New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg laid out big plans in his final state of the city address today, Feb. 14, which included several initiatives that would call for industry-related services. This includes a proposal to amend the city's building codes to require that up to 20% of new parking spaces in private developments be "wired and ready" for electric cars. The mayor says this will create up to 10,000 parking spaces for such vehicles over the next seven years. He also proposed developing curbside vehicle charging stations that will allow drivers to charge batteries in 30 minutes. Photo by

Photo by Joe Woolhead Related Links: Best of the Best Projects 2012 Winners Entries for ENR's First Global Best Projects Competition Are Due Feb. 28 Park Captures 'Magnitude Of Sheer Simplicity' The $500-million memorial gracing the World Trade Center site in New York City has an elegant design, which in some ways belies the difficulty in building it.The structure, which features two deep reflecting pools, was physically tough to construct, largely due to logistics. The access road to the site was a single, 40-ft-wide lane, and nine cranes and lifts had to be stored in a small staging area.The judges

The historic West Point Military Academy has a long history of teaching the sciences, which are required courses for all graduating cadets. But while the study of biology, chemistry and physics has evolved since 1802, when the West Point, N.Y.-based school was built, the school's neo-Gothic structures that house those disciplines have not—at least, not enough to support the advanced research occurring within these disciplines. The structures are, as one science professor describes them, "cramped and old." Related Links: ENR New York More ENR New York Projects The school has set out to change that with a two-phase, seven-year, interior-only

It will take about two years but Rochester, N.Y., bus riders will have a new 87,000-sq-ft, enclosed transit center that promises to make their waits and transfers more comfortable and convenient, city officials say. Workers broke ground last November on the $50-million center, which is set for completion in spring 2015 and is projected to create 400 Rochester construction jobs and 50 new, permanent positions. Rendering Courtesy of Bergmann Associates The center is the first of its kind in Rochester, says Vince Press, spokesman for Rochester-based Bergmann Associates that, along with Rochester-based Pike Co., forms the design-build team on the

Industry merger and acquisition activity grew 14% to about 200 deals nationwide last year but was relatively flat in the tristate region, says Mick Morrissey, managing principal at A/E/C management consulting firm Morrissey Goodale, Newton, Mass. Even so, many buyers continued to view the tristate region as a good place to spend their M&A dollars. "New York tends to be a harder place [for an outside firm] to get into. That said, it tends to be one of the most popular states" for deals, Morrissey says. "That's because it is a significant economy—a world unto itself that's a very attractive

Photo By AP Wideworld Rep. Peter King (R-N.Y.) blasted House leadership for deferring initial Jan. 1 vote. Related Links: House Ends Session without Considering Sandy Bill From ENR New York 1/3/13: Tri-State Lawmakers, Industry Blast 112th Congress Over Inaction on Sandy Relief When Congress approved $9.7 billion for flood insurance claims from Superstorm Sandy victims on Jan. 4, government and construction-industry officials from areas hardest hit by the powerful late-October hurricane viewed the vote as a positive move. But they also insisted that those funds need to be supplemented—and soon—by an additional $50 billion to rebuild damaged infrastructure and construct

Congress's recently passed $9.7-billion aid package for flood insurance claims is a good start but is only a prelude to the $51-billion package that lawmakers need to pass in coming weeks to help Superstorm Sandy victims, say local industry and elected officials. While there is no guarantee that the larger bill will be voted on and passed soon, it is vital to recovery efforts, they add. A House vote on the $51-billion measure is expected on Jan. 15, with a Senate vote the week of Jan. 21. Photo Courtesy of Andrea Booher/FEMA Pile Up: Two months after Superstorm Sandy, debris

Thornton Tomasetti acquired Simon & Associates Inc. (S&A), a San Francisco sustainability consulting firm last month in a move that expands its West Coast and green practice footprint. The deal, for an undisclosed sum, follows Thornton Tomasetti's early 2012 purchase of Portland, Maine-based Fore Solutions, another green building consulting firm. S&A is a six-person firm that will become part of Thornton Tomasetti's Building Sustainability practice, created last year with the purchase of Fore and headed up by Fore's founder Gunnar Hubbard. S&A founder Lynn N. Simon will lead the West Cost practice, collaborating with Hubbard and the firm's California leadership."We've

Tri-state Democratic and Republican lawmakers as well as industry representatives have sharply criticized the 112th Congress for its failure to pass a $60.4-billion Superstorm Sandy aid package before its Jan. 2 adjournment.

These days, Haim Haddad, owner of the Coney Island Beach Shop, plugs a tiny, square digital device into his cellphone or iPad to process credit-card payments.