{"id":437254,"date":"2025-12-10T06:38:23","date_gmt":"2025-12-10T06:38:23","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/437254\/"},"modified":"2025-12-10T06:38:23","modified_gmt":"2025-12-10T06:38:23","slug":"n-y-governor-announces-her-pick-for-executive-director-of-the-port-authority","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/437254\/","title":{"rendered":"N.Y. governor announces her pick for executive director of the Port Authority"},"content":{"rendered":"

New York Gov. Kathy Hochul nominated State Operations Director Kathryn Garcia as the Port Authority\u2019s next executive director, replacing Rick Cotton who announced he\u2019s retiring next month<\/a>.<\/p>\n

New Jersey Gov. Phil Murphy<\/a> is sticking with Chairman Kevin O\u2019Toole, who he renominated on Nov. 20 and is awaiting a vote by the state Senate.<\/p>\n

Hochul cited Garcia\u2019s infrastructure work on projects including the Gateway Tunnel and the proposed Interborough Express light rail line, since her September 2021 appointment as state operations director. <\/p>\n

\u201cKathryn helped us launch and advance generational infrastructure projects and rebuild our economy following the pandemic with an eye toward the future,\u201d Hochul said in a statement. <\/p>\n

\u201cI am thankful she will continue serving the people of New York as executive director of the Port Authority, where she will help us continue to advance a regional economy that keeps us the global leader in job creation and growth,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

Cotton called Garcia\u2019s nomination a superb choice. <\/p>\n

\u201cI have worked closely with Kathryn for many years. She has deep knowledge of city and state government combined with extraordinary insight and judgment and a collaborative spirit,\u201d he said. \u201cI could not imagine a government executive better suited to advance the Port Authority\u2019s standards of world-class infrastructure and get things done.\u201d <\/p>\n

New York\u2019s governor appoints the authority\u2019s executive director while New Jersey\u2019s governor names the board chairman. <\/p>\n

On the Jersey side, state senators on the Judiciary Committee didn\u2019t spare the superlatives either when voting unanimously to send O\u2019Toole\u2019s nomination on to the full senate on Dec. 1.<\/p>\n

That included praise for putting New Jersey on a more equal footing with New York since his August 2017 appointment.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe work you do at the Port Authority is respected on both sides of the aisle, I support you whole heartedly,\u201d said Senate Minority Leader Anthony Bucco, R-Morris. <\/p>\n

O\u2019Toole and Cotton worked together during the past almost nine years, to move massive projects such as the rebuilding of LaGuardia Airport, once derided by then Vice President Joe Biden as resembling a third world airport, replacing Newark Airport\u2019s Terminal A and starting work on one of Murphy\u2019s desires, replacement of the aging airport monorail system.<\/p>\n

Both Cotton and O\u2019Toole were credited with continuing the reforms instituted after the Bridgegate scandal<\/a> damaged the authority\u2019s reputation.<\/p>\n

Bridgegate involved the politically motivated closing of lanes at the George Washington Bridge, creating massive gridlock in Fort Lee after Mayor Mark Sokolich declined to endorse Gov. Chris Christie<\/a> for re-election.<\/p>\n

Garcia also served as the commissioner of the New York City Department of Sanitation, leading its 9,700 uniformed and civilian employees. During the winter of 2019, she also stepped in as the interim chair of the New York City Housing Authority. <\/p>\n

During the pandemic, Garcia served as the COVID-19 Food Czar, delivering over 1 million meals a day. She ran unsuccessfully for the democratic nomination for New York City mayor.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"New York Gov. Kathy Hochul nominated State Operations Director Kathryn Garcia as the Port Authority\u2019s next executive director,…\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":437255,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5122],"tags":[5229,405,403,5226,5225,44892,5228,5227,67,586,132,5230,68,2969],"class_list":{"0":"post-437254","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-new-york","8":"tag-america","9":"tag-new-york","10":"tag-new-york-city","11":"tag-newyork","12":"tag-newyorkcity","13":"tag-north-bergen","14":"tag-ny","15":"tag-nyc","16":"tag-united-states","17":"tag-united-states-of-america","18":"tag-unitedstates","19":"tag-unitedstatesofamerica","20":"tag-us","21":"tag-usa"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@us\/115693899381989456","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/437254","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=437254"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/437254\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/437255"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=437254"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=437254"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=437254"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}