The risk of investing in infrastructure in Iraq instead of New York

via Andrew Sullivan and the Daily Dish comes this frightening reality;



This map from 1993, shows percentage bridge structure deficiency per county. Red indicates at least 32% of the county's bridges are structurally deficient. Yes New York is entirely red. This is all the more relevant today in light of the bridge collapse in Minneapolis. Additionally with Rep. Vito Fossella's war in Iraq it is not a large stretch to say that we are investing daily in rebuilding the infrastructure of Iraq at the cost of neglecting the same needs here at home. We are spending upwards of $200 million a day in Iraq that could be and should be put into local communities across this country. We would not have to close fire houses because of budget cuts. We could fully fund the needs of our VA hospitals and outpatient clinics in Brooklyn and Staten Island. All this selfishly is being denied because Rep. Vito Fossella wants to make a point and give President Bush a few more years to somehow pull progress out of some magical hat of his.

This makes Rep. Vito Fossella's recent efforts to cut all funding to the Department of Transportation absolutely reprehensible. It is irresponsible of Fossella to attempt to block funds to programs such as the Department of Transportaion's Bridge Inventory Database or their efforts to get states to inspect the 750 bridges across the country with designs similar to the one in Minneapolis.

h/t to Daily Gotham

The bridge revisited; Fossella's amateur hour

The Port Authority, the agency which controls most of the bridges and tunnels into and out of New York City has recently disclosed it is looking into city-wide imlpementation of swapping out toll booths for newer EZPass technology a plan taken right out of Stephen Harrison's campaign in 2006. You may remember this as the Veranzano proposal that Fossella so adamently opposed as being harmful to Staten Island. The Port Authority, whose area of expertise is this sort of planning disagrees;

"An all-electronic toll system would be a tremendous boon to our road-transportation system, helping to smooth the choke points at bridges and tunnels, reduce traveler delays and potentially prove a benefit to regional air quality," PA Executive Director Anthony Shorris said yesterday.

The PA plans to study the feasibility of replacing the tollbooths with a combination of E-ZPass sensors and cameras that snap pictures of license plates in order to send drivers a bill. This system would also enable the PA to use "dynamic pricing" - meaning the tolls could fluctuate depending on traffic congestion in a way similar to Mayor Bloomberg's congestion-pricing proposal for Manhattan. [via NY Post]

Transportation advocates applauded the PA's proposal.

Whereas Fossella, well he just makes stuff up. via the SI Advance;

"Those who like more traffic on Staten Island, those who like more air pollution on Staten Island, will love Steve Harrison's plan," Fossella said at a press conference near the bridge.

snip

Harrison has said that if elected, he would consider bringing back the two-way toll, were the toll eliminated for congressional-district residents and a high-speed E-ZPass collection system installed.

Sadly Rep. Vito Fossella can make unfounded comments like that and have zero media scruntiny. Where were the stories that Fossella himself pushed for a similar system on the Outerbridge Crossing? Where were the stories that then Gov. Pataki praised the plan? Where is the coverage calling out Fossella for blantly making stuff up as he goes along? He said it would cause pollution and harm air quality, yet he was never required to show any proof to validate those claims, claims the Port Authority have now all but debunked. In the end Fossella's arguments are the intellectual equivalent of a 10 year old responding "I know you are, but what am I."

more posting on the toll removal plan;
The Bridge Revisited