It's one thing to be told you're going to pay more money. It's another thing to be insulted at every step of the process. We all went through Gov. Corzine's painful pitch to privatize the toll roads. Months of public hearings and lots of input all for a result that many could have predicted at the start of the process.
New Jersey Turnpike Authority commissioners are scheduled to vote Friday just hours after a special public hearing on a revised plan to raise tolls on the Turnpike and the Garden State Parkway.
Under the revised plan, turnpike and parkway tolls would increase this year and in 2012, raising $8.25 billion. The authority originally proposed three toll increases during 15 years that would have raised $11 billion.
I know they're required to hold the hearing so that the public can feel like they have a say. They couldn't even humor people by waiting a full day after hearing the public input to "make their decision". Instead, they'll raise tolls on a late Friday afternoon hoping no one will notice. I also understand that some will say by making it a long drawn out process, the Republicans will try to score political points. Quite frankly, the Republicans will complain about anything that is done at this point, so I don't think that's a reason to rush this. And how about where the money is going:
The money would widen the tolls roads and partially fund an added rail tunnel into New York City.
I am all for increased rail service, but why are the NJ Turnpike and Parkway tolls going to do the job of the NY/NJ Port Authority? If you aren't going to put all of the money back into the roads and want to invest in rail, why don't you put rail where it will take traffic off of the toll roads. As it is now, anyone south of Trenton would have to drive on a toll road or pay the tolls to go over to Philly so they could even get a train going north for using the new tunnel to NY.
Looking at the NJ Transit page, they aren't even studying plans to have extended rail service south of Ocean County. I'm not saying put a train station in each town, but a regional approach could be beneficial in the long term to cut down on cars on the roads. You already have a Cherry Hill train station that goes east to Atlantic City or west to Philadelphia, but no chance to leave the car at home and go North. Part of the reason you have to keep widening the toll roads is because you don't give people another option besides using them. I don't think anyone is surprised by the toll increases, but the process we have all been subject to has been absolutely pathetic.
The Baltimore Sun doesn't seem to be a fan of the NJ Turnpike rest stops giving us these deep thoughts...
You wonder what someone like Thomas Edison would think about having a rest stop named after him.
This was maybe the greatest inventor in history, the man who gave us the electric lightbulb, the phonograph and 1,000 other inventions.
And now, his name is forever linked to a place where people stop to use the restrooms, talk loudly on their cell phones and cram their fat faces with Roy Rogers' burgers and Cinnabon rolls.
They go further suggesting that naming a stop after Tony Soprano might be more appropriate...
Speaking of Tony, you would have a gut as big as his if you made it a habit to eat at New Jersey Turnpike rest areas. This is where good nutrition goes to die.
I was happy to see that Eric Kleefeld -- from TPM but filling in for Andrew Sullivan -- denounced road privatization as "just a way for state governments facing tight budgets to unload an expense and get a decent cash windfall from the initial sale."
But does this make any sense?
On the other hand, if we were to experiment with road privatization, I know exactly where I'd try it. New Jersey has two separate toll roads that each run the length of the state from north to south, the Garden State Parkway and the New Jersey Turnpike. They're fairly close to each other, and would be redundant if not for the fact that the state's traffic needs are so severe.
Isn't there a big difference between ending up in Cape May or Delaware?
"I promise to discuss any ideas they come up with on their merits," Lesniak said. "Otherwise, can we all take a chill pill on a hot summer day?"
While it is pretty hot outside today, I've never heard an elected official tell another elected official to take a chill pill before. Guess there's a 1st time for everything. Something tells me this is just the start of the fun rhetoric on this issue.
Obviously I'm a bit obsessed with so-called asset monetization, but I can't resist posting another argument against it that I noticed at salon.com: Gary Kamiya's review of Cullen Murphy's "Are We Rome?". The book explores our similarities and differences with Imperial Rome in its decline. Of the major trends that contributed to Rome's collapse:
Third, Murphy cites massive privatization and its attendant sins, corruption, the loss of faith in government and the degradation of civil society. To my mind, this is the most original and compelling part of his book. "Rome had trouble maintaining a distinction between public and private responsibilities -- and between public and private resources," Murphy writes. When this happens, "central government becomes impossible to steer. It took a long time to happen, but the fraying connection between imperial will and concrete action is a big part of What Went Wrong in ancient Rome." Similarly, "America has in recent years embarked on a privatization binge like no other in its history, putting into private hands all manner of activities once thought to be public tasks." Murphy says that "the privatization of power isn't a phenomenon of the margins, a footnote to history -- it's a central dynamic of American public life."
The result, he argues, is not only corruption, the what's-in-it-for-me mentality epitomized by the sleazy likes of Jack Abramoff, but loss of government's "management capacity." In part this is because private contractors don't answer to the same laws and regulations that government ones do; in part it's because government itself is simply vanishing. The loss of efficiency and command and control is bad, but still worse are the intangible ramifications of privatization: "the loss of civic engagement and loyalty across the board is a very real threat." Murphy declines to explicitly single out the Bush administration, and in a larger sense the small-government ideology of the Republican Party, as largely responsible for this trend. But that does not alter the fact that his book is a blistering implicit refutation of the GOP's anti-government ethos, and the still more degraded crony capitalism practiced by Bush.
There's no reason to privatization ("asset monetize") the highways. The governor has basically admitted it's just a scheme to raise tolls. But I think it is true that we pay a price in our culture for the glamorization of privatization. Why should we contribute to it in New Jersey so that the Governor can pretend he's not raising taxes? Or perhaps I should just quote one of Murphy's suggestions to revitalize America:
"stop treating government as a necessary evil, and instead rely on it proudly for the big things it can do well ... The Social Security check every month, the safe drugs and highways, the guaranteed student loans, the heath-care safety net in old age, the sandbags when the rivers flood -- their inherent benefits aside, these things promote a sense of common alliance and mutual obligation that dwarf narrow considerations of 'efficiency.'"
Fairleigh Dickinson University's PublicMind poll of 611 randomly selected voters statewide was conducted from January 2 through January 7 and has a margin of error of +/- 4 percentage points.
51% think the state is "on the wrong track."
37% think the state is "moving in the right direction."
51% approve of the job Jon Corzine is doing.
29% disapprove of the job Corzine is doing.
45% approve of the job Frank Lautenberg is doing.
29% disapprove of the job Lautenberg is doing.
26% have "no opinion" about the job Lautenberg is doing.
58% say the sales tax increase affected them "just a little" or "not at all."
However, party identification colors voters' assessment of the increase: while just 31% of Democrats say the sales tax hike has made "some" or "a great deal" of difference to them personally, nearly half of Republicans (47%) say the increase has made "some" or "a great deal" of difference. Responses do not vary by income level despite that the sales tax is considered a regressive tax, taking a bigger bite from low income households than from high income earners.
54% think leasing the N.J. Turnpike is a "bad idea"
Let's talk about the Gov's plan to introduce pump-your-own.
It's all over the papersthismorning- Corzine wants a three-month pilot program for the Turnpike for pumping our own gas, to see if it will really save us 5-6 cents a gallon.
The governor has other ideas too, including possibly lowering the speed limit back to 55 in order for us to be more efficient in our gas usage, allowing hybrids to use HOV lanes, gas card incentives for carpoolers and NJ transit rider incentives. From the Times of Trenton:
Corzine last week created the post of director of energy savings to increase energy efficiency in state operations. In a symbolic move, he plans to trade the state-owned SUV he is chauffeured around in for a more fuel-efficient vehicle after working through security concerns with the state police, he said.
"We're serious about trying to hold down consumption. The nation's going to have to do it. New Jersey has to do it, and we are going to have to do this as individuals," he said.
Wow, personal responsibility and reduction of consumption. Wouldn't that be great? But I digress...
The State Senate Budget and Appropriations Committee started picking through the Medicaid budget yesterday in search of savings. The Committee proposed a new office of oversight for Medicaid spending, which is currently split between the Department of Health and Senior Services and the Department of Human Services.
Governor Corzine stated yesterday that he wouldn't consider privatizing the Turnpike to assist the failing Transportation Trust Fund. He stated his current choice will be to (sigh) borrow more money and refinance the existing debtload instead. The Governor said that this would not be the only facet of his plan but nothing else has been stated yet.
Controversey is swirling around Governor Corzine's pick for state treasurer. Bradley Abelow has been accused by businessmen who say they were victims of a short-selling scheme by the Depository Trust & Clearing Corp., where Abelow was a board trustee. Abelow has stated that "lawsuits against DTCC "have been largely dismissed or withdrawn and have nothing to do with me personally or my service on the corporation board.""
Lawyers are arguing that Our Fair State's new rules for pay-to-play restrictions are confusing. At a hearing yesterday for the Election Law Enforcement Commission, Dover Twp. (Ocean) attorney Garry Mundy testified about ill-defined terms, questionable timeframes for permissable donations, and whether local ordanances supersede or enhance the state's ban, among other issues.
Acting Environmental Commissioner Lisa Jackson is requesting public hearings on safety of the Oyster Creek Nuclear Plant from the federal Nuclear Regulatory Commission. There are concerns with corrosion of liners at the site, vulnerablity to aircraft attacks, and monotoring and management of aging equipment. Excelon submitted an application for renewal of the power plant's licence last summer; if renewed in 2009, the plant will remain licenced until 2029.
U.S. Education Secretary Margaret Spellings makes her first visit to Our Fair State today. She will be speaking at Fairleigh Dickinson University then visiting the acclaimed Robert Treat Academy Charter School in Newark. She is not expected to visit any public schools where Children have been Left Behind.
NJ Transit is reviewing just how many people will use a proposed Monmouth-Ocean-Middlesex rail line. Let's hope they have better luck predicting ridership there than they did on the RiverLine.
The Star-Ledger editorial weighs in on the port deal with UAE-owned Dubai Ports World. Bush's defense of his position on this deal? "Trust us."
Have you heard the Sen. Menendez podcast interview? You can subscribe to BlueJersey's podcast so you never miss one!
Fourth district Democrats Madden, Mayer and Moriarty are calling on the NJ Department of Banking and Insurance to investigate the 9/11 STAR loan program.
