The New York Building Congress, in conjunction with the Business Council of New York State, recently hosted a regional transportation luncheon.

Pictured at the luncheon on federal transportation funding from left, are: Skanska USA Chairman Stuart Graham, who also serves as Chairman of the New York Building Congress, Business Council of New York State President and CEO Kenneth Adams, Congressman Jerrold Nadler, Con Edison President and CEO Kevin Burke and Congressman James Oberstar.

During the luncheon, US Congressman James Oberstar, chairman of the House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee, and Representative Jerrold Nadler, ranking Democratic member from the Northeast on the T & I Committee, both pledged their support for increased federal investment in the New York region’s transportation network. The two plan to craft legislation to replace the current five-year $286 billion program, which expires in 2009 and Rep. Oberstar hopes the next iteration will be at least $450 billion, according to NYBC.

“We need to have a grander vision, a greater sense of investment in urban America. We need to start with our infrastructure investments in New York City,” said Oberstar. “Transforming our nation’s surface transportation policy will challenge our imagination, our political will, and our tendency to hunker down, and think and act in insular ways. Beginning now, and carrying into next year, we must rise above differences, and find common ground in policies and funding that will best serve the nation’s passenger and freight mobility needs in the 21st century.”

“[Congressman Oberstar] will have a very prominent role in the coming transportation reauthorization, and his skill and judgment will be essential in ensuring that New York City and State receive their fair share of billions of dollars in federal funding,” said Nadler.

The New York Chapter of the American Institute of Architects has selected the Hudson River Park Trust as its recipient of the 2008 Honor Award in Community Development.

The Trust was given the award for its outstanding achievement in transforming acres of derelict land along the waterfront on Manhattan’s Westside into a waterfront park and recreational amenity, said HRPT.

“We have essentially taken under-utilized, formerly vacant, decaying industrial land and turned it into acres and acres of new ‘green’ space for New York City residents and visitors to enjoy,” said Diana Taylor, chair of the HRPT. “As New York and other cities work on ‘going green’, Hudson River Park will be looked upon as a model of how to successfully recycle out-dated industrial infrastructure into parkland and other beneficial uses.”

Hudson River Park, stretches from 59th Street to Battery Park City, and is the largest recreational project built in Manhattan since Central Park. It features 10 piers and three miles of completed upland area.

AIA has distributed its Community Development Award yearly since 1985. Recipients are acknowledged for making a substantial impact on the built environment within New York.

At its most recent General Membership Dinner Meeting, the Subcontractors Trade Association recently promoted a new $18 billion capital program for New York City launched by the Department of Environmental Protection.

The program was presented by Deputy Commissioner of the Bureau of Engineering Design and Construction James Mueller, who highlighted the demands of the growing city, and the steps for creating an optimum water system to meet any related challenges, while encouraging better business relationships with the contractor community, said STA.

“This meeting reflected a fresh attitude and approach for creating a contractor friendly environment. I look forward to seeing a new dimension of work as a result,” said Ron Berger, executive director of STA.

The plan encompasses $13.5 billion over the next five years and $18 billion over the next ten years.