Mobilizing the Region 18
Tri-State Transportation Campaign
Mobilizing the Region
A Weekly Bulletin from the Tri-State Transportation Campaign
Number 18 February 24, 1995
*Viewpoint*
The plan to build NJ "Route 92" is irresponsible.
Governor Whitman should stop it.
The highway link that would connect the New Jersey Turnpike near
Monroe to Route 1 in Plainsboro, dubbed "NJ Route 92," will serve
no critical transportation purpose and is mainly being pushed as
welfare for the construction industry. Several weeks ago, the
commissioners of the NJ Turnpike Authority defied local sentiment
and fiscal common sense by voting unanimously to build the new 6.7
mile highway. Planning studies for the route say that tolls on the road
would raise nowhere near enough to pay for construction, estimated at
over $200 million. Governor Whitman, who can invalidate such
decisions by vetoing the minutes of Turnpike Authority meetings, has
unfortunately failed to put an early end to the commissioners' lurch
forward.
The Turnpike Authority does not possess the slightest semblance of a
plan to pay for the project. The vote in favor of it thus rates as the
most fiscally irresponsible action in the state since Governor Whitman
took office. Construction costs and debt service will stress the
Authority's finances at a time when the Administration is studying
ways to trim waste and avoid toll hikes.
The Authority vote absent a financial plan might just be
understandable for a desperately needed, popular project. But
residents, taxpayers, Route 1 motorists and businesses along Route 1,
in Plainsboro and in South Brunswick don't want this road. They
correctly point out that it will increase traffic on Rte. 1 both south
and north of the junction of Ridge Road and Route 1. It will also not
ease congestion further south on 1. Residents near the proposed
highway corridor oppose it -- and have launched a "No 92"
movement -- because it will consume open space, add noise and
blight, reduce property values and boost through truck traffic.
A series of non-road measures could ease congestion in the area, and
would in any case be better recipients of scarce funds than the new
highway link. Five years ago, a study by NJ Transit showed that
improving train shuttle service between Princeton Junction station
and Princeton Borough and other measures would serve east-west
trips in this area. Almost none of the study's recommendations have
been implemented. The train station proposed for South Brunswick
would also attract riders who otherwise use Rte. 1 and the Turnpike
on north-south trips, easing congestion on both roads. Existing
Conrail rail freight facilities around Turnpike exit 8a could be
improved and, with some imagination and initiative, become a greater
part of an area transportation solution.
Federal transportation funds are getting scarcer, a question mark
hangs over the adequacy of new Transportation Trust Fund revenues
to support the state's capital program and NJ communities are awash
in traffic. The Governor should turn her back on a highway we don't
need and can't afford.
*News*
Connecticut Governor John Rowland wants to eliminate Shore
Line East commuter rail service. Shore Line East was launched in
1990 as a means to reduce traffic backups at New Haven's I-95
Quinnipiac Bridge, and runs from New Haven east to Old Saybrook.
Average daily ridership in 1994 was 1,105. Not only does the
Governor's executive budget eliminate the service altogether, but
Rowland specifically attacked the rail service in his recent budget
address. Reportedly, the rail line has been classified a "middle class"
benefit chosen for extinction as part of a State House attempt to
spread budget pain across different sectors of the CT population.
Elimination of the train service was not a part of the CT Dept. of
Transportation budget submitted to Rowland's budget team. Shore
Line East's congestion-easing effect on I-95 has been the foundation
of a collaborative effort between environmentalists, municipal leaders
and state transportation officials to address New Haven-area
transportation problems without resorting to costly and
environmentally damaging highway construction -- collaborative
members were looking ahead to increased Shore Line East service
and higher ridership. If the Governor prevails, it will probably also
spell doom for proposed Hartford-New Haven commuter rail service.
*
New Jersey Transit's plans to expand parking facilities at stations
are facing strong opposition from local residents, and some
communities are constructively transcending old NIMBY patterns.
NJ Transit is expecting the 1996 opening of the Kearny Connection
to bring a surge in ridership on the Morris & Essex Line. The line
now brings commuters from Essex County and points west into
Hoboken, where they transfer to PATH or the ferry; the connection
will allow direct access to NYC's Penn Station. To accommodate the
new riders, Transit has proposed to build parking decks in several
towns on the line.
Residents and municipal officials in some towns are going beyond
standard objections like loss of ratables and security problems to
solve transit access and parking problems without inviting more cars
into their downtowns. In Maplewood, citizens drafted a three-page
list of strategies to improve station access without the proposed 400-
car deck, including neighborhood jitney services, a network of bike
and pedestrian paths leading to the station, and incentives for
commuters to walk to the train. On Tuesday, the Maplewood
Township Committee voted to reject Transit's deck proposal, inviting
the agency to join them in evaluating alternatives to the project.
In Summit, citizen opposition to a 600-space deck materialized
when the town council attempted to move forward with NJ Transit on
the project. A working group has now been established to recommend
other solutions to the problem. The Tri-State Campaign is contacting
other municipalities in an effort to develop a coordinated and
innovative solution to the station access problem along the entire
eastern portion of the line.
*
The MTA's NYC Transit Committee unveiled a package of
subway and bus service cuts at its Feb. 22 meeting, but did not
propose a 1995 fare increase. The cuts were adopted by the MTA
board this morning. The cuts would eliminate 11 express bus routes,
cancel plans for additional express subway service and reduce
frequency on many bus and subway lines (especially at night and on
weekends), in addition to reducing personnel and some maintenance
and cleaning functions. NYC transit officials have not proposed
service reductions of this magnitude since the fiscal crisis of the
1970s. The package presented and adopted addresses only a first
round of NYC budget cuts, not other expected reductions in City,
State and federal funding that will be felt later this year. Transit
president Alan Kiepper warned that more service cuts would be
needed to meet these shortfalls, and said that "Everything is on the
table," including a fare hike this year or early in 1996.
Giuliani Administration Deputy Mayor John Dyson, who attended
the Feb. 22 meeting, called for privatization of some transit services,
like train cleaning, and said a severance package should be instituted
to facilitate reduction in administrative staff. Labor thought the
package of personnel cuts is misdirected, pointing to the high
percentage of unionized workers targeted for layoffs in the service cut
plan -- 1,450 of 1,767. "The authority is top-heavy with vice-
presidents, assistant vice-presidents and enough lawyers to start a
firm," Damaso Seda, president of Transport Workers Union Local
100 told the Daily News.
While transit advocates agree that efficiencies can be obtained from
NYC Transit, they are skeptical that they can meet the scale of the
combined budget cuts now on the table. Advocates mobilized by the
Straphangers Campaign at the Feb. 22 meeting presented a thicket of
placards that bore Mayor Giulianis photograph and read: "Rudy's
Plan -- 1995: Slash Vital Service. 1996: Whopping Fare Hike,"
blaming Giuliani for presenting the biggest cuts and doing so in an
unplanned, reckless fashion. Straphangers Campaign's Gene
Russianoff sought to make a distinction between "reinventing
government" and "hacking away with a meat cleaver."
*
Transportation Alternatives and Tri-State Transportation Campaign
volunteers and staff members distributed leaflets at Bronx subway
stations in NY State Senator Guy Velella's district at rush hour on
Thursday, Feb. 23. The flyers informed straphangers about the
budgetary death of the MTA's monthly transit pass plan (which would
have benefited many north Bronx two-fare bus-to-subway
commuters), recently announced service cuts and the potential for
more cuts and fare increases if political leaders fail to defend transit
budgets. Constituents were instructed to contact Velella's office with
their concerns. Velella is a State Senate Republican who has moved
closer to the Senate leadership since Governor Pataki's election and
the redistribution of influence within the Senate. Some Bronx No. 6-
train riders contacted the Tri-State Campaign later in the day saying
Velella's office told them that "two fare zones were strictly a city
issue" and had referred callers to City Council member Michael
DeMarco's office. When pressed, Velella staffers told callers that the
Senator was fighting transit cuts "all the way."
*
In letters to constituents, two other NYC Republican State Senators
indicated support for transit, but failed to pledge any specific
action in the face of Mayor Giuliani's and Governor Pataki's transit
budget cuts. Senator Roy Goodman of Manhattan's Upper East Side
said he "would strongly oppose any subway or bus fare increase,"
which he called "the most regressive kind of tax on New Yorkers."
State Senator Frank Padavan of Queens called two-fare zones
"archaic and inequitable" but seemed unaware that the MTA's Fare
Deal plan had been dealt a fatal blow by budget cuts. As for a course
of action, Padavan recommended, "convey your feelings to the
Mayor so as to insure a continued commitment from him." We think
Goodman and Padavan should convey their own and their
constituents' concerns to the Mayor and Governor directly. Such
action certainly falls within an elected official's job description.
*
The February 27 edition of the NY Observer carries a lengthy article
on the dispute over the future of the Harlem River Rail Yard in the
Bronx. The article casts the issue as a fight between the Natural
Resources Defense Council (NRDC) and its support for building a
transfer station and recycling plant on the site, and the Regional Plan
Association, which wants the entire site preserved for rail freight
facility development. An NRDC spokesperson is cited asserting that
a viable market for rail freight in New York may not exist. Rail
freight backers say the metropolitan region is "the largest intermodal
[freight] market in the world."
*
Last week, Transportation Alternatives staff surveyed merchants
along Lafayette Street, site of the first new bicycle lane installed on
a Manhattan Avenue in over ten years. Of thirteen owners or
managers of establishments along the length of the lane, eleven were
supportive or enthusiastic about the lane's installation. Several said it
improved safety for pedestrians as well as cyclists, by making walkers
more aware of bicycle traffic. Some also endorsed the relatively
generous width of the lane and accompanying buffer strip, saying it
enabled deliveries/unloading to coexist with through bike traffic.
Only one merchant had a broadly negative view of the lane,
complaining primarily about tickets issued to trucks associated with
his business. NYC Dept. of Transportation inaugurated the lane last
April after several years of advocacy work by Transportation
Alternatives.
*
In a move certain to worsen traffic, New York City announced it
would spend $3 million removing old fire plugs to create 5,000 new
parking spaces in lower Manhattan and downtown Brooklyn. New
York newspapers, TV news and politicians heralded the policy as a
boon, failing to recognize that available parking is a potent traffic
generator. But citizens groups like Transportation Alternatives (T.A.)
panned the policy as further subsidization of gridlock. In a March
1994 letter to NYC Transportation Commissioner Elliot Sander, T.A.
opposed the creation of more free parking and questioned the practice
of allocating public street space to private automobile storage. T.A.
called on the NYC DOT to exercise some creativity and use street
space freed from hydrants to widen sidewalks, install bike parking or
benches, plant trees and create spaces for vendors. Demonstrating
that gridlock takes many forms, Sander has yet to reply to the eleven
month-old letter. The pro-parking crusade was led by Brooklyn City
Councilmember Ken Fisher. Although nearly 70% of households in
Fisher's district do not own or lease a car, Fisher seems to subscribe
to the time-honored NYC political tradition of trumpeting a victory
for the motoring minority as a gain for all New Yorkers.
*
Federal budget negotiations will likely kill plans to move New York
City's Penn Station into a renovated Eighth Avenue Farley post
office building. Several "Penn Station Derailed" articles have
surfaced in area newspapers each week for the last month. Thursday's
NY Newsday says an ongoing round of House Appropriations
subcommittee meetings had killed the station rehab as part of a shift
of domestic program funds to the military. The overall shape of the
federal transportation budget is murky at present. While the Clinton
Administration attempted to out-cut the Republicans by proposing to
collapse many parts of US DOT and many federal transportation
assistance programs into a few broad areas, Congress may not go
along with DOT restructuring at present. But whether that matters for
threatened transit operating and capital aid is unclear. Clinton's
budget proposed increasing highway spending (through the National
Highway System program) and cutting transit (throwing it into a
broad catch-all program). It is unlikely that Republicans will restore
Administration transit cuts, especially since it appears that very little
direct advocacy for federal spending on urban transit is taking place
in Washington.
*
A report proposing changes in the Los Angeles Metropolitan
Transportation Authority's long-range planning perspective says that
increasing the cost of driving while improving and expanding
transit is the only way to prevent the L.A. region from "strangling on
its own congestion." Despite ambitious transit promotion strategies,
more Los Angeles residents drive than ever before and worsening
traffic is predicted in the near future. Boosting transit ridership
enough to slow traffic growth will probably require increases in the
costs of driving and parking, according to the report. For a copy, call
213-244-7056 Urban Transport News
*Calendar*
Monday, Feb. 27 5:30-7pm. MTA East River Crossing Study public
meeting. 347 Madison Avenue, 5th Floor, Manhattan.
7:30-9pm Manhattan East Side Transit Study public meeting. 347
Madison, 5th Floor, Manhattan.
March 1-3. Federal Transit Administration sponsors free training course
on ISTEA-mandated Major Transportation Investment Studies, New York
City. For info, contact Linda Howe, 908-932-1700.
Thursday, March 2, Noon-2pm. NYC Transit Riders Council Bus
Forum, featuring NYC Transit Acting Vice-President Charles Monheim,
Dept. of Buses. 347 Madison Avenue, 5th Floor, Manhattan.
Friday, March 3, 8:30am - 5:00pm. NYU School of Law Colloquium:
"Beyond the Open Road: Reinventing Transportation Policy for the 21st
Century." Three of the four panel discussions will include TSTC members
as participants. NYU Law School, Vanderbilt Hall. Call 212-998-6560 to
register.
Friday, March 3, 2-5pm. American Planning Association, L.I. section:
Air Quality/Land Use Regulation Workshop. Suffolk Co. Planning
Commission, Hauppauge, NY. Call 516-822-1760.
Wednesday, March 8, Noon. NYMTC Technical Exchange Lunch.
Topic: Regional Long Range Plan. 1 World Trade Center, 82nd Floor.
Call 212-938-3390.
March 15-17 Intelligent Transportation Society of America Annual
Meeting. Washington, D.C. March 15-17, 1995. Fax 202-484-3483.
Wednesday-Thurs. April 5-6. New Jersey State Transportation
Conference. Sponsored by NJDOT, NJ Transit, Port Authority of NY and
NJ, et al. Atlantic City, NJ. Frank Reilly 201-829-8101.
Tuesday, April 18. 7:45am-3pm. Regional Plan Associations 5th
Regional Assembly. "Improving the Quality of Life in the Region." Call
RPA for registration form ($75-$95). 212-980-8530 x208.
May 24-26. Second Annual Transportation Management Conference.
SUNY Graduate Program in Transportation Management. Call for Papers
in effect now. Call 718-409-7285.
Mobilizing the Region is a weekly publication of the Tri-State Transportation
Campaign, available by fax or electronic mail. We invite submissions,
calendar items and names of additional recipients from readers. The
Campaign was formed in 1993 by 14 leading environmental and public interest
organizations dedicated to restructuring transportation policy,
infrastructure and choices to promote environmental health and
sustainability, economic efficiency and social equity in the 32-county
region in and surrounding New York City, from Trenton to Hartford. We invite
organizations that agree with the general thrust of our work to join the
Campaign as affiliates.
Staff
Janine Bauer, esq. Executive Director
Jon Orcutt, Associate Director
Sharon Soons, Administrator
Member Organizations
Connecticut Fund for the Environment
Environmental Defense Fund
Brian Ketcham Engineering
Komanoff Energy Associates
Natural Resources Defense Council
New Jersey Environmental Lobby
New Jersey Public Interest Research Group
NY Environmental Institute
NYC Environmental Justice Alliance
Regional Plan Association
Rutgers Environmental Law Clinic
Scenic Hudson
Straphangers Campaign
Transportation Alternatives
Affiliated Organizations
Citizens for Sensible Six (CT)
Citizens for Sensible Seven (CT)
Clean Air Campaign (NYC)
Coalition of NJ Cyclists
Committee for Better Transit
Empire State Passengers Association
Federated Conservationists of Westchester County
Group for the South Fork
Institute for Public Administration
League of Conservation Voters of New York
League of Women Voters of New Jersey
Marvin Reed, Mayor, NJ Borough of Princeton
Orange Environment
Permanent Citizens Advisory Committee to the MTA
Project for Public Spaces
Sierra Club Atlantic Chapter
Sunset Park Restoration (Brooklyn)
Transit Coalition of Eastern Connecticut
Walk NY
Mobilizing the Region editor: Jon Orcutt
281 Park Ave. South, 2nd Floor, New York, NY 10010
tel. (212) 777-8181 fax (212) 777-8157 email ts...@igc.apc.org
Lee Winson
Reading Co line from West Trenton to Newark/NYC via Bound Brook to take
the load of the NE Corridor, and provide addtl station opportunities.