>-Morris Rubino, President of the New Jersey Association of Ironworkers, the Sigurd Lucassen Labor Award.
-Frank McDonough, President of the New York Shipping Association, the President’s Award.
-Edward Cruz, Owner & CEO, E.E. Cruz & Co., Inc., the Dr. John L. Buzzi Engineering Excellence Award.
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ALLIANCE SET TO HONOR LONG TIME BOARD MEMBERS
This year the New Jersey Alliance for Action celebrates its 35th year as New Jersey’s premier business, labor and professional association dedicated to promoting economic development and infrastructure. Join us at this year’s Eagle Awards Dinner as we pay special tribute to the following members of the Alliance for Action Board of Directors who have given 25 years or more years of continuous service to the Alliance.
Mauro Checchio – Union County
John Mullen – Johnson & Johnson
Barry Rosengarten – Rosengarten Realty Development
Kim Foley – Foley, Incorporated
Herman Simonse – Bellemead Development Corp.
Art Guida – Public Service Electric & Gas
Richard Williams – Somerset County
STATE ECONOMIC STIMULUS ACT AWAITS GOVERNOR’S SIGNATURE
The State Senate and Assembly have passed the New Jersey Economic Stimulus Act of 2009 and the Legislation is awaiting signature by Governor Jon Corzine. The measure includes a number of key pieces of existing legislation. It includes:
-Tax credits for development around urban transit hubs, which would be expanded to include property adjacent or connected to a freight rail line and light rail stations.
-A moratorium on COAH affordable housing payments by developers.
-An Economic Redevelopment and Growth (ERG) Grants program.
-Allowing institutions of higher learning to engage in public/private partnerships to develop new facilities.
The legislation was introduced by State Senator Raymond J. Lesniak, D-20th Dist., and sponsored in the Assembly by Speaker Joseph J. Roberts, Jr., D-5th Dist.
KICKOFF FOR TURNPIKE WIDENING PROJECT
A groundbreaking ceremony was held for the first construction phase of the $2.7 billion project to widen one of the most congested areas of the New Jersey Turnpike. The Turnpike Authority also awarded the first construction contract.
Governor Corzine, Authority and State Department of Transportation officials took part in the ceremony held in a maintenance yard overlooking the Turnpike. The Alliance for Action was represented by President Philip K. Beachem, Executive Vice President Gerald T. Keenan and Senior Vice President Clifford Heath. The Alliance was active in mobilizing public support for the widening --- a point noted by Turnpike Executive Director Diane Gutierrez-Scaccetti, who publicly thanked the Alliance during the ceremony.
The project will eventually widen 35 miles of the roadway from Exit 6 in Mansfield Township to Exit 9 in East Brunswick. It is scheduled for completion in 2014.
The Turnpike widening is part of the overall $7 billion capital plan announced by the Governor earlier this year which also includes widening the Garden State Parkway.
The Turnpike Authority has awarded a $50.7 million contract for a section of the widening between Exits 6 and 9. South State, Inc., of Bridgeton will build an additional three lanes in both directions.
The work also will include two overpasses above Route 206 in Bordentown and Mansfield, an exit flyover, and shoulders. Construction could begin the first or second week of August. Authority Chief Engineer Richard Raczynski said another 24 contracts also will be awarded for the widening project.
MEADOWLANDS TRAIN SERVICE TO BEGIN ON JULY 26
NJ Transit officials report that the first trains destined for the Meadowland Sports Complex will begin running on Sunday, July 26, 2009. The long-awaited service will originate in Hoboken and stop at Secaucus Junction while taking fans to a 3 p.m. championship soccer game at Giants Stadium.
NJ Transit Executive Director Richard Sarles said the $200 million project will bring riders to a station only 100 feet from the new football stadium for the Giants and Jets scheduled to open in 2010.
NEW JERSEY WOULD GET $30 MILLION FOR MILITARY CONSTRUCTION
U.S. Senator Frank Lautenberg announced that New Jersey would receive more than $30 million for military construction under legislation approved by the Senate Appropriations Committee, of which he is a member. The bill next will be considered by the full Senate.
The bill would provide $21 million for an Armed Forces Reserve Center in Camden, which would be a newly constructed building. Another $9.7 million would go for the Base Civil Engineering Complex of the 108th Air Refueling Wing at McGuire Air Force Base.
NY CITY PLANNING COMMISSION APPROVES LAND USE PERMIT FOR TUNNEL
The New York City Planning Commission approved the special permit application to advance the $8.7 billion ARC Mass Transit Tunnel, which includes an expansion of Penn Station under 34th Street in Manhattan and other project facilities.
The Port Authority of New York and New Jersey and NJ Transit voluntarily submitted the application as part of the Uniform Land Use Review Procedure. Their submission under the land use process was to encourage community and public participation and support of the tunnel project.
PANEL CALLS FOR PUBLIC & PRIVATE ACTION ON TRANSPORTATION FUNDING
A state and national panel --- including Alliance for Action President Philip K. Beachem --- expressed the critical need for government officials and the public to find common ground on transportation funding during a symposium at the North Jersey Transportation Planning Authority in Newark.
NJTPA Chairman Susan M. Zellman told the 100 people in attendance that the nation’s transportation funding law expires September 30 unless Congress acts or reauthorization is extended. The moderator, Martin F. Robbins, Senior Fellow at Rutgers University’s Voorhees Transportation Center, called transportation financing “the most serious challenge policymakers face today.”
Beachem declared that the kind of bipartisan effort which spearheaded creation of the New Jersey Transportation Trust
Fund in 1984 can serve as a model again today. He pointed to the recent success in financing the new Hudson River rail tunnel.
ATLANTIC CITY-TORONTO AIR SERVICE TO BEGIN
Beginning in October 2009, WestJet Airlines of Canada will offer non-stop service between Atlantic City and Toronto, according to Bart Mueller, Executive Director of the South Jersey Transportation Authority.
Mueller said the Atlantic City-Toronto service will be part of the largest single-season expansion in WestJet’s history.
UNITED WATER COMPLETES $100 MILLION UPGRADES
United Water completed a $100 million rehabilitation of the Haworth Water Treatment Plant, located in Haworth along the Oradell Reservoir. The upgrade, which began in November 2007, was the largest single capital investment in United Water’s 140-year history.
NEW JERSEY TOPS METRO MAGAZINE’S LIST OF TOP RAIL PROJECTS
NJ Transit has moved to the head of the list of METRO Magazine’s Top Rail Projects with $14.6 billion in projects. The perennial leader, the MTA Authority’s New York City Transit, falls to the No. 2 position.
METRO Magazine cited the positive impact in New Jersey of $424 million of stimulus funds from the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (ARRA). The projects it listed for NJ Transit include the $8.7 billion cross-Hudson Railroad Tunnel, a new intermodal transit center in Pennsauken, and the Morristown Line’s signal system.
The publication reported that approximately $73 billion in projects are scheduled nationally, the largest total in five years.
MONMOUTH ALLIANCE TO MEET
A presentation on the redevelopment of Fort Monmouth will be featured at a meeting of the Monmouth County Alliance for Action on Friday, July 17.
The meeting at Eagle Oaks Golf Club, 20 Shore Oaks Drive, Farmingdale, will begin with registration at 8:15 a.m. and the program at 9 a.m.
Speakers will include:
-Richard P. Harrison, Deputy Director of the Fort Monmouth Economic Revitalization Planning Authority.
-Amy Fitzgerald, Director of Monmouth County Economic & Workforce Development Program.
-Brian Strizki, P.E., Director-Office of Design Services, New Jersey Department of Transportation, on stimulus programs.
To register Go Here.
MARITIME INDUSTRY IS FOCUS OF ESSEX ALLIANCE MEETING
The importance of New Jersey’s maritime industry will top the agenda at a meeting of the Essex County Alliance for Action on Friday, July 31.
Business, labor, government and academic leaders will attend at the North Jersey Transportation Planning Authority, One Newark Center, Newark. Registration will begin at 8:15 a.m. and the program at 9 a.m.
Presentations will be:
-Frank McDonough, President of the New York Shipping Association, on “The Bayonne Bridge – Impediment to Prosperity.”
-William H. Hanson, Vice President, United States Business Development, Great Lakes Dredge & Dock Co., on “Dredging the New York/New Jersey Shipping Lanes.”
-Mary K. Murphy, Executive Director, on “NJTPA’s Responsibility in Transportation Planning.”
The Essex County Alliance is one of 13 county affiliates of the New Jersey Alliance for Action, a statewide non-partisan, non-profit coalition that advocates investment in infrastructure.
Co-Chairs of the Essex Alliance are County Executive Joseph N. DiVincenzo, Assemblyman Thomas P. Giblin, Business Manager-Local 68, International Union of Operating Engineers, and Ciro A. Scalera, Director-Public Affairs, Verizon NJ.
To register Go Here.
PEOPLE ON THE MOVE
-Joseph McNamara, Director of the NJ Laborers’-Employers’ Cooperation and Education Trust (LECET) and NJ State Laborers’ Health and Safety Fund, will be honored by the Building Contractors Association of New Jersey. He will receive the “Construction Man of the Year Award” at the BCANJ Annual gala dinner on October 22 at The Palace in Somerset.
-Capt. James R. Roche was elected President of the Pilots’ Association for the Bay River and Delaware River.
-Stephen M. Goldstein resigned as State Commissioner of Banking and Insurance, effective July 15, and will join a New York law firm.
-Harry Sassaman was installed as the President of the New Jersey Subcontractors Association, he is Vice President of New Jersey Operations for Forest Electric, a Division of EMCOR.
-Kevin Monaco is the new Executive Director of the New Jersey Subcontractors Association.
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