TWO HEALTH CARE-RELATED CONSTRUCTION CONFERENCES SET FOR MAY
Two major health-related construction conferences will be sponsored in May by the New Jersey Alliance for Action to indicate which way the state’s economy is headed.

A conference on New Jersey Health Care Facilities Construction entitled “Health Care for the Economy” will be held on May 2.

A session on New Jersey Pharmaceutical and Medical Technology Construction, “The Prescription for Your Success,” will be sponsored on May 15 by the Alliance for Action and the HealthCare Institute of New Jersey.

Both Conferences will take place in Trenton at the Lafayette Marriott Conference Center, with registration at 8 a.m. and the program at 9 a.m.

At the May 2 Conference, leaders of the hospital and health care industry will outline hundreds of millions of dollars of capital construction programs. Presentations will include:
-Capital Health System --- construction of a new hospital in Hopewell and major renovations to its Fuld campus.
-Hackensack University Medical Center --- construction of a new outpatient cancer center and garage.
-NJIT’s Gateway Project---Campus Neighborhood revitalization in Newark with St. Michael’s Hospital and project stakeholder partners.

On May 15, pharmaceutical and medical technology industry executives will report on $3.5 billion in capital construction activity scheduled for 2008 and 2009. They will include:
-Schering-Plough’s expansion of its Summit campus by Geoff Monk, Vice President of Facilities.
-Baxter Health Care’s Cherry Hill facility construction by Brien Johnson, Vice President of Manufacturing.
-Abbott Point of Care’s New Jersey Diagnostic Division Expansion by Kevin Buckbee, CFO.
-Novo Nordisk’s new Plainsboro headquarters by Ted Bielecky, Head of Facilities.

To learn first-hand at the Conferences about the impacts on New Jersey’s economy and quality of life, to register for the May 2nd meeting Go Here or to register for the May 15th meeting Go Here.

PUBLIC HEARINGS SET ON DRAFT ENERGY MASTER PLAN
Public stakeholder meetings on the newly released Draft 2008 Energy Master Plan will be held on Monday, April 28, and Thursday, May 1, at the Trenton War Memorial. They will provide an overview of the Draft Plan’s goals and action items, with participants entitled to ask questions. Later in June, the public may attend three yet-to-be-finalized roundtable meetings with state and national energy experts focusing on energy supply, energy demand and economic growth.

Visit the Energy Master Plan website at nj.gov/emp for updates on meeting details. Also, written comments can be submitted to energymasterplan@bpu.state.nj.us.

Some strategies in the Master Plan will require legislation, while others can be implemented through actions of government agencies or other parties which have jurisdiction in those areas.

DEP COMMISSIONER PROPOSES REFORMS FOR SITE REMEDIATION PROGRAM
State Department of Environmental Protection (DEP) Commissioner Lisa P. Jackson proposed a package of legislative reforms to speed up contaminated-site cleanups and give the DEP stronger leverage over how the cleanups are carried out and monitored.

Jackson said the proposals resulted from meetings with environmental groups and justice advocates, political leaders, redevelopers and business and industry groups. The proposed reforms would:
-Enable the DEP to select cleanup remedies when the end use of a property is residential or educational
-Set strict time frames to complete each remediation phase
-Establish a self-sustaining fund to be tapped for remediation projects that fail
-Require testing and notification of local planning and health officials when a property changes from industrial or commercial to residential
-Create a licensing program to hold consultants more accountable on contaminated-site investigations and cleanups for work they do
-Establish a permit process for long-term monitoring of engineering and institutional controls
-Spur brownfields redevelopment by relieving innocent purchasers and holding those responsible for the pollution liable for cleanup.

AUTHORITY APPROVES PAVING WORK FOR TURNPIKE AND GARDEN STATE PARKWAY
The New Jersey Turnpike Authority approved a $5 million resurfacing project for 48 miles of the Turnpike between milepost 74 in Middlesex County and milepost 122 in Bergen County. The contract, awarded to Stavola Contracting Co., Inc., will include paving ramps, toll plazas, roads and shoulders. The work will start in mid-May and will be done at night.

The Authority also approved an emergency paving project that was completed for a short section of the Garden State Parkway near Toms River. The contract was awarded to Tilcon New York Inc. Chief Engineer Richard Raczynski said the $1.5 repaving was done because a March inspection revealed severe deterioration of the road surface.

WEST ORANGE BREAKS GROUND ON FIRST PHASE OF $230 MILLION PROJECT
The Township of West Orange broke ground for the first phase of a $230 million mixed-use development site known as Edison Village. The first phase of the 21-acre site will include 620 residential units, 18,000 square-feet of retail space and a 630-space parking facility.

The redevelopment by Prism Capital Partners LLC of Englewood will involve the renovation and reconstruction of the 95-year-old Thomas Edison Invention Factory and Commerce Center --- with the initial phase expected to be completed by summer 2010. The second and third phases will consist primarily of single-family homes and townhouses.

MORRIS COUNTY ALLIANCE FOR ACTION MEETING
The Morris County Alliance for Action meeting is scheduled for this Friday, April 25th  8:15 a.m. with a stellar program featuring Assemblyman & Deputy Speaker John Wisniewski with his perspective on transportation funding; Mayor Joseph Heywang on the economic re-birth of Butler as a place to live and work; and John Grabowski, Vice President of Ferreira Construction on his company’s use of solar panels to supply all their power requirements.
Location: Birchwood Manor, 111 North Jefferson Road, Whippany.
To register:  Go Here.

TURNPIKE WIDENING REPORT TO FEATURE MEETING OF MIDDLESEX ALLIANCE
A report on the New Jersey Turnpike widening program will be one of the issues covered at a meeting on Wednesday, May 7, of the Middlesex County Alliance for Action.

Business, labor and government leaders are expected to attend the meeting at the New Jersey Carpenters Funds Conference Room, Raritan Plaza II, Raritan Center, Edison. Registration will begin at 8:15 a.m., followed by the program at 9 a.m. The Middlesex Alliance is one of 13 county affiliates of the New Jersey Alliance for Action.

The May 7 program will include:
-John Keller, P.E., Supervising Engineer of the Turnpike Authority, on the widening project.
-Freeholder Director David Crabiel will report on Middlesex County.
-Daniel DeTrolio, Assistant Vice President & Director of Governmental Relations for Hartz Mountain Industries, on the Edison Towne Square development.

Co-chairs of the Middlesex Alliance are Crabiel, Anthony R. Coscia, partner in the law firm of Windels Marx, Lane & Mittendorf and Chairman of the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey, and William Schlueter, President of the Middlesex County Building & Construction Trades Council.
To make reservations Go Here.

CHANGES IN ALLIANCE FOR ACTION BOARD OF DIRECTORS
Susan Bass Levin, First Deputy Executive Director of the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey and former State Commissioner of Community Affairs, was elected to the Board of Directors of the Alliance for Action.

Also joining the Alliance Board are:
-Kevin J. Coakley, partner of Connell Foley, LLP.
-Steve Tambini, Vice President of Operations for New Jersey American Water.

PEOPLE ON THE MOVE
-David Rousseau was confirmed by the State Senate as Governor Corzine’s nominee for State Treasurer replacing Bradley I. Abelow, now the Governor’s Chief of Staff. Rousseau had been serving as Acting Treasurer and, prior to that, was Deputy State Treasurer.
-Anthony Shorris submitted his resignation as Executive Director of the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey, effective April 24.

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