The Bronx Burns with Activism:

by Bill Hohlfeld

Fred LeMoine, Local 46 Business Agent

Last night, in the auditorium of Our Lady of Refuge School, in the Kingsbridge section of the Bronx, the clergy representing several local churches and faith based groups, neighborhood residents and community organizers, came together with union representatives from RWDSU, 32B&J, Local 608 of the Carpenters, and of course, Local 46 Metallic Lathers to put pressure on NYC elected officials to ensure that the development project at the Kingsbridge Armory in the Bronx, is of maximum benefit to the NYC citizens and taxpayers who live there. The event was aptly titled: Rally for Responsible Development, and its chosen slogan was: Good Jobs – Strong Communities.

The meeting was brought to order and the seriousness of both the subject and the moment was made evident by one of the local pastor’s fervent opening prayer ”to the Almighty God of justice” that her community might be empowered. Make no mistake about it. A little divine empowerment will come in handy when a Bronx community is up against a multi-billion dollar Corporate developer like Related, who, after receiving city and state subsidies that allowed them to purchase a property estimated to be worth 20 million dollars for a much reduced price of 5 million dollars, plans to install yet another “big box” store in the space.

That type of development provides no real benefit to the community because operations of that nature typically employ people at low (non-union) wages in part-time jobs with no medical benefits. In the Kingsbridge scenario, the picture becomes even bleaker as such a retail model would virtually destroy the two neighborhood Associated Stores and possibly the seven other smaller supermarkets in the surrounding areas that manage to employ over 450 local residents with living wage jobs. And living wage jobs are very much on the minds of members of a community that is currently trying to cope with an 18% unemployment rate, a rate that is roughly double the national average.

Another chief concern among the community residents is the usage of the nonretail space being developed. At present, only 3% of the 875,000 square feet is being allocated for community usage. That’s totally unacceptable to the young people from SUBA (Bruthas and Sistas United). Don’t be misled by the hip-hop choice of spelling. These kids are bright, articulate and focused on the future and the path they need to take to insure that future. They know that the library needs to be developed, a minimum of another 2000 school seats need to be provided, recreational facilities made available and a general attitude of investment in our city’s youth be taken. Their voices did not fall on deaf ears.

NYC Controller, and candidate for mayor, Bill Thompson has pledged his
unbridled support for the Kingsbridge Armory Redevelopment Alliance (KARA) and all its aims, bar none. City councilman Koppell has pledged 100% commitment to the residents right to organize the workplace as well as to hammer out a palatable community benefits agreement with Related. And last, but certainly not least, the indefatigable Assemblyman Jose Rivera, one time union carpenter and one time ILWGU member pledges his support in the “fight for the right to be union.” In NYC politics, this might be as close to divine empowerment as one gets.

An interesting footnote to the story is that the NYC Union Building Trades have been “good” on this project for well over a year now. Yet, that hasn’t stopped or even slowed down their efforts to guarantee that all the stakeholders receive their fair share. The Building Trades were keenly aware in this case, that to simply insure that the project was to be “union built” and walk away, was simply not good enough. There is a revitalization in the belief that only through true solidarity can working people ever achieve the economic justice they want and deserve.

State slow to spend stimulus cash

Billions of dollars remain untouched for education, energy, criminal justice

by Michael Hill

Even as New York rushes to spend hundreds of millions of dollars in federal stimulus money for roads and bridges, billions more awarded for education, energy conservation and criminal justice remain untouched, according to federal officials.

A recent report from the U.S. Government Accountability Office identified more than $3 billion awarded to New York but unspent at the end of June.

The pace of stimulus spending has come under more scrutiny lately as Republicans in Washington ratchet up criticism of the Obama administration’s job-creation plan. With $60.4 billion paid out from the $174.9 billion in stimulus finds made available so far nationally, some critics claim the money is being spent too slowly.

But officials in Gov. David Paterson’s administration said it simply takes longer to ramp up spending in some areas, given the need to bolster transparency and long-term benefits. In at least one case, they say they had not been cleared to spend the money. Administration officials say the spending is on target.

New York has spent about $700 million in stimulus funds so far on transportation infrastructure projects and drawn about $2.6 billion in extra Medicaid money.

Yet the state hadn’t spent a dime from some pots of money by the end of June. None of the $2.02 billion in State Fiscal Stabilization Funds awarded so far by federal education officials to help minimize or avoid reductions in education and other public services had been spent, according to the GAO. Another $862.5 million for disadvantaged and disabled students also hadn’t been touched, according to the federal report.

Paterson administration officials say they are still getting guidance from the federal government on proper, transparent ways to spend the SFSF money.

The GAO report said New York expects to distribute more than a third of the expected $3 billion in SFSF funds before the end of this fiscal year to help save programs and jobs at public schools and two-year colleges.

Paterson administration officials say other unspent money, including $395 million in weatherization funding, will be tapped shortly.

City Jobless Rate Reaches 9.5 Percent, Matching National Figure

by Patrick McGeehan

Throughout the recession, New York City has appeared to be holding up better than the rest of the country. But by one important measure — the official unemployment rate — that is no longer true.

In June, the city’s unemployment rate jumped to 9.5 percent, matching the national rate and suggesting that the city’s economy is still weakening a year and a half after the national recession began. The rate of joblessness in the city had not been as high in almost 12 years.

In May, it was 8.9 percent, significantly lower than the national rate of 9.4 percent for that month.

More than 380,000 people in the city were unable to find work last month, an increase of about 170,000 from a year before, according to data released by the State Department of Labor on Thursday. The last time so many city residents were unemployed was in the early 1990s, in the wake of the long, deep recession after the 1987 stock market crash, said James Brown, a Labor Department economist.

The city’s unemployment rate was higher in 1997 than it is now, he said, but the overall job market was stronger then. Mr. Brown said that mounting job losses in financial services and other professional fields “suggest that the city’s economy will remain weak for the immediate future.”

He said hiring was weak in June in construction and retailing, but it continued to rebound in leisure and hospitality businesses, in part because those have been attracting tourists by discounting heavily.

Statewide, 854,000 people were unemployed in June, the highest number in the state since the department began keeping records 33 years ago. The state has now lost 235,900 jobs in the private sector since August, more than half of the 400,000 jobs that were added during the expansion that preceded this recession, said M. Patricia Smith, the state’s labor commissioner.

The state’s unemployment rate remained below the national rate, but jumped to 8.7 percent in June from 8.2 percent in May. The Labor Department adjusts the rates for seasonal fluctuations.

As usual, the recession is taking its greatest toll on less educated workers who were earning lower wages, Ms. Smith said at a news conference in Manhattan, where she and other officials announced $12.7 million in grants to train low-income workers for jobs in energy-saving construction techniques and health care.

“Nearly half of all unemployed New Yorkers were earning less than $23,000,” Ms. Smith said.

One trainee, Derek Wyatt, a single father from Harlem, exemplifies how tenuous the grip on a better-paying job can be. Mr. Wyatt, 31, said he had been earning high wages selling cars at a Dodge dealership in Brooklyn until it closed last fall. He has spent this year learning how to weatherize buildings through a state-funded Career Pathways program. Now, while waiting for his first construction job, he is making $10 an hour as a customer service representative at the Chelsea Piers recreational complex in Manhattan, he said.

“You have to just cut back on your lifestyle,” Mr. Wyatt said.

Rising unemployment is continuing to put a strain on the state’s unemployment insurance trust fund, which Ms. Smith described as “broke.” She said the state expected to borrow about $3 billion from the federal government this year to pay unemployment benefits, which have repeatedly been extended as the recession has worn on.

The rise in New York’s unemployment rate in June prompted an additional extension of seven weeks of benefits for the long-term unemployed. Standard benefits last for 26 weeks, but New Yorkers can now collect for as long as 79 weeks.

While the number of new claims for unemployment benefits has been falling nationally in recent weeks, it has risen sharply in New York in each of the last two weeks. More people filed new claims for unemployment benefits in New York last week than in any other state except California, according to data released on Thursday by the federal Department of Labor.

NOW IS THE TIME FOR ALBANY TO STEP UP ON HEALTH CARE REFORM.

Help young people,19-29 years of age, get access to health insurance.

Call your Senators now: (518) 455-2800

Assembly A 8401 Senate 5469: Summary and Information

The political paralysis has ended. And the Senators are back to work.

They should take action right now to help young people get access to good health insurance. There is no need to wait. The Assembly has passed A8401, sponsored by Assemblyman Joseph Morelle. And, the same bill is pending in the Senate, S5469 (Breslin). This law will offer lower cost insurance to qualified young persons, and preserve New York’s landmark community rating system.

On October 2008, BALCONY, AMERICAN CANCER SOCIETY, DEMOS, FREELANCERS UNION and NYU WAGNER ALUMNI ASSOCIATION held a special forum on the plight of uninsured New Yorkers in their 20′s — a group that includes more than 800,000 people, many of them working and/or living in New York without health insurance.

Read the complete write-up: Health Insurance

Vice President Biden Highlights Recovery Act Progress in New York

The White House

Office of the Press Secretary

Announces Release of $275 Million in Unemployment Insurance Modernization Incentive Funds to New York

Clifton Park, NY — In a visit to Shenendehowa High School this afternoon, Vice President Biden highlighted the many ways in which the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (ARRA) has supported Saratoga County. Vice President Biden was joined at the site by New York Governor David A. Paterson and Congressman Scott Murphy.

“I see it everywhere we go: communities being rebuilt, factories being reopened, workers rehired — teachers in their classrooms, cops on the streets, families better able to live a quality life,” said Vice President Biden. “With the Recovery Act, Saratoga County and America are reclaiming our proud past — and, while we’re at it, creating a better future.”

So far, $16 billion in Recovery Act funds have been obligated to New York State, including $2 billion for education, $700 million for transportation and many projects in other categories. These investments are already lifting up Saratoga County by funding new bridges, building low-income housing for seniors, strengthening its criminal justice system and contributing to many other local goals.

“Thanks to President Obama, Vice President Biden and the entire New York State Congressional Delegation, we have been able to utilize significant economic recovery funding for the rehabilitation of numerous roads and bridges that otherwise may not have received immediate improvements to enhancing our energy independence, expanding our educational opportunities and improving affordable health care for New Yorkers,” said Governor Paterson. “In so doing, we have succeeded in both creating and maintaining jobs in Saratoga County and across the entire state and in moving New York’s economy toward recovery.”

In addition, Vice President Biden today announced that the U.S. Department of Labor has certified for release $275,161,405 in unemployment insurance (UI) modernization incentive funds to the state of New York. New York qualified for these funds available under the ARRA by making it easier for unemployed workers seeking part-time work and those unemployed for family reasons to be eligible for benefits. The New York Department of Labor can use the funds to pay unemployment benefits or, if appropriated by the legislature, for administering its unemployment insurance program or delivering employment services.

“The over $200 million of recovery funding that has come into the 20th District is injecting much-needed capital into our local economy while improving the quality of our health care, our schools and our aging infrastructure,” said Congressman Scott Murphy. “By improving our roads, bridges and water infrastructure, we are not only creating jobs in the short term, but building a base upon which we can attract businesses to our area and foster long-term economic growth. I am proud to welcome Vice President Biden to the 20th District and look forward to working with him to continue to implement recovery funds to turn our economy around.”

Overall, the Recovery Act is touching upon all aspects of New Yorkers’ lives, from health care and transportation to education and job creation. Taken together, these improvements mean a more competitive Saratoga County that will attract businesses, families and jobs.

Across the country, $174 billion of the Recovery Act have been committed in its first 130 days, including $43 billion in tax cuts. One third of the act’s total funding is devoted to tax cuts for 95% of Americans. The act is also on pace to save or create 750,000 jobs in its first 200 days, or more than 3,000 jobs per day.

For additional information on the Recovery Act, including breakdowns by category, state and agency, please visit http://www.recovery.gov.

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Biden: Recovery Act Progress

When the Good Pensions Go Away

Tom Mackell’s book brings one stop shopping for the American worker to understand the jeopardy of their place in the wealth structure of America today and how each of them got rolled there.

In a book that should be required reading by every worker, from those raking leaves or pushing a broom up through even low to middle management, Mackell explains the history of how workers have been manipulated and looted by those at the top who could; while those who should have been watch dogs looked the other way or took advantage.

This book is also very much about an assault on the dignity of workers in the United States. Men and women who have worked the American dream and find themselves at the end with too little in retirement of both pension money and health insurance to get by may turn out to be the greater part of us. I do not think even Tom, while writing this book, expected the results of history to hit home as quickly as it did in the fall of 2008 when Wall Street imploded.

His book could not be timelier. Everyone who works needs to understand what is in this book if for no other reason than to protect their 401K investments not to mention protect themselves for the future.

Written in laymen’s terms that bluntly explain what we as workers know and do not know; we are educated as to what now may be required of us and our leaders in order to improve our future. Tom Mackell provides in his book a call to action. This is an opening salvo to a discussion that needs to be informed by workers new into the work force all the way to men and women who are already retirees. (Well, maybe not retirees now, so much as legacies?) Each of us who plan to grow old in this 21st century need to work to assure ourselves that we can do so with dignity, and I believe Tom Mackell’s call to action is a strong first step in that direction.

I strongly recommend this book to anyone and everyone. Further, I think it should be required reading for high school seniors whether college bound or entering straight into the Labor Market.

Pension Costs for Local Governments May Triple

By Danny Hakim

Local governments in New York State face an unprecedented increase in pension costs that will force them to triple their contributions to the state pension system over the next six years, according to an analysis prepared by the comptroller’s office.

By 2015, pension costs borne by local governments upstate, on Long Island and in New York City’s suburbs will exceed $8 billion a year, compared with $2.6 billion last year, under the analysis, which was circulated to legislative and county leaders and obtained by The New York Times this month.

The analysis predicts that counties will have to contribute an amount equal to nearly one-third of their civilian payrolls to the state pension system and more than 40 percent of their payrolls for police and fire departments.

County leaders fear that the soaring contributions will put heavy pressure on their budgets as they struggle to keep up with retirement promises made in times of prosperity.

And there is no clear strategy to mitigate the damage, as Gov. David A. Paterson and Comptroller Thomas P. DiNapoli have clashed over plans to provide even modest pension relief.

“It’s alarming, eye-popping and unthinkable,” said Stephen J. Acquario, executive director of the New York State Association of Counties. “To manage that liability in the face of this deep decline in government revenues is going to be a challenge,” he said. “Where is this money going to come from?”

A less sharp rate of increase has been forecast for New York City, which has its own pension system, but only because it is more poorly funded than the state pension fund and already requires steeper contributions. Still, Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg suggested in January that the city could face a 50 percent increase in contributions over the next six years, potentially rising to about $9 billion from $6 billion.

Much depends, of course, on how the financial markets perform: The state’s pension fund was $109.9 billion at the end of March and $153.9 billion a year earlier. It lost $44 billion in the fiscal year that ended on March 31. The loss represents 26.3 percent when considering the sharp downturn in the stock market, but does not reflect the contributions and payouts into and out of the pension system last year.

Mr. DiNapoli’s office cautioned that the figures it circulated represented only one possible chain of events, and depend in part on a healthy stock market recovery in the first half of the next decade.

The analysis envisions a market rebound similar to the one after the crash of 1987, with a return of 1.5 percent in the current fiscal year, annual returns in excess of 13 percent in the next two years and more than 10 percent in the succeeding three years.

According to the analysis, pension contribution rates for civilian employees in local governments will soar to 30.3 percent by 2015, from 7.4 percent of payroll this year. Contributions to police and fire department retirement plans are expected to increase to 41.1 percent in 2015 from 15.1 percent this year.

“It is staggering,” said Peter Baynes, executive director of the New York Conference of Mayors. “The only way they’re going to deal with it is through property taxes and reductions in the work force.”

If there is any silver lining, the trends appear to have somewhat curbed Albany’s appetite for extending pension enhancements to public employees to placate labor unions, which wield enormous clout and lobbying dollars in the capital.

“I’m alarmed,” said Assemblyman Peter J. Abbate Jr., a Brooklyn Democrat and the chairman of the Assembly’s Labor Committee, who is one of the capital’s more reliable union allies.

“Bluntly,” he said, “I’ve spoken to a lot of the union leaders and their lobbyists and said I don’t want to see bills that will cost the counties and the state millions of dollars.”

The governor and Mr. DiNapoli have wrestled over strategies to address the pension burdens. Mr. DiNapoli has proposed allowing local governments to amortize their payments: They would essentially borrow from the state to ease their payments now, and make interest payments later.

Mr. DiNapoli said his plan would “clearly mitigate the impact of rising rates on the state, local governments and taxpayers.”

But the governor, as well as local officials, have criticized it. Mr. Paterson said in May that increased pension contributions would have “a devastating impact on already overburdened local property tax payers,” adding, “the comptroller’s proposal does nothing to mitigate these additional burdens.”

Mr. Acquario agreed, saying the idea of borrowing from the state was “like buying groceries on a credit card.”

The governor has proposed limiting the pensions offered to new state workers, an idea embraced by many fiscal watchdogs. But he was working on revisions to the bill and failed to present it to the Assembly before the end of its legislative session last month, which halted action on the measure.

Pension woes are only one financial burden facing New York. This year, the governor and state lawmakers relied on federal stimulus payments and a two-year tax increase on the wealthy to balance the budget in the short term, but left large deficits in the succeeding years. Wall Street, the state’s main financial engine, has been severely weakened, and tax revenues across the board have fallen sharply and even more steeply than anticipated. Then there is the stalemate in the State Senate, which has paralyzed capital business.

For all states, sustaining traditional pensions could be difficult. “We’ve promised more than we can deliver,” said Zvi Bodie, a pension expert and a professor of finance at the Boston University School of Management. “Going forward, we’re going to have to promise less.”

Gillibrand Pushes Manufacturing Boost

by Blake Jones

Citing long-term losses in manufacturing jobs, Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand, D-N.Y., announced a number of initiatives Tuesday that she believes will help the industry during the recession.

Gillibrand and Sen. Sherrod Brown, D-Ohio, plan to introduce legislation this week to extend loans to manufacturers who want to invest in clean technology improvements.

The Investments for Manufacturing Progress and Clean Technology Act would create a $30 billion revolving loan fund to assist small- and medium-sized businesses in the transition to clean energy production and to get new businesses off the ground.

Gillibrand said the majority of the state has been “crippled” by manufacturing job losses this decade. Her office reported more than 2,000 manufacturing jobs were lost from 2001 to 2008 in Washington and Saratoga counties; Warren County, however, gained 247 jobs during that period, likely due to growth in the medical device industry.

Gillibrand promoted manufacturing jobs as a vital part of the state’s labor market and said that, while the numbers have shrunk, there is a future for in high-tech, biotech, green technology and military products.

“Some of the best jobs we have in New York state are manufacturing jobs,” she said Tuesday in a conference call with reporters.

According to Gillibrand, the U.S. imports 70 percent of clean energy systems and components; she said the country needs more of those products to be manufactured domestically.

The act would also invest $1.5 billion over five years in the Manufacturing Extension Partnership, a federal-state program that provides services to small- and mid-sized manufacturers.

The Manufacturing Extension Partnership has 59 centers nationwide that currently receive about $130 million in federal funds each year; states match each federal dollar two-to-one.

The act would up the federal contribution to $1.5 billion over five years to help manufacturers diversify to clean energy markets and adopt innovative, energy-efficient manufacturing technologies.

Almost 2,400 businesses in New York have used the Manufacturing Extension Partnership’s consulting services in the last decade, 150 of which are located in Warren, Washington and Saratoga counties.

Locally, the partnership is run by the nonprofit Center for Economic Growth in Albany.

The center’s director of business development, Louise Aitcheson, said the primary goal is to help businesses with 500 or fewer workers find ways to improve their processes and increase efficiency.

With greater efficiency, she said, manufacturing capacity increases and the businesses are able to expand into new markets — in theory, at least.

“Some companies are looking for more of this type of help, but some are hunkering down,” Aitcheson said.

An executive at Specialty Silicon Products in Ballston Spa said it has benefited from the Manufacturing Extension Partnership.

The maker of laboratory consumable and rubber products has used the consulting services to improve inventory management. As a result, the company has reduced its inventory by $250,000, freeing up liquid assets, said Lisa Holleran, general manager of technology and quality.

“Our cash is not sitting on our shelves,” Holleran said.

In addition to the manufacturing act, Gillibrand has co-sponsored health care legislation that allows small businesses to form insurance pools to buy coverage, which lowers the cost and spreads out the risk. The Small Business Health Options Program Act also provides tax credits to small businesses and the self-employed.

Gillibrand is also co-sponsoring a bill to increase the Short Line Railroad Rehabilitation Tax Credit from $3,500 to $4,500 and extend the tax credits through 2013. She said rail allows manufacturers to move goods using a cleaner form of transportation, and the credits encourage investment in the rail infrastructure.

Landmarks Panel Approves Luxury Condo Plan for St. Vincent’s Site

by Glenn Collins

After nearly 19 months of controversy and intermittently turbulent public hearings, the New York City Landmarks Preservation Commission voted Tuesday to approve a luxury condominium tower that is the financial linchpin of a two-tower, $1.63 billion reconstruction proposal by St. Vincent’s Hospital Manhattan that would modernize its facilities in the Greenwich Village Historic District.

After months of objections by commissioners, the 9-to-1 vote — in the ninth public hearing on the project — endorsed a 203-foot-tall, 16-story residential building that would occupy the east side of Seventh Avenue, between West 11th and West 12th Streets, in the historic district.

Originally, the hospital, in conjunction with the Rudin Management Company, proposed a 266-foot-tall condominium, but after repeated objections from the commissioners over its size and architectural features, the tower was whittled to 233 feet last year and to 218 feet in June, and is now an additional 15 feet shorter.

The tally effectively gave the approval of the landmarks commission to the entire St. Vincent’s proposal, since the commissioners already voted, 8 to 3, in March to permit the hospital to build an $830 million, 286-foot-tall medical building, after St. Vincent’s had originally proposed a 329-foot tower. It subsequently suggested a 299-foot-tall redesign, but requests and criticism from the commissioners in December spurred a shrunken version.

The project still requires approval from the New York City Planning Commission and the City Council, and construction could not begin, under the most optimistic projections, until 2012.

“Without a doubt, this application has posed the most complex historic preservation issues in recent memory,” said Robert B. Tierney, the commission’s chairman. He added that the plan “now successfully meets the challenge of knitting together the old and the new.”

The developer William C. Rudin said that “the process was fair and balanced, and we’re happy we got approved.”

The hospital had said it needed some $300 million from the Rudin company to help pay for its own hospital tower. (Mr. Rudin said the exact payment had not yet been calculated.) Now, the plan has advanced over “a very significant hurdle,” said Henry J. Amoroso, president of St. Vincent Catholic Medial Centers, the entity that includes the hospital. “We’re very happy.”

Nevertheless, a coalition of New York historic preservation and community groups filed suit against the commission and the hospital in March, seeking to block the project.

And the lone dissenter on the commission, Margery H. Perlmutter, said, “I still think the Seventh Avenue building is too tall.”

Andrew Berman, executive director of the Greenwich Village Society for Historic Preservation, said after the vote that “it’s certainly not over,” since the proposal will segue to the planning commission and the City Council.

From the beginning, critics have assailed the mass and height of the proposed towers and their impact on the historic neighborhood, while the hospital’s supporters underscored the need to upgrade St. Vincent’s.

The commissioners had already voted to demolish the 44-year-old Edward and Theresa O’Toole Medical Services Building, a landmark, sawtooth-sided neighborhood monument the hospital owns on Seventh Avenue between 12th and 13th Streets, where the hospital would be built.

Last year the commission said the hospital could not tear down O’Toole, given its status in a landmark district, but the hospital reapplied and won approval under provisions that permit institutions to claim hardship as a reason to demolish old buildings if they can prove that the maintenance of structures they own interferes with their ability to carry out their charitable purpose.

Public testimony and the statements of some commissioners, like Roberta Brandes Gratz, claimed that O’Toole was “an iconic modern landmark,” as Ms. Gratz said. They argued demolishing it would set a bad precedent since the building is suitable to be used by the hospital.

The lawsuit by preservation and community groups, which is pending, claimed that the commission members failed to follow the hardship standard established by the United States Supreme Court during two previous preservation battles that saved Grand Central Terminal and that prevented St. Bartholomew’s Church from demolishing its community house to build a 59-story office tower so it could finance church programs.

Commissioners who had supported the hardship application have defended their votes, and the hospital has said that preservationist groups were seeking to prevent it from building “a modern medical facility to serve Manhattan’s West Side.”

Bridges, Roads, Tunnels & Fiber: BALCONY Breakfast Forum with Port Authority Exec. Director Chris Ward

On June 18, 2009 BALCONY, the Business and Labor Coalition of New York, staged an informative forum on the financial challenges facing New York as we attempt to fund the pressing infrastructure needs of our state and region. Chris Ward, the Executive Director of the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey, detailed the authority’s $3.3 billion capital plan, warning that key projects may be sacrificed if all available capital is allocated to the Silverstein Project at the World Trade Center site.

Read the bulletin by clicking here: Port Authority