Photos: Steve Gold

City Hall’s council chambers were packed last night with supporters of the McGinley Square East Redevelopment Plan, including throngs of construction workers lining the back wall and a handful of representatives from St. Peter’s College, who all greeted the unanimously passed plan with loud applause.

The months-long plan went through numerous revisions, including a change in development classification after an uproar about potential eminent domain use, before ultimately being passed last night.

“This gives the true sense of how Jersey City residents get together and communicate with each other,” Ward D councilman Bill Gaughan said. “It seemed doomed to failure at the beginning.”

The plan got off to an inauspicious start when letters were sent to residents and businesses located within the designated plan area alerting them to the possible use of eminent domain to acquire their property, resulting in a very vocal public backlash. The city has since said these letters were sent out erroneously, but the damage had already been done. Residents in the area and across the city coalesced over what they considered an abuse of government power. Despite the city’s verbal assurances that eminent domain was off the table, most notably by planning director Bob Cotter, it wasn’t until the plan was designated as in need of “rehabilitation” rather than “redevelopment” — a designation that eliminated the possibility of eminent domain — that the issue was settled.

Ward C Councilwoman Nidia Lopez called the process “a learning experience,” adding that it was “rewarding” that “the people of Jersey City were heard.”

Supporters who spoke at the meeting included the president of St. Peter’s College, Eugene Cornacchia, who described the area as the “historic seem holding the city together,” and that this plan “provided the revitalization it deserves. This plan is good for Jersey City.”

Patrick Keller, the president of the Hudson County Building Trades Union, said many of the construction workers in attendance “have been out for a year, two years, with loss of benefits. These are men and women who want to go back to work.”

Council President Peter Brennan added that the plan will not only provide jobs, but redevelop an area that many think could use a facelift.

“We’re creating jobs and not just on the waterfront, but also the inner city,” he said. “Now we can develop an area that needs developing.”

The developer’s proposal for the area calls for 370,000 square feet of new retail space, 230,000 square feet of new office space, five residential towers, a 150-room hotel and an entertainment center featuring a new movie theater. It would also expand McGinley Square park and create two new pedestrian-only thoroughfares, which the developer envisions as being lined with retail shops, restaurants and bars. (One would run from Tuers to Jordan Avenues in between Montgomery and Mercer Streets, and the other would run from Nevins Street to Monticello Avenue between Storms Avenue and Orchard Street.)

Assuming things go as the developer plans, this multi-phase project would break ground next August, with the bulk of the development completed by the summer or fall of 2016.

- ‘Exodus’ Program for Former Inmates: The Jersey City-based re-entry program provides a variety of daily services that includes drug counseling, job readiness training and placement; so far it has helped about 20 former prisoners.

- Light Rail Hits Kid: A Hudson-Bergen Light Rail train struck a 2-year-old child at about 5 pm yesterday near Essex and Greene streets; the child was treated at the scene and released.

- Gas Main Break: A portion of Downtown was briefly evacuated yesterday morning after a construction company ruptured a 2-inch gas main at 1st and Brunswick Streets.

- Life Without Gas: An apartment building at 422 St. Pauls Avenue has not had gas since mid-August.

Today’s Best Bets:

- Hudson County Community College’s Culinary Conference Center and Central Avenue Liquors present an Oktoberfest Beer & Food Tasting (5:30 pm), while the Iron Monkey hosts a Meet the Brewery night with Brooklyn Brewery (6 pm). Tonight also marks the launch of a new Art House season; the monthly performance/open mic event kicks off with a night featuring deaf performing artist Douglas Ridloff (8 pm).

In Statewide News:

- Some Dems Disappointed Christie Isn’t Leaving for Prez Run: While Republicans across the country were chomping at the bit for a Christie campaign, some Democrats here were quietly keeping their fingers crossed.

- State Police: The New Jersey State Police failed a “troubling” number of times to inform suspects of their Miranda rights during motor vehicle stops in early 2009, according to a report issued Wednesday by the state Attorney General’s Office.

- White House Pushes Controversial Power Line: The federal government yesterday announced a new pilot program to expedite construction of transmission projects, selecting the highly controversial Susquehanna-Roseland proposal, which cuts through the Delaware Water Gap and New Jersey Highlands, as one of seven chosen nationwide.

- Pension Savings: New Jersey property taxpayers will pay $224 million less for police and fire pensions in the current fiscal year, Gov. Christie’s office announced Wednesday.

- Labor Organizing at Newark Airport: In an effort to counter the trend of airline staff layoffs, the Service Employees International Union is launching a plan to unionize about 4,000 airport service workers at Newark Liberty International Airport.

- Small Biz: New Jersey small-business owners who are looking to sell their companies are asking a median $250,000, down from $275,000 at the same time last year, according to BizBuySell.com, an online marketplace.

- Occupy New Jersey: An Occupy Wall Street offshoot will begin protesting outside the Goldman Sachs building in Jersey City this week.

- Jersey Avenue Extension: Jersey City has applied for an $18.4 million federal grant that would fund an extension of Jersey Avenue across Mill Creek.

- Studio Tour: Dislocations has a few posts from the weekend’s Artists Studio Tour: an item on the Thomas Francis Takes His Chances show at the 4th Street Art & Music Festival, and a piece on artist Marco Runanin.

Today’s Best Bets:

- LITM hosts the opening reception for God Muse Monster, which features new works by Jersey City’s John Fathom (7 pm); and Roland Ramos and Ekalake play a free show at Lucky 7′s (8 pm).

In Statewide News:

- Verizon Labor Battle: Unions representing 45,000 Verizon workers have presented the company with their first major counterproposal to begin addressing some of the issues that have kept both parties locked in a stalemate since August.

- Charter Schools: Private and parochial schools in cities and towns with low-performing school districts soon might gain the ability to convert into public charter schools, under a bill the Legislature sent to Gov. Christie’s desk last week.

- Flooded Farms: Some of New Jersey’s best farmland has been decimated by recent floods.

- Schools Development Authority: A new report from the state auditor says efficiency may be trumping educational need at the SDA.

- Teaching Civil Rights: A new study by a prominent antidiscrimination group gives 35 states, including New Jersey, failing grades when it comes to teaching students about the civil rights movement.

Councilwoman Nidia Lopez, whose Ward C is home to the 139-year-old nonprofit hospital, said she believes there is no other option but to sell the embattled Christ to Prime Healthcare Services.

“This is the best move to keep the hospital open,” Lopez says, noting that Christ Hospital was in the red by $4 million at its fiscal year’s end in 2010 and would continue to bleed money without needed new investment in infrastructure and technology.

In an August meeting with hospital CEO Peter Kelly, Lopez says she was reassured that Christ’s mission of serving the community would not change, that there are no intentions of discontinuing services and that the needs of Charity Care patients will continue to be met.

In an open letter to the community, Kelly says Prime, which operates 14 hospitals in California, “has a proven track record of assisting institutions providing funding for much-needed improvements and developing them into self-sufficient organizations.”

But critics of Prime say any deal with the company would inevitably hurt the community and that officials should tread with more caution.

“A decision to allow Prime Healthcare to acquire a hospital would be reckless and irresponsible,” says Dave Regan, the president of SEIU-UHW, a 150,000-member healthcare workers’ union in California that is currently in a labor dispute with Prime. The union represents thousands of health care workers nationwide and has repeatedly clashed with Prime over workers’ wages and benefits.

“There is a mounting body of evidence and allegations from Prime patients, doctors, current and former healthcare staff, federal and state elected officials and media outlets indicating that this corporation’s business practices are more about bottom line than better patient care,” he says.

A series of articles by California Watch, a nonprofit journalism watchdog group, link Prime’s aggressive business strategy with a number of allegations that the company committed fraud, noting that the “hospital chain has transferred an unusually high number of patients from its emergency rooms to its hospital beds, gaining hundreds of millions of dollars by targeting people with Medicare.”

California Watch analyzed state data and combed 2,700 pages of court and public testimony, uncovering evidence that hospital officials prevented patients from seeing their own doctors at other facilities and subjected them to treatment that seemed unnecessary.

One woman interviewed by journalists described her grandmother’s stay in an emergency room at a Prime facility as analogous to being trapped in a “Twighlight Zone,” Additionally, last year California Watch reported the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services and the California Department of Justice were looking into whether Prime had admitted Medicaid Patients with higher than usual rates of certain medical conditions like malnutrition, septicemia or blood poisoning, conditions that entitle hospitals to increased reimbursement payments.

The company has also been accused of canceling hospitals’ contracts with longtime insurance providers to boost “out-of-network” revenue.

In one of several lawsuits filed against Prime, the company’s chairman and founder, Dr. Prem Reddy, a cardiologist, is accused of referring to an emergency room filled with fee-for-service patients as a “gold mine.”

In response, Prime issued a press release denying the allegations.

“It is unfortunate that California Watch continues to rely on manipulated data and unsubstantiated allegations fed by Service Employees International Union (SEIU) to publish fraudulent and defamatory statements about Prime Healthcare,” the company’s statement says. “California Watch is nothing more than a mouthpiece for SEIU in its smear campaign against Prime Healthcare.”

When JCI questioned city and hospital officials about allegations against Prime they remained mum.

Lopez says she hasn’t had much of a chance to research the company, and both the mayor’s office and Christ Hospital officials chose not to comment on the allegations against Prime. The silence comes as most observers believe Christ Hospital would be doomed for closure without a takeover by Prime or another company.

The hospital, which saw more than 11,000 admissions last year, required a $7 million state grant from the State Department of Health and Senior Services to stay afloat this year, the largest out of the ten hospitals receiving awards from a $30 million pot of funds.

And as a condition of receiving the state money, Christ and two other Hudson County hospitals, Hoboken University Medical Center and Jersey City Medical Center, had to submit to a state-mandated study by Chicago-based consulting firm Navigant, which aimed to see whether opportunities for streamlining among the three hospitals existed.

The study concluded that the combined 763 hospital beds between the three institutions represented an excess number of beds in Hudson County, and that the hospitals needed to reduce inefficiency and duplication of services.

“The low occupancy levels indicate there is substantial excess bed capacity and unnecessary duplication of services within the market area,” the report said.

But in his letter to the community, Kelly dismissed the findings, saying that “scenarios presented in this report will require resources that are just not available.”

Christ is not the first nonprofit hospital to search for a for-profit buyer. In the last two years, at least two other local nonprofit hospitals have been sold off to for-profit investors, including Meadowlands Hospital Medical Center in Secaucus – and the pending sale of Hoboken University Medical Center.

Christ’s situation is not unusual non-for-profit hospitals. Typically, non-teaching hospitals – which are smaller and less renown — are the ones that fall behind in a lagging economy.

“These hospitals don’t have a good market share and don’t have attendance — not a lot of good name physicians are at the hospitals,” says Mahmud Hassan, a business professor at Rutgers University who specializes in studying healthcare economics. “There’s a smaller revenue base and they are getting most hurt most severely.”

Kerry McKean-Kelly, a spokeswoman for the New Jersey Hospital Association, says while for-profit hospitals are not unusual in most other places around the country, they are relatively new to New Jersey. That’s because for many years New Jersey, unlike other states, operated under a all-payer rate setting system — instead of allowing hospitals to negotiate rates with insurance companies and government programs independently, the state uniformly set payment rates for all programs.

“It really wasn’t a system that invited for-profit activities,” McKean-Kelly says. “The rates were set so the hospital could barely break even.” But in 1993, the state lifted its hold on rates, opening the doorway for more for-profit companies to enter the hospital marketplace.

Even so, for-profit companies looking to make a buck are still reluctant to purchase hospitals here, according to McKean-Kelly. In many cases, investors are deterred by the fact that New Jersey is a more heavily regulated state than others, and additionally, New Jersey hospitals have slimmer operating margins than the national average.

Poor reimbursement from the state government, as well as an explosion in growth of non-hospital competitors, such as medical malls — facilities that may compete with hospitals but aren’t subject to the same regulatory requirements — have not helped the financially struggling industry.

“The last decade has been a difficult time for hospitals. We’ve had a lot of financial challenges, we’ve had a lot of hospitals close and we’ve had hospitals declare bankruptcy,” McKean-Kelly says. “It’s been quite a volatile market in the Garden State.”

And that leaves Christ Hospital in a tough spot. Uncertain of how to move forward without consolidation or cutting jobs, it is turning to Prime as its last and final hope.

Any deal Christ makes with Prime, however, would still need state approval in what’s called a “Certificate of Need” review with the Attorney General’s office and the state Health Planning Board, according to Daniel Emmer, a spokesman with the New Jersey Department of Health and Senior Services. Public hearings are also required as part of that process. Emmer says his agency has not received any notice from Christ regarding the sale.

Photo: Jon Whiten

On Wednesday I voted to change retired workers’ health benefits from the traditional plan to direct access. It was not an easy decision for the five council members who voted in favor. I understand the fears of those dedicated retirees, who worked hard and long for their benefits. I had the traditional plan myself before the state of New Jersey made me change to direct access. I worried that I could not see the doctor that had been treating me for five years, I wondered if my coverage would cost me more money.

Truth is, 94 percent of the doctors in the traditional plan are also in the direct access network. Like the state legislature, I came to understand that the traditional plan was outdated and too costly to the taxpayer. This move will save Jersey City taxpayers 3.5 million dollars a year, and with the rising cost of healthcare, probably much more as each year passes. It still gives the retirees the same level of quality care in all 50 states.

This economy has changed the world. No one has been immune from its effects, whether its been a loss of benefits, increase in costs or higher taxes. We have all had to sacrifice and deal with change. It hasn’t been easy and until we make the right choices it won’t get better. This was the hard choice because it will take away something the retirees had and replaces it with something more cost effective yet comparable in the level of care. The taxpayers of Jersey City have asked me not to raise their taxes. This 3.5 million dollar yearly savings is one of the ways to honor that request. Just one and hopefully more to come.

I have had direct access for some time now and still see my regular doctor and have my usual tests and treatments. Nothing has changed for me in this regard. I can say that now I actually pay less, since there is just a ten dollar co-pay and the deductible I used to pay under the traditional plan is gone. Finally, it should be noted that the retirees can opt to stay in their traditional plan, however, they must pay the difference in premium.

With regard to seals on cars, I have no issue with it. I hope the mayor will choose to place seals identifying all city owned cars. My no vote was based upon the law. The city of Jersey City is organized under the Faulkner Act. Under this law, the City Council can buy vehicles and other city property for the mayor to control. We have no authority to tell the mayor how to use the property itself once it’s purchased. It’s that simple.

An ordinance that tells the mayor how to use city property is not legal. It violates the Faulkner Act. As an attorney and former judge, I take the law very seriously. I have sworn an oath to obey the law as a lawyer, and as a council member. Voting yes on this ordinance would have violated that oath and perhaps subjected me to an ethics violation. It also would have been a complete waste of time, as the ordinance is unenforceable.

I don’t believe in doing things just for headlines in the local paper. I try very hard to be a part of real, effective change. This ordinance being illegal only serves to make headlines and give people a warm and fuzzy feeling. The right thing to do, as I have suggested to the mayor and this council, is to eliminate and phase out the use of these vehicles completely. The county of Hudson has already put this type of plan into work by eliminating as many cars as possible and setting a reimbursement standard for those employees that use their cars during government business. No cars equals: no gas station; no repair costs; no insurance costs and no contracts for the purchase of new cars each year. This is real change that can affect tax payers lives.

Radames “Ray” Velazquez, Jr.
Councilman At Large

At Wednesday’s council meeting, the new plan was described in broad and different strokes depending on who spoke — the service is either “just as good,” as the administration claims, or it will leave retirees with mounting medical bills and a plan not accepted by many out-of-state doctors, according to labor representatives.  

Approximately 1,700 city retirees are on the traditional plan, with 300 others already having voluntarily chosen to switch to direct access, according to business administrator Jack Kelly.

“It’s too expensive a plan for the public to foot the bill,” he said, calling direct access a “phenomenal plan” and noting that the state government had made the same move for its workers a few years ago. “If the city had not gotten out of the state’s benefit plan, the retirees wouldn’t have the traditional anyway. Like the state legislature did back in 2008, this council needs to make the decision now.”

The bill passed by a vote of 5 to 4, with Ward C councilwoman Nidia Lopez, Ward E councilman Steve Fulop, Ward F councilwoman Viola Richardson and At-Large Councilwoman Kalimah Ahmad voting against the measure. Several of those who ultimately voted in favor, including Ward B councilman David Donnelly and At-Large councilman Ray Velazquez, suggested it was one of the toughest legislative decisions they’ve ever made.

“When I took the job — and I wonder why I did sometimes — I knew it would be difficult,” Velazquez said. “We’re hitting some really difficult times and people are hurting.”

However, Velazquez, who is HIV-positive, pointed to his own experience with direct access as proof that it is not a fly-by-night, flimsy insurance plan.

“It’s no secret that I have very serious health concerns,” he said. “I’ve been in the direct access plan since the state changed our plan and nothing has changed for me. It’s been a little bit easier to deal with. This plan works. Traditional plan is costing taxpayers $3.5 million.”

But labor representatives who spoke out against the bill said the change would unfairly force unexpected costs on retirees who’ve already paid their dues to the city. Moreover, they argued that the insurance switch represented a breach of contract, and promised to take legal action against the administration.

Local 1066 Firefighters Union president Joseph Krajnik said that while he understood the difficult economy, he was angered by the administration’s lack of discussion with him and other labor leaders. 

“We don’t like being dictated to,” he said.  

This argument struck a chord with Ahmad, who suggested that the city bring the unions into the process to make it more fair.

“When you gave people your word that they’d have these benefits, why would you take them away now? Let’s table it and have some kind of collective bargaining process, let them have a say so,” she said. “Let the people be involved in process.”

After the public spoke on the bill, Richardson motioned to table the ordinance, with Fulop seconding. They argued that there were too many questions to be answered and they should revisit it in two weeks.

“It’s a complicated subject to say the least. Tabling is the prudent thing to do,” Fulop said. ”Clearly there are questions about the lawsuit which are relevant as well.”

But Kelly said that any further delay would only cost the city more money.

“Every delay costs the city $300,000 a month,” he added. ”When we’re looking to reduce the cost of government, we suggested this as a good place to start.”

Lopez joined Ahmad, Fulop and Richardson in voting to table the ordinance, but they were unable to pick up another vote to successfully postpone the bill.

“I don’t see what we’re looking to accomplish by tabling,” Ward A councilman Michael Sottolano said, noting that he too is currently enrolled in the traditional plan.

“I would not vote for something that I thought would create harm for me or my wife,” he said. ”I’m going to direct access and I hope there’s a day I don’t regret this, but this is my position at this particular time.”
 
The vote may have been toughest for Donnelly, who got a bit choked up as he referred to his own upbringing in a labor-friendly household before voting for the measure.

“I come from a union family; I’ve thought long and hard about this,” he said. ”I’m not going to be a coward today. I’ve looked at how we have to balance the budget. I have to apologize to retirees and police officers, but I have to look at the taxpayers too. … I have to do what I think is right.”

- JC Schools Damaged by Irene: Five Jersey City schools suffered water damage from Hurricane Irene, but they will open on time Wednesday, according to a district spokeswoman.

- Fugitive Was Living in JC Before Being Caught: A fugitive who was living in Jersey City was arrested in Parsippany on Wednesday and charged with producing child pornography and engaging in the sex trafficking of a minor.

- Apartment Rentals: Apartments at several high-end buildings in Jersey City, including The Monaco and 225 Grand, are going quickly, according to real estate marketers and developers.

- Gun Accessories Store Opens on Palisade Avenue: The Journal talks to the owners of the new store, First Line Tactical.

- Crime Blotter: A man with a gun and a bandanna across his face carjacked a BMW from a 29-year-old Jersey City woman Wednesday night on Lexington Avenue, and a man was mugged in McGinley Square yesterday.

In Statewide News:

- Teacher Evaluation: The state has chosen ten school districts to help pilot a new evaluation system that will, for the first time, grade New Jersey teachers half on their students’ performance in the classroom. MORE from NJ Spotlight.

- Christie & Labor: In the coming year, the governor’s relationship with public- and private-sector unions will deeply affect New Jersey’s politics and its economy.

- The Pot Economy: With New Jersey in need of an economic boost, medical marijuana advocates say the state should not overlook the lift the drug can provide when it’s expected to become legally available at the end of the year.

- Clean Air Initiatives: Only months after New Jersey pulled out of a regional initiative to curb greenhouse gas emissions, environmentalists are urging the state to remain in an 11-state effort to reduce climate-changing pollution from automobiles.

- TSA to Unveil New Body Scanners at Newark Airport: Passengers with privacy concerns may soon feel less exposed when flying out of Newark Liberty International Airport, where officials say full-body scanners modified to produce cartoon-like, cookie-cutter images will be unveiled today.

- New Member of NJ Supremes: New Jersey’s Supreme Court has a new face after attorney Anne Patterson was sworn in yesterday as its newest member.

Commuters generally assailed them as almost unconscionable in the current deep recession and being out of the reach of many working class people, including the thousands of Jersey City residents who take PATH or the Holland Tunnel into Manhattan.

They were matched by union construction workers, most decked out in bright orange shirts, plastered with the message “Port Authority = Jobs” on their backs. Virtually all those speaking for the measures asserted the construction jobs, created by the bi-state agency’s $33 billion capital plan linked to the sought increases, will keep workers steadily employed and provide financial security for their families. This, they noted, coming at a time when generally high employment plagues the area’s construction industry.

At least 200 people attended the 6 pm session, held in a rather unappealing rear maintenance garage off 13th and Provost Streets, stacked with rows of gray folding chairs.

Critics derided the site as being deliberately placed in an obscure, hard-to-find spot designed to keep away interested attendees, as well as the 6 pm evening rush-hour start time as being a bit too early for working people to make. The hearing was one of several held yesterday in PA facilities in New York and New Jersey starting at either 8 am or 6 pm. A morning hearing was held at the agency’s technical center off Erie Street.

“This is an insult to the residents of Jersey City,” At-Large City Council candidate Adela Rohena said, comparing the dreary, seemingly off-the-beaten-path meeting site to a particularly desolate stretch of South America. “I thought I was coming to Patagonia when I came here.”

The proposed hikes cover various plans affecting tolls and PATH fares, including monthly rail passes and EZ-Pass toll plans for cars and commercial vehicles. If approved, vehicle toll increments would be phased in over two stages starting next month, and continuing in 2014.

For those who take PATH, the single-ride fare would rise from $1.75 to $2.75. Car commuters using EZ-Pass for either the Holland or Lincoln Tunnel would see round-trip peak-hour tolls initially climb from $8 to $12, and from $6 to $10 off-peak. Those tolls would jump in three years, to $14 for peak-hour travel, and to $12 for off-peak.

For the estimated 25 percent of car commuters still using cash, a $3 surcharge would increase round trip tolls from $8 to $15 next month; they would see another $2 rise in 2014 — to a $17 car commute.

If the PA’s Board of Commissioners approves the plan this Friday, Gov. Chris Chritie and/or New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo can still veto it. Both have been quoted in news reports as criticizing the proposal, prompting speculation they have no chance of being implemented, at least at their present levels.

PA hearing officer Michael DePallo, reading from a press release, said: “The proposed toll and fare hikes will fully fund a $33 billion, 10-year plan which will create 167,000 jobs.”

The massive plan has numerous components including replacing the Lincoln Center helix ($1.5 billion) and replacing all 592 suspension ropes on the George Washington Bridge ($1 billion),

For PATH, DePallo said “100 percent” of the fare increase will be directed toward system improvements, including replacing 340 train cars, replacing its 100-year-old signal system, upgrading security with tunnel hardening and flood mitigation measures, and rehabilitating “the system’s aging stations, including new 10-car platforms.”

Further, DePallo contended the plan comes even after the agency implemented “the most aggressive reduction [in] headcount in the last 40 years.”

“Failure to act risks 240 critical infrastructure projects, immediate loss of 3,900 construction jobs and $438 million in 2011 investments alone,” he warned.

Yet critics lambasted the PA for trying to implement such a costly plan on very short notice. Some wondered why car and rail commuters must also bear responsibility for helping finance the building replacing the PA-owned World Trade Center (estimated at $11 billion), and raising the height of the Bayonne Bridge to clear more commercial shipping ($1 billion), rather than forcing the shipping industry to pick up most of the tab.

At least for one night, the proposed increases united Mayor Jeremiah Healy and his presumed 2013 challenger, Ward E councilman Steven Fulop. The City Council last week also unanimously adopted a resolution opposing the proposal.

Healy did not dispute the notion that many of the upgrades are needed, yet he warned the current fare and toll increase proposal would discourage business investment in Jersey City during a fragile economy, and needed to be significantly reduced in the short term.

“I am opposed to this toll and fare increase,” he said. “We’re going to be at a complete disadvantage. The attractiveness of Jersey City, and one of the great benefits we have, is access across to New York City.”

“An increase of this magnitude is going to hurt our city,” the mayor continued. “An increase of this magnitude is unprecedented.”

“First and foremost, the mayor and I completely agree,” Fulop said. “This is a regressive tax. It’s going to hurt working people in Jersey City and the entire region.”

He added, “There are other options than hurting people who use the PATH system, day in and day out, to get to work.”

Yet Steven Murphy of Jersey City, one of the numerous members of Local 325 attending last night’s hearing, insisted that many working people he knows — namely those employed in the building trades — will benefit.

“You have a lot of guys who are out of work,” he pointed out. “I’m in favor of this and I’ve also been a part-time taxicab driver in New York City for the past 25 years. This (fare/toll increase) is nothing compared to the cost of the increase in gas.”

Hector Fuentes, another local union worker in the construction business, concurred with Murphy. Further, he shared the PA’s view that the infrastructure upgrades will enhance the business climate within the municipalities the agency serves.

“I do believe this will increase the economy for everyone in the region,” said Fuentes. “You have to pay for it.”

Still, Jersey City residents Deborah Carthan and Kris Lew were outraged. Carthan branded the “nearly 50 percent” immediate jump in cash car tolls as “ridiculous,” and blasted the overall plan as unfairly impacting New Jersey residents.

“Think about how you are going impose on so many families in New Jersey,” she told DePallo. “I am opposed to this. It is very unfair.”

Lew said she was offended that the PA was “pitting one group of working people against another,” in proposing a dubious plan, and vowed: “I am not going to stand for it.”

She flashed a sign, which branded the PATH increases as “Robbery” on one side, and featured the words, “PA – Criminal-Minded” on the other.

“The increases you are proposing, to people like me, could be the difference in deciding whether we can afford to continue commuting to work or need to put food on the table,” Lew warned.

Photo: Jon Whiten

The Port Authority’s billion-dollar toll hike proposal is on a fast track through public hearings today and slated for approval by the Port Authority board Friday. But look for Gov. Chris Christie and his New York counterpart, Andrew Cuomo, to slam on the brakes.

In fact, New Jersey Democratic leaders have suggested that it is hard to regard the hastily assembled plan as anything more than an elaborate political exercise designed to elicit a storm of protest over the Port Authority’s demand for unprecedented toll and fare hikes from economically strapped commuters. That would give political cover to Govs. Christie and Cuomo to say they held the line on outrageous fare hikes by insisting on lower increases instead.

Christie’s insistence that he was shocked by the size of the increase — and that he didn’t know how big it would be until two days ahead of time when David Samson and Bill Baroni, whom he appointed as Port Authority chairman and deputy executive director, told him — was ridiculed by Democratic leaders.

When the Port Authority announced its plan to hike its $8 bridge and tunnel tolls to $12 in September and $14 in 2014 and to raise single PATH train fares from $1.75 to $2.75 on August 5, Christie and Cuomo were ready to go with a joint press release that same day, questioning the wisdom of such large increases in a recessionary economy and suggesting that all governments, including the Port Authority, needed to learn to live within their means.

What was startling was not that Republican Christie and Democratic Cuomo, who have made national reputations as cost-cutters, were ready so quickly to question a plan put together by their own appointees. The surprise was that the Port Authority seemed so unready to publicly defend it.

Bad News?

Instead of holding a major press conference with the usual array of budget data and charts, the Port Authority brass issued a three-page press release on a Friday afternoon — long considered the best day to release bad news — and essentially has gone into a bunker ever since, hiding behind a steady stream of endorsements from building trades unions and mass-transit advocates.

Christopher Ward, the Port Authority’s executive director, finally broke nine days of silence by Port Authority senior officials yesterday afternoon by issuing a written statement defending the increase as “absolutely necessary.” He said the agency had “considered lesser increases,” but concluded that a $2 toll increase in September and a second $2 increase in 2014 would not provide “reasonable assurance” that tolls would not have to be increased again in the near future.

But neither Ward nor any other Port Authority senior official has given an interview, no budget data or revenue projections have been released other than the three-page press release (this from an agency whose last budget document was 118 pages long), and Port Authority officials are unlikely to answer substantive questions about their plan at today’s public hearings, even during the online hearing scheduled for this afternoon.

In fact, it would be hard for angry motorists and PATH riders to come up with intelligent questions: The Port Authority has not laid out how it plans to spend the estimated $9.5 billion that would be raised over the next decade through the toll and fare hikes nor has it provided any long-range revenue projections.

New Capital Plan

The $9.5 billion revenue increase will be part of a new $33 billion capital plan for the years 2012 to 2021 that will be developed by the Port Authority only after the toll and fare hikes to pay for the program are approved.

Presumably, the new 10-year capital plan would be part of the 2012 Port Authority budget document, and it would be that plan that the Port Authority would present to Moody’s, the bond-rating agency that warned last winter that it would lower the Port Authority’s credit rating if it did not resolve its revenue-to-spending shortfall.

Meanwhile, all that the Port Authority is prepared to say publicly is that five projects totaling $4.5 billion are “contingent” on the toll hikes: replacement of the 75-year-old suspender cables on the George Washington Bridge ($1 billion), replacement of the Lincoln Tunnel entry helix ($1.5 billion), raising the Bayonne Bridge to accommodate deeper-draft cargo ships ($1 billion), construction of a new bus garage at the Port Authority Bus Terminal ($800 million) and new security barriers and other security upgrades at the three airports ($360 million). The PATH fare hikes, the agency said, would be dedicated entirely to PATH projects, including replacing 340 cars, upgrading security and signal systems, and adding 10-car platforms to refurbished stations.

Overall, sources said, up to 240 projects could be eliminated or scaled back if the toll hikes do not go through. But many of these projects, both large and small, were part of the original $29.5 billion 10-year capital plan for 2007 through 2016 that was scaled back to $24.5 billion in the wake of the Great Recession. Their inclusion in the press release does not answer questions raised by Christie and U.S. Sen. Bob Menendez, in particular, about Port Authority spending decisions made over the past decade.

Menendez has called for a full audit, and Christie has blamed past “mismanagement” by Port Authority officials for cost overruns at the World Trade Center, in particular.

Ward, appointed executive director of the Port Authority by former New York Gov. David Patterson, acknowledged in a recent New York Times interview that the World Trade Center will cost $3 billion more than expected, that the 1,000-per-square-foot cost is twice the average, that it will be decades before the project makes money, and that “you would never build this if you were a private developer.”

A Mystery

But the actual cost of the World Trade Center project to the Port Authority is still a public mystery. As of late yesterday afternoon, Port Authority officials were still unable to respond to a Friday question posed to spokesman Ron Marsico about how much of the projected $11 billion cost of the project would be covered by federal grants and insurance settlement funds, and how much would have to come out of Port Authority funds — and thus out of the pockets of motorists, airline passengers or ships using the port.

If Christie, U.S. Sens. Menendez, Frank Lautenberg and Assembly Transportation Committee Chairman John Wisniewski, the Middlesex County Democrat who doubles as state party chairman, have been more vocal than Cuomo in their drumbeat of criticism of the Port Authority toll and fare hikes, it is not surprising because New Jerseyans pay at least 55 percent of bridge and tunnel tolls and 80 percent of PATH fares.

Normally, Port Authority capital spending is split evenly between New Jersey and New York projects through an “understanding” that goes back to the beginning of the agency. But with the World Trade Center being treated as a special project — and not part of the usual 50-50 split — New Jersey officials have been asking harder questions than usual about Port Authority spending, even though the WTC project is seen more as a patriotic imperative than a business venture. So far, they have not been given answers, and Christie has said he will need more information before approving any increase.

Politically, however, Christie may need the Port Authority spending more than Cuomo does because not only does New Jersey lag behind New York state in job creation and revenue growth, but also because New Jersey’s gas tax is just 14.5 cents per gallon – one of the lowest in the nation – and far below the 43 cents per gallon that New York collects to fund transportation projects.

Christie has absolutely ruled out an increase in the gas tax and pushed through a five-year Transportation Trust Fund last year built on using redirected toll increases from the New Jersey Turnpike Authority and capital funding from the Port Authority to provide most of the matching funds needed to continue to draw down the maximum amount of federal transportation funding for capital projects. That includes more than $1.3 billion in New Jersey Turnpike money and $1.8 billion in Port Authority funds originally set aside for the proposed ARC (Access to the Region’s Core) rail passenger terminal under the Hudson that Christie cancelled because he was worried that New Jersey would be on the hook for expected cost overruns.

Special Class

“We are relying increasingly on toll payers as a special class to pay for projects that would normally be underwritten by taxes paid by all users such as the gas tax,” noted Martin Robins, the respected former director of the Alan M. Voorhees Transportation Policy institute, who nevertheless supports the Port Authority proposal because he believes that it is the only politically viable option to fund needed transportation projects.

While the Port Authority welcomes the support of mass-transit advocates like Robins, it is counting on the support of the building trade unions to persuade Christie to back a substantial toll and fare hike. Christie has built a national reputation among conservatives by attacking teachers unions and other public-sector unions, but he has enjoyed a close relationship with the building trades and especially with key legislators like Senate President Steve Sweeney and Senator Donald Norcross. Sweeney and Norcross, both longtime building trades union officials, took the lead in passing legislation increasing public employee contributions to cover their pension and health benefit costs and stripping public employees of the right to bargain over healthcare issues for the next four years.

All of the building trades unions have mobilized to support the Port Authority toll and fare increases as the only large-scale economic stimulus package likely to be implemented in the years ahead, making Christie’s decision about just how large a toll and fare increase to support a politically sensitive one for the Republican governor if he is counting on the support of the building trades for a 2013 reelection campaign.

- Federal Transpo Bill & HudCo: Hudson County road and transit projects would lose $30 million in federal funding if the House of Representatives adopts its latest funding proposal, Sen. Bob Menendez and other transportation advocates warned yesterday.

- McGinley Square: The Jersey City Planning Board meets tonight to hear public comments on the controversial McGinley Square Redevelopment Plan.

- Gatti Death: Private investigators hired by former boxing champion Arturo Gatti’s manager say their extensive probe has revealed Gatti’s death in Brazil more than two years ago was no suicide.

- Murder Suspect in Court: One of two men charged in the murder of a Jersey City man killed in a hail of bullets this past weekend made his first court appearance on the charges yesterday, but the second suspect is still at large.

- JC Teacher Wins Wheelchair Race: Jersey City teacher Tony Nogueira won the men’s wheelchair division of The TD Bank Beach to Beacon 10K Saturday in Cape Elizabeth, Maine, completing the 6.2 mile course in 23 minutes and 39 seconds.

- Charges Against Mayor’s Son Dropped: The charges against the son of Jersey City Mayor Jerramiah Healy in relation to an alleged domestic violence incident have been dropped.

Today’s Best Bets:

- A couple of different live music options tonight: Oldies group NY Exception plays a free outdoor show at Liberty State Park (7 pm), while KNTRLR and Stereofront play for free at Lucky 7′s (8 pm).

In Statewide News:

- Beyond No Child Left Behind: As federal education secretary Arne Duncan announces No Child Left Behind waivers, New Jersey is already looking at — and imposing — a few changes of its own.

- Another Union Withholds Dem Endorsements: New Jersey’s two most powerful Democratic lawmakers have been denied endorsements by the state’s largest teachers union, in retaliation for their support of Gov. Christie’s overhaul of the state’s pension and health benefits for public workers.

- NJ Companies Hoarding Cash: Some of the state’s largest companies are holding onto huge stashes of money because, like American families, they’re worried about the economy and its impact on their future finances.

- 2016 Democratic Convention: U.S. Rep. Steve Rothman is trying to get his party talking about having the 2016 Democratic National Convention in the Meadowlands, Newark or possibly a combination of the two. But even he won’t predict that it’s going to happen.