Hmm, I see now why they really want Port Authority jobs specifically:

Overtime pay "flows like water" at the Port Authority, New York State's top auditor said Wednesday, days before a vote on the agency's proposed largest-ever toll and fare hikes.

The bi-state authority paid $85.7 million in overtime last year to 5,360 of its 6,977 employees, an audit by Comptroller Thomas DiNapoli found. More than two dozen of the top overtime earners boosted their total pay to more than $200,000 in 2009, in many cases more than doubling their base salaries, the audit found. It concluded that the agency has failed to rein in extra pay.

"Management has no clear strategy to achieve its own benchmarks and goals for curbing costs," DiNapoli said. "Before the Port Authority asks for more money to fund its operations, the agency should take a long, hard look at whether its business model for managing overtime really makes sense."

"The Port Authority, in one of the most outright displays of arrogance that we have seen in a long time, has deliberately misled the public in their efforts to stack the hearings," said Jeff Tittel of the New Jersey Sierra Club. "The governor failed to mention all the people in favor had a vested interest, or they get funding from the Port Authority for their livelihood," he added. Tittel also suggested an examination of the "people who make more than our governor, or even double what our governor makes."

DiNapoli's audit found scores of such examples. It examined overtime between 2006 and 2010. Most of the large overtime earners worked in the Port Authority's Public Safety Department or for the PATH train system, it said.

In 2009, for example, 24 PATH and public safety employees earned more in overtime than their base pay ? and one $107,878-a-year employee pulled in an extra $153,530 in overtime by working an average of 34 overtime hours each week. Overtime accounted for more than 20 percent of the average public safety employee's total compensation and 22 percent of the average PATH employees' total pay.

If the unions were worried about construction jobs, they should have made a better effort of voting for Corzine and kept the ARC tunnel on track. But they didn't.

I get both arguments. Jobs versus commuter costs.

Let's say me, as a commuter, pays an additional 200 days x2 trips=$400/year in "taxes' that creates their claimed $167k additional jobs?

Id buy the union proposal if the unions buys a $400 taxes/year/167k public employee cap on ALL EXISTING JOBS.

These unions need to be held accountable - and lets hold their asses to their own fire.

(left to right) Adela Rohena, Austi Valcarcel, and Erik-Anders Nilsson hold signs in disapproval during a hearing about the Port Authority's proposed fare and toll increases Aug. 16 in Jersey City. The Port Authority proposes to increase prices to fund a ten year, 33 billion dollar improvement capital plan. Alex Goodlett/The Jersey Journal





Angry commuters and unemployed union members clashed

================================

Public hearings held on Port Authority's proposal to raise tolls


By Terrence T. McDonald/The Jersey Journal


Angry commuters and unemployed union members clashed yesterday at two public hearings on the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey?s proposal to hike PATH fares and Hudson River and Staten Island crossing tolls.

Labor unions whose members wore bright orange shirts reading ?Port Authority = Jobs!? favor the proposed hikes that would fund a 10-year, $33 billion capital-improvement plan and increase PATH fares by $1 and crossing tolls by as much as $9.

Two meetings were held in Jersey City yesterday one at 8 a.m. at the Port Authority Technical Center, 241 Erie St., and a second at 6 p.m. at the Holland Tunnel Administration building, 13th and Provost streets.

Last night, laborer Vincent Stiso, 26, of Bayonne, said the projects proposed by the Port Authority would help put thousands of the unemployed back to work.

?We need jobs now,? Stiso said. ?We can?t really wait to find an alternate route.?

But Elizabeth Cronk, 59, a dog groomer who lives in Secaucus but drives into Manhattan every day to work, said the tolls hikes would be crippling for workers like her.

?Why should small business owners like me have to support this increase when better management and administration would be the first step toward fiscal health?? she said.

The proposed hikes would increase a PATH fare from $1.75 to $2.75. It would be the first increase since 2008, when the Port Authority upped the fare by 25 cents.

Bridge and tunnels tolls for E-ZPass users would increase from $6 to $10 for off-peak travel and from $8 to $12 in peak hours. An additional $2 increase during peak and off-peak hours would be implemented in 2014.

Motorists paying by cash would pay $15 this year, and an additional $2 starting in 2014.

Jersey City resident Debbie Carthan, who commutes daily to the New York nonprofit she works for, said last night the proposed hikes are ?ridiculous.? She urged the Port Authority to be more sensible when approving the plan.

?Think about the burden that you?re going to be placing under many families here,? said Carthan, 37.

But the subject kept coming back to jobs. Randy Bostick, of Irvington, cried at yesterday?s morning meeting in Downtown Jersey City as he described his struggles to hold on to his job in a nation where the unemployment rate has hovered around 9 percent for more than two years.

?I am hurting,? he said. ?I need this to pass because I have no employment. I work one day a week, by the grace of God. I am at the mercy of this program.?

Journal staff writer Stephanie Musat contributed to this story.

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As far as the size of the train there is not much you can do the tunnels dictate train size and the stations train length. It would be better to gauge the route distance from begging to end, say from Newark to the WTC even 33rd. St. now thats a bargin. Congrats on using a bike as part of your commute and a plus with the folding bike. If you want to go greater distance and with hills perhaps a touring road bike would benefit you especially with the lower gears for the steep hills.

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Same this evening, I'd say a lot more than 50. 4 out of 5 there were union. The disconnect was amazing. All the people speaking against it were sympathetic with the workers, but thought the financing on the back of commuters was totally unfair. The unions wanted jobs, and couldn't care less about the people whose money they wanted to take. Not one of them them even acknowledged the fare & toll payers who were being held up, just ranting that they needed jobs.

"At the Port Authority Technical Center in Jersey City Tuesday morning, more than 50 union workers showed up in bright orange t-shirts, promoting the fare hikes. The funds will in part go to new infrastructure for the Port Authority, which will open up job opportunities in the construction fields. "

What a shock, scum bag union goons showing up to back this economic suicide plan.

If the PA raises the PATH fare to $2.25, that would make it the same cost as the MTA subway fare. If they match their prices, I don't understand why we can't have an unlimited metro card that works for both the PATH and the MTA system. Yes...that's right, it's time to stop screwing the general public. People are tired of this crap!

And yes, the rent is officially too damn high!

Can't tell you how many times I've thought "wouldn't it be great if there were another bridge over the Hudson?" Riding into the city is awesome, especially since Bloomberg took over. I rode from downtown JC to Queens and back a couple weeks ago and the funniest thing was the riding was much, much safer and enjoyable on the NY side of the river. They've put in so many dedicated bike lanes in the past several years - it's amazing. Riding through JC and Hoboken is tough unless you are on the riverwalk and that isn't great either, depending on time of day and congestion.

Thanks for the info T-Bird. I think I'm in good enough shape to cover that ride, but I think I would allow myself 2 hrs for 21 miles. Unfortunately, I have no shower at work. I hadn't thought about that. My ride to Grove St. on the folder only takes 5 minutes casually biking so I don't get sweaty. (But this 5 minute bike ride saves me $2.10 and 20 minutes of commute time each trip since I can avoid the light rail trip to Newport)

Quote:

21.6 miles from Grove St. PATH to 42nd and 7th. Gets a little hilly the last mile or so before the bridge on this side. You have to squirrel around a bit on the other side if you want to take the path along the river. If you leave around 5:30am and are in good shape, maybe an hour and fifteen with no stops. Do you have a shower at work?

"But Robert Graham, from Bayonne said a morning meeting is important to hear the concerns of the unemployed. "

bull crap. The unemployed aren't using the bridges, tunnels, and trains every day.

http://www.nj.com/hudson/index.ssf/20 ... ority_public_hearing.html

Port Authority public hearing pins new jobs against fare hikes
Published: Tuesday, August 16, 2011, 11:51 AM Updated: Tuesday, August 16, 2011, 11:54 AM


The question of how far the Port Authority should go to create jobs was the subject of an open meeting to discuss proposed fare hikes for the PATH trains and tolls between New York and New Jersey.

The proposed fare hikes would increase PATH fare from $1.75 to $2.75. But on the other side, the Port Authority estimated the increased revenue would open 169,000 jobs.

At the Port Authority Technical Center in Jersey City Tuesday morning, more than 50 union workers showed up in bright orange t-shirts, promoting the fare hikes. The funds will in part go to new infrastructure for the Port Authority, which will open up job opportunities in the construction fields.

The unions present represented construction, plumbing and electrical workers ? many of whom have been unemployed for more than six months.

Randy Bostick, of Irvington N.J., stood in front of the crowd and took a deep breath before continuing.

"You can do it, Randy," called members of the audience.

Bostick began to cry. "I am hurting," he said. "I need this to pass because I have no employment. I work one day a week by the grace of God. I am at the mercy of this program. "

The Port Authority of New York and New Jersey proposed a two-phase toll and fare increase to fully fund a new $33 billion 10-year capital plan, which will generate 167,000 jobs.

The revenue from the fare hikes will be used to improve infrastructure on the Bayonne Bridge, the Lincoln Tunnel and the George Washington Bridge, according to the Port Authority.

The proposed fare increases move the PATH train fare from $1.75 to $2.75.

The toll increase will be from $8 to $15 during peak hours.

Christine Bamburger, a Jersey City resident, said the increases are too steep and do not consider the effects on everyday citizens.

Bamburger said she has relied on public transportation for 11 years to get around, and the increase unfairly puts the burden onto commuters rather than looking internally for cost cutting solutions.

U.S. Senator Robert Menendez said the Port Authority should conduct a full audit in order to answer why there is such a financial gap and to see where money can be rerouted to fund the projects.

Menendez said Governor Chris Christie should veto the proposal until a more reasonable option is presented.

"To put these increases in perspective, the GW Bridge is less than a mile long, and yet one would have to pay $15 cash to cross it ? if the Turnpike had the same toll per mile it would cost over $2000 to travel through New Jersey," he said. "This is simply an unacceptable increase."

Sean Connors, who is the democratic candidate to represent the 33rd district in the state assembly, wants the Port Authority to open its books to see if the money can come from the business, rather than on the shoulders of citizens.

"I am in support of the projects because they will revamp the economy, but it should not out of the pockets of the commuters," he told The Jersey Journal.

He doesn't feel that the commuters should be responsible for the costs associated with rebuilding the World Trade Center. He does support the construction and infrastructure improvements, but encourages an internal reorganization of assets.

Connors also questioned the time chosen for the meeting. He said having a meeting at 8 a.m. in August is unfair because community members might not have been able to get off work or may be on vacation, and were unable to attend the meeting.

Another meeting is scheduled for 6 p.m. tonight at the Holland Tunnel Administration Building.

But Robert Graham, from Bayonne said a morning meeting is important to hear the concerns of the unemployed.

"Lots of people are coming home from work for the meeting later," he said. "People are here this morning because we don't have work."

Let me see if this is right.
Lets say this is all orchestrated, and that the real increase is "only" going to be .50 on the PATH.
That would be $2.25 each way, or $22.50/week, or $1170/year for the pleasure of getting packed like a sardine 5 days a week and deal with delays and the ubiquitous "signal problems" every time a inclement weather hits the area?
I already ride a folding bike from my house to the PATH to avoid paying the ridiculous light rail fees.
Put another way, this means $2.25 for a 5 minute ride from Grove St. (for instance) to WTC. That's 45 cents per minute per person to ride the PATH. Where is all this money going?

There should be zero increases on PUBLIC TRANSPORTATION. This is the way you encourage people to get out of their cars. We have property taxes and income taxes to help pay for services like this.

Maybe its time to look into a full road bike to commute over the GWB a few days a week. Has anyone done this commute to the Times Square area? Does it take more than one hour?

NJ commuters get chance to sound off on toll hikes
Article

Associated Press

JERSEY CITY, N.J. ? Representatives from the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey figure to get an earful Tuesday from commuters about proposed fare hikes.

The bistate agency is holding a series of public hearings across northern New Jersey and in New York City to solicit comments.

Under plans announced two weeks ago, tolls would rise by $4 for E-ZPass customers and $7 for cash-payers as soon as September at the Outerbridge Crossing, Bayonne, Goethals and George Washington bridges and the Holland and Lincoln tunnels. An additional $2 increase would happen in 2014.

The plan would also hike fares on PATH trains by $1.

The Port Authority will vote on the plan Friday, though either New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie or New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo could veto it within 10 days.

?Copyright 2011 Associated Press

Quote:

Sad, but so true...

Way to stay on message with those protest signs.

There are huge delays on PATH trains the day the PA has to defend the hikes to the public, and we look like the dumb ones.

Protesters call possible PATH fare and toll hikes by Port Authority 'economic terrorism'

Published: Tuesday, August 16, 2011, 3:00 AM
By Kate Kowsh/The Jersey Journal

Protesters rally in Journal Square yesterday to blast the proposed toll and fare hikes by the Port Authority.

Trying to rally commuters to attend today?s public hearing on the proposed PATH fare and bridge and tunnel toll hikes, a handful of protesters took to Journal Square last night and in unison branded the increases ?economic terrorism!?

Migna Khan, a member of the Jersey City Peace Movement, accused the Port Authority of deliberately under-publicizing today?s eight public hearings and holding them in hard-to-get-to locations.

?It is such a shame that the hours and the places that these meetings are taking place are so inaccessible to the working class and commuters,? Khan said.

Two of today?s hearings will be held in Jersey City. The first starts at 8 a.m. and is being held at the Port Authority Technical Center, 241 Erie St., Room 212.

The second is on tap for 6 p.m. at the Holland Tunnel Administration Building, in the conference room, 13th and Provost streets.

The proposed hikes call for single-ride PATH fares to be raised this year by $1, from $1.75 to $2.75. The Port Authority is also looking to increase 30-day unlimited PATH passes from $54 to $89, a 65 percent rise.

Tolls at the Holland and Lincoln tunnels and George Washington and Bayonne Bridges would jump from $8 to $15 for cash payers and from $8 to $12 during peak hours for E-ZPass users.

?We recognize that the proposed increase is substantial, but it is also absolutely necessary to ensure the financial strength of the Port Authority and to maintain and grow the critical transportation infrastructure that serves the bi-state region,? Port Authority Executive Director Christopher Ward said yesterday in a statement.

Gov. Chris Christie of New Jersey and Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo of New York who control the Port Authority have not fully weighed in on the subject, although Christie has said he is open to some hikes.

I registered but don't think I can make it. But I'd like it if someone could point out the following:

According to the 2011 budget (page 53), revenue increases and debt/other expenses offset each other almost exactly. The only increase in the "uses" part of the budget is in capital expenditures. That increase of $760 million is pretty damn close to the $792 million that is anticipated to be raised by these toll & fare hikes. So it seems the Port Authority just wants NJ residents to pay for all new capital expenditures. Fair enough, I suppose, since NJ residents use bridges and tunnels most.

But when we look at the specifics of the capital expenditures, the majority of it is primarily for NY-specific projects. Only $428 million is for things specifically NJ (bridge & tunnel repairs, Newark Airport, PATH overhaul). About $1.3 billion is for general things (security [mostly NY], funding, ports), and the overwhelming amount of $1.9 billion is for the WTC ALONE.

The WTC accounts for 49% of the Port Authority's capital expenditures, and NJ residents are going to (for the most part) be footing the bill for a 25% increase in capital expenditures, despite receiving nowhere near that much of the improvements. It's as if the Port Authority, unable to secure funding from NY state, and perhaps unwilling to sell new bonds, is shaking down NJ residents to pay for the over-budget and delayed WTC.


Also, page 58 shows that bridges, tunnels, and PATH total only $1.4 billion in revenue for Port Authority, meaning this ($792m) amounts to increasing revenue from those NJ-centric streams stands to increase 57%! Why can't the Port Authority spread that increase in fees across all their services? Why not spread it around to the airports, ports, and properties they rent out?



Toll Announcement & Numbers
http://www.panynj.gov/about/toll-fare-2011.html

2011 PA Budget
http://www.panynj.gov/corporate-information/pdf/budget-2011.pdf

What does the governor care? He can just take the taxpayer funded helicopter to New York.

Exclusive: Port Authority $1 Billion Toll Hike Was Ruse To Give Governors Cover

Sources: By Talking Big, PA Clears Way For Cuomo, Christie To Pass Lesser Hike

August 9, 2011 10:09 PM

NEW YORK (CBSNewYork) ? The proposed steep toll hikes on the Hudson River crossings are already water under the bridge.

The governors of New York and New Jersey and Port Authority commissioners are working on plans to shrink the increase.

CBS 2?s Marcia Kramer has the exclusive on the ?real? fees you can expect to pay.

Drivers going into the Holland Tunnel on Tuesday probably thought their trip into Manhattan was among the last before rates were scheduled to skyrocket. But guess what? They fooled you.

The steep hikes sought by the Port Authority for the Holland and Lincoln tunnels, the George Washington Bridge and other crossings, and the PATH train are not expected to be as high as you think.

Kramer has learned that the $4 increase in tolls during peak hours is now only expected to be $2. The $2 off-peak increase is now expected be only $1. And the PATH train rates are expected to go up 50 cents, not $1.

Sources told Kramer on Tuesday that the lower rates were always the goal. They only asked for the higher rate as part of a carefully orchestrated political ballet to give Gov. Andrew Cuomo and Gov. Chris Christie cover for approving any hike at all.

The push back from the original Port Authority plan released just last Friday is already in full gear.

Cuomo said it was a bad time to pick taxpayers? pockets.

?I think that proposal is a non-starter for obvious reasons,? Cuomo said.

New Jersey Gov. Christie blamed past Port Authority leadership for over spending, and past political leaders for not being there to hold the Port Authority?s feet to the fire, including New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg.

?They weren?t. Governor Corzine was not, Governor Paterson apparently was not, and Mayor Bloomberg to the extent that he had input as well, was not,? Christie said.

http://newyork.cbslocal.com/2011/08/0 ... -authority-pulls-fast-one

Holy crap. 200 NYPD cops on duty at WTC at any given moment. That's nuts. Jeez, Blackwater might be cheaper!

Nope - he went on the record before the baseball game:

Christie slams Mayor, PA over toll hike

By JOSH MARGOLIN and JENNIFER FERMINO

Last Updated: 1:33 AM, August 9, 2011

Read more: http://www.nypost.com/p/news/local/ch ... QhklXl2IggJ#ixzz1UaPqoA8I


New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie yesterday blasted the Port Authority over its push to raise tolls $4 and blamed a bevy of former and current politicians -- including Mayor Bloomberg -- for letting the bistate agency run wild with its spending.

Christie said he was shocked to learn of the massive proposed toll hike on Hudson River and Staten Island crossings from $8 to $12 for drivers with E-ZPass, recalling his first reaction: "You're kidding, right?"

Once he stopped reeling from shock, he said he got angry -- citing the toll hikes as "testimony to the mismanagement of the Port for years" and laying the blame squarely on bistate leadership over the past decade for overspending on Ground Zero.

"I wish that people would have been more attentive in the last administration to demanding and holding the Port Authority to a budget on lower Manhattan," Christie told reporters yesterday.

"But they weren't. Gov. [Jon] Corzine was not. Gov. [David] Paterson apparently was not. And Mayor Bloomberg, to the extent that he had input on it as well, was not."

Bloomberg has been outspoken in demanding that the agency pick up some of the security costs for the new World Trade Center, and he pressed it to make a deal with Larry Silverstein to allow him to move forward with his office towers.

"We've committed a dedicated force of up to 600 NYPD personnel at the city's expense, but the Port needs to spend on security, too," said Bloomberg spokesman Stu Loeser. "There's no way the Cond? Nasts of the world will move there without this."

Christie saved his harshest criticism for PA Executive Director Christopher Ward, a Paterson appointee. "Chris Ward's been running the Port Authority and so these decisions on budgeting and what's been spent and what's been wasted have been under Mr. Ward's purview," he said.

Christie said PA Chairman David Samson -- whom he appointed -- has been getting the agency's fiscal house in order.

"Now we have General Samson there," Christie said of the former New Jersey attorney general. "He has been controlling things at a much better rate than has done before."

The PA on Friday announced it was on the verge of enacting a double helping of toll and fare hikes, the first of which would take effect next month. The second round, a $2 hike, is planned for 2014.

Christie and Gov. Cuomo, who jointly control the agency, have the power to veto any toll hike. Christie would not say yesterday what he plans to do, but added of himself and Cuomo: "Neither one of us have signed off on or approved what was proposed."

Read more: http://www.nypost.com/p/news/local/ch ... QhklXl2IggJ#ixzz1UaPUSsxa

Just heard Cuomo on npr and he said the proposed increase is a non starter, and he will look at what the PA needs - suggesting looking at other ways the state can finance this. Seems to suggest the rebellion has caught up his attention. Christie will probably issue a statement later on after his son's baseball game.. - although I have to give him credit for his rant against the shariah crazies.

The issue is solely that they're trying to lay off the WTC cost overruns onto NJ residents, and not getting NY, who is the primary beneficiary of the economic activity generated by the WTC, to pay their share.

PA budget, interesting read. See pp 23 http://www.panynj.gov/corporate-information/pdf/budget-2011.pdf

We know the PATH is a money loser, like all mass transit. It should long ago have been sold to the MTA or NJ Transit as part of the regional system.

The crossings already generate $450m/yr in net income.

Quote:

Oh that is definitely a huge component of it. Notice there hasn't been, at least publicly, any mention of raising airport or port berthing fees.

Perhaps its time to start auctioning landing slots at the area airports to the highest bidders as was proposed a while back

Or perhaps since the Bayonne Bridge height increase will cost a billion dollars, maybe the Port Authority should look into increasing berthing fees.

Quote:

Trains might be crowded after 7pm, but its during peak service that riders ended up waiting for the next train when trains are running 5 minutes apart. And for now, there isn't more capacity on the system to shorten that to less than 5 minutes, nor is there yet room to operate longer trains.

On NPR an interviewee said basically we're being asked to foot the bill for the overruns on the Freedom Tower (AKA 1 WTC). Not only that, they don't ever expect it to make money from rents, so we'll be subsidizing it indefinitely.

Stop construction. NOW!

Gov. Christie: No decision yet on toll hikes

Associated Press
AUGUST 8, 2011, 1:26 P.M. ET

BURLINGTON, N.J. ? Gov. Chris Christie says he had a three-word reaction last week to a proposal to raise Port Authority tolls: "You're kidding, right?"

Christie says years of mismanagement led to the current situation. But Christie and New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo haven't made a decision on whether to veto the toll hikes.

Christie says the two are consulting regularly, going over the numbers and working toward a consensus.

The Port Authority of New York and New Jersey last week proposed raising tolls by $4 next month on the George Washington Bridge and the Lincoln and Holland tunnels.

The plan would also hike fares on the PATH train by $1 and raise tolls on cars an additional $2 in 2014.

A vote on the plan is scheduled for August 19.

?Copyright 2011 Associated Pres

Quote:

I don't entirely agree. For the evening rush, they run a train every 5 minutes on the JSQ-33 line from 5 p.m. to 7 p.m. Then it goes back to a 10-minute schedule. So there is capacity for 5-minute frequency.

Some of the most crowded trains are in the hour after the schedule reverts to every 10 minutes. I'd like to see trains every 5 minutes until 8 p.m., or even 8:30 or 9:00.