PA Port: Helping to Build the Region, in Spectacular Fashion

Posted on March 6, 2018 by PANYNJ PORTfolio

By Lenis Rodrigues, Media Relations Staff

The Port of New York and New Jersey has seen its share of big and impressive cargo imports over the years, everything from a replica Batmobile, to NJ Transit subway cars, yachts and even a giant Marilyn Monroe statue.

But another Port claim to fame is its role in helping build the region, literally. And sometimes those imports, too, are spectacular in their own way. Take one extraordinary Hindu temple in Robbinsville, N.J., about 20 miles east of Trenton.

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The massive Robbinsville mandir

Back in 2014, BAPS Swaminarayan Sanstha (BAPS), a global religious and civic organization affiliated with the Swaminarayan branch of Hinduism, imported Italian marble and 13,499 pieces of stone originally carved in India through the New Jersey Marine Terminals.

From the port, the marble sections and stones were trucked to Robbinsville, where it was used to build a massive mandir, a Hindu place of worship, adorned with 236 peacocks, the national bird of India, and 91 sculpted elephants placed inside the mandir. In all, the artistic and construction materials traveled more than 21,500 miles through an intricate supply chain before they arrived in New Jersey. The Hindu temple –  133 feet long, 87 feet wide and 42 feet tall – is an architectural marvel and mostly completed.

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One of 236 hand-sculpted peacocks that adorn the mandir’s interior

But work continues on other components of the facility, including the BAPS’ Swaminarayan Akshardham Mahamandir, a cultural complex that showcases and celebrates Indian art, culture, traditions and values. Also under construction are a visitor center, exhibition hall and a youth activity center. 

“Thanks to the Port of New York and New Jersey, we were able to get the materials without trouble on time here. Today, the mandir is open to anyone, and it’s all thanks to them,” said Lenin Joshi, a mandir spokesman and volunteer.

The Hindu temple project illustrates the wide range of products and materials that flow through the Port, from furniture, beverages, clothing and food products to the type of Italian marble and stunning artistic flourishes used not only in the constructing the mandir, but in the development of the Oculus at the World Trade Center Transportation Hub.

Port Authority Port Department Assistant Director Bethann Rooney noted the remarkable range of goods that flow through the Port to become part of historic regional projects.

“Building materials are a perfect example,” she said. “We have seen the transport of giant beams used for One World Trade Center to the materials coming through the port to build this temple.”

Posted in Port Authority, Port Jersey-Port Authority Marine Terminal, Port Newark/Elizabeth Marine Terminal, Port of New York & New Jersey, Port Region, Port Region of New York and New Jersey, Uncategorized | Comments Off on PA Port: Helping to Build the Region, in Spectacular Fashion

A Quarter Century Later, First WTC Attack Still Jarring for PA Leaders

Posted on February 23, 2018 by PANYNJ PORTfolio

By Steve Coleman, Media Relations Staff

Twenty-five years after the first major terrorist attack at the World Trade Center site, the horrific memories of that snowy winter day are still vivid to Alan Reiss and Lillian Valenti.

Reiss, employed as the Port Authority’s lead electrical engineer for the World Trade Center towers at the time, was on the B-2 level of 1 World Trade Center at 12:18 p.m. on February 26, 1993 when terrorists detonated a bomb inside a Ryder rental truck parked nearby. Immediately, he saw a big piece of steel fly behind him, but it took a few minutes for him to process the fact that a bomb just exploded.

After first helping Port Authority colleagues and others evacuate the area, Reiss returned to the basement area where the blast occurred and saw complete devastation: cars flipped over, water pipes broken, a huge crater left from the impact. Electrical circuits were arching and a heavy thick black smoke filled the area, migrating upwards into the massive office towers. Six people died in the attack, and more than 1,000 were injured.

“It was like a scene out of Dante’s Inferno,” said Reiss, who became Director of the Port Authority’s World Trade Department in 1998 and today serves as the agency’s Director of World Trade Center Construction.

Valenti, currently the agency’s Chief Procurement Officer, was a Senior Human Resources Specialist and on the 61st floor of 1 World Trade Center that day. She and her colleagues had no idea what happened, but thought initially it was caused by a Con Ed transformer. Soon realizing it was a more serious event, she moved quickly to begin evacuations, paying particular attention to the disabled, those suffering from asthma or women who were pregnant. A triage center was established on the 43th floor, and groups were sent down the stairwells to safety up until 6:10 p.m.

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Alan Reiss and Lillian Valenti

This Monday, Reiss and Valenti will attend their 25th Memorial Mass at St. Peter’s Church near the WTC, along with colleagues and the families of the victims. The annual commemoration event helps keep the memories of that day, and the efforts to restore the towers to normal operation, fresh in both of their minds

“It was a herculean effort to get the towers reopened,” Valenti recalled. “Every step of the way, we never lost sight of those who lost their lives, and they were the source of our energy and resilience.”

Hours after the 1993 attack, when the incident scene stabilized, Reiss was finally able to call home and speak to his wife and son. During that conversation, he told them: “You won’t see me for a couple of months because I have to rebuild this place.” His words turned out to be prophetic. Valenti also called her husband that night from a hospital, where she had accompanied a pregnant staff member, to say she was fine.

“There was a building and people who needed my help and I probably would need to be at my ‘home away from home’ for some time,” she said.

The devastation from the WTC bombing
The devastation from the WTC bombing

In the weeks and months that followed, Reiss spent many sleepless nights restoring key electrical and HVAC systems to the towers and shoring up the building structure where the bomb had exploded. “This was my home, my building,” he said. “We were ready to do whatever had to be done to get it back opened.”During that same time, Valenti organized a staffing operation on the first floor of what was then the Alexander’s Department Store space to accommodate displaced agency staff and third-party vendors. It was a 24/7 operation to deploy field, operations and management staff in an organized manner. On March 19, 1993, the first tenant – New York Gov. Mario Cuomo – moved back into the towers. In the following months, all but one tenant, a law firm, returned to the towers.

All these years later, Reiss believes that day changed the way Americans looked at terrorism. “Before this attack, I don’t think this country ever thought about this type of terrorist attack before,” he said.

 

Posted in 1993 World Trade Center Bombing, Uncategorized, World Trade Center | Comments Off on A Quarter Century Later, First WTC Attack Still Jarring for PA Leaders

Love and the Oculus: A Perfect Match

Posted on February 14, 2018 by PANYNJ PORTfolio

By Joseph Iorio, Media Relations Staff

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Bustling with pedestrians, the World Trade Center Transportation Hub, better known as the Oculus, welcomes millions of tourists and daily commuters each year.

In 2016, when the Oculus fully opened to the public, its architect, Santiago Calatrava, envisioned it as a piazza for Lower Manhattan, similar to the large and unrestricted gathering places seen throughout Europe. Today, visitors pass through the white, marble-laid network of underground passageways to shop, dine, meet friends or just marvel at an architectural masterpiece.

In honor of Valentine’s Day, Portfolio today focuses on a different trend at the Oculus: wedding pictures.

Over the past year, an increasing number of couples have selected the Oculus as the memorable centerpiece and backdrop for their wedding photos. It may seem unusual, and such events are still rare, but the “simplicity, modernity and neutral colors of the design make for the perfect setting,” says Nora Bourabah, an aspiring architect and bride-to-be who’s scheduled to have her pictures taken in the Oculus this May.

Nora

It’s a classic New York love story: Nora from Brooklyn, her fiancé Chris from Queens, meeting in Manhattan (the couple now lives in Astoria). They chose the Oculus because of its aesthetic appeal, but also because they met nearby at a place Nora worked as a waitress — though, as an architectural consultant, the building’s design has much more personal and expressive meaning to Nora.

“The Oculus expresses unity and hope. Everything about the Oculus is about bringing people together,” she said. “To us, it’s about growth and change and a testament to the spectacular, awe-inspiring things we are capable of,” she said. The couple’s actual marriage is scheduled for the View of the World Terrace Club near the WTC, the place where they met nearly seven years ago.

0022As planning is key to any aspect of the marriage ceremony, one last bit of pre-wedding Oculus photo advice for the betrothed: You need a permit from World Trade Center operations, which is lovingly offered through the Port Authority’s website (www.panynj.gov).

Posted in Oculus, The Oculus, Uncategorized, World Trade Center, World Trade Center Transportation Oculus | Comments Off on Love and the Oculus: A Perfect Match