| Issue 301 | January 22, 2001 |
In
addition to universally declaring war on the Port Authority's toll plan
at Wednesday night's hearing, Staten Island elected officials also reiterated
fierce opposition to the plan to construct a Goethals "twin" bridge
along I-278. Most, like City Council member and borough president hopeful
Jerome O'Donovan, said the new bridge would be a welcome mat for more
cars and trucks to flood the Island. An exception was Assemblymember
Robert Straniere, another possible candidate for borough president, who
said the bridge should not be "twinned" unless NY State made a commitment
to widen the Staten Island Expressway. The crowd cheering the politicians
on seemed to have little appreciation for the distinction.
For its part, the Port Authority is getting more aggressive about the Goethals Twin. While previously the agency had said it would not pursue the project without community support, a top Port Authority official told the Staten Island Advance last week that, "We would like Staten Island to support (the new bridge), but at a certain point you have to move forward."
Most of the officials pointed to the lack of investment in Staten Island mass transit as a problem for the congestion pricing plan, and a reason that Staten Islanders shouldn't pay more for transportation.
Ironically, the Port Authority is the one agency that has recently offered to spend money on a new Staten Island transit link. Last year, the PA said it would pay one-third the cost of a bus link from S.I. to the Bayonne terminal of the new Hudson-Bergen light rail line. NYC Transit has stalled the plan, offering only bureaucratic excuses (MTR #271). The Tri-State Campaign's testimony urged Governor Pataki to immediately implement new South Shore express bus service, the Bayonne link and greater access restrictions in the Gowanus Expressway HOV lane to improve the S.I.-Manhattan express bus commute.
But more is clearly needed on Staten Island. The two counties that protested the Port Authority plan most vigorously - S.I. and Bergen County - are similar in that they were both integrated into the region with highway bridges rather than efficient rail links. But they are also two counties whose political establishments are disorganized on the issue of transportation. Bergen County cannot coalesce around one of several rail transit proposals that have competed for attention for years. Staten Island has never brought New York's transportation agencies sufficiently to heel to develop a workable mass transit development plan. Hopefully, the Island's officials will get together to reject the NY State DOT's expressway widening plan, due out next month, and request a serious look at mass transit from Governor Pataki, the MTA and NY State DOT.
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