This is why we can’t have nice things
The Gateway Tunnel project is considered a vital infrastructure upgrade for train service between New York and New Jersey. Credit: Amtrak
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Talking Point
Future of Gateway Tunnel depends on unlikely savior
Will Gov. Chris Christie be a hero who saved the tunnels under the Hudson? If he is, it’s only because he killed them first.
As Christie officially pledged his support Thursday to provide $1.9 billion in New Jersey funds for the Gateway Tunnel under the Hudson River, he called it a “pivotal milestone.”
Perhaps. But it takes a lot of Jersey chutzpah to call it a milestone because, seven years ago, Christie single-handedly stopped a Hudson tunnel — a project known as Access to the Region’s Core, or ARC. Saying in 2010 that the project was too expensive, and comparing it to Boston’s “Big Dig,” Christie canceled what would have been the country’s largest public works project. He needed the state’s contribution for other infrastructure projects because he refused to raise the gas tax.
But now, he’s positioning himself to be the savior, pairing with Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo to share the expense of the newly christened Gateway Tunnel effort, which will be more expensive than ARC, at a total cost of about $12.7 billion. Christie and Cuomo agreed to commit more than $5.5 billion, between both states and the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey. They’re hoping the federal government will pony up the rest.
But President Donald Trump hasn’t committed to the federal share. Perhaps he, like Christie, will finally see the light at the end of the tunnel — and become a Gateway hero, too.
Randi F. Marshall
Daily Point
LI is No. 1, but it shouldn’t be proud
President Donald Trump oftens says he is from Long Island, and that he is very fond of it.
But he and Congressional Republicans are about to crown it with a dubious national title: the absolute worst place in the United States to own a home, if the unpopular federal tax bill passes.
The final version is expected to cap the total local and state property, income and sales taxes taxpayers can deduct at $10,000. That’s brutal.
Business Insider crunched some Census and real estate data to come up with its top losers. No. 1 is Long Island, where 46.5 percent of homeowners pay more than $10,000 in property taxes alone. That’s a rate more than double third-place finisher New York City and fourth-place finisher Fairfield County, Connecticut. And it’s more than four times the percentage of homeowners whose bill is more than $10,000 in 10th place Cambridge, Massachusetts.
The bad news about the property taxes isn’t the end of it. Long Islanders will lose their state income tax deduction, which on a family earning $150,000 a year in taxable income is about $10,000 annually.
While the GOP bill was created to crush blue-state taxpayers, Republican states are not entirely spared. Houston and Austin, Texas, make Business Insider’s top 11 worst list.
Maybe New Yorkers need to stop calling Sens. Chuck Schumer and Kirsten Gillibrand and start calling Sens. Ted Cruz and John Cornyn.
Lane Filler
Bonus Point
Suffolk’s bag fee is coming
With Suffolk County’s five-cent fee on plastic and paper carryout bags set to begin Jan. 1, a task force created by county lawmakers will present on Monday the results of a survey on residents’ bag habits.
Work on the survey — which involved standing outside grocery stores, convenience stores and drugstores to monitor who was coming out with single-use plastic bags, paper bags or reusable bags — was typical.
But the workers were not. The surveyors were 85 students and 15 teachers from school districts around Suffolk. The biggest contingent was 23 students from Northport High School. Huntington, Brentwood, Smithtown and North Babylon were among other districts participating. Participation was voluntary; no credit was given.
“They were so excited to be part of it,” Citizens Campaign for the Environment executive director Adrienne Esposito told The Point.
Task force members like Esposito promise interesting results — beyond the not-too-surprising observation that men often emerge with purchases but no bag at all.
“It’s a dismally low percentage that currently are using the reusable bags,” she said, “which validates the need to inspire people with the nickel bag fee.”
Michael Dobie
