AirTrain is unnecessary spending

From the Village Voice:

At last week’s board meeting, the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey unveiled its latest $32 billion, 10-year spending blueprint — a document carefully calibrated not to consider the region’s need for new infrastructure, but to appease governors on both sides of the Hudson.

The governors, of course, appoint the Port’s commissioners and, bridge scandals notwithstanding, continue to pull the strings at the authority. Unfortunately, using the Port Authority to dole out money to gubernatorial pet projects does nothing to help commuters stuck with a dysfunctional regional transportation system.

Two big examples show how the latest Christie-Cuomo spending plan got it all wrong.

First up: dubious airport rail projects favored by both governors are getting funded in a suspicious quid pro quo. Nearly $1.5 billion would go to Governor Andrew Cuomo’s LaGuardia-Willets Point AirTrain, which transit experts say will actually take longer than existing bus service.

Bill's new definition of "progressive"

From the NY Post:

Either Mayor de Blasio thinks Republicans are progressives — or he’s one lousy liar.

To answer charges he was selling City Hall access (at least) for donations to his shady Campaign for One New York, de Blasio said on NY1 last month, “We sought donations from people who had historically given to . . . progressive causes.”

Oops: Turns out, “more than a dozen” CONY givers had funneled hefty sums to conservative groups and candidates, like Donald Trump and Chris Christie, Politico New York reported Tuesday.

Stanley Chera’s real-estate firm, Crown Acquisitions, forked over $20,000 to CONY in 2015. Yet Chera also gave $30,000 to super PACs backing Christie and $50,000 to Donald Trump and the Republican National Committee. Chera’s now on Trump’s transition team. Is he a “progressive”?

Developer George Klein sent $50,000 to CONY. Yet he also pumped $216,600 to the RNC and $125,000 to a group backing Jeb Bush — who bashed de Blasio’s pre-K expansion, the original raison d’être for CONY.

Businessman John Catsimatidis ponied up $20,000 for CONY — the year after running for mayor in the GOP primary.

Cost overruns at WTC

From NY1:

Costs for the new World Trade Center have skyrocketed.

An audit from Navigant Consulting found the project is now estimated to cost nearly $15 billion.

That's 35 percent more than the $11 billion estimate in 2008.

Governor Andrew Cuomo and New Jersey Governor Chris Christie ordered the review after the Port Authority voted to raise bridge and tunnel tolls in August.

The Port Authority owns the World Trade Center site.

The auditors called the Port Authority “a challenged and dysfunctional organization suffering from a lack of consistent leadership."

The agency said it's taking steps to bring costs under control.

There have been several problems with rebuilding the World Trade Center site, including design mistakes and delays for the opening of the September 11th museum.

Different state, same old story

From the NY Times:

As the train crosses the Hackensack River, to the left lies what was supposed to be the EnCap project. Once frequent headline news, to judge by the game-day passengers, it has largely vanished from public memory.

This was to be one of the largest developments in the state’s history, entrusted by state and local governments to developers who had little track record and shaky financing. EnCap Holdings was supposed to turn 800 derelict acres, including several old dumps, into a resort and thousands of homes.

None of it happened. Instead, the developers made a series of missteps, ran out of money and, in 2008, filed for bankruptcy. All that remain are lawsuits, investigations and questions about where the money went and who will do the needed cleanup. State and local bodies sank hundreds of millions of dollars into the project; much has been repaid, but officials say some of it never will be.

Xanadu, now just called The Meadowlands, is the largest retail and entertainment complex in the country. After more than $2 billion spent, it is years behind schedule, and the owners say they need $875 million to complete it. It sits on state-owned land; the state has paid for transportation improvements to reach it; and Gov. Chris Christie wants the state to invest money to help finish it.

Sounds kind of like this:

Keep in mind here that Willets Point envisions 5,500 condos but, much as New London, in overly optimistic fashion, envisioned a mixed use development anchored by Pfizer, there are few guarantees that-after billions are spent-there will be a market for these residential units. And there is a real chance that, just like New London, the City of New York will be left holding the billion dollar bag for the cost of a white elephant that trampled on the property rights of little guy land owners.

This kind of cautionary tale is underscored by an article on the floundering Xanadu project in New Jersey in today's NY Times: "It wasn’t a pretty view on the 13-minute train ride Sunday from Secaucus to New Meadowlands Stadium — old landfills, mud flats, the garish bulk of the stalled Xanadu project. But it might as well have been paved with money. The 2.3-mile train line to the Meadowlands, opened last year, offers a unique tour of inflated and deflated dreams, poor decision-making and, most of all, enormous spending — a fair amount of it from taxpayers, and a fair amount that will never be recouped — in the inimitable New Jersey style."

All of this should give NYC officials pause, especially since the Willets Point scheme is being moved forward in a climate of sever fiscal austerity. So, while New Yorkers are being asked to do with less, Mike Bloomberg wants to spend billions on his own legacy project. In our view, the local council member and her colleagues should be calling for a moratorium on any Willets Point related expenses because not a single firehouse should be closed while EDC and the mayor continue to spend money like drunken stockbrokers on a speculative real estate venture.

Talk of nixing commuter tunnel

From NY1:

A proposed rail tunnel under the Hudson River may never see the light of day.

New Jersey governor Chris Christie is expected to scrap the nearly $9 billion tunnel, which would be the most expensive transportation project in the nation.

Christie is meeting with his transit team today to review cost estimates for the project.

He says he will not sign off on New Jersey's $2.7 billion share of the project unless the state has a way to pay for it.

Mayor Michael Bloomberg said New York City cannot afford to pitch in.

"This is not something the city can put money into. We're building our own subway extension, number 7 [line], because the state didn't give us money," said Bloomberg. "We just don't have -- we need more schools, we have a lot of other capital projects that this city has to do."

Now it's time to once again point out how hypocritical this statement is coming from Bloomberg, who seems to have no problem finding billions in taxpayer money for every unnecessary and unwanted boondoggle imaginable. But infrastructure? Nah...

NJ governor's "no" helps Rockaway

From the Daily News:

Rockaway residents are "breathing a sigh of relief," officials said Tuesday, after a key gatekeeper vowed to veto proposals for liquefied natural gas terminals off the Atlantic coast.

But the companies that want to build the terminals aren't sailing away just yet.

"This community really has a fear of this project. It does not serve a purpose for us or for the city," said Jonathan Gaska, district manager of Community Board 14 in Far Rockaway.

He and other local officials hailed New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie's pledge last week to oppose LNG terminals near the shorelines of New Jersey and New York.

Christie, who along with Gov. Paterson, has veto power over such projects, said LNG terminals "are not the answer for New Jersey's needs."

"I remain unconvinced of the need and efficacy of these facilities, or their ability to lower prices," he said.

Christie's pledge renders such projects "dead on arrival," said Rep. Anthony Weiner (D-Queens and Brooklyn).

"Let's not waste our time - pull the plug now," Weiner said.

NJ governor may kill LNG plan for Rockaway

From the Queens Courier:

Plans to build a liquefied natural gas (LNG) terminal on a 60-acre man-made island off the Rockaway shore have run aground, with published reports saying that New Jersey Governor-elect Chris Christie will veto the project.

Safe Harbor Energy, the planned deepwater port island, was proposed to be about 13 miles south of Long Beach, and 19 miles east of Highlands, NJ. Geographically, it would appear to be directly off the Rockaway shore.

The planned island would have a harbor for two LNG tankers, each more than 1,000 feet long, storage tanks to hold more than 19 million cubic feet of gas and pump it to shore through two 36-inch diameter pipelines.

Christie, who defeated incumbent Democrat Jon Corzine in the November elections, has been on record as being against the project, viewing it as a threat to New Jersey’s coastal commercial and sporting economy, according to spokesperson Maria Comella. “The governor-elect’s position on LNGs has not changed,” she said.

The company proposing the facility, Atlantic Sea Island Group, initially tried to eliminate New Jersey from the process, but was overruled by Commissioner Sean Connaughton of the Federal Maritime Commission. New York Governor David Paterson has not revealed his views on the project.

New York’s Department of Environmental Conservation (DEC) had already determined that the proposed port and sub-sea pipeline may result in significant adverse environmental impacts and that compliance with state law requires preparation of an Environmental Impact Statement.