DRPA committee approves more special projects

Resuming the controversial practice of using toll revenue for economic development, a Delaware River Port Authority committee yesterday approved the use of $11 million for non-transportation projects in Philadelphia and Camden.

Approved was $3.5 million for the President's House memorial at Sixth and Market Streets and $2.5 million for a restaurant on Franklin Square and for the Lights of Liberty show, all in Philadelphia. The committee also approved funding for Camden projects: $1.5 million for a proposed medical school, $1.5 million for infrastructure improvements along Admiral Wilson Boulevard, and $2 million for demolition of an office building and associated improvements.

Gov. Rendell had announced a day earlier that he would seek money from the port authority, which he chairs, to complete construction funding for the President's House memorial.

The spending, which requires approval by the authority's board next month, would use money remaining from economic-development money borrowed in 1999.

When it increased tolls on its four Delaware River bridges last summer, the board promised it would not use the new revenue for economic development. But it said about $35 million remaining from previous borrowing could be used for such spending.

Yesterday, deliberating under a large orange highway sign that proclaimed, "Your toll dollars at work," the panel also approved $250,000 to help pay for last year's Army-Navy football game in Philadelphia.

And it extended for three years its $1 million loan guarantee for the Battleship New Jersey, a tourist attraction on the Camden waterfront.

The port authority's role in helping to fund economic-development projects has long been a sore point with the toll-paying motorists who provide 86 percent of the agency's money.

Since 1999, the authority has spent about $375 million on such projects as Lincoln Financial Field, the Kimmel Center, the National Constitution Center, the Camden Riversharks' minor-league baseball stadium, and, most recently, a soccer stadium complex on the Chester waterfront and the National Museum of American Jewish History near Independence Hall.

"Philosophically, the decision directly contradicts the principle of a DRPA promise not to use toll money for economic development," Catherine L. Rossi, public and government affairs manager for the auto club AAA Mid-Atlantic, said of yesterday's approvals. "Shame on DRPA. It appears politics overshadowed principle."

Even though the money was borrowed earlier, Rossi said, "isn't this really new money because it's borrowed money that is being paid back with tolls that motorists are paying now? Sounds like a shell game."

Agency officials said the spending was important for improving the lives and economic prospects of people on both sides of the river.

"The DRPA charter allows economic-development projects, and I believe that it is a prudent use of these funds to support projects that enhance the region in which the DRPA operates," said John Estey, who serves as chairman in Rendell's absence. He said some of the projects increased authority revenue by boosting bridge crossings and PATCO ridership.

And, Estey said, the President's House memorial "has such significance in helping to tell a part of our history that has been almost ignored for over 200 years that its completion is almost a moral imperative for our region and the nation."

"I am willing to accept more criticism for the use of that $3.5 million if it means that we foster a deeper understanding of the history of slavery in this country."

The President's House memorial will commemorate the site where George Washington and John Adams lived and worked and where Washington held nine slaves during Philadelphia's stint as the nation's capital.

The memorial is expected to cost about $8.5 million. The federal government has allocated $3.6 million and the city $3.5 million. About $1.4 million of the port authority's contribution would go to construction, with $2.1 million seeding a maintenance endowment, Rendell said at a Wednesday news conference announcing the agency's role.

In other business yesterday, the board hired a West Chester firm for $488,892 to recommend ways to make local port facilities more environmentally friendly.

Weston Solutions Inc. is to help the Delaware River Port Authority, the South Jersey Port Corp., and the Philadelphia Regional Port Authority reduce pollution and develop alternative-fuel operations.