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Re: Jersey City resident heralded as one of world's best dance artists
#31
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Congratulations! Well done!!

Posted on: 2014/9/11 0:09
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Re: Jersey City: Newark Avenue - Pedestrian Plaza
#32
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No need to get surly. You can see his pic here.

Posted on: 2014/9/8 21:17
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Re: New PATH Station - Marion
#33
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There?s no need to combine the idea of a Marion stop with the idea of skip-stop service. They are two different ideas, and should be considered separately.

The idea of a Marion stop seems like a fine idea. It could be built without excavation, which should keep the capital expense from becoming exorbitant. It could help development of the west side. (Maybe it would even encourage Mana to be open to visitors on the weekends. )

Everyone should realize that the Marion stop would add a minute in ?dwell? time, which is the amount of time it takes for the train to slow down, stop, open doors, unload/load passengers, and start up again.

The idea of skip-stop service on a one-track system only makes sense if the operator uses the decreased dwell time to run all trains more frequently. When NYC Transit ran 1/9 skip-stop rush-hour service in uptown Manhattan between 1989 and 2005, the theory was that the decreased dwell time in those stations allowed the system overall to run 28 trains an hour, rather than 25 trains an hour. Here is an interesting article about why 1/9 skip-stop rush hour service was implemented, and why it was discontinued.

In JC, skip-stop service at Grove and Newport doesn?t make much sense when those tracks already service two lines each. (NWK-WTC and JSQ-33 at Grove; JSQ-33 and HOB-WTC at Newport.) Passengers at those stations already have the equivalent of skip-stop wait times because only every other train is going to their desired destination.

Yvonne?s skip-stop service idea also doesn?t make sense because the Marion stop is most logically a stop only on the NWK-WTC line. You can?t economically build a whole terminal at Marion, with the extra tracks to enable switching between inbound and outbound trains. Unless you extend every JSQ-33 train to the Newark terminal, Marion trains wouldn?t be going to Newport at all.

Here?s a different idea: An easy way to alleviate congestion at Grove and Newport would be to extend the rush hours when JSQ-33 trains roll every 5 minutes. Between 9:30 and 10:30 a.m., and between 7:00 and 8:00 p.m., those JSQ-33 trains are ridiculously crowded. It is far worse at 9:45 a.m. inbound than at at any time between 8:00 a.m. and 9:30 a.m. Does anyone disagree? And this suggestion would not require any additional capital spending ? just more operational spending.

I won?t comment on the idea of an additional stop at Brunswick. But here?s another idea that might stir the pot: Add a stop at Cornelison and Academy. This would require re-routing the train to use the rail spur that loops to the south of the current tracks, just west of Merseles Street. A Cornelison stop would open up development near the county office building and along Montgomery. It would make The Beacon much more attractive. It probably would help McGinley Square.

And someone mentioned the Cast Iron Lofts. That entire area from 15th to 18th is ready to pop. HBLR should add a stop at 18th and Coles.

Fire away, folks!


Posted on: 2014/8/12 17:31
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Re: New bike path from Lincoln Park to Newark
#34
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El Squid - I've been looking at the Google map and ECG website. Just double-checking this: When you leave Lincoln Park (headed west to Newark) and approach the Hackensack bridge, do you ride on the sidewalk?

ECG says that at Hackensack Ave. in Kearney, cross at the crosswalk and ride on the sidewalk on the south side of the Lincoln Highway. You do that? Or ride in the road?

And then on the Newark side of the Passaic bridge, are you still on the sidewalk until you get to Raymond?

Thanks!

Posted on: 2014/7/29 20:27
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Re: Federal judge orders Port Authority to make Grove Street PATH station handicapped-accessible
#35
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Resized Image


This pic is from the 2014 Port Authority Capital Plan. Go to page 18 for the details on Grove Street. Phase 1 is interim ADA compliance, and Phase 2 is expansion to accommodate 10-car service.

On page 30 it says that ?the ADA portion of Grove Street Station Redevelopment is forecasted to be completed in 2017. ?

I don't know how the recent settlement of the lawsuit affects this plan, which was released in February 2014.

Posted on: 2014/7/18 16:01
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Re: PATH (pathetic attempt at transporting humans)
#36
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From: alerts@paalerts.com [mailto:alerts@paalerts.com]
Sent: Friday, July 18, 2014 10:28 AM
Subject: PATHAlert

SUN 7/20: 33-JSQ(HOB)stopping in EXPL for turnaround due to single tracking at Grove St. EXPL will remain closed. Allow extra time.



What a mess coming up Sunday. PATH will go from JSQ and Grove to Exchange Place but you can't get out to take the ferry. Then it will go to Newport, then Hoboken, then finally to Manhattan. Lovely.

Posted on: 2014/7/18 14:59
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Re: Taqueria Viva Mexico Kitchen Cafe - 133 Morris Street
#37
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Quote:

bodhipooh wrote:
At the risk of coming across as pedantic, can we please start using the right word? You don't peak into a window, you peek into it.

peak
noun \?p?k\
: the pointed top of a mountain
: a tall mountain with a pointed or narrow top
: something that looks like a pointed top of a mountain

peek
verb \?p?k\
: to look at someone or something secretly especially from a hidden place
: to look at something briefly
: to show slightly
: to be slightly visible


It's enough to induce a fit of pique.

Posted on: 2014/6/25 21:43
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Re: Mana Contemporary Introduces Mana Exposition
#38
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It's a shame Mana isn't open on weekends.

Posted on: 2014/5/16 21:28
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Re: UBER - car service in Jersey City
#39
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The surge factor is a multiplier on the base fare. Anonymess said the surge was $1.75 but no, that surge factor means 1.75 TIMES the base fare. And then the $20 NJ surcharge is on top of that. The NJ surcharge is not subject to the surge multiplier.

You have to be careful with it.

Posted on: 2014/5/5 23:46
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Re: Legal to record passers-by?
#40
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Maybe it's to get a recording of someone who doesn't pick up their dog poop. Not a bad idea.

Posted on: 2014/4/2 20:52
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Re: Bike Share System
#41
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I disagree. Sometimes it's good to put the cart before the horse. Get the bikes out there, and get more people interested in biking, and then there will be even more public pressure for the city to develop good bike lanes. One thing supports the other.

Otherwise we're just being defeatist. And that's no fun.

I can't wait for this program to begin rolling out!

Posted on: 2014/3/18 20:46
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Re: Public Meeting with Port Authority Reps: 2/18/14 @ 7:30pm
#42
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Lots of interesting details buried on the Port Authority website.

Here are board minutes from October, with a description at page 20 of the conditions in the tunnels and the work that is to be done. The minutes say:

Despite the extensive restoration efforts, which included extensive
power-washing of the PATH tunnels and related infrastructure, portions of Tunnels A, B, E and F
and their infrastructure exhibit signs of latent salt residue and salty solution (brine). Residue salt
deposits are known to cause significant and ongoing corrosion to critical mechanical, structural and
electrical infrastructure components and their subsystems. Therefore, it is critical that the salt be
removed, to reduce the potential for further damage. In addition, mechanical and electrical
infrastructure will need to be repaired or replaced, because chlorides are known to have destructive
reactions on these types of infrastructure. The proposed Phase I project would serve to remediate the
affected tunnel areas and associated infrastructure.


According to these minutes, the work is to be done in Tunnels A, B, E, and F. The WTC tunnels are E & F. Tunnels A & B are the 33rd St. line. So work in the tunnels to Christopher Street is definitely on the agenda.

Here is the 2014 Budget, which was approved last night. See pages 37 - 43 for the PATH. On page 43, item 3, it says the Signal System Replacement Program goal is to increase capacity 20% by allowing trains to run more frequently. (It's ironic to see this as a goal while meanwhile they seem to be cutting back trains so much, especially nights and weekends, and even apart from the WTC tunnel work.)

Here is the long-term capital plan, also approved last night. See pages 17, 18, and 19 for descriptions of re-do of Harrison Station, renovation of Grove St. station (including elevators), and the extension of the PATH to Newark Airport.

Here is a powerpoint that accompanied the Capital Plan. Pretty pictures of Harrison and Grove.

Posted on: 2014/2/20 19:59
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Re: Christie: Have I ever been angry with Steve Fulop? 'You bet I have' but ...
#43
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Today the Wall Street Journal published the emails about Christie's commissioners abruptly canceling their meetings with Mayor Fulop last summer. Smells like retribution for the non-endorsement.

Link to the emails here.

Posted on: 2014/1/13 16:37
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Re: Chris Christie 'Suspiciously Connected' To Revenge Traffic Jam
#44
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Could be. But maybe it's more pointed than that. These clowns were emailing about Baroni refusing to return a call to a mayor regarding an urgent problem. Maybe Fulop had called the Port Authority regarding JC issues, and Baroni was making a point of not returning Fulop's calls as political retribution.

This could get very interesting in connection with JC's disputes with the Port Authority. JC's lawyers better make sure to subpoena these folks' Gmail accounts.

Posted on: 2014/1/8 18:57
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Re: Chris Christie 'Suspiciously Connected' To Revenge Traffic Jam
#45
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Did anyone notice the email exchange on page 5, about Bill Baroni not returning the call to Ft. Lee mayor Sokolich?

"Did he return the call?"

"Radio silence
His names comes right after mayor Fulop."

Posted on: 2014/1/8 17:48
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Re: Colgate Clock returning
#46
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Yeah, what is their purported excuse? It's been up forever.

Quote:

Monroe wrote:
Next question-will the Goldman Sachs scaffolding ever come down??

Posted on: 2013/12/11 21:42
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Re: Former Gov. McGreevey to head Jersey City jobs commission
#47
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Well said, JPhurst. I agree.

As for McGreevey -- Prisoner re-entry is a huge problem. It is not easy for an ex-prisoner to find employment, and unemployment makes it more likely that the ex-prisoner will return to criminal activity. How many ex-drug dealers return to drug dealing when they get out because they can't find any other way to support themselves and their dependents?

McGreevey has developed a specialty in prisoner re-entry over the past several years, and he's supposedly good at it, with a proven track record in Harlem. I'm willing to give him a chance and see what he can accomplish.

Meanwhile he certainly will know that there are many critical eyes on him.

Posted on: 2013/8/8 18:21
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Re: Man crossing Jersey City street struck and killed by off-duty Jersey City cop
#48
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Quote:

OneSkirt wrote:
Questions:

Why is he NOT indicted for Speeding, Reckless Driving AND Manslaughter?


There's a distinction between the summonses that were issued right away for the traffic violations, and the criminal charges brought in the indictment by the grand jury.

In the first category, the newspaper story says: "Following the April 19 accident, Spolizino ... was issued summonses for speeding, careless driving, no vehicle inspection sticker and failure to wear a seat belt."

In the second category (the criminal charges), the story says that Spolizino "has been indicted by a grand jury on three charges including aggravated manslaughter..... a death by auto charge and one of leaving the scene of a motor vehicle accident resulting in death...."

Posted on: 2013/8/7 19:42
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Re: Cory Booker
#49
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I don't understand the Booker-bashing here. The guy is smart, thoughtful, articulate, and responsive to constituents. Those are good traits in a Senator.

And from a national perspective, Booker will have no difficulty defeating a Republican. It is important to keep a Democratic majority in the Senate. If Mitch McConnell became majority leader, we would be in a heap of trouble.

Posted on: 2013/7/16 15:44
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Re: Jersey City 1968 (video)
#50
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There was angle parking on Christopher Columbus near Monmouth and Coles and Jersey. (18:08 - 18:38.)

Or was it still Railroad Avenue? When did that elevated railroad come down?

Posted on: 2013/7/15 17:18
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Re: PATH iPhone App
#51
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+1 for iTrans PATH

Posted on: 2013/7/15 16:31
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Re: Jersey City election 2013: where the race stands
#52
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Great news!!

Posted on: 2013/6/12 2:43
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Re: June 4th Primary Elections! What are they and Who's running?
#53
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Quote:

OneSkirt wrote:
Everyone can make a difference in coming out to cast a vote for their local committee man & woman. Each district (usually a block or two in size) gets to choose one man & one woman. Team Fulop is trying to get as many of our people voted in on these roles as possible in order to try to start building a better HCDO. We get to vote for the new leadership, and that can affect assistance and cooperation that Mayor Fulop receives.


OK, that makes sense.

What about all those people running unopposed for other seats? Is there any political benefit to withholding a vote for them?

Posted on: 2013/6/3 16:14
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Re: One WTC Spire Time-Lapse shot from Jersey City.
#54
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Very nice! Congratulations. I'm impressed that you even included footage from today with the exterior glass complete.

Posted on: 2013/5/31 19:05
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Re: "Empty Sky" - NJ State 9/11 Memorial in Liberty State Park
#55
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Quote:

81905 wrote:
Resized Image


Now I get it. I never understood all the complaints until I saw this photo.

Posted on: 2013/5/30 18:44
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Re: Chief Comey, other JCPD top brass planning to retire before Fulop takes the helm?
#56
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Quote:

Br6dR wrote:
Any chance Fulop will put a stop to JCPD officers collecting overtime by sitting on a quite, already blocked off side street, like Princeton Avenue, protecting nothing at all? The only time I've seen police doing this for construction, underground work or road work in any other city is on a busy street. This is an obscene waste of taxpayer dollars.


I hope that when we see police officers at a construction site, they are on "paid detail" getting paid by the construction company, not by our tax dollars.

"Paid detail" has its problems, including a significant risk of corruption. Here is an interesting report on an investigation into paid detail problems in New Orleans.

I haven't found any regulations or guidance on paid detail practices in JC or in NJ generally.

Posted on: 2013/5/22 20:17
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PATH/Fail
#57
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Very interesting article in the New York Observer. It's outrageous to see the scale of the waste and lost opportunities. The writer really hits the nail on the head with the last sentence.

Nice graphic, too.


PATH TO RUIN
PATH/Fail: The Story of the World?s Most Expensive Train Station
By Stephen Jacob Smith 5/14 7:20pm

Resized ImageThe Port Authority used to set records in good ways. The George Washington Bridge was a marvel of engineering in its day, the world?s longest bridge when it was built, and still the busiest. The Port Authority Bus Terminal, opened in 1950, is to this day the largest on earth by passenger volume.

But today, the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey doesn?t brag about the records it sets. One World Trade Center, born the Freedom Tower and taken over by the Port in 2006, will be the most expensive office building in the world. The ?Vehicle Security Center,? an underground tour bus garage and road network serving the World Trade Center complex, may very well be the most expensive parking garage in history.

And then there?s the PATH station to New Jersey, the most troubled project at one of the world?s most troubled construction sites. At $3.74 billion, plus another $200 million in contingencies, the ?Transportation Hub? at the World Trade Center?not even the busiest station in the Financial District?will be far and away the most expensive train station built in modern history.

The Hub, as it?s known in Port Authority speak, will be the crowning artistic statement of the World Trade Center complex, perhaps the last grand gesture at a site that was supposed to be full of them. ?Let me draw for you what I cannot say,? its architect, Santiago Calatrava, said at the unveiling in 2004. Then, wrote Newsweek, ?he fluently sketched a child releasing a bird?a spellbinding image that had inspired his design.?

When the grandiose ambitions and the emotions of 9/11 met with the famously flush Port Authority, disaster struck. Mission creep, an inattentive governor and extreme politicization sent costs skyward, eventually outstripping even the record-setting resources devoted to it. Its wings had to be stilled and its supports thickened, the bird in flight devolving into an immobilized stegosaurus. The world?s most expensive train station, it seems, was not expensive enough to contain all of New York?s dreams.

For nearly $4 billion, most cities could build entire subway lines. Even the MTA, which frequently breaks cost records of its own, managed to build its Fulton Center hub, a renovation of five densely tangled lines, for $1.4 billion. Nobody?s subway tunnels cost more than the MTA?s, but even they could fund most of the second phase of the Second Avenue subway, from 96th Street to 125th, with that kind of cash.

The World Trade Center PATH station is actually not a particularly busy one. ?No one intelligently could say that the level of design and architecture associated with it was commensurate with the level of usage,? said one former commissioner. (Like nearly everyone we interviewed for this story, he would only speak on the condition of anonymity.)

The Port Authority likes to play up the significance of the station by calling it Manhattan?s third-largest transit hub. That?s a tenuous claim at best. Were the PATH system to be integrated into the New York City subway (no, nearly $4 billion does not buy a free transfer to the subway), the World Trade Center stop would barely crack the top 10 busiest stations.

With its contribution to the project, which was supposed to cost it virtually nothing, ballooning to nearly $1 billion, the Port Authority now finds itself unable to fund the sorts of regional transportation projects that have traditionally justified its existence.

In 2009, to pay for ballooning World Trade Center costs, the Port cut $5 billion from its 10-year capital plan. That pleased the bond markets temporarily as Moody?s upgraded the Port Authority?s bond rating the next year, only to knock it down again in 2012 due to still-increasing World Trade Center costs and the fear that the Port?s seemingly limitless ability to raise bridge and tunnel tolls may in fact be limited.

From the proposed ARC rail tunnel beneath the Hudson into Midtown (canceled by Chris Christie in 2010) and an extension of the PATH train to Newark Liberty International Airport (at a cost of around $500 million) to a thorough renovation of La Guardia Airport ($1 billion in capital funding was cut in 2009), the region has needs, and the Port Authority is struggling to fund them.

Any discussion of the cost of the Hub must start with Santiago Calatrava. He was given the job just two years after the attacks, when emotions were running high and George Pataki was eyeing a presidential bid. A starchitect of the highest order, Mr. Calatrava was known for his complex feats of engineering in fashioning soaring, animalistic structures, with a specialty in public works projects.

The architecture critics were smitten. The design, The New York Times?s architecture critic Herbert Muschamp wrote, ?should satisfy those who believe that buildings planned for ground zero must aspire to a spiritual dimension,? and he hoped that New Yorkers would detect the ?metaphysical element? in Mr. Calatrava?s work. His design was supposed to spur development throughout the neighborhood and lead lower Manhattan, still reeling from the attacks, out of its malaise. To the extent that the critics were worried, it was about how it would fit in with the architectural context of the site, not its cost.

Mr. Calatrava would eventually become to be remembered with regret among those in his hometown of Valencia, where his City of Arts and Sciences ended up costing more than three times its initial $400 million budget. But at the time, Mr. Calatrava could do no wrong.

In New York, his starting point was far higher than it had been in Valencia. The Federal Transit Administration pledged $1.9 billion for the project early on, and the Port Authority would throw in another few hundred million?a number that would climb much higher. (The feds, acting as enablers to the Port?s profligacy, ended up quietly throwing in another billion dollars to cover some of the cost overruns.)

But at this point, years before construction was to start, the project was, as one former Port Authority commissioner put it, ?proposed to get an expansive federal grant at a point in time when nobody really knew what it would cost in its entirety.?

The feds were supposed to pay for nearly the whole thing, and the number was more of a placeholder. The fate of the site was still in jeopardy?Silverstein Properties (which had signed a lease for the site just months before the 2001 attacks) and the Port Authority were still fighting over who would build what, the tower designs hadn?t been finalized and security issues hadn?t been thought through. The Port Authority didn?t have a good grip on what the project would entail?a spokesman told The Observer that the initial estimates for the Hub were ?unrealistic.?

Of the nearly $4 billion eventually budgeted for the Hub, a fair amount?the Port Authority has never clearly broken down the costs for the public, but the number likely has 10 digits?went toward common infrastructure that, in any other project without the emotions and political backing of the World Trade Center site, might not have passed the FTA?s muster.

There was $75 million, for example, that was spent to build a deck over the Hub to support the memorial. Another few hundred million are going to infrastructure costs on Greenwich Street with only a tenuous connection to the Hub.

The site, shared among various public and private entities and budgets, includes a lot of common infrastructure that appears to have been disproportionately billed to the Port Authority. The Hub is shouldering significant costs in rebuilding the site?s foundation, and it is also building a web of pedestrian passageways leading from the Hub to the private office towers on the site and across West Street to Brookfield Properties? World Financial Center.

To win these concessions, Larry Silverstein took advantage of the Port Authority?s eagerness to show some progress on the site. He played hardball with the government from 2004 to 2006, a period of acrimonious negotiations between Silverstein Properties and the Port Authority over who would be responsible for what aspects of the site.

His lobbyists were the best of the best. He hired Global Strategy Group, whose clients have included Eliot Spitzer, David Paterson and Andrew Cuomo, to lobby for him, along with David Samson, who would go on to become the chairman of the Port Authority.

Given the choice between making Larry Silverstein pay his way and trying to get the site finished as quickly as possible, the Port chose the more expensive option. (Whether it worked is debatable?3 World Trade Center is a stump, and 2 World Trade Center is nonexistent; both are awaiting tenants to restart construction, with delivery now slated for 2015 and 2016.) The feds were throwing even more money at the Port Authority?nearly $2.9 billion?and it was the path of least resistance.

After responsibility for the site was ironed out, there was one last chance to bring the Transportation Hub?s cost back down to earth. George Pataki had promised the moon during his years in office, but Eliot Spitzer and his Port Authority chief, Anthony Shorris, wanted to keep the project within its budget.

Mr. Spitzer took a more business-minded approach to the Transportation Hub than Mr. Pataki. ?The best way to explain the cost of downtown was the opportunity cost?what was not done because you had to do that?? said Mr. Spitzer in a telephone interview with The Observer. ?Do you do Calatrava, or do you do the rebuild of Penn Station? That?s the way I forced us to think about it.?

His pick for executive director of the Port Authority was Anthony Shorris, who spent most of the ?80s as Ed Koch?s deputy budget director and finance commissioner and the early ?90s as the Port Authority?s first deputy executive director.

The public hadn?t yet been clued in, but costs were spiraling out of control. Working with Steven Plate, the director for World Trade Center construction at the Port, Mr. Shorris set to work on a plan that, he thought, would keep the project within its budget, which at the time topped out at around $2.5 billion, without the Port Authority having to contribute $1 billion of its own money. ?I was determined not to severely diminish the Port Authority?s capacity because of the World Trade Center,? Mr. Shorris told The Observer.

Mr. Shorris wanted to strip the concourse and platforms of the most expensive Calatrava-designed elements and make use of more of the existing PATH infrastructure that had been serving commuters for a decade.

He told The New York Times in April of 2008 that he would put the full-fat project out to bid, but that ?we want to make sure we have that alternative in place that does price out at $2.5 billion, so we know that we have an option to go to.?

But that was the last the public heard of Mr. Shorris?s ideas to keep the Transportation Hub within its budget. Eliot Spitzer resigned less than a month later, and Mr. Shorris resigned several days after that.

When David Paterson took office, he hired Christopher Ward to head the Port Authority. Where Mr. Shorris planned and consulted, Mr. Ward built. The Daily News, at the end of his tenure, called him a guy who ?got things done,? but rapid progress came at a price.

Decisions under Mr. Paterson?s watch, said one former commissioner, ?were really very heavily driven by the optics.? It was seven years after the attacks, and nothing on the site had even started to rise from the ground?an embarrassment to New York City. Mr. Paterson, who would not comment for this article, wanted tangible signs of success, said several sources close to the project, and he was less concerned than Mr. Spitzer about the financial hit to the Port Authority.

?Candidly,? said one former commissioner, Mr. Ward ?was building it for you guys??i.e., the press. New York?s media lambasted both the skyrocketing costs and cascading delays at the project, but it cheered Chris Ward for fast-tracking construction.

With the World Trade Center memorial sitting partly on top of the Transportation Hub, the logical order of construction was to finish the Hub first, and then worry about the at-grade memorial elements. Mr. Paterson?s command to Chris Ward to ?get this fucking memorial open by 9/11??the 10th anniversary of the attacks?meant the order of construction had to be reversed, with a deck built over the unfinished Hub to support the weight of the memorial.

Aside from his order to finish the memorial by the September 11, 2011, David Paterson was by most accounts not terribly concerned with how much it would all cost, or indeed with the World Trade Center site much at all. ?We got lots of visits from Spitzer?s guys and Pataki?s guys,? said one former commissioner, ?but I don?t believe we ever got any visit from Paterson?s.?

The hard costs of rushing the memorial were not significant in the context of a project measured in the billions of dollars?only $75 million, according to Port Authority documents?but the shift in focus from cutting costs to hurrying construction meant that Mr. Shorris?s value engineering of the below-grade elements, from which the majority of project costs would come, largely went out the window.

The Port Authority under David Paterson and Chris Ward did make some cuts to the design, including, notably, the now-infamous devolution of the light bird into a heavy stegosaurus. But the majority of Mr. Calatrava?s elaborate underground designs, throughout the web of passageways and retail space, were retained. The cost is now closing in on $4 billion, and Mr. Shorris?s more ambitious plan to keep it within its budget died a quiet death.

In the private sector, these things often turn out differently. Atlantic Yards in Brooklyn is one example. Despite Bruce Ratner?s ?man crush? on Frank Gehry, in the words of one of his employees, and the nearly $100 million in fees that he paid for the design of the undulating apartment towers and stadium, Mr. Ratner didn?t hesitate to drop the starchitect from Atlantic Yards when the costs got too high?costs that were partly the result of Mr. Gehry?s insistence on designing the interior elements down to minute details like the stadium seats, something that should sound familiar to the Port Authority.

As an independent authority without access to the treasures of New York and New Jersey, the Port Authority is somewhat insulated from criticism and oversight. Its money comes from the cars that stream through its bridges and tunnels?the George Washington Bridge, with its $13 cash toll, is its biggest moneymaker, bringing in around half a billion a year. Its costs are hidden not only from the users of the World Trade Center buildings and Transportation Hub, but also from legislators in New York and New Jersey.

In its early years, the Port exerted its freedom from political pressure and acted independently of the governors. But decades later, it?s turned into something else entirely. Too juicy a target to remain autonomous, the Port Authority has devolved into a sort of slush fund for the governors of New York and New Jersey, its revenues out of reach of the states? legislatures.

And then there?s the question of whether the Hub will have the intended uplifting effect on development in the Financial District. Office leasing is weak across the whole city, and there are huge vacancies in the towers that are going up (while half of them are not). Already chock full of architectural landmarks, the Financial District isn?t Valencia or Bilbao; it doesn?t need a monument to put it on the map.

Despite the staggering cost increases, some at the Port Authority?even those highly critical of the project?s cost?see it ultimately as a success. ?At the end of the day,? said one former commissioner, ?we didn?t fail?it got built.? (?It?s getting built? would be more accurate; the Hub is just now starting to rise above ground level and isn?t scheduled to open for at least another two years.)

These low expectations are a testament to the tremendous failings of the project?that the world?s most expensive train station, at nearly twice its initial budget despite design cutbacks, can be viewed in any light as a success.

Maybe, some years into the future (the Port Authority says two and a half), with tens of thousands of commuters from New Jersey pouring out from beneath the wings of Mr. Calatrava?s would-be concrete and glass bird, nobody will remember the cost.

But every time they can?t get a seat on a PATH train at 2 a.m., or get held up by delays in the 100-year-old North River Tunnels to Midtown, or emerge from a decrepit La Guardia Airport, they?ll have the Transportation Hub and other World Trade Center projects to thank.

Posted on: 2013/5/20 20:41
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Re: PolitickerNJ: Steve Fulop can’t escape gubernatorial politics
#58
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This is my favorite part of that NJPoliticker article. We have to keep the focus here for now! We have a city to turn around, and first we have important city council races to decide June 11.

Quote:

?Steve just won a tough election and is focusing on Jersey City,? said Fulop spokesman Bruno Tedeschi, when asked about Fulop?s gubernatorial ambitions.

But surely he?s considering an endorsement of either Buono or Christie?

?Focused on Jersey City,? said Tedeschi.

?Will he go to Atlantic City for the Democrats? annual convention??

?Focused on JC,? said the implacable Tedeschi.

Posted on: 2013/5/17 14:37
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Re: Only ONE Council Seat Decided - ALL Others Up for Grabs
#59
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I had posted this on the "Election Results" thread a couple days ago. Terrence, do you know the answer as to whether we have the type of counters described below? It's still not at all clear to me that the runoff is legally necessary for the at-large candidates.

Quote:

bjay wrote:
Quote:

T-Bird wrote:
The voting machines now count how many people vote for at-large candidates.


T-Bird, are you sure that there's a counter to see how many people placed at least one vote for an at-large candidate? I don't see a reference to that on the official county clerk voting results page. Just the count of the total number of people who cast any ballot, which was 39,078.

If indeed we do have voting machines that track the number of voters who cast at least one at-large vote, then we should hope that number is 29,510 or less. 29,510 divided by 2, plus 1, is 14,756, and that's the number of votes received by Joyce Watterman (the top vote-getter). New Jersey Statutes Section 40:45-18 says that if at least one candidate received a majority, the top three candidates are elected without a runoff necessary, and "majority" is defined as half the number of voters who cast at least one vote for an at-large candidate, plus one.

But old voting machines don't have that sub-counter, just an overall counter. And if we don't have that sub-counter, then srg1 is correct. The formula is in New Jersey Statute 40:45-18:

"Voting machines to be used in the election shall be equipped, as soon as practicable, with one or more counters so connected as to keep a tally of the number of voters who cast votes for one or more of the candidates for councilman-at-large (or commissioner, or village trustee). Until suitable counters have been provided, or whenever the tally of the number of voters cannot be determined for any reason, then the number constituting the majority of the votes cast shall be computed by adding all the votes cast for each candidate for that office, dividing that total by twice the number of councilmen-at-large ... to be elected and then adding one."

There were 83,473 votes cast for at-large candidates. Divide by 6, then add 1, and a "majority" is defined as 13,913 votes. That would mean Watterman, Lavarro and Rivera each exceeded the majority and no runoff would be needed.

But if Watterman didn't receive a "majority" under whichever method is correct, then we have to have a runoff according to section 40:45-19. That section provides that the number of candidates will be twice the number of seats there are to fill. And if that happens, the runoff will be between 6 candidates: Watterman, Lavarro, Rivera, Richardson, Brennan and Perez. Connelly and Regaldo are out.

Can someone answer the question about what type of voting machines we have, and whether there was a counter of how many people cast at least one vote for an at-large seat?

Posted on: 2013/5/17 14:28
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Re: Election results
#60
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Quote:

T-Bird wrote:
The voting machines now count how many people vote for at-large candidates.


T-Bird, are you sure that there's a counter to see how many people placed at least one vote for an at-large candidate? I don't see a reference to that on the official county clerk voting results page. Just the count of the total number of people who cast any ballot, which was 39,078.

If indeed we do have voting machines that track the number of voters who cast at least one at-large vote, then we should hope that number is 29,510 or less. 29,510 divided by 2, plus 1, is 14,756, and that's the number of votes received by Joyce Watterman (the top vote-getter). New Jersey Statutes Section 40:45-18 says that if at least one candidate received a majority, the top three candidates are elected without a runoff necessary, and "majority" is defined as half the number of voters who cast at least one vote for an at-large candidate, plus one.

But old voting machines don't have that sub-counter, just an overall counter. And if we don't have that sub-counter, then srg1 is correct. The formula is in New Jersey Statute 40:45-18:

"Voting machines to be used in the election shall be equipped, as soon as practicable, with one or more counters so connected as to keep a tally of the number of voters who cast votes for one or more of the candidates for councilman-at-large (or commissioner, or village trustee). Until suitable counters have been provided, or whenever the tally of the number of voters cannot be determined for any reason, then the number constituting the majority of the votes cast shall be computed by adding all the votes cast for each candidate for that office, dividing that total by twice the number of councilmen-at-large ... to be elected and then adding one."

There were 83,473 votes cast for at-large candidates. Divide by 6, then add 1, and a "majority" is defined as 13,913 votes. That would mean Watterman, Lavarro and Rivera each exceeded the majority and no runoff would be needed.

But if Watterman didn't receive a "majority" under whichever method is correct, then we have to have a runoff according to section 40:45-19. That section provides that the number of candidates will be twice the number of seats there are to fill. And if that happens, the runoff will be between 6 candidates: Watterman, Lavarro, Rivera, Richardson, Brennan and Perez. Connelly and Regaldo are out.

Can someone answer the question about what type of voting machines we have, and whether there was a counter of how many people cast at least one vote for an at-large seat?

Posted on: 2013/5/15 15:08
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