We
may learn, soon, whether The Spirit of Ontario will be back in operation, and
if so, whether it’ll be in service this fall.
Critics and the media are still
speculating on the causes of the ferry fiasco — and, despite its terrific
start-up bookings, on whether Spirit is viable. Sellouts in August aren’t a
predictor of passenger load for February, and some of the early traffic may
have been due to deep mid-week discounts. Still, this thing is brand new.
Start-up problems were heavily publicized. Our neighbors across the border
seemed to be sneering at us, and at the ferry’s owner, Canadian American
Transportation Systems.
But many Canadians quickly became
enthusiastic ferry fans. And on this side, I have friends who tried to book
passage to Toronto to see the Yankees game — a week in advance — and the
ship was already sold out. That’s impressive this early in Spirit’s life. So is
the public support that followed CATS’ shutdown announcement.
As Chad Oliveiri’s
extensive coverage in City last week
showed, the circumstances that resulted in the shutdown are complicated. Maybe
somebody knows for a certainty where to place the blame (CATS? Customs? The
Toronto Port Authority?), but I don’t.
The shutdown inflicted great damage
on Spirit. It won’t be easy to overcome, but it can be done. That will require
strong marketing, to be sure. But it’ll require more than that. It will require
restoration of public trust — including the trust of elected officials.
Hanging over
Spirit right now are not only the questions of whether service can be restored and
whether the ferry is viable in the winter, but also whether the CATS management
is capable management. It may be that the only way to answer that third
question is to see how things are handled once Spirit resumes operation. But
there’s also the very serious concern of financing.
First, of course, there’s the
problem of getting money released from a CATS lender. That escrow account isn’t
bottomless. If CATS starts drawing it down now, will there be enough left to
help CATS through the winter?
Just as important is the issue of
CATS’ own investment. The owners have said that they have invested millions of
their own money in Spirit. But they have refused to show public officials their
financial records. The owners insist that they’re not required to, because
they’re a private business. They may be able to make that case, legally, for
the moment. But the public — city government, state government — has
invested money, too. Lots of money. CATS has an ethical responsibility to open
its books. Frankly, city and state officials should have insisted on seeing
those records before they committed one dime of taxpayers’ money.
Those officials went out on a limb
for CATS. Mayor Bill Johnson and Deputy Mayor Jeff Carlson in particular fought
an exhausting battle to get state funding, while then-County Executive Jack
Doyle sat on his hands and Doyle henchman Bill Nojay
fought the ferry, tooth and nail. Significantly, Nojay
contended at the time that CATS’ financial plan wasn’t solid.
It’s hard to see how CATS’
principals can regain public confidence unless they prove to officials that
they have the funds for long-term service, are investing adequate funds of
their own, and have been honest about their financing in the past.
Through this
dramatic start-up, the ferry’s name — the formal one, not the breezy nickname
— has developed substantial significance. The ferry had inspired hope and
joyous, almost childlike, public enthusiasm in a region plagued with a poor
economy.
The ferry seemed to be a can-do
venture in a community littered with unrealized plans for big projects. It
focused Upstate New Yorkers’ attention on a natural resource on which they had
previously turned their back. It had begun to reach across our Great Lake and
create a community out of two important, diverse regions.
In the days since Spirit was idled,
public officials on both sides of the lake have expressed support for it. So
have Rochester business leaders. Spirit’s future now rests with CATS’ lenders.
And their commitment apparently hinges on their confidence that Spirit’s
obstacles — the Toronto terminal, trucking, the pilots’ fees — will be
solved.
But even if the lenders release the
funds, CATS will have to regain trust. And only CATS’ principals can do that.
In the past, those principals have been secretive. That has hurt the ferry, and
it has to stop. Right now.
There’s too much riding on Spirit
for them to let us down, and I don’t mean the financial success of CATS and its
principals.
What
a week!
I
don’t know how much more damning the news can get about George Bush and his
war.
As the casualties in Iraq continued
to mount, mid-week last week the New York
Times carried yet another troubling bit of news: The CIA warned President
Bush this summer that things in Iraq are very, very bad — much worse than the
administration has portrayed them.
The same day, Republicans —
including Arizona Senator John McCain, one of Bush’s strongest supporters —
launched a scathing attack on the administration’s handling of reconstruction
in Iraq, including the failure to release more than a pittance of the money
Congress has approved.
Referring to the administration’s
prediction that the US would be welcomed with open arms in Iraq, Republican
Senator Chuck Hagel of Nebraska fired off this critique: “The nonsense of all
that is apparent. The lack of planning is apparent.”
As the week wore on, the concern
just poured out as Republicans spoke to print journalists and on television
news programs:
Here’s Hagel on CBS: “The fact is,
we’re in deep trouble in Iraq…. It’s beyond pitiful. It’s beyond embarrassing.
It’s now in the zone of dangerous.”
Indiana Senator Richard Lugar on
ABC’s This Week: “This is the incompetence in the administration.”
John McCain on Fox News Sunday: “We
made serious mistakes right after the initial successes by not having enough
troops on the ground, by allowing the looting, by not securing the borders.”
But the Bush campaign kept up its
attempt to drown out the facts with hype and rhetoric. And John Kerry is still
struggling in the polls.
What a president. What a country.
This article appears in Sep 22-28, 2004.
