Gala Tributes – At the Building Congress 80th Anniversary Leadership Awards Luncheon in May more than 1,000 industry leaders and prominent New York City officials saluted New York State Comptroller H. Carl McCall and Chairman and CEO of The Related Companies, Inc., Stephen M. Ross. The event also included special recognition of the Capital Campaign for the Center for Architecture and the campaign’s Co-Chairs Walter Hunt, Managing Principal at Gensler New York and Eugene A. Kohn, a founder and Principal of Kohn Pederson Fox.

In October, the Building Congress Industry Recognition Dinner became a Remembrance and Recognition event in honor of the police, fire, emergency and construction workers who gave their lives helping other New Yorkers after the terrorist attack on the World Trade Center on September 11. See pages 8 and 9 for coverage of this important event.

Forums –The Building Congress Construction Industry Forum series, co-sponsored by New York Construction News, continued in 2001 with many important public officials featured at the events including: Senator Charles E. Schumer; Mayoral candidate Michael R. Bloomberg; MTA Chairman Peter Kalikow; Commissioner of the New York City DOT Iris Weinshall; Senator Hillary Rodham Clinton; Port Authority of New York and New Jersey Chairman Lewis Eisenberg; City Comptroller candidates William Thompson and Herb Berman; and Chairman of the Empire State Development Corporation Charles A. Gargano.

Other 2001 Building Congress Events – included the Annual Golf & Tennis Outing held in July at Tamarack Country Club in Greenwich, Connecticut, and the annual Membership Appreciation Reception held in November at the magnificent, newly- reconstructed and renovated Central Synagogue in Manhattan.