A disagreement over a new Port Authority Bus Terminal may now be settled, after a feud between Governor Andrew Cuomo and New Jersey officials threatened to put the project on hold. But as Zack Fink explains, while there is a deal, it doesn't necessarily mean that there is peace at the agency.
After putting the brakes on their ten-year construction plan, officials at the Port Authority are now ready to move forward next month.
The big pothole in the bi-state agency's way came in the form of a $3.5 billion plan for a new Port Authority Bus Terminal in Manhattan.
That issue was tabled at the agency's meeting last week after a dispute broke out between Governor Cuomo and Port Authority Chairman John Degnan, who is from New Jersey.
"Let me be blunt," Degnan said. "I think Governnor Cuomo has it all wrong. He started off telling me the Port Authority is a New Jersey project and no New York money should be spent on it. No Port Authority money."
Following the Bridegate scandal in which appointees of New Jersey Governor Chris Christie were found guilty of misusing Port Authority assets by shutting down access lanes of the George Washington Bridge to punish a local Mayor, Christie has largely stayed away from the bi-state agency.
But Degnan is an ally of New Jersey Democrats, who are angry with Cuomo for trying to have Degnan removed as Chairman.
"Governor Cuomo has not been a good partner in the development of regional plans for the Port Authority," said Loretta Weinberg, a Democrat in the New Jersey Senate. "He has inserted himself. He's been unresponsive."
A spokesperson for Governor Cuomo says: "The Governor is responsible to the people of the state of New York, and ensuring their taxpayer dollars are protected and going towards projects that benefit them — that is his priority — not the New Jersey State Senate."
Cuomo wants Port Authority money spent on his priorities, which include revamping La Guardia Airport. Under the agreement, money will now also be in the capital construction plan for a new bus terminal, but New Jersey will cover 70 percent of the cost, New York just will take care of 30 percent.
The special Port Authority Board meeting is scheduled for Thursday, January 5. And while Degnan will stay in his position at least for now, a source says Cuomo may try to remove him in the future.