Was Mr. Samson Involved in This One Too?
[Update below]
Completely un-noticed in the fine print of Governor Christie’s second round $1.4 billion Sandy Action plan is another sweetheartt deal between the Christie Administration and the Port Authority.
Once again, NJ benefits financially from a Port Authority decision.
Once again, it is not at all clear who made this decision or how it was made.
The Port Authority sustained over $2 billion in damage from Superstorm Sandy. Future actual damage costs may be considerably higher.
NJ has a State obligation to pay for some portion of the damage to Port facilities and infrastructure. It is not clear what exactly that share is (I need to do additional research and could use come help from one of those intrepid journalists out there that are putting the Port under a microscope).
But, somehow, NJ officials (who?) made a deal with the Port Authority (how and when?) for the Port Authority to pick up NJ’s State match obligations for those damages.
You can find this deal buried in the fine print of the Christie “Action Plan“, on page 2-29:
The Port Authority has estimated total damages from Superstorm Sandy to exceed approximately $2 billion, which does not include possible future latent damages. The Port Authority has also identified additional resiliency and mitigation projects. It is the State’s understanding that the Port Authority intends to satisfy its Sandy-related damage and resiliency costs through one or more of the following sources of funds: grant proceeds from the Federal Transit Administration and FEMA; proceeds from insurance; and available Port Authority capital funds, including through the issuance of its debt obligations.
At this time, the State anticipates that the Port Authority will meet its local share requirements, but the State will continue to assess and evaluate financial conditions at the agency. The State will also further consider the Port Authority’s unmet needs and cost share requirements if a third tranche of CDBG-DR funds is announced.”
So, the Port Authority will “meet [NJ’s] local share requirements”.
Not one penny of federal HUD funds to NJ will be spent on the Port Authority.
How nice.
Did the Port agree to this out of the goodness of their hearts, or were other factors involved?
Was Mr. Samson involved in this deal too?
On what basis did the State (Christie ADmin) reach this “understanding” about Port funding and on what basis is their “expectation” founded? A law? A regulation? A HUD or Port Authority policy? A PA Resolution? A contract? A prior funding document? A Port Authority Plan?
Or a phone call or email to Samson, Baroni, or Wildstein?
Readers want to know. Have at it intrepid journalists, the red meat is on the table.
[Update – just happened upon this little gem – Baroni was the point man on the issue
“No one in New Jersey or in New York or at the Port Authority has forgotten the impact of Hurricane Sandy and the lives that we lost,” Deputy Executive Director Bill Baroni told commissioners during this afternoon’s monthly board meeting. “Hurricane Sandy resulted in an estimated 2.2 billion dollars in damages and losses to our agency.” ~~~ Star Ledger, 10/16/13
Wonder why Strunsky didn’t seem to ask Baroni who was paying for all that damage. – end update