Tangled web surrounds United’s aborted Atlantic City routes

NEW YORK — Desperate to draw visitors to Atlantic City, New Jersey officials gave United Airlines more than $100,000 in incentives to fly to the seaside resort for at least a year. Then, when United abruptly canceled the money-losing routes eight months later, the officials appointed by Gov. Chris Christie decided not to enforce a contract… Read the rest of this entry »

• Tweet

Christie’s Transportation Commissioner’s inane op-ed illustrates why we went broke in the first place

By Matt Rooney | The Save Jersey Blog

The logic behind a guy seeking the GOP nomination for president appointing a former Torricelli/McGreevey bureaucrat to a critical cabinet post still eludes me, Save Jerseyans.

But here we are. We’re saddled with Jamie Fox now. And this is how he’s spending his time: advocating for a punishing increase in the one tax in New Jersey that isn’t suckily high (the gas tax) and, this past Sunday, penning a guest op-ed in theStar-Ledger claiming that New Jersey’s per-mile road maintenance isn’t nearly as expensive as claimed by gas tax hike opponents.

For starters, he complains that the study treats multiple lane highways like single-lane ones. Moreover, “New Jersey gives out nearly $330 million a year in local transportation aid to counties and municipalities. This helps local government take care of local roads without having to raise property taxes,” Commissioner Fox explains. “The Reason Foundation counts the spending we give to local government but doesn’t count all the miles of local roads that are repaired or built. Therefore, states with greater jurisdiction over local infrastructure fare better in the analysis as those centerline miles are credited to the state.”

You can find a copy of the eye-opening study here.

My #1 problem with Fox’s logic? Divide the number by the actual average number of lanes and New Jersey’s road costs are STILL the highest in the nation. By a mile. Many times over.

Read the rest of this entry>

• Tweet