As the Port Authority Ponies Up $1B for Bayonne Bridge, the near future investments and surmounting budgetary crises nationwide come into focus more and more...
An update to a previous blog, Bayonne Bridge, WTC Barter a Done Deal, the forces in place to promote a healthier target for the commerce in the NJ - NY waterways see the Bayonne Bridge as the main thrust toward a revamping of the seaport, making this a stepping stone to billions of dollars in funds that will be required to fund this and subsequent projects. The reasoning is sound: competition, innovation, and jobs. At the outset, handling the Bridge capacity to make way for the Panama Canal activity that will come once THAT project is completed, sometime in 2014, is somewhat prescient, though not very newsworthy for mainstream media until recently.
Planning for this monumental task has, to my recent memory, been on the books since NJ/NY had taken on the dredging issues in the harbor in the late 1990s - early 2000s, also an expensive task. A great financial concern for me is the amount of resources that will be expended on consultants, planning boards, alternate plans and the consideration of environmental impact on the region [See also: New Jersey Needs Paradigm Shift for additional information and commentary on commercial and industrial decision-making regarding government direction in policy and emphasis on programs and tax structure.).
Moving into the near future, we should see the usual infighting about what needs outweigh what capabilities, and the burden of debt New Jersey and New York, and indeed, the country as a whole, will need to incur to satisfy infrastructure requirements for the challenges that lay before us. My interest at that point will be what priorities will 'win out', as it were: current overbloated government and the desire of the taxpayer to see this burden reduced; the greening of industry and penalties those participants not able to 'keep up' will find thrust upon them; and the outcry of proponents of more of these improvements our society 'must seek now' to bring us 'into the 21st century' will fill our minds and hearts with to make us a 'more decent society'. Hmmm. Where is YOUR pique of interest in satisfying these issues?! Sure, sure, it would be nice to achieve some balance of it all, yet, think on this: if we were able to obtain a satisfactory result up until now, would we all be happy? I should think not, for it is human nature to picture oneself in a certain way, and live for that picture to be true. So, always the conflict when interacting with others, in that yours is not necessarily my picture, or movie, or art, nor mine yours.
Let us play! And fight! And be glad we are the greatest problem solvers/creators EVER.
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