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Chinese Contractors?

The contractor for U.S. Sino Investments has left the country. The project manager told ABC7 he is in China. We also learned that the city of Milpitas issued a stop work order on this project last Wednesday, three days before the accident because a building inspector determined that the ditch was a safety hazard. There was not adequate shoring to prevent a cave-in. "Apparently, the contractor over the weekend ignored that notice and they've been working there," said Irannejad.

ABC7 asked Irannejad if he talked with the company about ignoring the stop work order and what was the city's position on it.

"Well, obviously when a stop work order is issued, it is illegal to continue with the work and they can be subject to the fine and the penalties. Also, Cal/OSHA is onsite and they did receive a copy of our stop work notice," replied Irannejad. ¹
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¹ http://abclocal.go.com/kgo/story?section=news/local/south_bay&id=8525108
 
good for the inspector who wrote out the stop work order. it's a shame someone lost their life. i witnessed an accident a few years ago in vermont where a guy was killed by a concrete pump. scenario: grocery store, i was working electrical, concrete crew is getting ready to pump floor on mezzanine. no safety cables around mezzanine, which is 14 feet +- above grade level slab. they start pumping, hose starts jumping around and it tosses a 260 pound guy off the mezzanine, he lands 18 feet horizontally away from mezzanine face down on concrete slab. he doesn't make it the day at a local hospital. immediatly after this fellow is transported to the hospital in an ambulance, a welder shows up, the contractor has safety rails installed..........where's the justice, yeah, there was investigation, fines, etc, but someone was killed due to contractor negligence. it's a shame, in the face of "time and money" safety gets put on the back burner, and for what?
 
Isn't the reference to "Chinese Contractors' slightly racist?

The article reported a problem with a contractor that did not comply with the rules and ignored the stop work notice. He should be subject to the full attention of the law. I do not see this as reason to highlight his race. I am sure that other members of the forum can point to contractors of other races that have performed just as irresponsibly.
 
Mark K said:
Isn't the reference to "Chinese Contractors' slightly racist?
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Not even close. Does anyone wonder the race of the dummy that got himself killed?

If you watch the video, you will see a bunch of re-bar standing up without impalement protection. There's just no excuse for a city like Milpitas having such an amateurish building dept.
 
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Mark said:
Isn't the reference to "Chinese Contractors' slightly racist?
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Yes it is, note that I asked what happened to the Edit button? When the first reports came out I thought "U.S.-Sino Investments" was a Chinese company doing business in the United States, further research showed that Mr. Liu is a legitimate California contractor, I apologize to Mr. Liu, but I have to wonder how a contractor can build a 5,700 square foot home while in China (I still don't know whether he was in China when the death occurred, or whether he fled to China after the death), it does appear that Mr. Liu will be facing criminal charges. As a contractor building a home not far from the Milpitas home, I get up at 5:00 a.m. to drive 2 hours to be on site at 8:00 a.m. to supervise construction. Also note that the License Board lists Mr Liu as exempt from Workers' Compensation Insurance, that means that Mr. Liu does all work himself without employees, or subcontracts all work to licensed contractors, the question will come to light as to who was supervising this site.
 
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[TD=class: alt2] Originally Posted by Contra Costa Times

Irannejad spoke with Liu's project manager, Dan Luo, who was there on the day Zapata died. It is unclear on whose orders Luo was working under and why he had construction crews working on the future mega-home on Saturday.

It is also unclear if there was a buyer for the Calaveras Ridge home. Santa Clara County Assessor records show there is no homeowner for the site, but that the land was purchased in June 2010 for $624, 668¹

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[TD=class: alt2] Originally Posted by Contra Costa Times

Monterroza said besides the many questions, there are potential civil fines for the builder ranging from $25,000 to $70,000 per violation. For example, she said, builders are required to spell out the duties of each worker on every project. They'll see if Zapata's were properly defined.

U.S.-Sino Investment's website lists five large and completed homes in upper-middle-class neighborhoods and two ongoing projects, all in Fremont. On the website there is no mention of the Milpitas project.

Zapata's family described him as a hard worker who had been living illegally in the United States for years, regularly crossing back and forth between California and Mexico to support his family. He regarded his nephews here as his own sons because many of these young men had no fathers to raise them in the Bay Area²

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So we've got a paper contractor who files exempt with the state for Workers' Compensation Insurance, yet the paper says he has a superintendent named Dan Luo, is it possible to subcontract supervision? I don't see how, if so Luo would have to be licensed as a general contractor and to function as a subcontractor he would have to supply two or more trades in addition to carpentry. We have the deceased, an illegal alien, and we don't know who was employing him, we also don't know who was keeping the CalOSHA records of the duties performed by each man. We also have men working on a Saturday, in California men can't work more than 8 hours in any given day without paying overtime, also unlikely.

We also have a contractor building several spec homes at the same time with no employees while he's apparently away in China, paying $670,000 for at least one of the lots, it is sounding like U.S.-Sino Investments is using Chinese money to spec build here, I wonder where U.S.-Sino Investments Inc. is incorporated?
 
The "Contractor" can sub all the work out, 1099, but if his subs are not paying worksmen comp, then he is responsible for it. There is a great deal of nepotism in these parts of the woods. The city of Milpitas included. You have to have a large group of people investing and turning a blind one to be able to have a bank give you money, or a rich land owner, get awarded a job, that one is questionably capable of, hire illegals, not pay you dues and maybe even your taxes.
 
Slightly racist is being kind. This is the type of headline one would expect to see on the magazines next to the checkout lines. The article doesn’t claim that this person is Chinese. Is he a he; is this a white person that went to China? Too many ***-umptions
 
Hello, I am surprised it took me so long to find this forum. I like it.

Stating "Chinese Contractor" is far from racist. Richard Lui or is it Richard Liy, http://www.corporationwiki.com/California/Fremont/richard-liy/44953476.aspx is it a error in spelling? Beware while looking his company up online, my computer was shut down while on the US-sino investment website. I just spent the last 2 hours cleaning my computer. His company is back by the Chinese government, which is given incentives to invest in American Properties. This was announced several times on the boob tube. International investors will be given special incentives to invest in the bay area over domestic investors. They did not say what these incentives are. I know that in the Port of Oakland 1 out of 10 crates brought in from China are inspected, who knows whats in the rest. This can explain how some "Contractors" can offer seriously discounted materials for jobs.

I live in Milpitas, Ca I am considered White, and I am a minority. Minority is suppose to mean, Lesser of the Populace, but means other than white now, what is that?

What about that poor guy, buried ALIVE, just trying to make a respectable legal living, to take care of his family.
 
Racist title? No Way!

The firm included "Sino" in it's name. "Sino" means 'chinese.' Obviously, the firm wants to be associated with China in some way. Sort of like the way "College painting" wants you to associate them with college kids, earning their way.

Funny, no one consideres it 'racist' to say that your BMW is an example of 'German' engineering - even though the things are from North Carolina :D

I guess it's only 'racist' if someone assumes a negative connotation.
 
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