Warm up the bulldozers!

From the WSJ:

Hudson River Rail Tunnel Project Takes Another Step Forward

An emerging plan to dig two new Hudson River rail tunnels came into sharper focus on Wednesday as state and congressional leaders outlined a plan to fund and manage the project.

Under an agreement announced late Wednesday, the project would be managed by a subsidiary of the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey. That development corporation would be overseen by a four-member board including two representatives of the bistate agency and one each from Amtrak and the U.S. Department of Transportation.

New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo and New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie, who announced the deal with two U.S. senators, jointly control the authority.

“Our shovels are ready,” Mr. Cuomo said in an interview. “Literally, if you don’t build this tunnel, you would greatly imperil train service.”

Anthony Coscia, Amtrak’s chairman, said the agreement among state and federal leaders marked an encouraging step for Amtrak’s broader Gateway project. “It’s going to be a real turning point,” he said.

The national passenger railroad has struggled to fund big projects, and has warned of a transportation crisis if it must shut down one of its aging two current tunnels between New York and New Jersey.

It remains unclear how the local, state and federal governments will fund the tunnel project in an era of tight budgets. The project is part of the Gateway plan, which early estimates suggest could cost $15 billion to $20 billion.

But the state and congressional officials said the agreement included a commitment by U.S. transportation officials to secure financing for at least half the tunnel project’s costs. In September, the two governors agreed to foot half of the project’s costs if the federal government picked up the rest.

The national passenger railroad has struggled to fund big projects, and has warned of a transportation crisis if it must shut down one of its aging two current tunnels between New York and New Jersey.

It remains unclear how the local, state and federal governments will fund the tunnel project in an era of tight budgets. The project is part of the Gateway plan, which early estimates suggest could cost $15 billion to $20 billion.

But the state and congressional officials said the agreement included a commitment by U.S. transportation officials to secure financing for at least half the tunnel project’s costs. In September, the two governors agreed to foot half of the project’s costs if the federal government picked up the rest.

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64 Responses to Warm up the bulldozers!

  1. grim says:

    From the Record:

    N.J. towns may push hospitals to pay up; more could seek property tax deals with non-profits

    Cash-strapped local governments around the state may be looking at non-profit hospitals with new eyes, now that the non-profit Morristown Medical Center has agreed to pay its hometown $15.5 million over the next decade to settle demands for property taxes.

    A judge in state tax court took away the hospital’s property-tax exemption in June, declaring that it operated more like a for-profit company than a charitable institution. Rather than appeal the decision, the hospital negotiated an agreement with the town, which was approved Tuesday night.

    “Clearly, this is an open invitation for a number of towns,” Frank Ciesla, head of the health-law practice at Giordano, Halleran & Ciesla, said Wednesday. “I think you’re going to see a lot more in the way of litigation.”

    Non-profit hospitals are among the largest landowners in some municipalities. Local governments could begin by assessing taxes on their property, leading to a series of appeals as hospitals seek to clarify their status, he said.

  2. 30 year realtor says:

    Grim, Regarding NJ sheriff sales and December…last sale of the year in Bergen 12/4, Passaic 12/15 and Essex 12/22. Despite the fact that I do not believe there to be a conspiracy to delay sales, clearly there is no hurry either.

  3. 30 year realtor says:

    Random notes. I was one of 10 agents to receive an invitation to interview with Sue Adler to head her new Bergen County team. I did not respond to the email from the owner of Bergen County Keller Williams franchises.

    The real estate agent caught on tape doing the nasty in a listing and exposed on national TV now has his license back. He is now working in my office.

    Rolling out new listings next week in 5 counties that my foreclosure venture has renovated. Hopefully Fast Eddie doesn’t post any here to expose as overpriced Home Depot quality flips.

  4. grim says:

    Time is of the essence eh … who cares.

  5. Essex says:

    time is of the Essex….

  6. grim says:

    You guys are going to love this shit, from the Atlantic:

    Dorms for Grownups: A Solution for Lonely Millennials?

    This office looks like a pretty typical co-working space, what with the guy with a ponytail coding in one corner, the pile of bikes clustered in another, and the minimalist desks spread across a light-filled room. Troy Evans opened this space, CoWorks, in a downtown building here in February.

    Coworking is probably a familiar concept at this point, but Evans wants to take his idea a step further. On Friday, on the top two floors of the building, he’s starting construction on a space he envisions as a dorm for Millennials, though he cringes at the word “dorm.” Commonspace, as he’s calling it, will feature 21 microunits, which each pack a tiny kitchen, bathroom, bedroom, and living space into 300-square-feet. The microunits surround shared common areas including a chef’s kitchen, a game room, and a TV room. Worried about the complicated social dynamics of so many Millennials in one living unit? Fear not, Evans and partner John Talarico are hiring a “social engineer” who will facilitate group events and maintain harmony among roommates.

    Forget communes or co-ops. Millennials, Evans says, want the chance to be alone in their own bedrooms, bathrooms, and kitchens, but they also want to be social and never lonely (hence #FOMO).

    “We’re trying to combine an affordable apartment with this community style of living, rather than living by yourself in a one-bedroom in the suburbs,” Evans, who is 35, told me.

  7. grim says:

    I would argue this trend has nothing to do with millennials, and everything to do with cost of housing and lower incomes. This exact same model is in place in a thousand low-cost retirement communities across the US today. While it started with budget constrained retirees, we’re seeing it now bleed into other segments of the population who are equally as income constrained.

    In poor communities, we used to call these “projects”, where the shared amenities were more utilitarian in nature (heating, a roof, small patch of outdoor green space, maybe parking, etc).

    Further evidence of American standard of living continuing to decline. At least we’re making the best of it?

  8. anon (the good one) says:

    met her a couple of times, don’t like her

    30 year realtor says:
    November 12, 2015 at 7:16 am
    Random notes. I was one of 10 agents to receive an invitation to interview with Sue Adler to head her new Bergen County team.

  9. grim says:

    From the Star Ledger:

    24 N.J. ZIP codes among priciest in U.S., report says

    While only two New Jersey ZIP codes are among the 100 priciest in the nation when it comes to the asking price for homes, another 22 cracked the top 500.

    Forbes.com published the list Tuesday using information compiled by Altos Research, which examines the home market in real time. There are 28,500 ZIP codes nationwide.

    Alpine topped the list among New Jersey ZIP codes with a No. 12 ranking. Houses in 07620 had an average list price of $4,867,731 for the 90-day period ending Oct. 9.

    New Vernon, a section of Harding, placed 76th at $2,480,153.

    The most expensive ZIP code in the nation is Atherton, Calif., a suburb of San Francisco, where the 20 available homes had an average asking price of $10,564,038.

    Other New Jersey ZIP codes that finished higher than 200th are:

    105. Short Hills — $2,109,765
    132. Sea Girt — $1,934,493
    152. Saddle River — $1,797,016
    176. Avalon — $1,629,900
    179. Mantoloking — $1,618,997
    190. Englewood Cliffs — $1,580,769

    Eight of the 24 Garden State ZIP codes are in Bergen County; Monmouth is next with six; Cape May, Essex, Ocean and Somerset have two apiece. Morris and Atlantic have one.

  10. grim says:

    It’s a shame the Sue has deleted all the mindless drivel she and her “team” spewed out during 2009.

    Unfortunately the WayBackMachine hadn’t seen fit to immortalize it.

    https://njrereport.com/index.php/2009/03/04/nj-unemployment-continues-to-rise/

  11. grim says:

    By the way, that ranks in the top 10 posts ever. The assault on her blog was epic.

  12. grim says:

    Trump/Christie ticket?

    Say it ain’t so, we can’t be so lucky.

  13. nwnj3 says:

    Anon is a realtor? Suddenly the world makes a lot more sense.

  14. Juice Box says:

    They just trying to knock trump.

  15. HouseWhineWine says:

    That article from the Atlantic says they have soundproofed the living units. That’s good. I have millennial children, this idea could work for them, maybe for a few years while they are single. It’s good that they don’t have to search for roommates, that’s often a big problem. I do think this idea could catch on, and not just for young people.

  16. Ragnar says:

    Magical thinking for millenials: buy a house you can barely afford today, using a large mortgage, then earn promotions and pay raises.
    Bloomberg – The Case for Buying a Home You Can’t Afford http://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2015-11-11/the-case-for-buying-a-home-you-can-t-afford

  17. Comrade Nom Deplume, screwing around at work says:

    [6] grim

    “construction on a space he envisions as a dorm for Millennials, though he cringes at the word “dorm.” Commonspace, as he’s calling it, will feature 21 microunits, which each pack a tiny kitchen, bathroom, bedroom, and living space into 300-square-feet. ”

    Company town?

  18. dentss says:

    Once we raise the min wage to 15 bucks …can we now do away with low income housing ?

  19. Ragnar says:

    Call it “communitarian homes” and sell it to the Bernie Sanders millenials.

  20. Libturd in Union says:

    Speaking of Sue Adler:

    http://tinyurl.com/sue-adler

  21. Libturd in Union says:

    Why would Millennials need soundproof homes? They all wear headphones!

  22. Juice Box says:

    re # – “but they also want to be social and never lonely”

    That is what the corner bar is for.

  23. Fast Eddie says:

    Libturd,

    I had to drive into work today. I would die if the train wasn’t an option! One day of driving in and I wanted k1ll someone!!

  24. Comrade Nom Deplume, the anon-tidote says:

    Nice. One day pre-black friday sale at Cabelas. I know that if I went to the Newark DE store, they’d be sold out. But I was able to buy a case of ammo on line and have it shipped there. No sales tax and I pick it up next time I am in Newark. Used up points and got the cost down to $0.34 per round of 556. Hasn’t been that cheap since Obama took office.

    I was gonna joke that “I’m ready for Hillary”, but the anonunists would warp that into a threat (wouldn’t you, anon? Yeah, you want to). It just means she can do what she wants about guns and ammo now, I’m set for a good long time.

  25. Libturd in Union says:

    What time did you leave?

    If you are not at the helix by 6:30am, you are screwed. I work from 7am till 3:30pm. Realistically, it ends up being 6:45 to 3:45. My commute ends up being about 35 minutes in the morning and about 45 minutes on the way home. To take the train in, I leave my house at 7:50am to park and catch the 8:12am at Bloomfield, train rolls into Penn at 9:05 on a good day. Then the E to 7th avenue and 53rd. BTW that E station gets so crowded some morning you can’t even get through the turnstyles. Then finally a two block walk to the office. I get into the office between 9:20 and 9:30 for a total commute time of 90 to 100 minutes. Same thing on the way home. Getting up at 5:45am to ensure I have a seat in a climate controlled car and to get back 120 minutes or so of my day, is a no brainer. Of course, I only drive in once or twice a week, so the cost difference between taking public transport and driving works out to less than $10 a day. If I had to drive in 5 days per week, due to the monthly rail discount as well as discount for monthly parking, the cost difference would be closer to $20 per day.

  26. Fabius Maximus says:

    Stu

    NJ devils owner just bought a big piece of Crystal Palace. Looks like they will be able to stay up for at least a few years.

  27. grim says:

    Judging from the traffic build up on Rt 3 West at about 3:30, Stu isn’t the only one.

  28. Libturd in Union says:

    Grim…I have learned more shortcuts through the back roads of Nutley/Bloomfield than even the local police and bus drivers know. I often get off at 17 south to save a boatload of commuting time. Or, I high-tail it up the Henry Hudson and take the lower deck of the GWB and the GSP down to 151. It’s about 20 miles longer, but for some reason, the bridge takes much longer to back up than the Lincoln and without traffic that too takes me about 45 minutes to get home.

  29. Libturd in Union says:

    The Devil’s owner was recently criticized for parking his helicopter on a soccer field resulting in the cancellation of a handful of youth soccer games. He gave them all tickets for a box at a Devil game to make up for it. Pure class. Though I still posit that the Devils will be the team to move to the new arena in Vegas.

  30. Fast Eddie says:

    Stu,

    I was approaching the ramp from route 3 at around 7:30 am. Thus, being screwed. I took Tonnelle Avenue up Secaucus Road and whittled my way through local streets. It took me an hour from the route 3/Tonnelle Avenue area to get into Hoboken. I don’t have the choice of working 7:00 AM to 3:30 PM. I wish I did. For me, the train is hardly a problem as I’m on the Jersey side of the River.

  31. Juice Box says:

    New Train Tunnels will be open in 15 years!! Wooo Hooo that is about the time I will be selling! One seat ride on a bullet train to Manhattan 15 minute commutes for everyone! I am listing my house now on Juwai ( https://list.juwai.com/ ) for the year 2029, one hundred million Yuan!

    I am going to retire in STYLE!!!!

  32. Libturd in Union says:

    Juwai?

    I thought that was a dating site for Hawaiian Jews.

  33. NJGator says:

    This family are neighbors of ours from Montclair. They are good people and what has happened to their son is tragic. If you are able to, and would consider making a donation, we would be grateful. If you have media connections and know of someone that might be willing to share their story even better….

    https://www.gofundme.com/ez99ww24

  34. Libturd in Union says:

    Marco lives in a home near our Multi. They are really a great family. Raising their kids the right way and all.

  35. leftwing says:

    “Though I still posit that the Devils will be the team to move to the new arena in Vegas”

    ‘Yotes.

    NHL will still clip the Vegas group for the $500m total they agreed to pay for expansion, combination of sale and relo rights though.

    Devils are safe as long as there is common ownership with the Pru. That’s an anchor tenant with 41 events a year minimum booked into the arena. Not going anywhere.

  36. Libturd in Union says:

    Lefty…hope you are right. In recent discussion I heard about the group trying to bring a team to Vegas, they were clear that they wouldn’t take a losing franchise and would rather start from scratch. Considering the Devils had to Groupon their home opener, I just figured they would make a perfect fit. Not too many recent cup winners around who can’t sell out a home opener.

  37. Ragnar says:

    In case anyone is planning their Thanksgiving dinner, I’ve had great success with whole smoked turkeys from smokehouse.com for the past 10 years or so. Precooked, you only need to warm it up. More flavor, and more tender than the average oven-baked turkey, though also more expensive. My family requested that we stick with these smoked turkeys ever since they tasted the first one. The only downside is that they are saltier than the average bird.

    Order soon if you’re interested:
    http://www.smokehouse.com/burgers.nsf/item/hickory-smoked-whole-turkey

  38. leftwing says:

    Agree Devils are a miserable hockey team with poor attendance but they are 41 days of lease for the arena, much of which would otherwise be unsold (bunch of midweek nights, Halloween afternoon, etc).

    Regarding LV, not sure I understand the group’s logic. Either way they are getting garbage players – through an expansion draft or by way of a bad franchise. At least an existing franchise brings an infrastructure like minor league franchise, player pipeline, etc.

    Coyotes are without a home. With Panthers in nearly the same position unless Broward approves a new arena I could see the expansion offer by the NHL being a stalking horse. It establishes a high water price for a franchise. Then they bait-and-switch Vegas and QC away from new franchises into relos of Yotes and Panthers.

    Kills four birds with one stone. Vegas and QC have no choice in the matter, other than to walk away in total from having an NHL franchise.

  39. leftwing says:

    39. Interesting, although clearly the local writer is biased.

    The NHL BOG meets early next month. There is a committee that was supposed to report and recommend on the expansion. That committee now won’t even meet until the BOG meeting, not for it.

    Gut tells me NHL is looking to just get Phoenix off its plate.

  40. Libturd in Union says:

    Phoenix is an obvious solution. You would think with the 500 million saved, they could lure some strong talent considering the new arena and the great location that Vegas is. After all, who wants to live in Phoenix?

  41. NJT says:

    #6 [Grim]

    Delete the ‘Chef’s kitchen’ and substitute the ‘social engineer’ with a 2nd Lt. and it would resemble a USAF tech. school dorm back in the 80s.

  42. leftwing says:

    42. LOL. If Vegas gets a new franchise Kane may request to *not* be protected in the expansion draft.

  43. Juice Box says:

    re: #34- Gator I posed it out there in the internet, there aren’t enough of us here on Grim’s site to make this viral, gonna need some help.

    https://www.reddit.com/r/gofundme/

  44. Comrade Nom Deplume, the anon-tidote says:

    Off to do something I haven’t done in decades–go to the Clerk’s office and look through a court proceeding file. And the office I have to go to is called the Prothonotary, which is basically the Civil Court Clerk but, damn, that name is a mouthful.

    Anyway, thought I’d leave you with this:

    “ompanies chip away at health benefits;
    Workers footing more of bill as costs rise 134% in decade
    Jayne O’Donnell, @JayneODonnell, USA TODAY

    Companies’ health care costs in 2015 rose at the lowest rate in at least 20 years, a report out Thursday shows, but workers’ share of costs continue to skyrocket.
    The average health care rate increase for midsized and large companies was 3.2% this year, the lowest since the consulting firm Aon started tracking it in 1996. Despite this, the average amount workers have to contribute toward their health care is up more than 134% over the past decade, and that trend will accelerate.

    “Our clients say, ‘I can’t keep paying more and more of these ever-rising health costs,'” says Craig Dolezal, a senior vice president of Aon’s health practice.

    Employees on average contributed $2,490 toward premiums and another $2,208 in out-of-pocket costs, such as co-payments, co-insurance and deductibles, the report shows. The amount of employees’ premium and out-of-pocket costs combined was just $2,001 in 2005.

    Increases in deductibles and other out-of-pocket costs stem in large part from the looming “Cadillac tax” that takes effect in 2018, experts at Aon and consulting firm Towers Watson say.
    This tax — which some members of Congress want to kill — penalizes companies for having especially generous cost sharing beginning in January 2018. High deductible plans are the easiest way to avoid the tax.

    “No question change is afoot, and the excise tax is a catalyst for change,” says Randall Abbott, a senior strategist in consulting firm Towers Watson’s health and group benefits practice. . . .”

    /snip

    Like I said, intentionally defective.

  45. Poor pumps. Look what’s happening. Exactly the opposite of your prediction:

    http://www.zerohedge.com/news/2015-11-12/us-government-shocked-find-job-openings-soar-above-actual-hires

    “In September 2015, there were 477,000 fewer hires throughout the month than there were job openings on the last business day of the month.
    So what is going on here? Simple: a broken labor market, in which as a result of 94 million people out of the labor force, most of whom have been out of a job for years and have lost their “hirability”, US businesses are unable to grow and fill open slots, as a result hiring is sliding. And, since hiring is so low, the other end of the job pipeline, separations, are also painfully low.

    Which means that workers have little ability to negotiate wage hikes using the threat of quitting and finding a better paid job elsewhere, due to precisely this dislocation in the labor market.

    Worst of all, with every passing month this dislocation is getting worse and continues to press down on wages: which is precisely the conundrum the Fed has been unable to solve and is the reason why the missing piece in the US economic puzzle “wage growth”, refuses to appear.

  46. grim says:

    IT job opening numbers are completely fabricated to keep the H1B scam going, so any broad job aggregates that include IT as a subcomponent should be looked at with equal skepticism.

  47. NJGator says:

    Juice 45 – Thank you! Am thinking maybe twitter campaign to shame United into bringing him home might also be good. If they can operate a regular flight just for the benefit of David Samson, they should be able to do this too, right?

    http://www.economist.com/news/united-states/21664209-how-new-jersey-traffic-jam-helped-topple-head-airline-chairmans-flight

  48. D-FENS says:

    Denmark Tells Bernie Sanders It’s Had Enough Of His ‘Soc1alist’ Slurs

    http://tinyurl.com/ovclo54

  49. Juice Box says:

    I did my FB list too. I don’t tweet, I am not a fan of the angry mob there.

  50. Juice Box says:

    re: # 59 – The way Reddit works requires users to comment to get it to the top page, if this post gets enough comments that go fund me could be fully funded in a few days time.

    Anyone can create a throwaway account as well so go ahead like and comment on it here.

    https://www.reddit.com/r/gofundme/

    Look for

    Help Bring Marco Home for Christmas

  51. Ragnar says:

    In the Heritage Organization’s Index of Economic Freedom, Denmark ranks 11th best in the world, just a hair freer than the United States. So if Denmark is soc1al1st, then the US is slightly more so.
    http://www.heritage.org/index/country/denmark
    Looks like they caught up with the US around 2008-9, freeing up their economy between 2001 and 2009.

  52. grim says:

    Denmark? Copenhagen was insanely expensive.

  53. Juice [52];

    Well, the NY Times says begging is good business; I wonder if that translates to high tech.

  54. Grim [54];

    Denmark? Copenhagen was insanely expensive.

    The Yalie-types (or even the $20 million Mizzou kid) who promote such things don’t have to worry about that.

  55. Juice Box says:

    Freeze Police now put down that pack of Kools!

    So let me see we cannot stop illegal drug use in the Housing Projects so lets go
    and ban the legal stuff Tobacco as well.

    http://www.nytimes.com/2015/11/12/nyregion/public-housing-nationwide-may-be-subject-to-smoking-ban.html?_r=1

  56. Fabius Maximus says:

    Grim, did my post hit the Mod filters? It was a post on how Fast Eddie can get to work.

  57. Fabius Maximus says:

    #42 Tinpot McCarthy.

    So is Tulkinghorn heading to see the Prothonotary to get the latest on Jarndyce and Jarndyce?

    Bonus points if you don’t have to Google.

  58. Comrade Nom Deplume, living well off the carrion of the left says:

    [59] leprechaun

    How did you guess? Actually, it was an old divorce file, not an estate, but it does involve a decedent and a death claim

  59. Comrade Nom Deplume, living well off the carrion of the left says:

    [59] Rory Martin,

    And Dickens was one of my favorite British authors, along with Orwell. Too bad today’s British soc1@lists aren’t as pithy.

  60. Juice Box says:

    Almost time to raise rates?

    “Americans are borrowing big again.
    The Federal Reserve’s credit numbers showed American consumers borrowed at an all-time record of $28.9 billion in September, besting the previous high-water mark set in November 2001.”

    http://qz.com/545320/the-real-reason-the-fed-is-eager-to-raise-interest-rates-now/

  61. Juice Box says:

    #59 – I googled only because it stirs a memory long long forgotten. My grandmother’s house in Ireland was called Bleak House. When she passed away that book was in her sitting room. I picked it up and read it as a teen reading spending a few quiet nights in that house after her death and wondered what the hell is wrong with the English.

  62. D-FENS says:

    Don’t tell Bernie sanders but…..

    @larry_kudlow: Actually Scandinavian countries privatized, deregulated, w/ tax cuts. @IraStoll Scott Sumner @SenSanders wrong. https://t.co/66GfaYar3w

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