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Beam-signing celebration marks milestone at new $20M Vineland police station
City and CCIA officials celebrate installation of the last steel beam at the East Plum Street police headquarters.
Beam-signing celebration marks milestone at new $20M Vineland police station City and CCIA officials celebrate installation of the last steel beam at the East Plum Street police headquarters. Check out this story on thedailyjournal.com: https://vineland.dj/2CNsb20
Deborah M. Marko, Vineland Daily Journal Published 4:58 p.m. ET Sept. 12, 2018 | Updated 5:03 p.m. ET Sept. 12, 2018
From left to right, Vineland Police Chief Rudy Beu, Vineland Mayor Anthony R. Fanucci and Vineland Public Safety Director Edwin Alicea prepare to sign a beam during the "topping Off" ceremony for the new $20 million police headquarters on Wednesday, September 12.(Photo: Adam Monacelli/Staff Photographer)Buy Photo
VINELAND – The steel beam topping the city's $20 million police station is going up on time no matter the weather.
The 66,000-square-foot facility is funded through a ground-breaking financial agreement between the city and Cumberland County Improvement Authority, who joined forces on Wednesday for a beam-signing ceremony.
Dignitaries huddled shoulder-to-shoulder under a small tent while a torrential downpour pounded the 3.6-acre East Plum Street construction site. Mayor Anthony Fanucci brushed off any suggestion of rescheduling.
PHOTOS: Beam signing ceremony at site of new Vineland police station
Vineland Police Chief Rudy Beu signs a beam during the "topping Off" ceremony for the new $20 million police headquarters in Vineland on Wednesday, September 12. Adam Monacelli/Staff Photographer
Cumberland County Freeholder Joe Derella signs a beam during the "topping Off" ceremony for the new $20 million police headquarters on Wednesday, September 12. Adam Monacelli/Staff Photographer,
From left to right, Vineland Police Chief Rudy Beu, Vineland Mayor Anthony R. Fanucci and Vineland Public Safety Director Edwin Alicea prepare to sign a beam during the "topping Off" ceremony for the new $20 million police headquarters on Wednesday, September 12. Adam Monacelli/Staff Photographer
Cumberland County Freeholder Joe Derella speaks at a "topping Off" ceremony for the new $20 million police headquarters in Vineland on Wednesday, September 12. Adam Monacelli/Staff Photographer
County and state officials signed a beam during the "topping Off" ceremony for the new $20 million police headquarters in Vineland on Wednesday, September 12. Adam Monacelli/Staff Photographer
"If our friends in labor continue with construction in all kinds of conditions … we, at least, have umbrellas and a tent to be out here to work this out today," Fanucci said. "Contractors have worked their rear ends off on a regular basis to meet our timeline, to meet our budget and work in these conditions to make it happen."
But pressing on did pose some challenges as the CCIA CEO Gerald Velazquez learned when stepping up to the microphone.
"I wouldn't turn that on," Fanucci quipped, nodding to speaker wires submerged in run-off water.
The police headquarters project is on schedule for a May 2019 debut, Velazquez said.
"We are working hard to get there, obviously the rain has been a mess for us," he said. "We've had probably two year's worth of rain in the last six months."
The structural steel should be in place and second floor poured within the next three weeks, Velazquez said.
County and state officials signed a beam during the "topping Off" ceremony for the new $20 million police headquarters in Vineland on Wednesday, September 12. (Photo: Adam Monacelli/Staff Photographer)
Cumberland County Freeholder Director Joe Derella touted the project's unique partnership.
The CCIA issued bonds on behalf of the City of Vineland to finance the police station. The city will lease the building from the improvement authority. At the end of the lease, the CCIA will transfer the title to the city of $1.
"We have to put down the territorial borders that we're used to having here in Cumberland County," Derella said. "This is one fine example of how we all came together to make an important project happen."
Cumberland County Freeholder Joe Derella speaks at a "topping Off" ceremony for the new $20 million police headquarters in Vineland on Wednesday, September 12. (Photo: Adam Monacelli/Staff Photographer)
From the current police station, Police Chief Rudy Beu said he watches his department's new headquarters rise across the street.
"We worked very closely with the police department to make sure that we put as much as we can into the building and to make sure at the end of the day the building will be operational 30, 40, 50 years down the road," Velazquez said.
At times, Beu said, he still can't believe the long-anticipated project is becoming a reality but "there's the beam."
Holding up a roll of paper towels and box of markers, Velazquez shouted "Wipe and sign."
Beu led the way, stepping out into the rain to add his name and the date in the center of the 30-foot beam.
"I can't thank you enough," he said to those responsible.
The new police station will have a larger area for the department's investigation teams and more locker room space, which the chief said is needed to accommodate the department's increasing number of female officers.
From left to right, Vineland Police Chief Rudy Beu, Vineland Mayor Anthony R. Fanucci and Vineland Public Safety Director Edwin Alicea prepare to sign a beam during the "topping Off" ceremony for the new $20 million police headquarters on Wednesday, September 12. (Photo: Adam Monacelli/Staff Photographer)
Beu said his department is looking forward to having the basics — heating and air conditioning, which the aging South Sixth Street building lacks. The department uses portable air conditioners and plug-in heaters.
"Everything else is a plus," the chief said.
Deborah M. Marko: 856-563-5256; dmarko@gannettnj.com: Twitter: @dmarko_dj
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Allenby Bridge crossing to operate 24 hours a day, 5 days a week
June 10, 2017 8:46 P.M. (Updated: June 12, 2017 6:06 P.M.)
RAMALLAH (Ma'an) -- The Israeli-controlled Allenby Bridge border crossing between the occupied West Bank and Jordan is set to be opened 24 hours, five days a week starting June 20, the Karama International Campaign for the Movement of Palestinians said Saturday, corroborating earlier reports of the planned measure.
In response to a request for comment, a spokesperson for COGAT, the Israeli agency responsible for implementing Israeli policies in the occupied Palestinian territory, confirmed that between June 20 and Sept. 10, the crossing would be open 24 hours Sunday through Thursday, and that on Friday and Saturday it would be open until 5 p.m.
"The decision is intended to be permanent and will serve the residents during the summer months during which there is a rise in the number of crossings," they said, adding that the "relevant officials on both sides of the crossing are prepared and ready for the changes and expected amount of crossings.
The border crossing, known as the al-Karama crossing in Arabic, serves hundreds of Palestinians daily, as Palestinians living in the occupied territory are unable to use Tel Aviv's Ben Gurion Airport -- with the exception of a few special permit holders -- and therefore must cross through the Allenby Bridge to access the Amman airport in order to travel abroad.
Representative of the Karama campaign Talaat Elwi lauded the achievement as the result of "major" efforts undertaken by the Palestinian Authority's borders and crossings department, the Palestinian prime minister, and other members of the Palestinian political echelon toward improving travel procedures, "after decades of complicated bureaucratic procedures" at the notoriously crowded and severely restricted border crossing.
Elwi told Ma'an, after a meeting with Nathmi Muhanna, the director of the borders and crossings department, that public pressure exerted by the Karama ("dignity" in Arabic) campaign has yielded the highest levels of local and international success since its inception, in an attempt to ease restrictions imposed on Palestinian travel between Jordan and the West Bank.
According to Elwi, Muhanna said in their meeting that under the new schedule, on Friday the crossing will operate until 10:30 a.m, and on Saturday until 12:30 p.m. -- contrary to COGAT's statement.
Elwi also said that the crossing would continue with this schedule "at least" until Sept. 10, highlighting that June, July, and August were the busiest time of the year at Allenby, because of the summer holiday, Muslim pilgrimage season, and religious holidays.
The Palestinian Minister of Civil Affairs Hussein al-Sheikh had previously claimed that starting in 2018, the 24 hours a day, five days a week schedule would be implemented permanently.
COGAT said that the measure was among the "civil steps" taken by Israeli to "promote the Palestinian economy and for the benefit of the Palestinian residents" in the occupied West Bank.
Other such steps recently announced included the "expansion of the crossing work hours in Judea and Samaria (West Bank) and upgrading them," the establishment of an "industrial zone" near the Tarqumiyah crossing in the West Bank district of Hebron, and reforms concerning "Israeli enforcement policies" in Area C -- the more than 60 percent of the West Bank under full Israeli military control -- would be "adjusted."
Palestinians have long demanded better conditions at the Allenby Bridge crossing, marked by hours-long wait times, often in buses with no access to food, water or washrooms, with passengers forbidden to leave their bus.
In order to make the crossing, Palestinians wait at the Palestinian Authority station for a bus to fill up to take them to the bridge. Once at the crossing, passengers disembark, go through metal detectors, and then board an Israeli bus to take them the rest of the way to the Israeli crossing point.
Passengers disembark a second time, check their bags, have their belongings and passports checked by Israeli border guards. Many are interrogated. Passengers then have to pick up their bags, carry them to a third bus that will take them to the Jordanian side of the crossing.
Passengers get off the third bus, have their passports checked, while some are interrogated by the Jordanian border guards, pick up their luggage and exit the crossing point in Jordan. The process lasts between four and 12 hours.

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaCommonCrawl


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