SunSentinel Mention

April 10, 2020

Peter Moore, P.E., F.ASCE, ENV SP, LEED AP

President, Chen Moore and Associates

Last week: This past week, my firm was able to submit an application for a loan authorized under CARES. While I had a week full of anxiety, I read the opinions of my friends on social media, saying Federal monies should be given to individuals and not to “bail out businesses”. 75% of the money in the program we applied for is required to be utilized on payroll. Once those individual checks run out, people will need businesses to come back to for jobs. Let’s make sure that they survive long enough to recover and get America back to being employed!

Looking ahead: No one wants to learn about a positive test result for COVID-19. Not the person who was tested, not their families/friends and certainly not the people they were recently around, including co-workers as applicable. I’ll attest that employers also don’t want to learn about an employee getting a positive test, because of the complexities of Federal Law. One law requires that you inform other potentially impacted employees, while another protects the privacy of the individual, potentially leading to misunderstanding. Employees need to know the limits on what employers can divulge and not let that lead to mistrust.

SunSentinel Mention

April 3, 2020

Peter Moore, P.E., F.ASCE, ENV SP, LEED AP

President, Chen Moore and Associates

Last week: My heartfelt gratitude goes out to the medical professionals, first responders, grocery store workers, truck drivers and countless others. My profession of engineering, particularly relating to construction, while not directly beneficial to most, is also considered essential. This past week we demonstrated why continuing construction during this time was beneficial. As part of a critical emergency project, we installed a very large pipeline down a typically busy street in a residential neighborhood. Instead of causing a significant traffic issue at afternoon rush hour, we were able to successfully perform our work with very little impact. Please keep us working!

Looking ahead: Small businesses make up 99.7 percent of U.S. employer firms and 49.2 percent of private-sector employment. The SBA Loan programs created by both the FFCRA and CARES Act are critical for the survival of small business. Promises have been made that these loans will be available as early as April 3rd, but the banks that are required to administer these loans still have not been given the verification requirements or potential exposure to begin originating these loans. The next couple weeks are critical for the Federal Government to finalize these terms and let businesses get back to business.

SunSentinel Mention

March 27, 2020

Peter Moore, P.E., F.ASCE, ENV SP, LEED AP

President, Chen Moore and Associates

Last week: “Construction Workers aren’t observing social distancing” was a comment I read in the Sun-Sentinel recently. That was followed by a request to remove the designation that construction is an essential business in the same post. I see a lot more things than the average person does when I drive around a city. I see all sorts of existing infrastructure, but I mostly pay attention to construction. The safest possible time for important infrastructure projects to take place is right now, when everyone is safely in their homes and off the road. We’re building critical projects, please let us work.

Looking ahead: With unprecedented access to the internet thanks to typically profit hungry conglomerates opening up wi-fi hotspots and with the average person having more than ample time on their hands, there is no excuse for a lack of response on www.2020census.gov. I’ve written many pieces about the importance of the census, making sure that every person is counted to give Broward County and Florida the proper share of national funding and the proper amount of representation in Congress and the Electoral College. Please take a few minutes and visit the site, it will only help us recover from COVID-19 more quickly.