December 30,2017
the staff of the Ridgewood blog
Ridgewood NJ, earlier this month Gov. Chris Christie and New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo announced commitments to fund 100 percent of their respective share of the new Gateway tunnel. The agreement follows a 2015 framework agreement in which the federal government agreed to fund 50 percent of the project.
The agreement for a combined $5.5 billion states that the State of New York will contribute $1.75 billion with NJ Transit committing $1.9 billion and the Port Authority contributing $1.9 billion.
But the Trump administration through cold water on the idea on Friday . In a letter to New York and New Jersey officials, a top Federal Transit Administration Deputy Administrator Jane Williams signaled that the Trump administration would not recognize the agreement struck under former President Barack Obama that called for the federal government to pay half the cost of the project.
The letter stated that ,“There is no such agreement,” and “We consider it unhelpful to reference a nonexistent ‘agreement’ rather than directly address the responsibility for funding a local project where nine out of 10 passengers are local transit riders,”
Thanks again, CC.
NY and NJ voted for Hillary Diane Rodham Clinton. Payback is a bitch.
I’m glad to see the adults are now in charge at the White House. As much as I would love to see an improvement in our infrastructure here, I see no sense in taxpayer money being lost to the collection of middlemen that operate in this part of the country.
Thanks to our weak senators
Middlemen high cost could be avoided if the government/system had the motivation.
Also if White House is doing this as payback and that is really the reason, it gives a signal about human relations in general around here and perhaps around the world with the human race. It means most people are mean and vengeful and totally narcissistic, egoist, evil.
The right way to go is for the White House to say: you didn’t vote for me NJ, but you made a mistake; I do care about your well being/infrastructure I will fund the train line. In other words I am White House who cares about people and wants to do the right thing.
To make human relations based on fear and fear alone is to ensure that nothing good will ever be done, or hardly ever; it is in effect fearing the punishment of the dictator.
Well, I guess that is way we applaud Mother Teresa. Most people are garbage, I guess.
So it is really miraculous that someone blew the whistle on the tobacco companies and Ralph Nader is my hero. There should be a monument to him. Do you realize how impossible it is to good , to change the system when a human is in charge.
“Elections have consequences, and at the end of the day, I won.”
Barack Hussain Obama
Time for the Democrats to feel the consequences.