Letters: Time to replace DRPA with real port authority
I was favorably impressed with State Sen. Larry Farnese's article advocating that the Philadelphia regional ports be unified under one agency to operate and maintain not only port facilities but also transportation assets, similar to what New Jersey and N
I was favorably impressed with State Sen. Larry Farnese's article advocating that the Philadelphia regional ports be unified under one agency to operate and maintain not only port facilities but also transportation assets, similar to what New Jersey and New York did when they established the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey ("A porridge of port fiefdoms," Wednesday). Farnese said this concept was discussed as long ago as 1988, but the Committee of Seventy in 1981, shortly after my term as chairman ended, published a port-governance study, which, per my recollection, advocated the unification.
At present, multifarious agencies control various aspects of the port's operations. Let me give a historical illustration: In the 1980s, I served two years as a member of the Delaware River Navigation Commission. We licensed river pilots for international voyages, while the Coast Guard licensed domestic pilots. We had to approve any structure built on the Delaware River bed bordering Delaware or Bucks Counties, while another agency exercised this power for the Philadelphia waterfront. Furthermore, the Army Corps of Engineers had to OK anything built in the river's navigable waters. Confusion!
The main problem with the Delaware River Port Authority is not the corruption you have uncovered, but rather that it is a free-standing entity that collects and disburses public money without legislative, budgetary, or gubernatorial management input. Its money should go equally into each state's till. The present moves by the DRPA board to try to improve transparency and ethical standards are tinkering around the edges. A restructuring à la New York is called for.
Daniel I. Murphy
Newtown Square