Molinaro targets transportation
At swearing-in ceremony, the BP
addresses Islanders' commuting woes
Staten Island Advance - Monday, January 09, 2006
Pledging to improve transportation on Staten Island
in his second term, Borough President James Molinaro held an
inauguration ceremony yesterday at the College of Staten Island.
"We need to redouble our efforts to increase Staten
Island's public transportation services," Molinaro told an audience
of family members, friends, elected officials and others in the
college's Center for the Arts.
Yesterday's event was ceremonial, as Molinaro was
formally sworn into office last month.
Molinaro said he would continue to focus on creating
a link between the Island and the Hudson-Bergen light rail system
across the Bayonne Bridge in New Jersey.
"There's no question there's a need," he said after
the event. "It will take hundreds of cars off the street."
Molinaro, who won a second, four-year term in office
in November, said he would also continue his efforts to plan for the
Goethals Bridge twin, a South Shore fast ferry, and the revival of
passenger service on the North Shore rail line. He said he is
"determined" to open the roads in the former Fresh Kills landfill to
the public by 2007.
"Not all of these things will be completed by the
time I leave office," said Molinaro, who is term-limited out of
Borough Hall in 2009. "But they have to be started."
In a break with tradition, Molinaro sat in the
audience with other dignitaries during the event as District
Attorney Daniel Donovan, his former deputy, emceed from the stage.
It was a ceremony that focused on Molinaro's
personal side as much as his policies.
Former Borough President Guy Molinari, who served in government with
Molinaro for more than 20 years, praised him for his downzoning
efforts and for rebuilding South Beach, but also recalled attending
holiday parties at Molinaro's home. "That was very precious time for
me," said Molinari.
The Rev. Terry Troia, executive director of Project
Hospitality, said Molinaro had shown a "keen mind for the community"
by aiding the homeless, the hungry, and the victims of the tsunami
and Hurricane Katrina.
Earlier, a video presentation traced Molinaro's life
story from his beginnings as a child of immigrants on Manhattan's
Lower East Side, through his years as a Conservative Party
powerbroker and government staffer.
Included were tributes from former Sen. Alfonse
D'Amato, former Mayor Ed Koch, Bronx Borough President Adolfo
Carrion and Brooklyn Borough President Marty Markowitz.
Also included was a montage featuring Molinaro's
favorite sayings, which Donovan called "Jimmy-isms," and which
Molinaro's staffers keep humorous track of. Chief among them: "A
year is a lifetime in politics," and "All the saints are in heaven."
"It was different," Molinaro said of the ceremony,
most of which was planned by his staff. "It was very classy."
By Tom Wrobleski
Reprinted here with permission
from the
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