Wednesday, October 27, 2010

Chris Christie killed the tunnel project!

Why did Chris Christie want to be governor of New Jersey?? The wingnuts around the country love him but WHY? This one man, this buffoon, is gonna  kill a project that has been in the works for 20 years. This tunnel project, linking NYC and NJ under the Hudson River, would have provided 6,000 immediate construction jobs and as many as 40,000 jobs after completion! This is not small potato's people!  Christie cares about NJ?? I don't get that feeling at all do you? Think about it, the largest public transit project in the nation, rejected by this asshole governor of NJ!

The long-planned project, Access to the Region's Core, was projected to cost 8.7 billion with the federal government and the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey each paying $3 billion, and New Jersey paying $2.7 billion plus any overruns.
Recent federal estimates place the total cost between $9.8 billion and $12.7 billion.  On Oct. 7, Christie said he would kill the project but then agreed to mull over the matter for two weeks after U.S. Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood flew to Trenton for a meeting.

Federal officials then laid out a number of possibilities, such as low-cost, long-term federal financing, and alternate plans that eliminated portions of the project, such as a connection that would have created a nonstop journey for riders from Bergen County. But New Jersey officials believed the more parts peeled away from the project, the less likely it would be able to achieve its goals.
So while this gov. was campaigning across the country for people like Meg Whitman(loser), things here in NJ heated up as the unemployed waited with baited breath to hear this govs decision. Sounds like he cares not a bit about his residents and their lack of employment woes....


Sen. Frank Lautenberg, a New Jersey Democrat and major tunnel supporter, said one option from the federal government would have taken New Jersey off the hook.
"The federal government presented Gov. Christie with a number of financing options that would limit and even eliminate New Jersey's responsibility to pay for cost overruns on the ARC tunnel," Mr. Lautenberg said in a statement. "The federal government demonstrated its strong commitment to building this tunnel, but it was clear from the beginning that Gov. Christie planned to kill this project no matter what." There were options to go ahead with this project that would help thousands get back to work and Buffoon man STILL said NO??

A spokesman for Mr. Christie could not be reached for a response to Mr. Lautenberg's statement.

The project became a symbol of the ideological wedge that divides the country as it tries to recover from a deep recession. Republicans have argued for spending cuts and debt reduction, while Democrats have pushed for infrastructure projects as investments in the future and to put people back to work.

Which sounds better for New Jersey today in this economic environment?? You can cut spending and reduce debt but what good is that if people aren't working and contributing to the state through their income taxes, sales taxes, etc. What happens to us then? More tax cuts for the rich because the thugs believe in trickle down economics? Another jump in our property taxes because the towns are broke and we the middle man must support our school systems because the Governor cut 800 million from the education budget? Seniors  on fixed incomes don't get their rebates this year yet still must pay their portion of school tax through their exorbitant property taxes? But because Chris Christie stopped the biggest project in the country that would have put thousands to work, we are right back to square one. The rich get richer and the poor get poorer and soon move from NJ because there is a job killing governor at the buffet table who doesn't care about us!

10 comments:

Hugh Jee From Jersey said...

Sue- I couldn't say it any better myself.

But I tried.

What did we learn from this?

(1). Chris Christie will try to put the onus on the Feds for the project's collapse, even though there are indications the Feds would have scaled back the project or found funding through other means.

(2). Chris Christie didn't really try very hard to find alternative funding for the project because it's cancellation benefits him on the national political stage since....

(3). It enhances his reputation nationally as a tax slasher/ spending cutter.

His Excellency needs explain to NJ commuters who've had fees raised and services cut and commuting times stretched to the unimaginable why this is such a good deal.

An 800 pound ego in a 300 pound body.

Sue said...

Aaaaw shucks Hugh, yours is a great post, mines just a little rant! Go read Hughs blogpost on the subject ya'll!

Will "take no prisoners" Hart said...

Two words, Sue - BIG DIG.

Sue said...

yee ha, BIG says it all..... BIG F'n Buffoon...

Ya know what, I'm not gonna stoop to the righties level. I could care less how fat Christie is. But he is a bigmouth jackass arrogant buffoon. How dare he kill this project that would put thousands to work! Why isn't the president or VP stepping up to the plate to comment about this??

The CDM said...

I think what people are going to find out is that what he did there is pretty much what the republicans/tea party candidates will do once elected and are too chicken shit to say anything about it BEFORE they get voted in.

In other words, "Elect me now and I'll screw you later".

roy blunt made a career out of it and is training his possible replacement billy long.

Hugh Jee From Jersey said...

Sue- the Prez and Veep won't comment directly because they don't want to get into a pissing war with Governor Gasbag. He'd just go on Fox (where he's got a safe haven) and respond to the soft ball questions and paint Obama as the leader of a failed bureaucracy. He tried to do that after the Race To The Top $400 million fiasco until he was exposed by his Secretary of Education, Brett Schundler, who Christie promptly threw under the bus.

It's interesting.....certain wedge topics on this blog get a zillion comments, yet this one, which could impact the economic recovery of a region for decades, gets so little buzz.

I guess we deserve it....like Archie Bunker once said to Meathead, "Everybody hates Jersey but somebody's gotta live there!".

That's you and me, kid.

Hugh Jee From Jersey said...

An update.........

This from the editorial board of THE STAR-LEDGER, New Jersey's largest daily newspaper...Christie To Tunnel Commuters; Drop Dead.

A headline reminiscent of one from the New York Daily News in 1976 when NYC Mayor Abe Beam asked President Ford for a loan guarantee to keep the city from defaulting. Ford said no, News wrote "Ford to NY- DROP DEAD". Months later, Jimmy Carter elected President.

Sue said...

Will, Look what I found in one of the comments from Hughs link,

Star-Ledger Editorial Board, have you learned nothing from the "Big Dig"? These projects always go over budget.

This is just the second time I see the phrase big dig. Sorry I'm a little slow and didn't know what you meant in your comment. I thought you were talking about the buffoons weight!

Sue said...

Hugh I'm really surprised at how little support this tunnel is getting from the comments on that article.

Hugh Jee From Jersey said...

Sue- it's not a hot button issue because nobody got spat on, shouted down, stomped on, cursed out, or dissed.

It only has to do with the economic recovery and strengthening the infrastructure of the economic center of the West.....no big deal.

Only you, me, The Star-Ledger, and Ed Schultz give a damn about this, I guess.