The Triangle

Issue date: 2/15/08 Section: News

Media Credit: Ali Qari Gov. Ed Rendell delivered a speech on an economic plan for the state and a specific plan to aide Drexel expansion in Behrakis Grand Hall.

Pennsylvania Governor Ed Rendell came to Drexel's campus Feb. 11 to deliver a speech on a $2.3 billion statewide economic stimulus plan. Rendell also discussed a specific plan to aide Drexel expansion.

"If the legislature adopts the plan I proposed, we will have the funding for a 150,000-square-foot, state-of-the-art biomedical research facility at the medical school here at Drexel," Rendell said during a news conference at in Behrakis Grand Hall.

Rendell said that building would be funded through the passing of the Jonas Salk Legacy Fund.

"We have set our sights on being a national leader in new knowledge creation,"

Drexel's Executive Vice President and Chief of Staff Tobey Oxholm said.

"To keep us at the forefront, it is obvious to everyone that we need state of the art research facilities," he said.

Drexel is also planning the construction of an "Integrated Science Building" on the northeast corner of 33rd and Chestnut Street. Ground breaking is scheduled for this year. According to Oxholm, Drexel is slated to spend over $300 million on new construction over the next five years.

Rendell's economic stimulus plan, called "Protecting our Progress" is focused on tax breaks for low-income families to alleviate the burden of higher energy prices, the creation of public construction projects to improve the state's infrastructure, and to stimulate business expansion and job creation.

Rendell described his proposed budget as "not make-work" but "things that have to be done for public safety."

That includes repairing roughly 6,000 bridges the state has declared deficient, along with other projects.

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