Cuomo, Christie Plan The End To Overnight PATH Service, Look To Privatize The Entire PATH System

Here's a doozy in the Port Authority "reforms" Governors in Crime Chris Christie and Andrew Cuomo have suggested rather than signing a PA reform bill that had been passed by four legislative houses in two states, 612-0:

As lawmakers and authority officials sparred over ethics reforms, one of the governors’ other recommendations, eliminating overnight service on PATH trains, came under fire from the mayors of Hoboken and Jersey City, whose rapid growth has depended on trains to Manhattan.

 

Mayor Steven M. Fulop of Jersey City said the veto’s timing suggested the governors’ move was nothing more than a “power grab.”

 

“The panel started as a way to root out corruption, not to limit mass transportation,” he said.

Christie is an enemy of both the Hoboken and Jersey City mayors.

I'm sure you wouldn't be shocked when I suggest that he's going to push for the end of overnight PATH service as a way to punish the Hoboken mayor, Dawn Zimmer, for taking him on over Bridgegate, or JC mayor Steven Fulop, who is thought to be a potential NJ governor candidate next time around and suing the PA.

But it's worse than that - it's also another neo-liberal scheme to privatize a public entity and make some money for themselves and their cronies:

A report by the Port Authority that’s supported by the governors of New York and New Jersey floats the idea of eliminating overnight PATH service and turning over the system's operation to an outside organization — public or private.

Those ideas, along with others in the 99-page report that was released Saturday night, were slammed today by Jersey City Mayor Steve Fulop, who said curtailing service on one of the region’s most vital transportation links would hurt not just his city's economy, but the state as a whole.

“I think that all too often politicians assume the public is stupid, and this is an example of that,” said Fulop, a Port Authority critic whose administration in May filed a $400 million lawsuit against it alleging owed back taxes. “The fact that you’re releasing a report in between Christmas and New Year's, the fact that there are components of it that are nothing more than a mere power grab.”

Hoboken's mayor had some fighting words for the Cuomo/Christie plan as well:

 "This irresponsible proposal is a classic example of being penny wise and dollar foolish," Zimmer said in a statement. "Shutting down overnight PATH service will cost the State of New Jersey many times the supposed savings in lost economic activity, sales tax and business tax revenues. Cities like Hoboken, Jersey City and Newark are growing because residents and businesses want good access to transportation options like the PATH. It is incomprehensible that any New Jersey official would be willing to even consider this proposal that would only hurt the State's economy."

The PATH loses a lot of money of year, but what you never hear when Christie, Cuomo or their PA cronies trot out that argument is that much of that money goes to the WTC PATH station boondoggle, which is billions over budget.

Or that there was the sweetheart deal Christie's cronies got at the Harrison train station, and of course the shenanigans Christie's cronies were playing in Hoboken.

Let's not forget Christie stole $1.8 billion of PA funds to fix the Pulaski Skyway even thought it's nowhere near any PA facility.

Oh, and the PA just put through a plan to spend $1.5 billion on extending PATH service from Newark to the Newark airport.

A commenter at NJ.com sums up the corruption and cronyism these governors are engaging in even as they threaten to cut PATH service:

They want to cut PATH but wont cut salaries, overtime, waste, corruption. How about the deal that Samson made to charge NJ Transit a $1.00 for a park and ride lot that should have been charged much more. They throw out money by spending hundreds of millions of dollars on a Harrison PATH station and billions on that thing at the WTC PATH station. After they waste billions of dollars then they say they are broke! What arrogance!! They spit in our faces and we need to protest. Remember this. We must march and protest. Call your representatives.

A direct "F--- You!" to Fulop and Zimmer from Christie and his cronies at the PA, with Cuomo helping him give the bird.

These scum are stealing billions for their own pet projects, allowing their cronies to enrich themselves off the PA kitty, then screwing the citizens of NY and NJ who rely on PATH or the PA.