Tony Coscia arrived on stage for a panel discussion with a résumé that includes the N.J. Economic Development Authority, the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey, the chairmanship of Amtrak, and a leading role in the Gateway Tunnel project.
That history has convinced him of one thing above all: Mobility is central to economic development — and prosperity — in the state and the region. And whether government can actually deliver it is a test far larger than transportation.
“Mobility is a really important thing for the state to advance,” he said. “(New Jersey) is a phenomenal place. We absolutely have the best workforce, the smartest people, a culture that is very diverse and a level of engagement and enthusiasm among the people.”
In a region where the greatest asset is its people, Coscia said, the ability to move them efficiently is the greatest need. Transit, he argued, is what unlocks the true value of the area.
“The ability to get from one place to another, frankly, can make an enormous difference in a person’s life,” he said. “It has an impact on the quality of their life, whether or not they get to spend time with their families, do the things they want to do.”
Coscia, one of the top real estate lawyers in the state, said that reality comes up in nearly every development discussion he has.
“Ask anyone in the real estate development business, land isn’t worth the acreage you have — land is worth how easy it is or how hard it is to get to that particular spot.
“Mobility is really important.”
That belief, Coscia said, explains why the Gateway Tunnel project has become his defining issue. Speaking on a panel with Lt. Gov. Dale Caldwell and PSEG Chair Ralph LaRossa Wednesday during the ReNew Jersey Business Summit & Expo in Atlantic City, Coscia said Gateway is not just a transportation project — it is an economic one, and a test of whether the region can still execute on something difficult.
“If I’m anywhere with a microphone, I’m going to talk about Gateway,” he said. “To me, Gateway is about more than just building a tunnel into the Hudson River. It’s about the idea that we are going to do what’s necessary to build a transportation system that makes it easy to get from Point A to Point B, because in doing that, we activate our strongest resource. We make it possible for people to live, work and play in this area in a way that really, you know, is meaningful.”
But Gateway also illustrates why major infrastructure projects have struggled for decades: an unwillingness to confront hard problems and commit to long timelines.
“The reason why we haven’t done things like this, the reason why we haven’t upgraded our system, is because it’s too hard,” Coscia said. “We can’t get everybody to agree.
“So, basically, if you don’t propose a project where the numbers are small enough and the duration of the project is short enough to fit neatly in either an election cycle or pick whatever you want, we just don’t do it.”
The issue, Coscia argued, is not ideology or vision, it’s execution.
“It’s the actual willingness to say, ‘We’re going to do it,’” he said. “And if it takes 10 years, it takes 10 years.
“The sooner we start, the sooner we’re going to finish. We need to stop talking about projects. We need to do them.”
That same execution mindset, Coscia said, is what he has been watching closely in the early days of the new administration’s approach to business and infrastructure.
“You can have a lot of meetings with people, you can get a lot of input on people from people, but if you’re not actually able to execute on it,” he said. “I think the administration in its early stages has shown real signs of understanding that it’s not entirely about ideology. It’s about: Can you get things to run on time? Can you get things to happen? Can you do budgets and put together financial analysis that actually holds together?
“There is such a thing as the correct answer to a problem, and so if you can figure out and have people who are smart enough to know what that correct answer is, and then work off of that, we’re going to be a lot more successful.”
Ultimately, Coscia said, Gateway represents more than a tunnel — it represents a statement about what the region is capable of accomplishing.
“Building a tunnel under the Hudson River is important because it will make mobility in this region infinitely better than it is today,” he said, “but it also will prove to ourselves and to everybody else that we can do big stuff, that we can work with each other, get beyond our differences, and actually accomplish that.”
