32:1-35.50. Findings and determinations

The States of New York and New Jersey hereby find and determine:

(1) that the transportation of persons to, from and within the Port of New York, and the flow of foreign and domestic cargoes to, from and through the Port of New York are vital and essential to the preservation of the economic well-being of the northern New Jersey-New York metropolitan area;

(2) that in order to preserve the northern New Jersey-New York metropolitan area from economic deterioration, adequate facilities for the transportation of persons must be provided, preserved and maintained and that rail services are and will remain of extreme importance to such transportation of persons;

(3) that the interurban electric railway now or heretofore operated by the Hudson & Manhattan Railroad Company is an essential railroad facility serving the northern New Jersey-New York metropolitan area, that its physical plant is in a severely deteriorated condition, and that it is in extreme financial condition;

(4) that the immediate need for the maintenance and development of adequate railroad facilities for the transportation of persons between northern New Jersey and New York would be met by the acquisition, rehabilitation and operation of the said Hudson & Manhattan interurban electric railway by a public agency, and improvement and extensions of the rail transit lines of said railway to permit transfer of its passengers to and from other transportation facilities and in the provision of transfer facilities at the points of such transfers;

(5) that in order to preserve and protect the position of the Port of New York as the nation's leading gateway for world commerce it is incumbent on the States of New York and New Jersey to make every effort to insure that their port receives its rightful share of the oceanborne cargo volumes generated by the economy of the nation;

(6) that the servicing functions and activities connected with the oceanborne and overseas airborne trade and commerce of the Port of New York District, as defined in the compact between the said 2 States dated April 30, 1921, (hereinafter called the port district), including customs clearance, shipping negotiations, cargo routing, freight forwarding, financing, insurance arrangements and other similar transactions which are presently performed in various, scattered locations in the city of New York, State of New York, should be centralized to provide for more efficient and economical transportation of persons and more efficient and economical facilities for the exchange and buying, selling and transportation of commodities and other property in world trade and commerce;

(7) that unification, at a single, centrally located site, of the principal New York terminal of the aforesaid interurban electric railway and a facility of commerce accommodating the said functions and activities described in subdivision 6 of this section and the appropriate governmental, administrative and other services connected with or incidental to transportation of persons and property and the promotion and protection of port commerce, and providing a central locale for exhibiting and otherwise promoting the exchange and buying and selling of commodities and property in world trade and commerce, will materially assist in preserving for the 2 States and the people thereof the material and other benefits of a prosperous port community;

(8) that the Port of New York Authority (hereinafter called the port authority), which was created by agreement of the 2 States as their joint agent for the development of the transportation and terminal facilities and other facilities of commerce of the port district and for the promotion and protection of the commerce of their port, is the proper agency to act in their behalf (either directly or by or through wholly-owned subsidiary corporations) to effectuate, as a unified project, the said interurban electric railway and its extensions and the facility of commerce described in subdivision 7 of this section; and

(9) that the undertaking of the aforesaid unified project by the port authority has the single object of preserving, and is part of a unified plan to aid in the preservation of, the economic well-being of the northern New Jersey-New York metropolitan area and is found and determined to be in the public interest.

L.1962, c. 8, s. 1.