No Relief for PA Political Gridlock
Despite a meeting by the Port Authority's board of commissioners
yesterday, no end is in sight to the battle between Governors Pataki and
Whitman over Port Authority structure and finances. Gov. Pataki ignited
the worst border war in memory over Port Authority spending when he refused
to approve the Port Authority's 25-year lease offer to Sealand and Maersk,
the shipping giants that account for 25% of the NJ/NY port's container
traffic and who are seeking an upgraded East Coast hub.
Still, this week saw several noteworthy developments:
- The Star-Ledger reported today that New York commissioners broached
PA bridge and tunnel toll hikes at the meeting, departing from the singular
(but mostly trivial, from a revenue point of view) focus on PATH fares
that frequently characterizes NY rhetoric on PA spending (see last week's
MTR).
- The Journal of Commerce reported today that both of New York's U.S.
Senators and a bi-partisan group of 16 NY Representatives wrote to either
Sealand or Maersk in March, before Gov. Pataki's demands for PA restructuring
became public, citing the importance of the NJ/NY port to New York's economy.
The news suggests that the strongly parochial view of the Port Authority's
role staked out by the Pataki Administration is not fully shared by other
top NY elected officials.
- Still, regarding the overall shape of the Port's future, it's difficult
not to share some of Pataki's concern. Will the Sealand/Maersk hub the
PA plans at Port Newark/Elizabeth prejudice all future container port development
in favor of that relatively inaccessible and shallow site? What of deep
water sites in Bayonne and Brooklyn. The PA's 40-year port plan is very
vague on its relationship to the proposed deal with Sealand and Maersk.
And, as we mentioned last week, the PA's overall vision of the harbor and
especially the road and rail infrastructure needed to serve an expanded
port is equally vague -- the region has yet to have a sustained public
debate over the costs and benefits of varying degrees of port growth.
