The MTA is claiming it “moved far more quickly than required or planned to put federal stimulus (ARRA) funds to work,” despite a State Comptroller report claiming that current spending on city transportation represents only a tenth of one percentage of statewide expenditures. The report, released in late January, says the MTA has spent only $857,000 in stimulus funds as of Jan. 15, 2010, whereas the state has spent $704 million. As of Jan. 15, 2010, the report states, the MTA spent no money on the two projects expected to receive the bulk of its earmarks, the Second Avenue Subway

The New Jersey chapter of the American Institute of Architects is encouraging its members to participate in an international competition to design an Atlantic City Boardwalk Holocaust Memorial. The two-stage design competition asks entrants to submit their design concepts in digital form as part of the first stage. A panel of jurors including architects Wendy Evans Joseph who helped design the U.S Holocaust Museum in Washington, D.C.; former Pritzker Prize winner Richard Meier; and Daniel Liebeskind, the planner commissioned to rebuild the World Trade Center site will then select six to ten finalists who will each be awarded $2,500 to

The City College of New York recently announced the creation of an engineering scholarship to honor former Parsons Brinckerhoff CEO James L. Lammie. LAMMIE The James L. Lammie Leadership Scholarship will be given annually, beginning in 2010, to a civil engineering student in CCNY’s Grove School of Engineering who exemplifies outstanding scholastic and leadership potential in the field of civil engineering and public infrastructure support. “Of all the people I’ve known and worked with during a long career in business and government, Jim Lammie stands out as an extraordinary leader,” said New York Lieutenant Governor  and former Parsons Brinckerhoff board

What started as an ambitious endeavor almost eight years ago for Judlau Contracting founder and CEO Tom Iovino now has a chance to have considerable impact on the devastation in Haiti. In 2002 Iovino started The iF Foundation, formerly The Iovino Family Foundation as a way to give back. The foundation was to be a vehicle for donating money to a multitude of causes including higher education, hospitals, disease mitigation and other charities. With a focus on making more of an impact where it had responsibility for the outcomes, The iF Foundation initially based its aid in clean water. A

The New York Metropolitan Transportation Authority is facing its worst budget crisis in its history and it will only get worse if a six-year transportation bill waiting to be reauthorized is cut as the Obama Administration vows to rein in domestic spending, said its chairman and CEO. Jay Walder, who rejoined the agency last July after a 19-year stint in London, asked attendees at a New York Building Congress luncheon Jan. 28 to approach him directly with ideas about how the MTA can simplify its "risky, cumbersome" contracting process, described as the "MTA premium" by the industry. "Come to me

Members of Associated General Contractors of Connecticut have pulled together with the Fairfield County Building Trades Council and the Fairfield County Building Trades Association to help build Ann's Place, The Home of I Can, a nonprofit agency in Danbury that offers support to about 700 cancer patients monthly. The approximately $5.5 million, 17,000-sq-ft center was built primarily with in-kind contributions, although the agency has raised $2 million to purchase discounted materials which were not donated. AGC Connecticut and labor associations in Fairfield County worked to build the $5.5 million home for I Can, a Danbury nonprofit that offers support to

Five teams have prequalified to bid the third and final contract, estimated at $500 million, that is part of an $8.7-billion rail link under the Hudson River between New Jersey and Manhattan. The contract, to be awarded next fall, will involve building 14,600 feet of soft-ground tunnels that run 110 feet under the river. There are some new names on the list that hadn’t bid the project’s previous two hard-rock tunneling contracts on either side of the river. Both of those were recently awarded. Set to vie for the soft-ground contract are: a joint venture of J.F. Shea Construction, Schiavone

With new legislation passed in New York City late last year, all of New York's buildings totaling more than 50,000 sq ft are required to submit to benchmarking and retro-commissioning, essentially putting those buildings' efficiency ratings up against other buildings across the country. The Empire State Building is undergoing one of the largest commercial green retrofits in the United States. Benchmarking essentially ranks a building’s energy and water efficiency against similar buildings.  The legislation specifies the use of the U.S. EPA’s Portfolio Benchmarking tool as the standard for calculating the ranking. The process is very simple.  Data on a building’s

The Board of Yonkers Industrial Development Agency has advanced plans to build two downtown affordable housing projects which will provide 392 apartments to low-income residents combined. The agency passed two resolutions this week which will present the plans at public hearings and to negotiate economic development packages for the projects. Rendering courtesy of Perkins Eastman The first project, called the Warburton Riverview project was proposed by the Greyston Foundation and consists of a new 12-story building encompassing seven lots totaling 22,587 sq ft located at 54-56 Warburton Avenue, within walking distance to public transportation and the core of downtown Yonkers.

Skanska USA and EMCOR Group, two of the region�s largest contracting firms, have offered separate $50,000 donations to help with relief efforts in Haiti, while other firms and associations are gathering cash and food donations. Skanska’s donation was made to the United Nations, while EMCOR donated $25,000 to the American Red Cross’ Touching Lives Program, with an additional $25,000 from a double matching program with EMCOR employees. “We know that this donation can only do so much in an area where the need is so great,” said Mike McNally, President and CEO of Skanska USA. “But we know that if