Mandatory food waste recycling law for restaurants, supermarkets, casinos and other large-scale facilities takes effect in NJ
NJ Transit Board approves contract for new North Portal Bridge
The project replaces the 110-year-old bridge to improve service and reliability on the Northeast Corridor for NJ Transit and Amtrak customers as part of the Gateway Program.
The New Jersey Transit (NJ Transit) Board of directors has approved a contract with Skanska/Traylor Bros Joint Venture for the construction of the new Portal North Bridge. This is the largest award in NJ Transit’s history.
The project, a critical part of the Gateway Program, will eliminate the critical issues caused by operation and maintenance of the existing swing bridge that have long plagued the most heavily transited portion of the Northeast Corridor.
“Few infrastructure projects are as critical to the nation as replacing the aging Portal Bridge, said New Jersey Gov. Phil Murphy.
“With today’s step, NJ Transit is rapidly moving towards beginning the first phase of the largest infrastructure project in the United States. This award will not only bring a bridge that will resolve the long-standing bottlenecks plaguing New Jersey commuters, but will also create well-paying skilled labor jobs in the process.
NJ Transit President and CEO Kevin S. Corbett added, “This construction award, which is the single largest in our agency’s history, is the culmination of more than three years of hard work and determination by NJ TRANSIT and our project partners at Amtrak.
The $1,559,993,000 construction contract for the project spans 2.44 miles of the Northeast Corridor line and includes construction of retaining walls, deep foundations, concrete piers, structural steel bridge spans, rail systems, demolition of the existing bridge and related incidental works. Once construction begins, the construction contract is anticipated to take approximately five and a half years
The project is being funded by the U.S. Department of Transportation, NJ Transit and Amtrak. In January 2021, Gov. Murphy announced the signing of a Full Funding Grant Agreement, which secured $766.5 million in Federal Transit Administration funding to support the project’s construction.
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Steel fabriator secures $70M contract to build turbine foundations for Ørsted offshore wind projects in NJ and Md
By LORRAINE MIRABELLA Baltimore Sun
A Caroline County steel fabricator will supply $70 million in wind turbine foundations for projects that offshore wind farm developer Ørsted plans to develop in the ocean off Maryland and New Jersey, state and company officials announced Thursday.
Ørsted’s agreement with Crystal Steel Fabricators in Federalsburg will establish the state’s first offshore wind steel fabrication center. The manufacturer plans to expand its workforce by a third, hiring 50 additional welders, fitters, machine operators, painters and truck drivers.
Workers will make steel components used to construct wind turbine foundations for all of Ørsted’s mid-Atlantic projects, which are designed to power at least 1.3 million homes with renewable energy.
Maryland Gov. Larry Hogan toured Crystal Steel’s plant Thursday, joining officials and workers of both companies for the announcement.
“Ørsted is a cutting-edge company that has made it their mission to create a world that runs on green energy, and they are progressing toward that goal by their continued investment here in Maryland,” said the Republican governor, calling the potential economic benefits “an absolute game-changer.”
“Offshore wind presents a once-in-a-generation opportunity for the state of Maryland to grow and diversify our economy and our energy portfolio,” Hogan said.
Crystal Steel said the manufacturer’s work, to start this month, will support a long-term supply chain for an expanding offshore wind industry.
Read the full story here
In New Jersey, an ‘insatiable demand’ for warehouse space
Rents surge to record high as developers scour state for booming logistics industry
May 18, 2021: A warehouse in New Jersey; industrial space under construction, almost all of which was for warehouses, rose to 13.9 million square feet in the latest quarter from 13.4 million in the second quarter of 2021.
By JON HURDLE, NJ Spotlight
Rents surged and vacancies dropped to a record low for warehouses and other industrial buildings in north and central New Jersey from June to September, a new report said Wednesday, as demand from e-commerce continued to fuel the state’s red-hot market for logistics space.
The asking price for industrial rents rose 15.6% to a record $10.72 per square foot while vacancies fell to 3.4% from 3.8% only three months earlier. For warehouses, which account for about three-quarters of the overall industrial market, the vacancy rate was even lower, at 2.9%, according to the report from Newmark, a commercial real estate company.
As in the first half of 2021, the growth was again driven by very strong demand from logistics companies for space to store and distribute an avalanche of goods ordered online.
“Insatiable demand from ecommerce, corresponding with a long-term shift in consumer spending habits towards online spending and away from traditional retail stores remains a key driver of leasing activity,” the report said.
Demand for logistics space has been strong for five years but was fueled further over the past year by online shopping during the pandemic. It has also been driven by the state’s proximity to Port Newark-Elizabeth where one of the nation’s largest volumes of consumer imports enters the country, and by New Jersey’s position at the heart of the populous Northeast market.
While the boom has created thousands of jobs, including some 50,000 at Amazon alone, it has also sparked protests and lawsuits in some communities where residents fear that local roads will be choked by new truck traffic, and that remaining rural enclaves will be occupied by giant warehouses that may cover a million square feet or more.
In the Legislature, public concern that warehouses affect areas beyond the towns where they are built has also spawned a bill co-sponsored by Senate President Steve Sweeney (D-Gloucester) that would require towns facing a warehouse application to alert neighboring municipalities and try to win their support for the project.
Read the full story here
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Three Pennsylvania universities, being combined due to flagging enrollments, receive a new name
By Eric Heyl, Patch Staff
LANCASTER, PA — Three of the six Pennsylvania state universities being merged into two institutions received their new integrated name Thursday. California, Edinboro, and Clarion will operate under the name Pennsylvania Western University beginning July 1.
California will be known as Pennsylvania West-California, Edinboro will be called Pennsylvania West-Edinboro and Clarion will be Pennsylvania West-Clarion.
The state System of Higher Education board approved the change during a meeting at Millersville University.
The board delayed the renaming of the other three schools being merged: Bloomsburg, Lock Haven and Mansfield. But given Thursday’s action, Pennsylvania Eastern or Pennsylvania Northeastern seemingly would be fitting choices.
Dale-Elizabeth Pehrsson, current Clairion president and interim California and Edinboro president, said the goals for the new name were to choose one “that is distinctive, easy to remember and not a conflict” with other universities.
How the new name would perform in online searches also was a factor, Pehrsson said, because that is how most students initially begin researching a university.
The name was chosen after workshops with students, faculty, staff, alumni, trustees and community members, Pehrsson said.
Students of the three newly renamed universities will get to pick the new logo from among three choices emailed to them Thursday.
The State System contended the merger was necessary because over the past decade, it has lost 21 percent of its enrollment and hasn’t adjusted cost structures.
NJ Gov. Phil Murphy Announces Executive Staff Transition
By Insider NJ
Governor Phil Murphy today announced the appointments of Christine Guhl-Sadovy as Cabinet Secretary and Dennis Zeveloff as Deputy Chief Policy Advisor at the Governor’s Office. Guhl-Sadovy currently serves as Chief of Staff to New Jersey Board of Public Utilities (NJBPU) President Joseph L. Fiordaliso. Zeveloff currently serves as Director of Budget and Outcomes for the Governor. Both will serve under Chief Policy Advisor Dr. Zakiya Smith Ellis, alongside Jayné Johnson, the recently announced Director of the Office of Diversity, Equity, Inclusion, and Belonging.
“Through Christine’s experience serving within the government and championing causes to promote equity, her ability to bring people together and drive priorities that are critical to New Jerseyans make her the right fit for this position,” said Governor Murphy. “I look forward to working closely with Christine in her new role. I am also grateful to Dennis’ continued leadership, who has been integral to my Administration in guiding state government and agencies over the past three years to strengthen New Jersey’s economic growth and workforce development. I could not think of a more qualified or committed team in their respective positions to help me and my Administration lead a stronger and fairer State for all.”
“I am honored to be taking on this new role in the Murphy Administration,” said Christine Guhl-Sadovy, incoming Cabinet Secretary. “It has been a privilege to help advance the Governor’s clean energy initiatives under NJBPU President Joe Fiordaliso. I look forward to the opportunity to continue the progress on the Governor’s ambitious agenda to make New Jersey stronger and fairer.”
“Since Governor Murphy’s inauguration, New Jersey has led the country in developing and implementing a bold and progressive policy agenda,” said Dennis Zeveloff, incoming Deputy Chief Policy Advisor. “I am very grateful to the Governor for this opportunity and excited to support Dr. Smith Ellis and her Policy team with advancing the Governor’s vision for New Jersey.”
As Cabinet Secretary, Guhl-Sadovy will serve as a senior administration official within the Murphy Administration. In this capacity, she will oversee agency actions and liaise with the Administration’s Cabinet-level agencies and offices. In her current role as Chief of Staff, Guhl-Sadovy assisted BPU in spearheading the Governor’s clean energy agenda, including the 2019 Energy Master Plan, the 2018 Clean Energy Act, and the State’s Electric Vehicle Incentive program.
Guhl-Sadovy previously served as the Legislative and Political Director for Planned Parenthood Action Fund of New Jersey. At Planned Parenthood, she worked to ensure pro-women’s health candidates were elected to state office and advocated for the restoration of funding for family planning, which was the first piece of legislation Governor Murphy signed upon taking office. Prior to that, she worked on energy and environmental issues with the National Sierra Club as a representative of the Beyond Coal campaign.
She received her Bachelors of Arts Degree from Rutgers University. A life-long resident of New Jersey, she currently resides in Lambertville with her son, Julian.
As Deputy Chief Policy Advisor, Zeveloff will serve as a senior administration official within the Murphy Administration. In this capacity, he will play a critical role in advancing the Administration’s policy agenda. Zeveloff has served as the Director of Budget and Outcomes since 2019. In this role he coordinated the Governor’s state and federal spending proposals and helped jumpstart numerous initiatives across departments. Previously, he served as Policy Advisor to the Governor on budget and economic development issues. Prior to that, he served as the Policy Coordinator for then Governor-elect Murphy’s transition team and as Policy Advisor during then-candidate Murphy’s gubernatorial campaign.
Zeveloff grew up in Bergen County and received his Bachelors of Arts Degree from Dartmouth College and Juris Doctor and Master of Business Administration Degrees from Yale University.
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