Dear Editor:
Almost exactly one year ago, Governor Chris “Job Killer” Christie pulled the plug on the $8.7 billion ARC train tunnel project to connect New Jersey to Manhattan. In one brief announcement, he eviscerated 20 years of planning for critical infrastructure investment desperately needed to spur economic growth in New Jersey. New Jersey’s 9.4 percent unemployment rate is the worst in the Northeast.
In addition to the hundreds of working men and women made jobless now by his short-sighted decision, the thousands of good-paying jobs this project would have created have now evaporated at a time of a national, and local, employment crisis. And the Governor’s exaggerated claims of cost overruns – the rationale used to kill the project – would have been far eclipsed by the tens or hundreds of billions of dollars of economic activity spurred by increased rail connections to New York City.
The Governor’s action is a textbook example of how the traditional, optimistic American “can do” spirit has been replaced by an irrational Republican “can’t do” nihilism that threatens not only our economic future but, in undermining the middle class, tears at the very fabric of our democracy.
By contrast, and at exactly the same time, we saw Chile’s “can do” spirit in action as their government bored a tunnel to rescue coal miners trapped a half-mile underground. Also, last October 15, the front-page photograph on the New York Times showed the final boring of the 35-mile-long Gotthard Tunnel in Switzerland, the longest train tunnel in the world. It will cut transit time between northern and southern Europe in half, spurring economic growth for decade’s to come.
Locally, others have stepped into the leadership vacuum created by the Governor. New York Mayor Mike Bloomberg proposed extending the No. 7 subway tunnel to New Jersey as a possible solution. New Jersey’s two Democratic Senators Robert Menendez and Frank Lautenberg have been working diligently with the Obama administration to see if the tunnel project can be reconfigured and restarted under Amtrak’s leadership.
Economic growth does not happen in a vacuum. It requires investment. When the private sector is unable to make the necessary investments, government must step in, especially where the benefits to the public good are considerable.
Governor Christie made the right decision not to run for the Republican nomination for President. In our current employment crisis, our nation needs someone with a proven track record of creating jobs, not annihilating them. In the coming election, I urge Hobokenites to vote for “can do” Democrats to get our state and our nation back on course for a brighter future.
Sincerely,
James A. Castiglione,
Hoboken Democratic Committeeman,
Ward 6, District 1