From Long Island lawyer to confidante of governors, Patrick Foye, former downstate director of Empire State Development under Gov. Eliot Spitzer, Â went back to private life after the former governor”™s departure. But he didn”™t disappear from the political radar.
Foye re-emerged under Gov. Andrew Cuomo, acting as deputy director for economic development in March. Now, Cuomo has won the support of the Legislature to appoint him as Christopher Ward”™s successor as  executive director of the Port Authority of New York/New Jersey as of Nov. 7.
Although not officially executive director at the Nov. 4 Pattern for Progress dinner, Foye told the more than 500 guests at the event in New Windsor he would make the growth of Stewart Airport a priority, focusing on its ability to become a major cargo hub for downstate airports that are filled to overflowing.
“Our number one priority will be to attract more flights,” said Foye, “but the airline business has suffered as a result of the recession.” What has not suffered was Stewart”™s cargo capacity, which was up 35 percent by September over all of the previous year. He echoed many of the sentiments Susan Baer, PANY/NJ director of aviation shared with the Orange County Chamber of Commerce at a breakfast just a few days before the Pattern event.
The incoming executive director of PANY/NJ also touched on other topics of concern. Foye said Cuomo has come through for New York on promises he made during his campaign. “He campaigned on a platform to get local leaders to come together and leverage private dollars to optimize state dollars. New York is 49th in terms of business attraction, a trend that is being changed.”
Foye also spoke of SEQR (state environmental quality review) reform, long a thorn in the side of development. Streamlining SEQR will help put people back to work, said Foye, noting the waiver granted the Tappan Zee Bridge replacement to fast track it from paper to shovel in ground. “Eighty-three million dollars has been spent on planning; it”™s time to make the deal happen. That”™s why we need to take a hard look at SEQR and reform it without compromising the environment ”“ because we need to get people back to work.”
Saying it looked as though “the Great Recession will be with us for a while,” Foye likened its impact to the Great Depression, “with broken homes and people unable to reach their potential, with a social cost that has hurt us … but we”™re beginning to see a return to traditional values, and the economy painfully, but slowly, rebounding. Somewhere in New York, there is a SUNY graduate who is working on the next Oracle.” One quality Americans have not lost, in Foye”™s opinion, is “The virtue of sacrifice has not diminished.”
Foye faces a daunting task as he takes on the mantle of executive director of one of the world”™s largest transportation agencies. The Port Authority”™s domain includes planes, trains, automobiles and shipyards, as well as the rebuilding of the World Trade Center.
In addition, Cuomo has also put forth a recommendation that Moynihan Station Development Authority and Lower Manhattan Development Corporation be absorbed into the Port Authority. U.S. Sen. Charles Schumer has endorsed Cuomo”™s recommendation.
