No Federal $$ for New Port Authority Terminal?
Dear Editor:
Finding the money to pay for the new proposed $10 billion Port Authority midtown Manhattan Bus Terminal is easier said than done. Port Authority officials refused to confirm the price tag which has grown by billions over the past few years.
The approved Port Authority 2017–2026 ten year $37 billion Capital Plan provided only $3.5 billion toward construction of the new $10 billion 42nd Street PA Bus Terminal. How many more years will it take to complete the ongoing $70 million planning study, environmental review process, preliminary and final design and engineering? This project has carried a $6.5 billion shortfall for years.
Can the Port Authority count on $6.5 billion in future federal funding to make up the difference?. Don’t be surprised to wait until the next Port Authority ten year 2027–2036 Capital Plan before a complete $10 billion funding package is in place. This is necessary to support awarding construction contracts. After all these years, the environmental review process is still incomplete. The project has not been accepted into the Federal Transit Administration’s New Starts or Core Capacity national discretionary capital grant program. This is the logical source for federal funding. No one can predict the final cost and completion date.
Sincerely,
Larry Penner
(Larry Penner is a transportation advocate, historian and writer who previously worked for the Federal Transit Administration Region 2 NY Office. This included the development, review, approval and oversight for billions of dollars in grants which provided funding for capital projects and programs to NJ Transit, NY MTA, NYC Transit, Long Island and Metro North Rail Roads and over 30 transit agencies in NY & NJ).
Auschwitz Exhibit at NY Holocaust Exhibit
Dear Editor:
The Museum of Jewish Heritage – A Living Memorial to the Holocaust on Monday announced there are only three months left to see the internationally acclaimed and popular exhibition, Auschwitz. Not long ago. Not far away., before it leaves New York City. The exhibition will be on view at the Battery Park City-based Museum through May 2, 2021.
Produced by the international exhibition firm Musealia and the Auschwitz-Birkenau State Museum in Poland, the groundbreaking exhibition Auschwitz. Not long ago. Not far away. is the largest ever on Auschwitz with more than 700 original objects and 400 photographs.
The exhibition has been extended twice since it was opened in May 2019, due to the record number of visitors – more than 168,000 people, including more than 35,000 students – until the Museum temporarily closed because of COVID-19. The Museum reopened on September 13, albeit at 25% of the Museum’s previous capacity to maintain proper social distancing.
Currently, the Museum is open three days per week—Wednesdays, Thursdays and Sundays—rather than the previous six, and with limited hours, from 10 AM to 5 PM. General admission, timed-entry tickets purchased online in advance allow access to all Museum galleries. On the other days, the Museum deep cleans all public spaces.
Auschwitz. Not long ago. Not far away. explores the dual identity of the camp as a physical location—the largest documented mass murder site in human history—and as a symbol of the borderless manifestation of hatred and human barbarity.
Sincerely
MJH – A Living Memorial to the Holocaust
Endorsement of Sarah Huckabee Sanders
Dear Editor:
Sarah Huckabee Sanders is a warrior who will always fight for the people of Arkansas and do what is right, not what is politically correct. Sarah is strong on Borders, tough on Crime, and fully supports the Second Amendment and our great law enforcement officers.
She loves our Military and Veterans – and her home state of Arkansas. Sarah will be a GREAT Governor, and she has my Complete and Total Endorsement!
Sincerely
President Donald J. Trump
Yad Vashem to Mark Holocaust Remembrance Day
Dear Editor:
Yad Vashem has created a mini-site marking International Holocaust Remembrance Day, featuring a variety of resources the public can view, share and engage in, including online exhibitions, educational resources and the unique IRemember Wall .
Yad Vashem will be hosting for the first time ever an online virtual guided tour of the permanent exhibition “Shoah” located in the Auschwitz-Birkenau State Museum. The virtual tour will take visitors through the Jewish Pavilion known as Block 27 in Auschwitz I, exploring the central themes of the Holocaust, offering insights into the rich Jewish life that existed prior to 1939 and the world of children during the Shoah, and showcasing the monumental Book of Names.
In addition to the virtual tour, Yad Vashem has curated and uploaded “My Lost Childhood,” a new online exhibition featuring seven children’s homes established after the end of WWII. Through the voices of survivor testimony, as well as artifacts, photographs and documents from Yad Vashem’s unrivalled collections, this moving exhibition brings to life the terrifying ordeals of the children brought to the homes, and how they were gently assisted – often by survivors themselves – to re-enter normative society.
Members of Yad Vashem’s senior staff, historians and educators will participate in various events and ceremonies around the world marking International Holocaust Remembrance Day.
Yad Vashem’s Ready2Print exhibitions will be displayed in dozens of community centers and institutions around the world, including locations in Spain, Germany, Greece, the United Arab Emirates, Taiwan and the United Kingdom.
Sincerely
Israel Gov’t Press Office
