We have an elephant in the room, but people seem reluctant to talk about it – or even think about it. It is not just an ordinary elephant; it is a very large, potentially rogue elephant, capable of costing a lot of money and causing a lot of harm.

Andrew Cuomo is a relatively new governor, and to me, so far, he seems relatively okay; but he and I part company on one essential point. He is very hot to break ground on the Tappan Zee replacement bridge. I, on the other hand, am not. As I see it, the breaking of ground will make very little difference in his life and a world of difference in mine, as it will affect a community I am very fond of. It appears that our governor has "drunk the Kool-aid" served up by the department of transportation for over a decade and passed a cup of the brew along to the president.

The decision of the Obama Administration to "fast track" the Tappan Zee "Crossing Project" has thrown the door wide open to the project's long-time proponent, the New York State DOT, and its partner agency, the New York State Thruway Authority. In the process, the administration has (inadvertently, I hope) declared open-season on environmental and historic preservation concerns, while those federal and state agencies charged with monitoring and regulating impacts in those areas prepare to abdicate their charges, pressured by the presidential and gubernatorial blessings on the project.

The Crossing Project has been billed as a kind of 21st century WPA program [Work Projects Administration under FDR’s New Deal] but I suspect it can be more accurately typed as a WPA program for finance and special interests. I believe that those preparing to dine at the trough of what is essentially a "pork" project, are hardly the unemployed. The idea that it will serve as a corrective for unemployment is, I think, a seductive chimera waved before the unsuspecting public – not unlike the illusive, now defunct, mass-transit component of the project.

The mass-transit features were paraded before wide-eyed local officials and local citizen "stakeholder groups" at meetings hosted by representatives of the State department of transportation. These local participants are only beginning to understand how the project is likely to impact their communities and the quality of life of residents in this region of the State. Critics of the Crossing Project predicted long ago that mass-transit features were included only as "bait" to lure in public opinion, and that they would certainly disappear whenever "push came to shove." Push has now come to shove.

The New York journalistic community has been unaccountably mum with respect to the project and the manner in which the project has unfolded over the years. Even the New York Times has contented itself with homogenized rehashes of statements from the transportation department. The major news organs have yet to demonstrate any curiosity about the true genesis and impetus behind this, still, enormously expensive construction project. There seems to be little wonder among journalists at how the department of transportation, a state agency, which has long held up the banner of proponent, can claim objectivity in its deliberations, assessments, and conclusions respecting the project. I believe that the official argument for the project is rife with bias, and biased data. I believe that the option of maintaining the current bridge was never properly or objectively considered. The president of Riverkeeper has also chimed in on the "no build" option that was summarily swept from the table; "They haven't shown why building a new bridge is better than refurbishing the old one."

The new bridge proposed by the Crossing Project and stripped of its mass transit features will be an enormous "engine" for the production of negative environmental impacts. The planned bridge, which critics call "a 20th century bridge for the 21st century," will generate more air pollution, more noise, and more fossil fuel consumption. If our experience with the Cross Westchester Expressway "reconstruction" project can be used as a reference, the construction of the replacement bridge will be grossly mismanaged, drag on for over a decade, go far over-budget, and be remembered by commuters for its attendant traffic paralysis and grinding delays. It is hard not to view that terribly mishandled project as a poster child or omen for what lies ahead.

At this rate, the environmental and preservation concerns have little chance of being properly addressed. As a local historian, I have been included as a consulting party in the Section 106 Advisory Council on Historic Preservation, a Crossing Project-led process, which promises to be a meaningless and empty charade. The Crossing Project has already "fast tracked" itself by circumscribing an absurdly limited proposed area of impact, with no qualms heard from any state or federal environmental or preservation agencies.

I foresee that, should the crossing project proceed, one more cost must be added to the final tally. After the bonds are issued, and the cost overruns computed, and the construction schedule extended, and a decade of traffic snarls has taxed a significant percent of New Yorkers in this region, and the already chronic impacts on our air quality have been worsened, and our precious environmental and preservation resources have been undermined – we must add to the final cost the diminished integrity and effectiveness of government agencies tasked with regulating environmental and preservation impacts on ourselves and our communities.
So I hope Governor Cuomo will forgive me if I long for a few months' reprieve before that groundbreaking he so urgently cries for. He may be thinking of this project as a tangible legacy for his administration, but I think it can only blot his escutcheon. Though in some cases there may be glory in building a bridge, no one gets a medal for re-building one.

Henry John Steiner is the village historian of Sleepy Hollow and the managing broker of Steiner Real Estate Associates; henry@SteinerRealEstateAssociates.com

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