CORZINE: TURNPIKE WON’T GO PRIVATE
The New Jersey Turnpike won’t be placed on the auction block to bail out the state’s nearly bankrupt Transportation Trust Fund, Governor Corzine said. He said the state needed to first assess similar deals, such as last year’s lease of the 7.8-mile Chicago Skyway to a Spanish-Australian company for $1.83 billion.

“It’s not on the table right now. It ought to be proven that these things are successful before we actually seriously think about it. There is enough experimentation going on out there. I’d rather wait for the evidence,” Corzine told the Philadelphia Inquirer.

Early last year, the New Jersey Alliance for Action in its issues paper took a position opposed to the privatization of the Turnpike.

GOVERNOR CORZINE SEEKS TO REFINANCE TRANSPORTATION TRUST FUND DEBT
According to an interview given to the Philadelphia Inquirer, Governor Corzine said his top choice was to borrow more money and refinance existing debt before the Transportation Trust Fund runs out of money July 1.

The governor said he would announce his solution for the Transportation Trust Fund before March 21, the day he is scheduled to present his budget to members of the State Legislature.

ESTIMATE TO FINISH SCHOOL JOB PEGGED AT $13 BILLION
The Department of Education gave the Legislature its estimate of what it would cost to complete all 313 school construction and renovation projects awaiting work under a state Supreme Court mandate. The department puts the tab at $12.8 billion at today’s prices.

THIRD SEGMENT OF HUDSON-BERGEN LIGHT RAIL ENGINEERING FUNDED
The 11-mile Bergen County segment of the Hudson-Bergen Light Rail system has been resurrected by the inclusion of $3.6 million in federal funding to conduct engineering and environmental studies.

PRINCETON JUNCTION TO BE REDEVELOPED
The state has designated 350 acres around the Princeton Junction Train Station for redevelopment. West Windsor Mayor Shing-Fu Hsueh says the Township has received grant money from the state’s Smart Future program to begin planning the redevelopment, which will include traffic improvements along Route 571, also known as Princeton-Hightstown Road. He says the planning process should take about two years.

HIGHTSTOWN SEEKING NEW REDEVELOPMENT PROPOSALS
The Hightstown Borough Council has voted to seek proposals from other developers after two years of negotiations with a previously designated developer fell through. The project is redevelopment of the former rug mill property on Bank Street.

ALLIANCE TO ASSIST IN SEEKING HIGHER EDUCATION BOND ISSUE
The Alliance for Action is participating on a special Steering Committee of New Jersey public and private university and college presidents seeking to fund capital expansion and improvements for their institutions. The goal is placing a bond issue on this November’s election ballot.

Based on its track record of successfully administering previous bond campaigns, the Alliance for Action was the first outside organization recruited by the university and college presidents. Dr. Barbara Gitenstein, President of The College of New Jersey, is chair of the Steering Committee.

RUTGERS SEEKS NEW LOOK FOR NEW BRUNSWICK CAMPUS
Five design firms are competing to devise plans to overhaul Rutgers University’s historic 69-acre College Avenue campus in New Brunswick. Rutgers envisions a new academic building, new dorms and added green space. The firms will receive $50,000 each to design the new look in three months.

PROPOSED NATIONAL LEAD SITE CLEANUP MAKES NEWS
The Sayreville Economic Redevelopment Authority heard presentations from four finalists seeking to be named as the redeveloper. The plans covered everything from a 300-room hotel, a recreation center, 300-boat marina, retail and restaurants and a glass-topped pavilion for concerts.

However, a week later a consulting firm estimated that a remediation cleanup for the site would cost some $41.9 million because of the presence of heavy metals, radiological contaminents and groundwater contamination. The question of who will clean up the site is the subject of litigation among National Lead, Sayreville and the State Department of Environmental Protection.

PEOPLE ON THE MOVE
Union County Freeholder Daniel P. Sullivan was elected Chairman of the North Jersey Transportation Planning Authority. He succeeds Somerset County Freeholder Peter S. Palmer, whose two-year term expired.
James J. Beattie has been promoted to Vice President- Northeast Division with HNTB Corporation in Wayne, NJ.

ALLIANCE IN ACTION
HUDSON ALLIANCE TO MEET ON TRANSPORTATION PROJECTS-
The Hudson County Alliance for Action will meet on Friday, March 3, to hear presentations on key transportation projects in the county. The meeting at the Wyndham Meadowlands Suites (formerly Prime Suite Hotel & Resorts) will begin at 9 a.m. following registration at 8:15.

The program will be:
-Robert R. Ceberio, Executive Director of the New Jersey Meadowlands Commission, on the transit village at Secaucus Transfer.
-Richard Raczynski, Chief Engineer of the New Jersey Turnpike Authority, on the Turnpike’s new Exit 15X.
-Charles N. Dickerson, Director of the Hudson-Bergen Light Rail for NJ Transit, on the second segment of the Light Rail line. To register online, please go to http://www.allianceforaction.com/feb2103reg.htm.

ALLIANCE TO SPONSOR CONFERENCE ON PHARMACEUTICALS CAPITAL PLANS-
The New Jersey Alliance for Action on March 27 will sponsor a conference of major pharmaceutical company executives at the Lafayette Yard Marriott in Trenton.

The executives will report on the capital construction and expansion plans of their firms. At the recent Alliance for Action Construction Forecast Seminar, pharmaceuticals projected some $4.7 billion will be spent over the next two years on capital projects.

The conference will begin at 9 a.m. For information and reservations, please call the Alliance at (732) 225-1180 or go here.

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