JerseyDevil
05-01-2007, 11:13 PM
So New York wants New Jersey to pay even more to their economy. Currently it's the Hudson Rail tunnel which will be used to support New York's businesses while leaving our cities struggling economically or risk becoming mere bedroom communities where people just live.
Now Bloomberg wants to charge people $8 for entering NY from NJ. Here goes more of New Jersey's hard earned money going to the coffers of New York. Also, if this does go through, I see a dim future for our cities around New York. Parking garages will pop up all over the place in New Jersey cities, not to serve the local businesses, but solely as parking spaces for people going to Manhattan. It already costs $6 to take the bridge or tunnel into New York, plus a hell of a lot to park in Manhattan and on top of all that now - New York wants $8 as an entrance fee. :mad:
These are only TWO ways New Jersey is being asked to subsidize New Yorks economy. Have you ever noticed the license plates on the rental cars out of New Jersey's Newark Liberty International Airport? You'd think that since they're in NJ they would have New Jersey plates - right? Well you'd be wrong - they have NY plates and pay New York registration fees.
According to a NJ Parks employee - the merchandise at Liberty State Park is taxed with NY taxes and the money goes to New York - NOT New Jersey.
Why do our politicians keep wanting to subsidize New York while short changing New Jersey? It's no wonder why New York is in the black while New Jersey is awash in red ink. Our politicians don't support our cities, I haven't heard of one New Jersey politician who is against the one way tunnel to New York (by the way - it's called ARC - "Access to the Regions Core", the name says it all) :roll:
This was in the Star Ledger today...
Jersey must dig deeper for Hudson tunnel
BY PHILIP BARBARA
Philip Barbara, a senior editor in Washington for Reuters, writes about New York regional commuter rail issues. He may be reached at phbarbara@aol.com.
NJ Transit’s new trans-Hudson rail tunnel and the Long Island Rail Road’s East Side Access project have long shared a kinship. Both were born conceptually decades ago but got off the drawing board only in the early 1990s. Both will give commuters improved access to Midtown Manhattan, and both will cost more than $7 billion each.
But they’ve developed at different paces. New York flexed its political muscle to obtain federal funds earlier, and last year the LIRR project got a federal funding agreement for $2.7 billion, or about 36 percent of its $7.36 billion cost. That $2.7 billion set a record. New York will pay the rest.
After fits and starts, the new Hudson tunnel, better known as the Access to the Region’s Core project, has picked up unstoppable momentum. Every level of government in both states supports it. Engineering work is on track, the public expressed enthusiasm at just-completed hearings and NJ Transit will confidently seek bids this spring for custom electric-diesel hybrid locomotives that will run through the tunnel.
In a mere 12 months, NJ Transit plans on applying for those all-important federal funds. And yet the faster the ARC advances, the closer it comes to a looming crisis, one only Trenton can meet head on: a funding gap of at least $1 billion, and likely $2 billion, in the state’s share of the project’s cost. Honest discussion of this gap has been done privately, for no one wants to be seen as a killjoy. The Federal Transit Administration requires that all local revenue streams for a project like the ARC be secured before it will even consider an application for funds. The LIRR project obtained the FTA commitment only after New York approved a big transportation bond issue.
How much in federal funds will the Hudson tunnel get? In a recent project status report, NJ Transit said it will seek 48.6 percent of the tunnel’s $7.38 billion cost. But if comparisons with its kin are instructive, the ARC will get a more realistic 35 to 40 percent. In fact, NJ Transit is doing contingency planning for a contribution down to 35 percent. It’s not that federal transit officials in New York are not sympathetic, for they know the tunnel will give 100 more New Jersey towns direct rail service to the city.
But FTA officials in Washington are closer to Capitol Hill, whose occupants clamor for a piece of the funding pie for new projects back home. ‘‘We continue to have very productive discussions with the FTA about progressing this project to a full funding grant agreement,’’ said Richard Sarles, NJ Transit’s executive director.
As of today, the tunnel project has $2.5 billion in funds committed: $2 billion from the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey and $500 million that Gov. Jon Corzine will direct from state coffers. That leaves the state billions of dollars short for this project alone — not to mention how cash-strapped it is for other road and rail initiatives — and therefore it must come up with a funding package. There are few options. Last week, New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg made a splash with his ‘‘congestion pricing’’ transportation plan that theoretically could direct $3.5 billion to the tunnel.
But this is fool’s gold, for it must be approved in Albany. ‘‘That’s a tough sell. Already people are lining up against the plan,’’ said Jeffrey Zupan of the Regional Plan Association. ‘‘To persuade people, Bloomberg will say, ‘You’ll get this, you’ll get that.’ So there’ll be less money for New Jersey.’’ It is also unthinkable that Albany lawmakers would give $7 for every $1 Trenton spends on the project when it is widely perceived as mainly benefiting New Jersey.
The tunnel could receive federal homeland security money to pay for design features required in this age of terrorism, but any such funds would be incremental. And at the Port Authority, officials are already concerned they will be asked to cover the shortfall. So the state must find far more than $500 million.
One way already in the works, Corzine’s plan to sell or lease toll roads or air rights to generate revenues, could help pay for the tunnel, his preferred new project.
But two other ‘‘retail’’ sources have to be strongly considered in any package: a surcharge from a dime to a dollar on anyone crossing the river by any means — buses, cars, ferries and trains. The amount could depend on the mode of travel and the total needed from this revenue stream.
Then there’s the state’s exceedingly low 10.5-a-cent-agallon gas tax. With pump prices jumping around between $2 and $3 a gallon, Trenton legislators should announce they are going to grab a nickel per gallon, do it and then move on. In short order, that nickel will be lost among fluctuating prices.
Barring an economic cataclysm or a major war, the tunnel will be built, with groundbreaking planned for 2009. Its economic and social benefits will radiate throughout NJ Transit’s expanding rail network. The project will be two-thirds subsidized, but in 12 short months, the state has to come up with an airtight plan to pay for its share
I personally hope this tunnel falls apart. Instead of New Jersey spending billions of dollars to take New Jerseyans to their jobs in New York, we can be giving tax incentives so the businesses come to the workers in New JERSEY! If corporations invested in Newark, Jersey City, Bayonne and all of the other northeastern New Jersey cities, we wouldn't need this New York tunnel. :mad:
As I have asked in other threads - when will our politicians start working for New Jersey?
Now Bloomberg wants to charge people $8 for entering NY from NJ. Here goes more of New Jersey's hard earned money going to the coffers of New York. Also, if this does go through, I see a dim future for our cities around New York. Parking garages will pop up all over the place in New Jersey cities, not to serve the local businesses, but solely as parking spaces for people going to Manhattan. It already costs $6 to take the bridge or tunnel into New York, plus a hell of a lot to park in Manhattan and on top of all that now - New York wants $8 as an entrance fee. :mad:
These are only TWO ways New Jersey is being asked to subsidize New Yorks economy. Have you ever noticed the license plates on the rental cars out of New Jersey's Newark Liberty International Airport? You'd think that since they're in NJ they would have New Jersey plates - right? Well you'd be wrong - they have NY plates and pay New York registration fees.
According to a NJ Parks employee - the merchandise at Liberty State Park is taxed with NY taxes and the money goes to New York - NOT New Jersey.
Why do our politicians keep wanting to subsidize New York while short changing New Jersey? It's no wonder why New York is in the black while New Jersey is awash in red ink. Our politicians don't support our cities, I haven't heard of one New Jersey politician who is against the one way tunnel to New York (by the way - it's called ARC - "Access to the Regions Core", the name says it all) :roll:
This was in the Star Ledger today...
Jersey must dig deeper for Hudson tunnel
BY PHILIP BARBARA
Philip Barbara, a senior editor in Washington for Reuters, writes about New York regional commuter rail issues. He may be reached at phbarbara@aol.com.
NJ Transit’s new trans-Hudson rail tunnel and the Long Island Rail Road’s East Side Access project have long shared a kinship. Both were born conceptually decades ago but got off the drawing board only in the early 1990s. Both will give commuters improved access to Midtown Manhattan, and both will cost more than $7 billion each.
But they’ve developed at different paces. New York flexed its political muscle to obtain federal funds earlier, and last year the LIRR project got a federal funding agreement for $2.7 billion, or about 36 percent of its $7.36 billion cost. That $2.7 billion set a record. New York will pay the rest.
After fits and starts, the new Hudson tunnel, better known as the Access to the Region’s Core project, has picked up unstoppable momentum. Every level of government in both states supports it. Engineering work is on track, the public expressed enthusiasm at just-completed hearings and NJ Transit will confidently seek bids this spring for custom electric-diesel hybrid locomotives that will run through the tunnel.
In a mere 12 months, NJ Transit plans on applying for those all-important federal funds. And yet the faster the ARC advances, the closer it comes to a looming crisis, one only Trenton can meet head on: a funding gap of at least $1 billion, and likely $2 billion, in the state’s share of the project’s cost. Honest discussion of this gap has been done privately, for no one wants to be seen as a killjoy. The Federal Transit Administration requires that all local revenue streams for a project like the ARC be secured before it will even consider an application for funds. The LIRR project obtained the FTA commitment only after New York approved a big transportation bond issue.
How much in federal funds will the Hudson tunnel get? In a recent project status report, NJ Transit said it will seek 48.6 percent of the tunnel’s $7.38 billion cost. But if comparisons with its kin are instructive, the ARC will get a more realistic 35 to 40 percent. In fact, NJ Transit is doing contingency planning for a contribution down to 35 percent. It’s not that federal transit officials in New York are not sympathetic, for they know the tunnel will give 100 more New Jersey towns direct rail service to the city.
But FTA officials in Washington are closer to Capitol Hill, whose occupants clamor for a piece of the funding pie for new projects back home. ‘‘We continue to have very productive discussions with the FTA about progressing this project to a full funding grant agreement,’’ said Richard Sarles, NJ Transit’s executive director.
As of today, the tunnel project has $2.5 billion in funds committed: $2 billion from the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey and $500 million that Gov. Jon Corzine will direct from state coffers. That leaves the state billions of dollars short for this project alone — not to mention how cash-strapped it is for other road and rail initiatives — and therefore it must come up with a funding package. There are few options. Last week, New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg made a splash with his ‘‘congestion pricing’’ transportation plan that theoretically could direct $3.5 billion to the tunnel.
But this is fool’s gold, for it must be approved in Albany. ‘‘That’s a tough sell. Already people are lining up against the plan,’’ said Jeffrey Zupan of the Regional Plan Association. ‘‘To persuade people, Bloomberg will say, ‘You’ll get this, you’ll get that.’ So there’ll be less money for New Jersey.’’ It is also unthinkable that Albany lawmakers would give $7 for every $1 Trenton spends on the project when it is widely perceived as mainly benefiting New Jersey.
The tunnel could receive federal homeland security money to pay for design features required in this age of terrorism, but any such funds would be incremental. And at the Port Authority, officials are already concerned they will be asked to cover the shortfall. So the state must find far more than $500 million.
One way already in the works, Corzine’s plan to sell or lease toll roads or air rights to generate revenues, could help pay for the tunnel, his preferred new project.
But two other ‘‘retail’’ sources have to be strongly considered in any package: a surcharge from a dime to a dollar on anyone crossing the river by any means — buses, cars, ferries and trains. The amount could depend on the mode of travel and the total needed from this revenue stream.
Then there’s the state’s exceedingly low 10.5-a-cent-agallon gas tax. With pump prices jumping around between $2 and $3 a gallon, Trenton legislators should announce they are going to grab a nickel per gallon, do it and then move on. In short order, that nickel will be lost among fluctuating prices.
Barring an economic cataclysm or a major war, the tunnel will be built, with groundbreaking planned for 2009. Its economic and social benefits will radiate throughout NJ Transit’s expanding rail network. The project will be two-thirds subsidized, but in 12 short months, the state has to come up with an airtight plan to pay for its share
I personally hope this tunnel falls apart. Instead of New Jersey spending billions of dollars to take New Jerseyans to their jobs in New York, we can be giving tax incentives so the businesses come to the workers in New JERSEY! If corporations invested in Newark, Jersey City, Bayonne and all of the other northeastern New Jersey cities, we wouldn't need this New York tunnel. :mad:
As I have asked in other threads - when will our politicians start working for New Jersey?