MOM link now eligible for fed $$
South Brunswick blasts DiFrancesco for signing bill in
governor’s absence
By Charles W. Kim
The controversial Mon-mouth-Ocean-Middlesex commuter rail link is now a state priority.
State Senate President Donald DiFrancesco signed the Circle of Mobility bill during a private ceremony Tuesday morning on behalf of Gov. Christine Whitman.
DiFrancesco served as acting governor while Whitman attended the National Governors’ Associ-ation meeting in Pennsylvania.
"Today is the culmination of years of effort to bring the future of transportation to the Central Jersey region," DiFrancesco said in a statement Tuesday.
The bill, which the Senate and Assembly passed in June, includes a Central Jersey rail link in the state’s Circle of Mobility legislation,
Voting in each of the legislative houses was split along party lines, with Republicans favoring the bill and the majority of Democrats opposing it.
Whitman has previously stated that she supports the proposal, but also realized there was opposition to the plan in Middlesex County.
While the bill itself does not identify a particular route, Di-Francesco identified the MOM line, which would link Lakehurst or Lakewood in Ocean County to Monmouth Junction, in his statement.
"By designating the MOM line as a priority, we are sending a message to the federal government," DiFrancesco said.
Officials from South Brunswick blasted DiFrancesco following their Tuesday night Township Council meeting, accusing him of using the bill to garner votes for a possible run for governor next year.
"His desire to become governor has outweighed his good, common sense," Deputy Mayor Frank Gambatese commented, adding, "When you make a decision based on political reasons, I question your ability to govern."
Councilman Ted Van Hessen said that he was disappointed that DiFrancesco "pre-empted" a decision by Whitman.
Van Hessen said that he had hoped that Whitman would come to the township to view their concerns firsthand before deciding on the bill.
"It showed poor judgment," Van Hessen said.
"It was underhanded," Mayor Debra Johnson said, agreeing with her colleagues on DiFrancesco’s motivation for signing the bill.
"Now one community of several thousand people is caught in someone’s political ambition," Johnson said.
A spokesperson for Whitman said Wednesday that the governor would have signed the bill had she been in the state and that it is common practice for acting governors to sign legislation when the governor is out of the state. Also, the spokesperson said DiFrancesco had expressed an interest in signing the bill.
Council members Edmund Luciano and Carol Barrett said that they were not surprised that the bill was signed.
"It is political, all about the election," Barrett said.
Luciano said that not only was the move to gain votes, but also to give Whitman "plausible deniability" regarding the consequences the bill may bring.
The opposing towns, and the county have said that they will not rule out legal action to try and stop the line.
"It was magnificently orchestrated," Luciano said of DiFrancesco’s substitution for Whitman.
State Senator Joseph Kyrillos (R-13), a sponsor of the bill, expressed pleasure at the bill signing. "The roads are too busy," he said. "We cannot make it better unless we take mass transit steps."
The $400 million MOM plan would use an existing Conrail freight line to carry passengers from Ocean County north to Howell, Farmingdale, and Freehold, then west through Manalapan, and Englishtown in Monmouth County. The line would continue west through the Middlesex County towns of Monroe, Jamesburg, and South Brunswick, where it will connect with Amtrak’s Northeast Corridor line in Monmouth Junction, where commuters would have access to points north and south such as New York and Philadelphia.
Towns along the line in Ocean and Monmouth county support the plan, while the three towns in Middlesex County are vehemently opposing the link.
South Brunswick, Jamesburg, and Monroe townships and the Middlesex County Board of Chosen Freeholders do not want the MOM line built, and have stated that they may even take legal action to stop NJ Transit from running the line through their towns.
NJ Transit’s proposal was dismissed in 1996 in favor of enhanced bus service on Route 9, but returned to the front burner when Jeffrey Warsh was appointed executive director of the agency last year.
If the plan gets federal dollars, according to Warsh, it will be given a green light by NJ Transit.
"We are just waiting for the money," Warsh said in an earlier interview.
Regarding a threat of legal action by South Brunswick and other Middlesex County towns’ to stop MOM, Warsh said, "There is not a chance they would prevail in court."
Warsh has said that a major study must be completed on the proposal before construction would begin. "The beauty of the study," he said, "is that opponents will get to participate and their concerns will be heard."
That study, Warsh said, would also explore other alignments, such as a Freehold to Red Bank link that would connect with the North Jersey Coast line which runs north from Bay Head to Newark.
The study itself is expected to take about a year and a half to complete.