ACCORDING TO JIM / ROAD WARRIORS
Update: January 2020
You’re more than due for an update on this tremendously important project.
Since these efforts began, we’ve referred to a concentrated “Marshall Plan” to address the condition of our streets, which had been horribly under-serviced during the Bloomberg administration. As I’ve said before: just like your car, your home, or your own body, if you ignore it and don’t properly care for it, it will inevitably break down.
Our roads did.
Since these efforts began, we’ve referred to a concentrated “Marshall Plan” to address the condition of our streets, which had been horribly under-serviced during the Bloomberg administration. As I’ve said before: just like your car, your home, or your own body, if you ignore it and don’t properly care for it, it will inevitably break down.
Our roads did.
So I wrote an op-ed, then worked hard to begin our Pave, Baby, Pave campaign; the goal being to convince Mayor Bill de Blasio to make an historic investment in street resurfacing. He listened, and has done just that.
But it also means that 60% of Staten Island’s road are now five years older than when we started this run, and have been subjected to five more years of inclement weather and wear and tear. However, for FY 2020, they are only planning to pave 158 miles, claiming that they are focusing on the pedestrian ramp work.
This is not at all acceptable. I have asked the Mayor, directly, to work with me to ensure we pave 200+ miles annually for the rest of our tenure. Admittedly, part of why I don’t want the 200+ mile streak broken is my own pride - but much more importantly, we remain in this huge hole (pun intended) because of the nearly decade and a half of neglect that we inherited. And the only way out?
Pave, Baby, Pave. |
In a Staten Island Advance Op-Ed piece in December of 2014, I wrote:
This marked the beginning of what would ultimately become our successful, Pave, Baby, Pave initiative. Within months after the Op-Ed publication and after much lobbying both privately and publicly, Mayor de Blasio announced an infusion of $242.1 million to do just what I asked him to do – exceed the thousand lane-mile mark in a meaningful way.
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All this time I kept writing to the Bloomberg Administration and the DOT asking for help. Once in October of ’08; twice in January and once in August of ’09; again in January, March and May of 2010; and January and February ‘11.
These pleas all fell on deaf ears, and our streets and highways kept deteriorating. |
Terrible roads with bone-jarring potholes
became the new - and unacceptable - normal.
became the new - and unacceptable - normal.
Visitors to Staten Island seemed to be very keen to remind us that our streets and highways
mimicked those of third-world countries.
mimicked those of third-world countries.
We were in such a bad a situation that even when we hit the thousand lane-mile mark
again in FY 2014; it was simply not enough.
We needed to exceed it in a meaningful way to even begin to make up
some of the ground lost during the last decade.
again in FY 2014; it was simply not enough.
We needed to exceed it in a meaningful way to even begin to make up
some of the ground lost during the last decade.
Enter Pave, Baby, Pave and Mayor de Blasio.
I started this piece with a quote from my December, 2014, Staten Island Advance Op-Ed. This started our concerted effort to convince the de Blasio Administration to make real, meaningful, and dare I say transformative changes that would finally reverse the decade of decaying roads we have all experienced.
I started this piece with a quote from my December, 2014, Staten Island Advance Op-Ed. This started our concerted effort to convince the de Blasio Administration to make real, meaningful, and dare I say transformative changes that would finally reverse the decade of decaying roads we have all experienced.
In May 2015, I received some extraordinarily exciting news – the Mayor was about to announce an infusion of $242.1 million to the city budget for resurfacing. This meant that the city would pave 1200 miles in FY 2016 and 1300 in FY 2017. To borrow a phrase I’ve been hearing a lot lately – this was YUGE!
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I’m proud that the starter’s pistol triggering an all-out effort to improve our roads was fired on Staten Island,
and that the “Pave, Baby, Pave” campaign pushed it over the finish line.
and that the “Pave, Baby, Pave” campaign pushed it over the finish line.
This has been an eight year battle and it is gratifying that Mayor de Blasio recognized our issue
and made it a priority to take steps to fix it.
and made it a priority to take steps to fix it.
Let me be clear: This is not a declaration of victory.
You will not spot any “Mission Accomplished” signs over my shoulder. Victory will only come when we have all our roads are drivable roads, and it is clear we’re not there yet. However, we do know now we have an allocation of the tools we need to bring us closer to that victory. That is why we cannot let up, and that is why earlier this year I asked the Mayor to extend this extraordinary financial commitment beyond the time period initially announced.
Once again, I’m happy to say
the Mayor heard us, and extended “Pave, Baby, Pave” into Fiscal Year 2018. |
We promised Staten Islanders that we’d start seeing a lot of paving, and that is exactly what’s taking place. At one time, “Pave, Baby, Pave” was a simple mantra reflecting our hopes and aspirations for the future. It is now reality, the denouement of eight years of frustration and hard work, and we are finally seeing the results. We are still not yet where we want to be, but with each passing day our roads are getting better, lane by lane and mile by mile.
May 2018Much has happened regarding our Pave, Baby, Pave “Marshall Plan” since I wrote this piece – and all of it good. At a press conference on May 13, 2018 the Mayor announced that over 25% of the 19,000 lane miles of city streets have been repaved since 2014, an unprecedented pace; and on Staten Island, I’m proud to say that more than 42% of our streets have been resurfaced. All this is thanks to a ten-year, $1.6 billion investment, and I’m so grateful that our stubborn persistence – and a whole lot of perspiration – is paying off.
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