ARC tunnel's latest casualty Port Authority paid $95.5 million for lease days before Crispy Christie

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cancelled tunnel.

A week before Governor Christie froze construction on the ARC Tunnel, the Port Authority paid $95.5 million to rent a Manhattan waterfront parcel officials said was critical to the commuter-rail project.

The 2-acre tract — a mostly vacant lot on 12th Avenue at 30th Street — is owned by an investment group headlined by Joseph B. Rose, a onetime top official in the administration of former New York Mayor Rudolph Giuliani.

The payment on the 10-year rental agreement was made as a lump-sum advance; officials said paying the whole amount up front was a cost-saver.

The Port Authority, in response to questions from The Record last week, said the deal for what it called the “Georgetown site” was signed Sept. 3.

Only seven days later, the Christie administration froze all bids and issued a stop-work order on tunnel construction. At the same time, the governor withdrew authorization for a Port Authority board vote that would have cleared $500 million in new spending for the project.

http://www.northjersey.com/news/013110ARC_tunnels_latest_casualty.html

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1. I should have stuck this under how to make a baconator....

:eyes:

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2. Remind me again

How izzit the Republicans are the party of fiscal responsibility and stuff? This just screams malfeasance. And sonofagun if the beneficiary of that payoff wasn't a former official for Rudy Giuliani. Such a small world, it is. Nothing here that warrants further investigation, though. Nosirreebob!

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3. I am POSITIVE Crispy knew about this and since it benefited friends, he looked the other way