martin robins to speak at hale series

Martin Robins to
Speak Sept. 11 at Westfield Library

Westfield resident Martin E.
Robins, director emeritus of the Alan Voorhees Transportation Center at Rutgers
University, will discuss “New York Direct” in the third talk of the 2013 series
of the Anne and Lee Hale Speaker Series.

            Robins’
speech is scheduled for Wednesday, Sept. 11, at 7 p.m. at Westfield Memorial
Library.

            As Union
County’s representative on the board of trustees of the Raritan Valley Rail
Coalition, Robins is involved in the campaign to ensure that NJ Transit deploy
new dual-powered locomotives on the Raritan Valley Line to provide a one-seat
ride to Penn Station in New York.  

            Robins, a
graduate of Princeton University and Harvard Law School, founded the Voorhees
Center’s predecessor organization, the Transportation Policy institute, in
1998. At Rutgers he wrote a number of reports and studies on transportation
finance, pedestrian safety, organization of intercity rail, etc.

            From
1994  to 1998, Robins was project
director of access to the Region’s Core that examined the need for a new trans-Hudson
passenger rail tunnel. His previous posts included service as director of NJ
Transit’s Waterfront Transportation office, director of planning and
development for the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey, and deputy
executive director of NJ Transit.

A Westfield resident since 1967,
Robins is past chairman of the town’s Planning Board.  

The Speaker Series, now in its
sixth year, is named in honor of Anne Hale, an active community member who died
in 2007, and her husband, Lee, the Series founder who passed away earlier this
year. Funding comes from the Thomas Glasser Foundation and the Lee and Anne
Hale Fund. The series is hosted by the Friends of Westfield Memorial Library.

Previous speakers in the 2013
series included Dave Brown, ex-quarterback for the New York Giants, and Dr.
Margaret McMenamin, Union County College president. Band leader David Aaron
will wind up the series with a talk on Nov. 6.

The Robins talk is open to the
public but pre-registration is required by calling the library at 908-789-4090
ext. 0 or by registering online at wmlnj. (click on Online Calendar).