning the periphery of the room were career-counseling vendors (there for the women, according to Brandon Wade, founder and CEO of Seeking-Arrangement.com), plastic surgery reps and, more mysteriously, window-cleaner salesmen. About 400 people registered for the mixer. It was a huge turnout, according to Wade, who says that 100,000 of the current 800,000 members of Seeking Arrangement are based in the NYC area.

Melbourne, Australia - Koroit robber armed and ready to strike again: Robber Martin Driver was so pleased with his success at Koroit’s ANZ bank that he soon started planning further raids. He attended the Terang racecourse twice on race days, watched the operations surround the cash being collected at the track and followed the security guard responsible for carrying the cash in order to learn his movements. Driver also discussed targeting the Commonwealth Bank by posing as a window cleaner. He told the covert operative he believed they could get at least $100,000, and maybe up to $300,000 or $400,000. He also discussed tying up the staff members and waiting while the time delay on the safe opened.

Cold callers warned away from Lakenham area: Police in Lakenham are warning them to stay away after a scheme was set up in Old School Court - an area that has previously seen people suffer at the hands of bogus callers. Officers from the Lakenham and Tuckswood Safer Neighbourhood Team (SNT) worked in partnership with Norfolk County Council’s Trading Standards team to create the zone after concerns were raised from those living in the area. There had been reports of a number of cold calling incidents in the Bracondale area last year, including one where a man walked into the home of an 85-year-old woman offering window cleaning services before leaving the address after being challenged. This was linked to a series of distraction burglaries in the Bowthorpe, Earlham and Lakenham areas and following an investigation a 34-year-old man was convicted of the offences and jailed for six years. Now around 30 houses in the semi-sheltered housing complex have signed up to the scheme. PCSO Joanna Longstaff said: “The visible presence of a No Cold Calling Zone helps deter potential cold callers and also shows communities are willing to work together to reduce crime. “Residents have been given advice on what to do if they are visited by bogus callers and as a result feel reassured and more confident about their home security.”

Brattleboro — If it’s possible to separate a community’s spirit from its soul, then it seems Brattleboro has lost some of the former while clinging to the latter. A driver for Connecticut River Transit Inc. for the past two years, Jack didn’t want to give his last name, but says he used to be known as the “whistling window washer.” He washed windows downtown for nearly 40 years, and says changes to his hometown should be measured in decades, not months. “It’s a very diverse and eclectic town and continues to be so,” he says. But he’s been watching a gradual shift from community to individualism, where people don’t look out for each other like in the past. The fire hurt, he says, but the shooting two weeks ago was much more chilling. “That really took the wind out of people’s sails,” Jack says.