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Video Report:
Port Authority / BALCONY Forum June 18, 2009
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ROADS,
BRIDGES, TUNNELS & FIBER
BALCONY Breakfast Forum
with Port Authority
Executive 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. The impact
of the $24 billion federal stimulus on New York
infrastructure and construction and the recently
announced New York State proposal to foster the creation
of public private partnerships were debated at the forum
by government, business and labor
leaders.
BALCONY / GOTHAM RESEARCH
GROUP SURVEY
For Release June 18,
2009
In mid-May
of 2009, Gotham Research Group, at the request of
BALCONY, conducted a survey on state infrastructure with
registered voters in New York State. The first question
asked, "Should spending on rebuilding and maintaining
New York's roads, bridges, and tunnels be increased,
decreased, or kept the same?" Results indicate that
there is strong support for increasing spending on state
infrastructure among New York State voters.
The
majority of New York State voters (57%) believe that
spending on rebuilding and maintaining New York's roads,
bridges, and tunnels should be increased, while just 7%
believe that spending should be decreased. Another
third (34%) prefer that spending levels be "kept the
same." (Findings for this first question are reported in
Table 1.)
 For the
complete survey, click here: GOTHAM
~ ~ ~ ~
~
 (L to
R) Chris Levendos, Dr. James Melius, Alan Lubin, Lou
Gordon, Steve
McInnis |
 PORT
AUTHORITY CAPITAL PLAN
|
Chris Ward began the
formal program with a short description of how the Port
Authority has historically acted as a driver of regional
economic growth. The various Port Authority
capital improvement plans, including the rebuilding of
the World Trade Center downtown, will create over 20,000
jobs in 2010 and 2011. At least one quarter of
these will be for minority businesses, businesses run by
women, or small businesses acting as
sub-contractors. The $3.3 billion Port Authority
capital spending plan includes the WTC reconstruction, a
freight tunnel under the Hudson River, a new commuter
rail option for New Jersey residents working in New
York, a bus garage for the Port Authority Bus
Terminal, and the transformation of the Farley Post
Office into the newly-conceived Penn Station. Mr.
Ward emphasized his concern that the mushrooming costs
of the World Trade Center projects not be allowed to
overwhelm the other equally-as-important capital
improvement plans that the Port Authority is
undertaking.
Mr. Ward reminded the audience
that local aviation also falls under Port Authority
purview, and that the FAA had been decimated during the
eight-year administration of President George W.
Bush. While there is no federal plan for dealing
with aviation congestion, Ward described development
plans for Next Gen Now, a state-of-the-art GPS locator
for all airplane landing systems.
After pointing out that France
and Germany, once bitter rivals, are better at
coordinating transportation systems than New York and
New Jersey, Ward used the example of construction of the
George Washington Bridge to demonstrate how innovation
can trump the burdens imposed by financial
constraints. He also added that Manhattan was
facing truck traffic gridlock if this issue was not
addressed before it is too late.
|
STATE
ASSET MAXIMIZATION
COMMISSION
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Samara Barend, the
Executive Director of the State Asset Maximization (SAM)
Commission, detailed how Governor David Paterson had
created the commission to encourage public/private
partnerships so that the public sector would not be
forced to take on unacceptable risks. The Governor
and the Empire Development Corporation have the
authority to appoint members to the SAM board. Ms.
Barend also referred to a study that showed that the
State Department of Transportation would be $100 billion
short on infrastructure needs within two decades, and
ruefully observed that the $3 billion in federal
stimulus money had been besieged by over $200 billion in
New York State stimulus requests.(click here for
a video of Samara Barend's presentation)(click here to
read the complete SAM report)
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| IMPACT
OF FEDERAL STIMULUS FUNDS ON NEW
YORK |
Dr. James Melius,
president of the New York Roadway Improvement Coalition,
detailed the impact of the federal stimulus funds on New
York. He cited studies that indicated that 53% of the
bridges in New York State are in poor or fair condition
and that over 3000 spans need maintenance, numbers that
made New York rank third worst in the USA. Debt
service is consuming the state revolving fund for such
maintenance, and greater efficiency, Dr. Melius warned,
will not be sufficient to solve the problem.
Greater investment is what is required, and this will
probably mean higher taxes. He concluded by
reminding the audience that there had been no gas tax
increases, which help fund roadway and bridge repair,
maintenance and construction, in many
years.(click here for
a video of Dr. Melius' presentation) Brian Osterhout, the
Director of Business Development of M J Engineering and
Land Surveying, PC, said that the state needed to find
new ways to bridge the financial gap that now exists
between what is available and what is necessary for
sound retro-fits and infrastructure maintenance.
(click here for
a video of Brian Osterhout's
presentation) |
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CHALLENGES FACING
NEW YORK BUILDING CONSTRUCTION |
Robert Ledwith, the
Business Manager and Financial Secretary/Treasurer of
Local 46 Metallic Lathers and Reinforcing Ironworkers,
was the next speaker and he reiterated what others had
said about the precarious situation of the middle
class. "We could become a Third World nation in a
generation or two unless we develop a coherent
industrial policy," Ledwith warned, citing an all-time
low in the issuance of building permits as a telling
statistic.(click here for
a video of Robert Ledwith's presentation)
 At the same time, Steve McInnis,
Political Director of the New York City District Council
of Carpenters, pointed out that over 250 construction
projects in New York City were now in distress because
of the current recession.
(click here for
a video of Steve McInnis'
presentation) |
FIBER IN NEW YORK
CITY
|
 Chris Levendos, the
Executive Director of FIOS Franchise Management of
Verizon Telecom, described the decline of voice market
share in telephony as an inevitable consequence of
technological convergence, and suggested the end-to-end
installation of fiber optic systems was the wave of the
future for the phone giant.
(click here for
a video of Chris Levendos' presentation)
 BALCONY Co-Chairmen
Bruce Ventimiglia
and Alan Lubin,
and Elly Spicer
of the New York and Vicinity Carpenters Labor Management
Corporation, were also on the panel, but confined their
remarks to introductions of the principals and to
soliciting questions from the very attentive
audience.
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FORUM
SPONSORS
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WE THANK
OUR FORUM
SPONSORS
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| THANK YOU, NEW YORK AND
VICINITY CARPENTERS LABOR MANAGEMENT CORP.
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|
This event was held
at:
New
York and Vicinity Carpenters Labor Management
Corporation
395 Hudson
Street
New York, NY
10014
Bruce Ventimiglia & Christopher
Ward
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INFORMATIONAL TABLES
PROVIDED BY
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Local 46
Metallic Lathers and Reinforcing Ironworkers Labor
Management Cooperative Trust
Autism
United
Children's
Aid Society
Greenwich
Village/Chelsea Chamber of Commerce
Everyday
Medical
Greater New
York Chamber of Commerce
IllustraDent
Professional
Women in Construction
WCBS
Newsradio 880
Women
Builders Council
Tom
Mackell
Saratoga
Capital Management
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BALCONY WELCOMES NEW
MEMBERS
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BALCONY eBook MEMBER
DIRECTORY - Published June
2009
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The latest BALCONY eBook provides a full listing
of our membership.
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