By David Cruz
Correspondent
At a statehouse hearing of the Senate Legislative Oversight Committee this morning, chairman Robert Gordon said before the Port Authority is allowed to get into its list of capital priorities, the agency needs a thorough hosing down.
“It is imperative that we enact Port Authority reform legislation,” said Gordon. “That addresses not only the structural and ethical issues, but also transportation, planning and oversight of the billions of toll dollars and federal and state funds that will finance these projects. Before we fix the tunnels, we have to fix the Port Authority.”
That’s a nut that’s proven hard to crack, as last year’s much-hyped, but ultimately failed New York/New Jersey legislative reform effort showed. Back to square one on that front, New Jersey lawmakers are hoping to cajole the agency into lining up its capital priorities with that of lawmakers. Among the priorities? A new trans-Hudson passenger tunnel, a new Port Authority Bus Terminal and improvements to Laguardia seem to be at the top of the list, with a PATH extension to Newark Airport seeming to lose favor. But Tom Wright of the Regional Plan Association –- a proponent of PATH extension — testified that things are so bad right now, the Port Authority can’t afford to pick and choose.
“People will say the Port Authority Bus Terminal is a higher priority than PATH extension,” noted Wright. “The Bus Terminal will obviously serve a much larger number of people; it also will cost at least 10 times more and take much, much longer to do, and my concern would be that if we were to drop good projects like the PATH extension or other capital investments that need to be made in this region. If we were to sacrifice all of those for the tunnel and the bus terminal we would be holding up our own economic growth. I think we have to do it all.”
The PATH extension has become something of a political football, as some lawmakers consider it more of a wish item, than a priority. Senator Loretta Weinberg says she’s not against the PATH extension, per se, but questions how it got to the top of the agency’s agenda.
“I’d like to know, with our six New Jersey commissioners – or the four that are still there – how [PATH extension] got to be priority number one, whereas the bus terminal was never even mentioned,” asked Weinberg.
Bottom line, says Senate minority leader Tom Kean, Jr. is that priority lists aren’t worth the paper they’re written on if the Port Authority doesn’t see some serious reform.
“It has taken too long,” said Kean. “Taxpayers and commuters need certainty and we should move with speed and alacrity to get this hybrid legislation done because taxpayers and commuters need that certainty, need the transparency.”
To that end, the committee will hold two public sessions next month, in the evening, in Hudson and Bergen counties and also expect to hear testimony from Executive Director Pat Foye and chairman John Degnan. Those dates? Yet to be scheduled.