Senator Charles Schumer proposed an Act of Congress on Monday to reform the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey, citing its secretive, politicized management fosters "outright tribalism," according to the New York Daily News.
Schumer said the Port Authority, which operates bridges, tunnels, ports and airports and owns the World Trade Center site, has become a "cookie jar" for politicians who have forgotten its core public mission: to improve transportation infrastructure that fuels economic growth in both states, the Daily News reported.
"I believe with a largely forgotten Act of Congress in 1921 we have a way to achieve just that," said Schumer, referring to the legislative compact that created the agency, according to the Daily News.
Schumer proposed a seven-point retooling of the agency and wants an executive director elected by the board, not appointed by a governor, instead of the currently shared bi-state leadership with the executive director splitting control with the agency chairman and the deputy executive director, the Daily News reported.
"You get an incoherent, tripartite management structure: one that stifles vision and long-term thinking and defies leadership," Schumer said, according to the Daily News. "It fosters poor management at best; at worst, outright tribalism."
Schumer also proposed commissioners be picked for their expertise, not their political links, adding that more transparency in finances and contracts could reduce conflicts of interest, with an at least annual review subject to public comment, the Daily News reported.
He cited $1 billion worth of repairs on the Pulaski Skyway, a four-lane bridge, at the direction of Republican New Jersey Governor Chris Christie and financed with Port Authority money, according to the Daily News.
"The Pulaski Skyway is neither owned nor in any way operated by the Port Authority," Schumer said, the Daily News reported. "It is a state road system, and its maintenance and redevelopment should be funded as such."
Schumer also blasted Christie for putting an end to a proposed trans-Hudson River tunnel that would have expanded badly needed train track capacity between New York and New Jersey, according to the Daily News.
