American Engineering Alliance

August 6, 2007

PRESS RELEASE

OUR CRUMBLING INFRASTRUCTURE

The recent catastrophic collapse of the Minneapolis bridge and the steampipe explosion in mid-town Manhattan highlight the urgent need to address the nation’s crumbling infrastructure. Given the recent American Society of Civil Engineers (ASCE) failing report card of the nation’s infrastructure, it is imperative that Federal, State and City governments tackle this looming crisis in an aggressive and comprehensive way.
The American Engineering Alliance (AEA), a national Engineering organization founded in1995 and representing Engineers from all Engineering disciplines and employment venues, is committed to elevating the role Engineers play in public life while promoting and protecting public health and safety.
AEA has consistently advocated for the competent management of the nation’s infrastructure assets by licensed technical professionals, namely Professional Engineers (PE’S) and Registered Architects (RA’s). AEA has spoken out against the ominous trend by government entities, at City, State and Federal level, of placing non-Engineering managers to oversee technical projects. Invariably non-Engineering managers stifle, intimidate or over-rule good Engineering judgment of the technical professionals they manage resulting in bad decisions and, sometimes, catastrophic and deadly results.
To reverse this ominous and dangerous trend, AEA, along with its sister Engineering and Architectural Societies, recently introduced legislation in NY City Council calling for the creation of an office for the management of the City’s public and private infrastructure. This legislation ( Resolution 195-2006 ) is sponsored by Councilmember Hiram Monserrate.
We hope that the recent tragic events will galvanize the public, as well as its elected officials, to quickly address the looming infrastructure crisis with both money and competent technical expertise free from political interference. Only by engaging the Engineering and Architectural Community, as well as other stakeholders, can we begin to solve this grave crisis.
We urge the Mayor to take the first step in addressing this vital issue by embracing the recommendations of Resolution 195-2006. we, in the Engineering and Architectural Community, firmly believe that the time is now for the City to have a Deputy Mayor for Infrastructure. We hope the Mayor, an Engineer himself and a visionary, sees the wisdom of this Resolution.

Contacts:      American Engineering Alliance:              www.aeaworld.org
Louis R. Comunelli, P.E., Secretary: comunellil@verizon.net
                        917-681-1177