04/02/2020 CARLA MARINUCCI - Politico
OAKLAND — Gov. Gavin Newsom affirmed Thursday that California will not follow the lead of states like New York or regions like the Bay Area that have banned most construction projects during the Covid-19 pandemic, saying he is satisfied the state has “strict workforce efforts” in place to protect its army of construction workers.
“We’re not New York ... and we’re going to do everything we can to bend our curve,’’ Newsom said during his daily briefing. The governor argued that there are "very different conditions in the state of California'' than in other states and cities, including Boston, that have shut down construction. And he said that in California, "we've been working very closely with the building construction trades" to ensure safety for the public.
Newsom's statements came days after leaders of California’s powerful construction industry appealed to him in the wake of a move by seven Bay Area health officers, who issued updated stay-at-home orders that specifically prohibited most residential and commercial construction.
The Bay Area's new prohibitions are the strictest in California, and the region's health officers have been praised for taking early — and at times, unpopular — actions that have helped hospitals there avoid being overwhelmed by coronavirus patients so far. Bay Area leaders were the first to ban large gatherings and the first to impose a shelter-in-place order, days before Newsom imposed similar restrictions statewide.
Newsom allowed that Bay Area leaders “have a legal right ... to go even further'' than the state's order. He added, “we're not naive about the magnitude of our challenge ahead of us. But currently, I'm satisfied with those state directives.’’
Robbie Hunter, the head of the Building and Construction Trades Council of California — with a membership of 460,000 workers and 60,000 apprentices — told POLITICO that industry leaders were alarmed when the Bay Area shutdown order went into place without any outreach to the construction industry.
He argued that their order ignored tough standards the union has instituted since the start of the Covid-19 outbreak to protect its workers — including taking temperatures at work sites, sterilizing tools and equipment, banning food trucks, implementing strict measures to discourage gatherings and mandating strict social distancing.
“We’ve trained our people to work in the Borax mines, in tunnels underneath the Bay ... and we build 80-story skyscrapers without losing a worker — or even a serious injury,’’ Hunter said. “We are used to serious training for different scenarios — and we have applied everything we've got on this.’’
At current construction sites — including the building of six California hospitals — Hunter said: “We have our union reps out on job sites ... making sure and the developers contractors themselves are absolutely leading the charge. They all understand that they cannot afford to have a problem on a job site.”
San Jose officials have confirmed that the Santa Clara County Public Health Department’s March 31 order mandated construction “must cease thorugh May 3." But they issued a release saying the order contained some some exceptions: For residential construction, “only projects with an on-site affordable housing component may continue, along with homeless shelters.”
The guidelines also allowed “exceptions for essential health care and public works projects.’’
New York has imposed similar restrictions, only allowing construction for emergency facilities, infrastructure, affordable housing and homeless shelters.
The county’s economic development department referred questions to its construction guidance webpage and said information on permits, inspections and construction protocols could be found at its development services permit webpage.
Sacramento Mayor Darrell Steinberg, minutes after touring a construction site at the Sacramento Convention Center with Hunter on Thursday, said he witnessed "strict protocols" in place. "We have to do whatever we can to keep the economy going, while never jeopardizing public health and safety,'' he said, adding that sites that are too crowded or close to the public will be shut.
The governor affirmed he has also consulted at length with Hunter, and applauded union leaders "for their strict workforce efforts ... making sure their members are protecting their community, and those that they serve.''
