Westport News: DeStefano Hits Rails in Bid for Governor

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Westport News: DeStefano Hits Rails in Bid for Governor

The Westport News July 13, 2006

By Michael C. Juliano

John DeStefano, New Haven's 51-year-old seventh-term mayor in his first bid for governor, stopped by the Saugatuck train station Monday morning to talk with local commuters about his statewide transportation policy.

Standing on the platform as weary riders checked their watches and sipped their coffees, DeStefano said the towns on the Metro-North rail line need to wrest control of the roughly 35 stations in the state from the Department of Transportation (DOT).

"We said the cities will build and operate the stations at our expense because the state can't get it done," he said, adding it may cost towns billions of dollars, but it is a worthwhile investment. "Now, people can't find parking at the stations."

DeStefano has been riding the rails and stepping out onto train platforms along the "Gold Coast" to share his ideas on transportation with commuters.

DeStefano said about 35 train cars bought from the Virginia Railway Express, which were acquired for about $20 million in fall 2004, have been sitting in the New Haven rail yard for a year under the DOT.

"The state has failed to add more seats and cars to the line," he said.

Last month, the DOT purchased 11 locomotives costing $20 million, with Metro-North picking up $7 million of the tab. The DOT bought the used cars as part of its plan to buy about 350 new cars for approximately $1 billion.

DeStefano, who is vying with Stamford Mayor Dannel Malloy for the Democratic nomination to run for governor, said Republican Gov. Jodi Rell and her predecessor, John Rowland, have allowed the state's entire transportation structure to fall "into disrepair."

DeStefano is scheduled to hold a debate with Malloy, who is in his fourth term as Stamford's chief elected official, in New London's Garde Theater July 18, sponsored by the New London Day, followed by a statewide primary Aug. 8.

In addition to addressing rail transportation, DeStefano's policy looks to lessen vehicular traffic across the state by, among other things, widening both Interstate 95 from Branford to Rhode Island and Interstate 84 and improving its interchange with Route 8 in Waterbury. Furthermore, the plan includes creating a Connecticut-Massachusetts Airport Development Authority to upgrade Hartford's Bradley International Airport from what DeStefano calls an "international airport in name only."

The policy also encompasses improving freight rail access to Connecticut, completing the bus-way from New Britain to Hartford on Interstate 91 and creating a "true" Connecticut Port Authority to support seaports in Bridgeport, New Haven and New London.

"If we bring rail directly into all three ports, we can take thousands of trucks off I-95 and I-91 as Connecticut would become the product point of entry for the rest of New England," DeStefano's policy states.

The scheme also calls for a revamping of the DOT, which DeStefano says, is "best suited to the highway-building days of the 1950s" with many of its decisions coming into question due to a history of corruption. In particular, the plan proposes forming three separate agencies to manage the state's public transit and port systems, whereby the state's commuter rail and bus system would be managed by an entity outside of the DOT.

Checking his watch as the next train swooshed its way into the station heading for his next stop in Stamford, DeStefano said his policy outlines a big step forward for the state's future, comparing it to buying a house for the first time.

"It's the most important investment in your life," he said.

DeStefano's Web site can be viewed at www.destefanoforct. com