James S. Russell

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Will Cuomo Kill NY Airport Building Agency?

by James Russell on January 13, 2014 - Get free updates on posts here

Should NY State take over building airports? That’s what Gov. Andrew Cuomo proposed in his State of the State address. Congratulate him for finally realizing that the Port Authority of NY and NJ is completely dysfunctional, a money pit, and an impediment to the region’s economic vitality. However, his model is the Tappan Zee Bridge replacement project, which suffers from some the same Portlike maladies. Cuomo sponsored a terrible, budget design that is by no means guaranteed to come in cheap or on time or any better built than the existing junk bridge. And it’s not yet fully financed.

The Port Authority needs to be rebuilt from top to bottom, with everything looked at, from essentially corrupt procurement to the management revolving door, clueless approach to design, and incompetent operations. (Above: leaking roof at LaGuardia, 2011.) Its mandate needs to be drastically trimmed. Many people in power know this. Cuomo might actually get some needed cooperation from Gov. Christie of NJ, who may play nice in repairing Port Authority as a way to repair his own reputation — ruined unironically by his own (Port Authority) bridge folly.

Filed Under: Architecture

Comments

  1. Tri says

    November 22, 2014 at 3:28 am

    A little rationality lifts the quality of the debate here. Thanks for congirbutint!

    Reply
  2. Ice says

    February 11, 2015 at 12:59 am

    still car insurance quotes speakers sub

    Reply

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About James Russell

James S. Russell is an architecture critic, journalist, teacher and consultant. He's the author of the book, The Agile City, and has written for publications like Architectural Record, Bloomberg News, NY Times and more. Continue reading

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