8/14/2019 US Army: summer04 http://slidepdf.com/reader/full/us-army-summer04 1/12 The New York District Times Summer 2004 Vol. 29, No. 2 U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, New York District 9-11-01 In honor of lives lost Col. Richard J. Polo Jr. assumed command of New York District June 3 at a ceremony held at the U.S. Custom House in Manhattan. Polo relieved Col. John B. O’Dowd, who had served as District Engi- neer since July 2001. O’Dowd became the Commander of the Corps’ Afghanistan District. Polo is not new to the Corps or to New York. He was formerly district engineer of the Detroit District and resided in Queens in his early years. A reception preceded the ceremony in which distinguished visi- tors, employees, family and friends had the opportunity to meet and welcome the new commander and his family. Brig. Gen. Bo Temple, North Atlantic Division Commander and Stu Piken, Director of PPMD participated in the traditional passing of the Corps colors that trans- ferred command to Polo from O’Dowd. Polo also holds the title of Supervisor of New York Harbor Polo brings many years of experience to New York District. His complete biography was published in the last issue of the District Times. His extensive military career includes dis- trict engineer and executive officer to the Assistant Secretary of the Army for Civil Works. He was a project officer in the Emergency Recovery Office in Kuwait during Operation Desert Storm and was engineer brigade operations officer in Bosnia during Task Force Eagle, Op eration Joint Endeavor. Lt. Gen. Carl A. Strock took com- mand of the U.S. Army Corps of Engi- neers July 1 at Fort Myer, Va. He is the 51 st Chief of Engi- neers. As Chief of Engineers he leads the world’s larg- est public engineering agency with 35,000 employees. Strock replaced Lt. Gen. Robert B. Flowers who retired after 35 years of Army service. Flowers was the Chief of Engineers from Oct. 2000 to July 1, 2004. Lt. Gen. Carl A. Strock 51st Chief of Engineers Col. Richard J. Polo Jr. takes command of New York District at the change of com- mand ceremony June 3, 2004. Col. Polo becomes 48th District Engineer Strock takes command of Corps “General Flowers is a leader, and a warrior, and we are thankful for his dedicated service,” said Gen Peter J. Schoomaker, Army Chief of Staff at the change of command ceremony. Strock has served the Army 33 years. His pre- vious assignment w as the Director of Civil Works, and Director of Military Programs, U.S. Army Corps of En- gineers. He also served as Deputy Director of Opera- tions for the Coalition Provisional Authority, Operation Iraqi Freedom. Strock held the rank of major general when he assumed command of the Corps and was promoted to lieutenant general Aug. 6.
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District TimesSummer 2004 Vol. 29, No. 2 U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, New York District
9-11-01
In honor of lives lost
Col. Richard J. Polo Jr. assumed comm and of New York DistrictJune 3 at a ceremony held at the U.S. Custom House in Manhattan.Polo relieved Col. John B. O’Dowd, who had served as District Engi-neer since July 2001. O’Dowd became the Commander of the Corps’Afghanistan District.
Polo is not new to the Corp s or to New York. He w as formerly
district engineer of the Detroit District and resided in Queens in hisearly years.
A reception preceded th e ceremony in which distinguished visi-tors, emp loyees, family and friends had the opp ortun ity to meet andwelcome the new command er and his fam ily. Brig. Gen. Bo Temp le,North Atlantic Division Com mander and Stu Piken, Director of PPMDparticipated in the trad itional passing of the Corps colors that trans-ferred comm and to Polo from O’Dowd . Polo also holds the title of Sup ervisor of New York H arbor
Polo brings man y years of exper ience to New York District. Hiscomplete biography was published inthe last issue of the District Times. His
extensive military career includes dis-trict engineer an d executive officer tothe Assistant Secretary of the Army for Civil Works. He w as a p roject officer inthe Emergency Recovery Office in Kuw ait du ring Op eration Desert Storm andwas engineer br igade operations officer in Bosnia dur ing Task Force Eagle, Operation Joint End eavor.
Lt. Gen. Carl A.Strock took com-
mand of the U.S.Army Corps of Engi-neers July 1 at FortMyer, Va. He is the51st Chief of Engi-
neers. As Chief of Engineer s he leads the world’s larg-est pu blic engineer ing agency with 35,000 employees.
Strock replaced Lt. Gen. Robert B. Flowers whoretired after 35 years of Arm y service. Flowers was theChief of Engineer s from Oct. 2000 to July 1, 2004.
Lt. Gen. Carl A. Strock
51st Chief of Engineers
Col. Richard J. Polo Jr. takes commandof New York District at the change of com-
mand ceremony June 3, 2004.
Col. Polo becomes 48th District Engineer
Strock takes command of Corps“General Flowers is a leader, and a warrior, and
we a re thankful for his ded icated service,” said Gen
Peter J. Schoomaker, Arm y Ch ief of Staff at the changeof comm and ceremony.
Strock has served th e Army 33 years. His pre-vious assignm ent w as the Director of Civil Works, andDirector of Military Program s, U.S. Army Corps of En-gineers. He also served as Deputy Director of Opera-t ions for the Coal i t ion Provis ional Authori ty ,Operation Iraqi Freedom .
Strock held the r ank of major general when h eassum ed command of the Corps and w as promotedto lieutenan t general Aug. 6.
- Authorization: The New YorkDistrict Times is an authorizedunofficial newsletter of the NewYork District. It is published inaccordance with provisions ofArmy Regulation 360-1.
- Circulation: 1500 copies perissue in print and available onthe world wide web.www.nan.usace.army.mil
- Submission: News, features,photos and art are solicited.Direct queries to: Editor, PublicAffairs Office, U.S. Army Corpsof Engineers, New York District,26 Federal Plaza, Room 2113,New York, NY 10278-0090.
- Contents: Views and opinionsexpressed herein are not
necessarily those of theDepartment of the Army or thiscommand. All photos, unlessotherwise credited, are officialU.S. Army photos.
US Army Corps
New York District
®
Summer 2004
Almost two year s ago, when Brig.
Gen. ‘Bo’ Temple assumed Command of
the N orth Atlantic Division, he shared his
Comm and Philosophy. Since then , major
changes have taken place in the Corps, in-
cluding adoption of the Project Manage-
ment Business Process and the USACE
2012 restructuring of the Corps.
Brig. Gen. Temp le was asked if his
philosophy had changed since then. With no hesitation, the Comm and er said: “That
philosophy remains the same today and is based on the same basic principles.”
He w as asked to talk abou t how USACE 2012 is changing the Division. Gen.
Temple discussed his commitment to team work, calling it the key to ou r success and
our future. “I know w hy we are being a very large team of teams throughout the
Corps. “Working together, we can meet our custom er ’s needs for safety, quality plan -
ning, engineering, construction and project services and operation.”
Brig. Gen. Temple said he is firmly committed to the Corps’ three Strategic
goals: People, Process and Communication within the context of the USACE 2012
concept. While these are relatively new term s, he mused, these have been central tohis own m anagement app roaches for over 20 years:
- People. Our Division “Team of Teams” is mad e up of over 3.600 civilians and
members of the military. We mu st continue to respect each other as experts in ou r
own right and take care of each other as mem bers of our Division family. No one is
superior to others. Everyone needs to mentor new members as they join our Division
team.
- Process. We are here to deliver high qu ality p rodu cts and services safely to
the American p eople and our n ation’s military. We are expected to u se our knowl-
edge, skills and insights every single day.
- Communication. This is the glue that h olds u s all together. Every project hasthree elements: the customer, contractor/ executor and the contract m anagement
agency (Corps of Engineers). Without good communications, we cannot work to-
gether as a team to successfully deliver quality work.
Temple was asked about how he d eals with difficult problems and offered an
insight into the way he w orks. “Please don’t surp rise me with bad new s. It does not
get better w ith age and I never ‘shoot the messenger.’ So if you h ave something ‘hot’
please call or come see me. Putting it on em ail alone may not be good enough .”
Temple discussed his frequent travels through-out the N orth Atlantic Division’s Districts, projects andfield offices, saying he makes a habit of sharing knowl-edge. “I always share w hat I learn. Many years ago, I
found that sharing knowledge with others is centralto an organization’s success. The Corps is a LearningOrganization and we m ust share ou r collective expe-riences with each other. Whenever you learn some-thing new, ask yourself three qu estions:
1) What h ave I just learn ed (think)?
2) Who else needs to know (share)?
3) What action is now requ ired of me (act)?
If you do this, you will be a positive contributor toour learning organization.”
Years ago, Brig. Gen. Temp le learned that anorganization’s success is based on individual contri-butions. “Everyone should come to work preparedto do you r best - every day - by being ready m entally,
ph ysically and spiritually. It sets the tone for you andyour team. Others w ill notice your extra effort toward
preparedness and this type of attitude is contagious.
Everyone needs to set an example and be a positive
role model for all team members and for the publicwe serve.”
Brig. Gen. Temple paused, then firmly said:“Integrity is the bed rock of how we op erate. Withoutintegrity, we lose trust… and without trust there is no
teamw ork, leading u ltimately to total m ission failure.I am firmly committed to taking care of the Corps’greatest asset-our p eople. All of us must treat every-
one with d ignity and respect. Team leaders and man-agers mu st encourage all to share and learn from eachother.”
The Comm and er was asked to talk about rela-tionships as the USACE 2012 organization is takingshape. He said, “Stovepipes are gone, but the prin-ciples of hu man relations remain the same. Treat eachother w ith d ignity and respect. Tolerate nothing lessfrom yourself or others. Learn, share and grow to-
gether a s positive mem bers of our Division team . Be agood role model as we raise the next generation ofleaders. Our hope is that they are better than we areThrough teamw ork we can ensure that the total orga-nization learns and improves.” Gen. Temple add ed,
“This is what I do every single day an d m y expecta-tions of team are exactly the same expectations I haveset for m yself.”
“Finally, never forget to have fun,” Gen.Temp le mu sed. “Enjoy family, colleagues, and your-self. I take the mission and organizat ion seriously, bu tI do not take myself too seriously. Learning and im-proving are fun and challenging. I look forward to
seeing you in my travels throughout the Division.Essayons!”
Temple discussed the Division’s very large,complex and diverse program, saying, “It all boilsdow n to three things. “Everything we do supportsthree areas: our national security, economic security
or our env ironmental quality. Sup port to these threeelements, especially the Global War on Terrorism, isvital to our way of life.”
One week before the statue’s opening, the U.S. Army
Corps of Engineers cut two rows of portholes in the
flame and add ed interior lamps.
Fort Wood was bu ilt in 1806 in the shap e of an 11-poin t
star on Bedloe’s Island wh ich was renamed Liberty Island June 30, 1960. The
fort was named in honor of Army Lt. Col. Eleazer Derby Wood, w ho served withthe Corps of Engineers. Wood entered the U.S. Military Academy, West Point
May 17, 1805 and grad ua ted Oct. 30, 1806. He was comm issioned a second lieu-
tenant in the Corps of Engineers on that d ate.
After grad uation he served as assistant engineer in the con-
struction of the defenses at Governor ’s Island in New York
Harbor, 1807.
Wood d ied in the Batt le of Fort Erie, Sep t. 17, 1814.
SOURCE: USMA and National Park Service
New York District recently completed re-
pairs to the seaw all which surroun ds Liberty Is-
land — the home of the Statue of Liberty nationalmonument.
In June 2003, the National Park Service,
caretaker of Liberty Island, signed an agreement
with New York District to repair the gran ite-faced
concrete seawall, originally built in the early
1800’s. In September 2003 the construction con-
t ract was awarded to Perel lo Inc. of Lake
Hop atcong, N.J., and w ork lasted from April to
June 2004.
“We repaired the seawall on the nor th and
south sides of the NPS shu ttle dock on the south -
east section of the island ,” said Anthony Ciorra,
project manager.
This was accomplished by first hydro-blast-
ing the exposed concrete on the seawall, in areas w here
blocks had dislodged, in order to rem ove algae, moss
and d irt. Then old grout and loose disintegrated con-
crete was removed manually. The disintegrated con-
crete was replaced with Sulphate-Resistant Air
Entrained Concrete, which is resistant to the marine
environment.
The 36 existing large granite
blocks that were dislodged
were cleaned, grouted and
reset back into the w all with mortar.
“In addition, the entire 340 linear feet of the
seawall was cleaned and repointed beyond w here the
actual stones were dislodged and reset,” said Brian
Jackson, project engineer. “The stones that were dis-
lodged an d reset were actually only a small portion of
the entire length of the wall.”
“There is an ad ded motivation for d elivering
a high quality product because we are working on a
national treasure,” add ed Ciorra.
District repairs Liberty Island seawallBy JoAnne Castagna, Ed. D .
Did you know?
Mary Stav ina’s
Tidbits
P h o t o : B r i a n
J a c k s o n
Workers making repairs to the seawall at Liberty Island, home to
As part of the comm and and stra-tegic review of the Corps’ North Atlantic
Division, Maj. Gen. Robert H. Griffin,Dep ut y Chief of Engineers, Brig. Gen.Merd ith W. B. Temple, N orth Atlantic Di-vision Commander and Col. Richard J.Polo Jr., District Engineer visited two of theNew York District’s superfund projectsJuly 21.
The comm and ers received an over-all Superfund program briefing fromEvangelos Antzou lis, PPMD sup erfund
program team leader and an overview of the environmental residency workload byEugene R. Urban ik, P.E., P.P., residen t engineer.
They were briefed on past and current accom-
plishments in the sup erfund arena through out the two-decade par tnership between New York District and theU.S. Environmental Protection Agency Region II.
The joint accomp lishmen ts have included someof the n ation’s largest environmental rem ediation ef-forts. “With a constan tly increasing environmen tal pro-gram, the Environmental Residency has averaged aSup erfund w orkload in Central and N orthern N ew Jer-sey in excess of $60 million per year during the pasttwo years,” said Urbanik.
Rick Alvarez , P.E., Chief of Constru ction, GeraldP. Byrn e, P.E., Depu ty Ch ief of Constru ction and JohnC. Sasson, P.E., Area Engineer also provided input tothe command ers regarding m anagement strategy and
vision leading to p rogram successes.Topics includ ed th e PMBP virtua l team concept
employed on Superfund projects; maximum usage of resources to achieve cost effectiveness; and tools uti-lized to gain customer satisfaction.
The comman ders visited the Ch emical Insecti-cide Corporation Sup erfund site, which is a $50 millionremed iation and restoration p roject of a former insecti-cide m anu facturing site in a commercial and residen -tial area in Ed ison, N.J.
Site visit of the Chemical Insecticide Corporation Superfund site in New
Jersey. (l-r) John Sasson, Chris Nastasi, Maj. Gen. Griffin, Tom Roche, Brig.Gen. Temple, and Gene Urbanik.
A super visitat Superfund
sites
They received a briefing and site tour byproject engineers Thomas P. Roche, P.E. and Chris JNastasi, P.E. and various members of the Conti En-vironmental management team.
Emm et Keven ey, of the U.S. EPA for CIC, alsodiscussed the accomplishments made by the CIC
project delivery team with Gr iffin and Temp le.
Then the commanders visited the federacreosote Sup erfund p roject in Man ville, N.J. A briefing an d site tour was led by N eal F. Kolb, P.E., team
leader w ith assistance from Mand eep Talwar, projectengineer, and Gamal Awad , engineering technicianand members of the Sevenson Environmental Ser-vices, Inc. managem ent team.
Rich Puvogel, of the U.S. EPA provided in-pu t from the customer ’s perspective and Kershu Tan
of CDM provided an overview of A/ E supp ort. JohnS. Frisco, U.S. EPA Superfund director was also inattendan ce and p rovided input regarding the overall Sup erfund p rogram and accomp lishments.
“The federal creosote project is a $175 mil-lion remediation project involving residential andcommercial properties that were constructed on aformer creosote manufacturing faci l i ty ,” said
Urbanik.
Informat ion and phot os courtesy of Eugene Urbanik
The U.S. Arm y Corp s of Engineersand the Port Authority of New York and
New Jersey laun ched a $1.6 billion p rojectto deepen the channels in the Port of NewYork and New Jersey to 50 feet. The event
was held May 28 at the Port AuthorityMarine Terminal, Elizabeth , N .J.
Representatives of the two gov-ernm ent agencies finalized the agreementthat outlined funding commitments anda timeline for the channel-deepeningwork.
The event was witnessed by J.Paul Woodley Jr., Assistant Secretary of the Arm y (Civil Works); New Jersey StateGovern or James E. McGreevey; Lt. Gen.
Carl A. Strock, then Dep uty Chief of En-gineers (Civil Works); RepresentativesJerrold Nadler, Robert Menendez, andRodney Frelinghu ysen, as well as lead-ers from the Port Authori ty and theCorps, including Anthony R. Coscia,Chairman of the Port Author ity.
The project, which will deepen var ious channels throughou t the p ort, will imp rove navigational safety
and allow the p ort to accomm odate the n ext generation of cargo ships that require deep w ater to operate andthat can h and le more than 8,000 truck-size containers. The Port Au thority and the federal governm ent w ill
share the construction cost.
Standing: (l-r) U.S. Representative Rodney Frelinghuysen, Empire State
Development Corporation and Executive Vice President Kevin Corbett,
U.S. Congressman Jerrold Nadler, U.S. Representative Robert Menendez,
Port Authority Deputy Executive Director Art Cifelli, Port Authority Chair-
man Anthony Coscia, Col. John B. O’Dowd, former NY District Com-
mander. seated: Asst. Secretary of the Army (for civil works) John Paul
Woodley Jr., and New Jersey Governor James E. McGreevey.
Event launches project to deepen port channels
Phot
o:PeterShugert
District receives Chiefof Engineers award
By Carolyn Vadino
During th e July 21 Corps comm and ers visit toN.J. Sup erfund sites, an awards p resentation w as heldat the Federal Creosote Sup erfund site.
Maj. Gen. Robert H. Griffin, Deputy Chief oEngineers presented th e N ew York District and theFederal Creosote Project Team with the 2004 Chief oEngineers Hon or Award for the Design an d Environmental Award s category.
(l-r) Maj. Gen. Robert H. Griffin, Deputy Chief of Engineers with
project Team: Eugene Urbanik, Kershu Tan (holding plaque),
Col. Richard J. Polo Jr., District Engineer, Brig. Gen. ‘Bo’
Temple, Commander, North Atlantic Division and Neal Kolb.
lent of David vs. Goliath. Your opp onen t usu ally is bigger,
stronger, faster and has more resources than you cou ld ever
dream of comm and ing. Yet, with a little faith and inn ova-
tion, small business owners are defeating their versions of
the my thical giant every d ay.
The latest example of this is a man named SidRaman, a New Jersey licensed professional engineer who
has over 15 years of experience in the planning, cost esti-
mating, designing and construction of buildings.
Thirteen years ago, Sid’s company, Integrated Con-
struction Enterp rises, was a small trade contractor special-
izing in historic restoration. However, since that time ICE
has un dergone a d ramatic transformation.
This was p rimarily due to Sid’s reliance on the Small
Business Operating Procedures, which emphasized the best
Reaching new heightsBy Kenneth Wells
value and h ighest quality of safety and standa rds for ICE’s
customers.
As a result, ICE has grown large enough to bid on
and man age more than 250 projects with revenue totals over
$130 million. The company is a full service construction
operation involved in design-build, HVAC and construc
tion management projects.
Sid is also very active in the technical side of the
business and as a working principal of ICE, he reviews allbids, participates in construction scheduling and planning
for all of the comp any’s projects. He frequents job sites for
quality control and safety inspections and attends client-
job meetings.
Sid’s approach to doing business was validated in
2003, wh en h e received the SBA New Jersey Minority Smal
Businessperson of the Year Award . The award is based on a
company’s overall financial strength, growth in sales and
profits, growth in num ber of employees and participation
in commu nity and charitable events.
(Above) Soldiers from the 411th
Engineering Brigade New York
Army National Guard and MartyTokos, project engineer, Fort
Drum resident office inside one
of the vehicle maintenance facili-
ties at Fort Drum. The VMF 1 is a
33,000 square foot pre-engi-
neered metal building which in-
cludes 9 vehicle service bays, 88
work bays and 5 administrative
areas in two major buildings.
Earlier this year, staff mem bers from N ewYork District’s Fort Drum resident office met w ithsoldiers of the 411th Engineering Brigad e of the
New York Army National Guard . The soldiershad the opp ortunity to observe ongoing m ilitaryconstruction at three Corps project sites — theHAZMAT, criminal inves-tigation field commandand the aviation brigade
vehicle maintenan ce facili-ties.
“We also sharedwith them our knowledge
and exper iences over -seas,” said Michael Will-iams of the Fort Drumresident office.
Since then, the411th Engineering Brigadehas deployed overseas toprov ide cons t ruc t ionman ag emen t fo r t h e
Army.
District supportsGuard counterpart
Staff members from New York District’s Fort Drum resi-
dent office meeting with soldiers of the 411th Engineer-