It turns out that Pataki’s threat to hijack the last billion dollars of LMDC money to finance the JFK rail link may be an empty threat. A Downtown Express recap of a talk by Kevin Rampe, president of the LMDC, though, curiously, not a voting member (“I think at the end of the day, my point of view will be irrelevant”), gives a few hints of where the remaining funds might be disbursed. He alluded mostly to the impact of community opinion, which expresses a near majority interest in the link, even though the commitment to fund it is far lower (46 percent support the plan, though only 13 percent rank it first as a funding priority). As a result, the LMDC will seek seperate funding in the form of federal funds for the rail tunnel. But apparently not much in the way of concrete alternatives were offered for the billion dollars in available grant money. Likewise, no timeline for announcing the decision was provided, though the next few weeks will likely prove pivotal. Even though a number of seemingly fixed decisions have been recently presented, the equivocations of LMDC take on the air of a routine, allowing for some skepticism. But the fixity of breaking ground on the Freedom Tower, and other political acts (presidential and gubernatorial elections) will prompt more decisive action, even if it is not the most prudent. Look for a flurry of ‘final’ plans to be hyped in the run up to the July 4 ceremony.
This entry was posted in Uncategorized. Bookmark the permalink. Both comments and trackbacks are currently closed.
Run out on rails.
It turns out that Pataki’s threat to hijack the last billion dollars of LMDC money to finance the JFK rail link may be an empty threat. A Downtown Express recap of a talk by Kevin Rampe, president of the LMDC, though, curiously, not a voting member (“I think at the end of the day, my point of view will be irrelevant”), gives a few hints of where the remaining funds might be disbursed. He alluded mostly to the impact of community opinion, which expresses a near majority interest in the link, even though the commitment to fund it is far lower (46 percent support the plan, though only 13 percent rank it first as a funding priority). As a result, the LMDC will seek seperate funding in the form of federal funds for the rail tunnel. But apparently not much in the way of concrete alternatives were offered for the billion dollars in available grant money. Likewise, no timeline for announcing the decision was provided, though the next few weeks will likely prove pivotal. Even though a number of seemingly fixed decisions have been recently presented, the equivocations of LMDC take on the air of a routine, allowing for some skepticism. But the fixity of breaking ground on the Freedom Tower, and other political acts (presidential and gubernatorial elections) will prompt more decisive action, even if it is not the most prudent. Look for a flurry of ‘final’ plans to be hyped in the run up to the July 4 ceremony.