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President Donald Trump’s hesitance to quickly back a nearly $30 billion rail-tunnel project to connect New York City to New Jersey was derided by Hillary Clinton on Friday night as an effort “to settle petty political scores.”
Clinton was speaking to members of the real estate industry at a gathering of the Regional Plan Association (RPA) in New York.
“It’s time for the Trump administration to stop using this vital project to settle petty political scores,” Clinton told the RPA gathering, Politico reported.
In March, President Trump threatened to veto an omnibus spending bill that included funding for the state-federal project, saying he was concerned that the federal government would be saddled with the full cost -- as New York and New Jersey sought to pay their shares with money borrowed from Washington.
New Jersey Transit will ante up $1.9 billion, paying for it with a new charge on the TansHudson railways. Passengers will pay 90 cents a trip beginning in 2020. That goes up to $1.70 in 2028 and $2.20 in 2038. New York State will contribute $1.75 billion and the Port Authority will kick in another $1.9 billion.
New Jersey Transit fares have gone up five times for a total of 30 percent since 2010. This includes the most recent 9 percent 2015 fare increase. New Jersey Transit riders pay 50 percent of the cost per ride, which is more than most other transit systems around the nation.
In an email message, the U.S. Department of Transportation's press office said the states' pledged funding already includes federal money, and moreover that the estimated cost of the tunnel is $14.9 billion. “NY and NJ’s submission on file proposes the federal government pay 85 percent of the project costs, for a tunnel where nine out of 10 passengers are local transit riders," the federal department said. "This is entirely unserious.”
They proudly claim coming up with 50 percent or $5.5 billion for the local share should justify Washington quickly kicking in another 50 percent or $5.5 billion to pay for the Gateway Tunnel. Both Christie and Cuomo conveniently forgot that the total Gateway Development Corporation project cost is $29 billion.
Regardless, these risks lead serious people to say the responsible thing is to build new tunnels at any price, rather than take the extra time it would take to figure out how to build this project for the single-digit-billion number of dollars it would cost in France.
You should be angry at local New York and New Jersey officials, who oversee a government so incompetent it can only figure out how to build infrastructure for five times what it should cost. It has led to price tags so inflated, this wealthy region cannot conceive of any way to finance critical projects without financial assistance from the federal government.
Maybe a refusal of federal funds is the kick in the pants New York and New Jersey officials need. If asking Trump for money doesn't work, getting cost effective will be the only option.
originally posted by: gortex
a reply to: shawmanfromny
$29.5 Billion on infrastructure or $33 billion on a symbolic wall .... tough choice I guess.
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Home » National News » Jersey Shore town seeks…
Jersey Shore town seeks ferry to dock next to Kushner resort

By The Associated PressMarch 9, 2018 4:53 pm

In this Monday, March 5, 2018 photo, the Pier Village development is seen in Long Branch, N.J. The federal...
LONG BRANCH, New Jersey (AP) — The federal government has been advising a beach town on the Jersey Shore on plans to build a pier and start a ferry service that would speed New Yorkers to the doorstep of a resort co-owned by Jared Kushner.
Kushner’s resort sits right next to the proposed pier, which places the federal government in the awkward position of helping steer a project that would benefit President Donald Trump’s son-in-law and senior adviser. Once the project is complete, a former city official said, it would boost property values at the Kushner resort, which is currently selling 269 condos for as much as $1.9 million each
No. I dont want to pay for more crap for those city dwellers just so they can continue deriding us rural folk.
Why would I give a damn about a tunnel in New York?
originally posted by: Sillyolme
a reply to: shawmanfromny
wtop.com...
NEWSTRAFFICWEATHERLISTEN
Washington's Top News
Home » National News » Jersey Shore town seeks…
Jersey Shore town seeks ferry to dock next to Kushner resort

By The Associated PressMarch 9, 2018 4:53 pm

In this Monday, March 5, 2018 photo, the Pier Village development is seen in Long Branch, N.J. The federal...
LONG BRANCH, New Jersey (AP) — The federal government has been advising a beach town on the Jersey Shore on plans to build a pier and start a ferry service that would speed New Yorkers to the doorstep of a resort co-owned by Jared Kushner.
Kushner’s resort sits right next to the proposed pier, which places the federal government in the awkward position of helping steer a project that would benefit President Donald Trump’s son-in-law and senior adviser. Once the project is complete, a former city official said, it would boost property values at the Kushner resort, which is currently selling 269 condos for as much as $1.9 million each
This is the project trump DID approve of.
But nothing personal. Right?