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>> Hello everyone welcome to Chat Box and David Cruise.

If you convert to work on mass transit it is probably the most of -- the most unpredictable part of your day, coming up we will talk about the deficit in transit and weather service cuts and more are on the way.

We begin today with the discussion of wind as a metaphor and as a source for our Lecter fight future.

Joining us is a former Senate President -- a source of for our electrified future, Senator, welcome back to Chat Box.

>> thank you for having me.

>> you have been working on this issue for a while this conference isn't some wind energy funded puff conference, is it?

>> Offshore wind in the United States started in New Jersey when we published legislation in 2010.

To get this industry up and moving, we 13 years later, will start to see the fruits of our heart work.

David: You have always said that wind is a jobs generator.

What is the real potential, and as a union guy how does a get more people into the unions because it is a big thing as well.

Growing and diversifying some of these unions.

>> Without question.

A green economy can be and should be a jobs economy.

Creating jobs is, as we transition to these new energies -- the offshore wind is a European based industry that we are trying to make Americanized.

As far as the workers, we need to get into our underserved communities and get in training and get young people who have been disadvantaged into our union programs.

David: I have to ask you your thoughts about the opponents of wind ended Street -- wind industry that says they are killing whales and dolphins, is it extreme to call for a 30 day moratorium?

>> Yes.

We know it's not true, for one, we have had 7000 whales wash onto the beaches since 2016.

We all care a great deal about the mammals and our aquatic life.

But the facts are, Europe has been doing this for three decades, David.

And I think they have whales as well.

The ocean is big.

This is not what is causing the issue, unfortunately, you have the petroleum industry racking a bunch of people, or backing groups that are pretending to be environmentalist.

In the reality is, global warming, the warming of the sea is driving this more than anything.

And for the record, the whale population is actually up.

David: what was the big take away from the conference?

was there something that before the conference started was different by the time the conference ended?

Were consciousnesses raised?

>> More than anything it started to get people focused on, gas, it's about clean energy and reducing carbon footprint and global warming.

But it it is also important to recognize that there is the potential for jobs within the wind industry direct and not direct when we get the industry up and running.

That was the importance when we were up and what -- up and working on it.

And I was out to sponsor with Tom Kane by party kin -- bipartisan Republican support for this legislation.

Nothing has changed, people want to do anything to try and stop progress.

David: Legislative races are coming up, primaries next month, as a matter of fact, I know you miss it, why not run for Senate again, was it not getting money from the state campaign committees or do you have bigger fish to fry?

>> I had the great honor to serve as president of the Senate in -- longer than anyone in the history of the Senate.

I did not expect to leave.

You know that.

That would in mind -- that would have been my last term anyway, because I am looking at other opportunities moving forward.

I have not yet decided what my next step is.

But I am looking at the potential for running for governor.

It's not a commitment at this point.

But once you run the place for 12 years, or you have been the leader of the place for 12 years, not run the place.

You realize it's someone else's turn.

I'm happy for Nick, Nick has been a friend of mine since I got to the Senate.

I'm happy for him, I am proud of what he has been able to do, but my future is going forward.

David: I'm going to get to the governors question again in a second, but should Democrats be worried about these upcoming fall elections?

>> Absolutely.

We should always be worried and never take anything for granted.

Look at my election, my election shocked not just New Jersey but made news around the country.

And it wasn't better for the district, the district has not been served better by it.

I was the Senate President, you got a new senator who was number 40.

But knowing how it works, that is not a knock against it either.

We had the second most powerful spot in my district.

By the way we captured all the wind manufacturing in the third District at the same time, as the Senate President.

We lost a lot.

But that was then, this is now.

David: Where are Democrats most vulnerable in terms of issues that are uppermost on the mind of constituents and voters?

>> What I hope my former colleagues stay laser focused on is the economy.

-- economy, affordability, and focusing on how New Jersey can be a better place.

I am proud of what has happened.

We've had a couple of by rating upgrades come up that didn't happen by accident.

To that was work.

We were finally funding the pension system which held us back from moving forward.

We made progress, I tell everyone in New Jersey -- everyone New Jersey wasn't Rocha and by Republicans or Democrats, both parties did it and it will take -- wasn't broken by Republicans or Democrats both parties did it and it will take both parties to fix it.

David: Having all the money couldn't have happened at a better time, no?

>> Honestly, we are fortunate.

The pandemic was horrible.

But for government budgets, it turned out to have some positive.

A lot of federal money came in here, and if it was spent properly we could do a lot of things to improve New Jersey.

And we should.

>> That there have been some complaints that that money is not spent quickly enough.

And when it is spent, it is spent politically, strategically for Democrats.

But I guess you would say that the Republicans were in charge, that would be spent to other way.

Right?

>> David, having this think take which we have that is bipartisan at Rowan University, that is actually the funds of.

When you get Republicans and Democrats together and no one is paying attention, we actually like each other and can work with each other.

David: Let's talk about the 2025 governors race which you brought up, so I will continue the conversation about it.

Is it too early to declare for Dr. -- for governor, as the mayor has done?

>> Everyone is going to do what is best for them I'm not going to question what Steve has done, he has declared for the reason that he believes it's his time to go forward.

Most important for us, I believe is the 2023 election because it is the election that is in front of you that is the most important.

David: There is a 501(c) four that was formed to support any efforts that you might have.

You are running out of things to run for, senator, what is your timetable for rent -- making an announcement for governor?

>> The timetable will be when it's right.

You are correct there was a 501(c) four that was written about, just like others that are considering running.

We will go from there.

David: Statistically speaking, the odds are against a third consecutive Democrats winning 80 election -- winning a governor election, does that concern you?

>> No.

As Democrats, whoever is successful, we need to get together quickly afterwards -- I do not dislike any of the people who are talking about running.

But I am concerned because I'm not sure that there has ever been a time, I should know, that Democrats have one three consecutive times.

David: I almost forgot to get this question and come up what did you think of this elections the transparency act that essentially gutted to elect and gave the governor total power to fix it in his image, as it were.

What do you think of that?

>> Raising the limits is something that it -- that should have been done while while ago.

I'm not a fan of guiding -- gutting ELEC.

I've dealt with them good and bad, but you knew they were independent.

Hopefully the governors selections will bear out to be independent.

I have no reason why to think that Governor Murphy will not do the right thing and pick truly independent people to oversee it.

David: Would you have posted that bill, and would you have voted for it?

>> I would have voted -- listen, I was pushing to do a bill to raise limits when I was the Senate President.

Just so you know.

I was absolutely focused on changing contribution limits because the system that we have, it is -- it is just so all over the place.

I voted for the bill that passed the legislature, I would have amended it, to be perfectly honest with you.

David: And with the statue of limitations have been a thing that bothered you from going from 10 years to two years, because a lot of people in the Democratic Party and the Republican party would have been facing some complaints from ELE C, but they are beyond the two years statues of limitation.

you are wiping out eight years of potential wrongdoing.

>> In all honesty are you going to go back 10 years where candidates may not be alive anymore, to find responsibilities?

Elec should be handling these things and stay on top of these things.

I've had people complain about me.

If you ever run for office there is someone calling ELEc.

It's usually Democrats against Republicans and Republicans against Democrats.

I'm not troubled with that because when they announce these huge fines, they are never that large and they are normally negotiated down.

Because there is a true mistake.

I'm not going to say, but I've seen ELEC reports that were wild how far off they were.

And ELEC is not doing anything with that I am shocked that they are not.

David: The time is not right yet, he said Steve Savini -- Steve Sweeney, Senator, think you for being here.

Let's which cures -- let's switch gears.

NJ transit and the Department of Transportation will have a great opportunity for lawmakers to ask questions about what's happening with our cars, roads, bridges and buses.

Our next guest lived for meetings like this, Colleen Wilson is the transportation reporter for the record and New Jersey.com.

And Larry covers transportation and communing for NJ advanced media.

Welcome to you both.

I want to start with the budget committee meeting this week, Colleen you did destroy on this new 25 year lease for NJ transit .

That was the subject of some discussion at this meeting.

Can you give us a recap of that story and why it's become so controversial.

>> Shirt.

-- sure.

They will move their New Jersey headquarters to a Gateway building which is owned by Murphy donors, and the board had concerns about the rushed process or what appeared to be a rushed process.

These were among the questions brought up yesterday, New Jersey transit reiterated that the current building that they now own as of last year is not in good shape.

The previous owners did not take care of it.

In order to renovate it it would cost well over 100 million dollars.

It would be extremely disruptive for their employees.

So they began to look elsewhere.

The questions that I have raised and lawmakers were rising -- raising why was Gateway the choice, what about other offers, what were the cost associated with that?

>> Eight we was more expensive, is that right?

>> It appears so.

My sources are saying that Gateway was definitely more expensive.

>> And the chairperson, shut down all talk about this when the Republican assembly man asked about it, and suggested that the landlord hear it.

That they were donors, to the Murphy campaign.

And the chair shut that down really quickly.

Except for some Democrats who came out in support of the deal.

I thought that was interesting.

Onyx is our landlord.

They will also be the land will -- landlord for Johnson & Johnson in Summit.

A deal that may be coincidentally Governor Murphy played a big part in closing.

That's an interesting story.

My 11 bus transportation a day, and now at least $1 billion in debt, is there a sense of crisis at all over at MG transit?

>> It's interesting that you bring that up because a few lawmakers have questioned not as well.

A sickly, they raised the question yesterday saying he didn't detect a sense of urgency.

One of the things is that we are not even one month -- since the announcement was made about a play on, so there were many questions asked about what it might look right.

They haven't had a chance to really crunch the numbers and come up with -- and what have you.

I've been talking to experts and they are a little bit divided about whether it should be strictly fair increases, service cuts, that sort of thing, putting off projects, but what they agree on is a permanent source of dedicated funding from the state government should be found.

However, assemblywoman basically said that that was a conversation for next year.

>> Is there federal Monday -- is there federal funding for this, are we going to see layoffs as has been suggested?

>> They've made it clear that everything is on the table.

Increases seem inevitable, any commuter could understood -- understand that, Diane cared his -- seemed hopeful or cautiously optimistic that there could be more federal funds, although I'm not sure that there is an appetite for that giving all of the coronavirus -- billions of dollars that they received in recent years.

And then the big question is, states a good money.

What will that look like, will there be a new tax, fee or surcharge that could add to the pot of money that the state sends to New Jersey transit.

Which I will say, also because we've talked about urgency.

New Jersey transit hasn't existed since 1979 and it has not yet been delegated by law to any of the agency.

So it is a little bit stretching urgent.

>> That is stretching beauty being in the eye of the beholder.

Do we have clear numbers on where ridership is right now?

We hear about pre-pandemic levels, are we there yet?

>> We are not there yet, as far as weekend ridership goes, it is the highest ranging between 80 and 90%, even heating -- hitting 100% on some trains.

Weekly ridership is around 75%, and there is optimism that someday ridership will hit the 2019 level and surpass it.

But one of the hurdles is the current remote work schedule, hybrid schedule, which allows people to work three days at home and three days of work.

It is doing better than some of its sister systems.

And there are other systems that are not seeing that much of a robust comeback, the way that MJT has.

There is a lot to happen, there are a lot of variables out there.

At some of them are out of the agency's control.

David: Gateway the transportation project not the buildings of Newark, what's the news on that?

You wrote a piece about the smaller projects that are associated with the way and how important they were.

>> That's right.

I wanted to highlight for residents that there are other projects within the Gateway program that need to be remembered.

When you think of Gateway you think of the tunnels which are arguably the most important part of that program and most expensive by a longshot.

But there was other projects, the doc bridge rehabilitation, and the sawtooth Bridge replacement as well.

Those are starting to accelerate and that's critical right now for those phase II projects and other Phase 3 projects that will be in the pipeline.

There are federal dollars available through the infrastructure and investment jobs act.

This states are eligible for and they can apply for, and they can get about 80% of some of those costs covered, but then they need to pony up about 20% of the costs and that's not nothing for agencies like New Jersey transit and others that are strapped for cash and facing grim forecasts.

David: Is it fair to say that you cannot have Gateway without those projects?

>> Gateway will not be as successful without those projects, how else -- you need to add capacity at leading into the tunnel, in order to increase capacity and speed in the long run.

You need to also think about that doc bridge, 88-year-old bridge you need to slow down when you get there.

If you're running across and if there are delays already.

Replacing it, updating you are going to see increased speeds and reliability and aqueous said better capacity so more trans can travel.

David: Last time I asked you if you thought you would see Gateway in your lifetime, and we determined that my grandchildren might, is that still where we are?

>> I wrote a story about the Gateway development commission's meeting, and there's always a surprise in those meetings, one of them was a timeline for when these projects would be designed , built and finally constructed.

And the actual tunnel itself under the Hudson River, the tunnel -- the timeline calls for that to be done roughly in spring 2029.

It was the surprise for myself, because so many of them are between 2035 sort of thing.

What could be the wild-card is the decision to chop the Gateway tunnel project into four pieces and have them move simultaneously.

It seems like they are trying to dispel exactly what you said will not be done in our lifetime.

It's up to us to stay healthy to see it.

David: Turnpike Extension, Colleen what's the status of that.

That the DOT commissioner said it's not about getting more cars into this funnel, it is only a quarter of that traffic, she says, is going into the tunnel.

Why does nobody like this project other than the unions?

>> That was discussed yesterday as well.

One of the things that she really emphasized was about improving -- to the boards and without these constructions it would make access to the ports extremely difficult at a time when the ports at New York and New Jersey are saying a record amount of levels of movement for traffic.

That is a critical piece of this that she wanted to emphasize yesterday, without that, it could keep court movements, it could stall court movements or at least slow them down.

Which no one wants to see, she was saying.

That said she still had two questions for the Hudson County legislator that was concerned about Lucian and wanted to know if there was going to be a dedicated sling and other mitigation measures to avoid what they believe would be inevitable excess traffic.

When you ask -- add have -- add more lanes it adds traffic over time even if it does alleviate the traffic in the short term.

David: If you build it, they will travel.

I have to go my transit train is on time.

It's good to see you both.

Thank you to Steve Sweeney for joining us.

You can follow me on twitter to get your lovely photos of clouds and food at David Cruz and to get access to all sorts of fresh content every day when you subscribe to the YouTube channel.

For all the people in downtown Newark, thank you for watching, we will see you next week.

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