Our favorite activist is in the dog house today

As you are all aware, we're big fans of citizen activist Harvey Roseff here at Watchdog.  But the Watchdog tries to be fair and we will call anyone out when we see a need to do so.

Yesterday, Hoboken was the scene of a horrific mass transit accident in which a train derailed, causing the roof of the station to collapse.  100 people were injured and at least one has died. 

This tragedy comes at a time when the Transportation Trust Fund (which funds 20 percent of New Jersey's mass transportation system) is bankrupt and without money.  It also comes after civil engineering experts have issued warnings about the state of the mass transit system.

Maybe Harvey missed the news about the train crash, but today we read a wild-eyed Mr. Roseff attacking Hoboken for being on the receiving end of money to maintain the very station in which the tragedy occurred.  Let's be clear, not everyone who uses the Hoboken train station is a resident of Hoboken.  Most of those injured yesterday were not residents of Hoboken.  Hoboken is a transit point used by commuters from across Northwest New Jersey. 

All of these commuters -- thousands upon thousands of them -- have automobiles.  If you deplete the mass transit system they will not quit their jobs and stay home.  No, they will take to the roads and drive to work.  And what would that do to the traffic situation?  Would it make it better... or worse?

On top of this rather insensitive attack on Hoboken because it is a transit point in a mass transportation system many of us use and we all benefit from (if only by having less road traffic gridlock), Harvey followed up with a piece of gross misunderstanding.  Yes, Hoboken is an Abbott District.  Yes, it should not be.  It has grown rich since the State Supreme Court made its ridiculous Abbott ruling more than three decades ago.

But to blame Senator Steve Oroho and the other legislators in Sussex County for Hoboken getting Abbott funding is an out-and-out lie.   We are sorry to have to tell you that, Harvey, but it is.  Go look at the Senator's record and the records of Assemblyman Parker Space, Assemblywoman Alison Littell McHose, and Assemblyman Gary Chiusano.  You will find vote after vote against Abbott spending and legislation to specifically strip Abbott status away from cities like Hoboken.   Even newby Assemblywoman Gail Phoebus is on such a bill. 

Mr. Roseff, on this issue, you don't know what you are talking about.

Comments

[H Roseff]

The point I made has nothing to do with what is a terrible accident. It seems that sussexwatchdog.com and NJ Govt subscribes to the Rahm Emanuel theory of never letting an emergency go to waste!

The point I made was that NJ has an out of control subsidy for bloated NJ mass transit. While Senator Oroho prefers to tax Sussex County commuters, he engineered a system that keeps in place a bodacious $500,000,000 PATH train subsidy. So what we have is continued operational subsidies for mass transit, increased mass transit CapEx and some crumbs tossed for rural road maintenance.

The terrible accident in Hoboken has little to do with funding and everything to do with misguided management. Technology and tools have been available for decades to avoid what happened.

So why not end the $500,000,000 PATH train subsidy and transfer this funding to the TTF? In doing so, Sussex County commuters are spared.