Politics Across the Hudson

We spend years in traffic yet know little of the brew of politics, bureaucracy, interests, and ideals keeping us there. Planner and political scientist Plotch examines this principle through one transportation planning debacle: the three-decade struggle to refurbish or replace the Tappan Zee Bridge across the Hudson River north of New York City ... Anyone concerned about the place of large infrastructure projects in the modern U.S. should consider this sobering case study. --Publisher's Weekly Philip Plotch's political history about the replacement of New York's Tappan Zee Bridge should be on the bookshelf of planners and other practicioners, elected officials, community members, and students engaged in or entering megaproject and urban politics debates ... Plotch skillfully tells the painful story of this bridge's evolution through a three-decade saga of conflict between elected officials, engineers, planners, environmentalists, and others who held divergent views about addressing traffic congestion in the corridor. --Journal of the American Planning Association Plotch has tremendous insight into the challenges of building extraordinarily complex projects in difficult political and fiscal climates. His professional experience and probing questions have enabled him to help explain Planet Albany--a place where thought defies gravity. --David A. Paterson Governor of New York, 2008-2010 The Tappan Zee Bridge has been a symbol of infrastructure inaction in the U.S. over the last several decades - until now! New York State's Governor Cuomo has found the way to overcome the bickering among the many stakeholders and actually get to construction of the much needed replacement for this obsolescent and heavily used structure. How he did it, and how decades of issues stood in the way, are well told by Dr. Philip Plotch. This is a treatise for policy makers, planners, engineers, community leaders. Plotch has brought to light the genius in how to get big things done. It should go on your shelf next to your copy of Caro. --Robert E. Paaswell Distinguished Professor of Civil Engineering (City College of New York) and Director Emeritus Plotch's analytical skills are top-notch and his writing is incisive and succinct. He writes with a historian's attention to detail, a political scientist's interest in theory, and a public policy scholar's fascination with how the sausage is actually made. --Jeffrey Smith assistant professor of Politics and Advocacy, The New School, New York Plotch, a former planning official with the Metropolitan Transportation Authority and the Lower Manhattan Development Corp., writes with depth and wit about engineering, bureaucracy and politics --Times Union Winner of the prestigious American Planning Association journalism award for its in-depth research, hard hitting analysis and compelling look at the politics behind New York's first major new bridge in more than 50 years. --American Planning Association Using original documents and conducting numerous interviews with key players, the author went a long distance to unravel this complex process. In so doing, he managed to eloquently, and in great detail, trace the project's political, planning and bureaucratic evolution. --Journal of Planning Literature a wonderful book about this infrastructure megaproject --Journal of the American Planning Association Plotch dissects a well-intentioned assessment and public participation process undone by parochial interests, turf battles, unrealistic expectations, and arcane and glacial regulatory procedures. Anyone concerned about the place of large infrastructure projects in the modern U.S. should consider this sobering case study --Publisher's Weekly Politics Across the Hudson: The Tappan Zee Megaproject is a short, compelling account of how good politics rarely translates into good public policy. Its 191 pages make for easy reading and its 41 pages of footnotes and bibliography, for authoritative telling --Times Herald Governor David Patterson held about 6 meetings a month. That's according to Professor Philip Plotch who recently published a book, Politics across the Hudson, about the Tappan Zee Bridge and the construction. --Stephen Nesson WNYC Philip Plotch gives a brief history and sums up the future of the Tapen Zee Bridge project in this short video (http: //youtu.be/PltWbA1aBhI)--for WNYC Even with my lifelong interest in traffic congestion, I had much to learn from Politics Across the Hudson. What resonated most with me is the extremely lengthy process of conflicting viewpoints among the many agencies involved in our transportation systems. Nothing gets done fast. --Anthony Downs author of Stuck in Traffic Philip Plotch combines a terrific story with a relentless search for evidence and doses of humor to give us a first-rate portrayal of the political process at work. He recounts the efforts over several decades to replace the aging Tappan Zee Bridge. Through three decades of struggle and failed plans, three governors--George Pataki, Eliot Spitzer, and David Paterson--kept the project alive though often on a 'death watch.' Plotch reveals how Governor Andrew Cuomo picked up the torch, manipulated the facts where he thought it necessary, and overcame many obstacles to begin construction. --Jameson W. Doig author of Empire on the Hudson