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Hudson Rail Tunnel Killed by Christie

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To say that I am very happy that this tunnel has been killed would be an understatement.  I have been fighting against this thing for five years.  Now we need to concentrate on OUR cities.

Mark Di Ionno basically said in  his Star Ledger article “Decades of planning, spending only led to a ‘Tunnel to Nowhere‘” that transportation to NY is what made NJ great. I completely disagree with this statement. To truly be a GREAT state – we need to stop worrying about how to export our jobs out of state and instead worry about  how to get businesses into OUR cities and revitalize OUR cities. Can you imagine what the United States would be if Americans could only have “high paying” jobs in Mexico and Canada and had to go across the border every day to their jobs. That is exactly what we do in New Jersey and that is why Newark, Camden, Trenton and our other cities are in the condition they are in. I am very happy this tunnel to nowhere has finally been killed – now we can worry about OUR cities, instead of looking at the supposed promised land across the river.

I’ve been to 40 states and lived in six of them – I can not believe how backward New Jersey is – letting our own cites deteriorate before our eyes – denigrating them, while worrying about two out of state cities – New York and Philadelphia.

It was only 20 – 30 years ago where New York was a cesspool – far worse than Newark.  Rats in the streets, prostitutes on 42nd Street, t-shirt shops and XXX rated movie theatres throughout Times Square. It wasn’t through exporting their businesses that revitalized NY. It was putting their effort INTO cleaning up NY and attracting businesses back that helped New York rise again. The irony of it was that New York got fed up with everyone moving across the river to New JERSEY – the final straw was the Giants and Jets – which was a very public slap in the face to the city.

Are New Jerseyans proud of the way Camden, Newark and Trenton are? By the comments I constantly hear- I would say no they aren’t. So then why are New Jerseyans so willing to just export all our jobs over the rivers, instead of demanding from our politicians that we attract businesses and put the interests of OUR cities first. We should be worrying about transportation projects that help OUR cities. This is what New York did when it consolidated and annexed Staten Island, Brooklyn, Queens and the Bronx and built the transportation nework they have today. We need to start doing the same.

New York and Philadelphia have somehow convinced New Jerseyans that the only way NJ is anything – is with NY and Philadelphia – and that is ridiculous. New Jersey is something in spite of New York. Throughout history, they blockaded our ports which prevented industry and shipping to develop in the early history of New Jersey. They stole land from New Jersey throughout the centuries. The York and New Jersey Port Authority is  a bi-state agency in name only – they own the majority of their facilities in New Jersey – but New York gets the financial benefits. A visitor pointed out to me the one time – look at the license plates on the majority of rental cars at NEWARK Liberty International Airport – they are registered in New York, NOT New Jersey. When the Port Authority wanted to build a gleaming skyscraper – the Twin Towers in Lower Manhattan – what did NJ say? We’ll approve it as long as you restore the PATH system to export our jobs there. Our cities are struggling – and what New Jersey asks for is a way for us to get our citizens out of state and export our jobs???? There was a reason they built the Twin Towers, to revitalize lower Manhattan and we should demand the same for OUR cities

I am very happy this tunnel is dead – now let’s put New Jersey first and concentrate on getting our cities into great economic engines they should be. If we can do this – New Jerseyans will no longer have to cross the river for their jobs and New Jersey won’t have cities that bleed the state treasury. Commuters can cut their commute down by about an hour a day by getting off at Newark Penn Station to work IN Newark, instead of getting off to get the PATH – or by-passing it completely to get to NY Penn Station. New Jerseyans can stop complaining about how THEIR tax dollars go to support our failing inner city school systems.

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