By Karen Rouse, The Record (Hackensack N.J.) –
HACKENSACK, N.J. — Port Authority officials said Friday they will spend the money — $10,000 in overtime — to keep the American flag flying from the George Washington Bridge on future Independence Days.
The bistate agency took the flag down midday on July 4 to save on overtime costs, but some who had grown accustomed to seeing the flag fly into the night complained. Now, officials say, they will keep Old Glory in place a full day.
The $10,000 cost — roughly what 835 drivers would pay in tolls to cross the bridge — funds the 10 employees needed to unfurl and retrieve the flag, the world’s largest, agency spokesman Steve Coleman said.
“It’s from bringing them in on a day off,” Coleman said. “They’re being brought in on a holiday.”
The flag operates on a boom, and lowering and retrieving the 450-pound banner is a labor-intensive, manual process done by trained staff, he said. The flag must also be monitored while it hangs, with workers at the ready to retrieve it if heavy winds or rain develop.
“We need people to raise the flag at a moment’s notice,” Coleman said, adding that it takes 30 minutes to raise the flag.
Last year the flag was also displayed for one eight-hour shift. However, it was up from 3 to 11 p.m., when many people are headed into the city for the fireworks display and other celebrations.
“The current leadership is committed to flying the flag for a full day,” Coleman said on Friday.
North Jersey residents on Thursday and Friday had called the decision to clamp down on overtime during the most patriotic day of the year a “disgrace” and a disservice to the soldiers serving overseas to protect the freedoms the flag represents.
Several were irritated, given the Port Authority’s recent decision to raise cash tolls to $12 on the bridge and recent criticism from state legislators over excessive spending on employee salaries. The agency has paid its executives hundreds of thousands in compensation over the years, some of it hidden from the public.
One resident said she was “quite upset to think the Port Authority can charge so much money to cross the bridge and not have the decency to fly the flag for the whole day.”
Fort Lee couple Ruth and Peter Adler contacted the Port Authority after they noticed Wednesday that the famous flag was not suspended from the bridge. After an employee informed them that the overtime costs had dictated the decision to take it down early, they fired off letters to New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie and New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo, who oversee the bistate agency, as well as U.S. Sens. Frank Lautenberg and Bob Menendez, Democrats from New Jersey, and local news media.
When Ruth Adler learned Friday it would cost $10,000 to keep Old Glory flying, she was initially in disbelief.
“I’ve got a bridge in Brooklyn to sell you,” she said. But her position remained unchanged.
“There are about 1,000 cars going over that bridge in an hour,” she guessed. The agency could “pay for that immediately.”
Weinberg, who noticed the flag was missing on July 4 while attending a party at the Adlers’ apartment building, said she wanted a breakdown of the overtime costs.
“Ten-thousand dollars sounds outlandish to me,” she said.
Weinberg said she also had noticed on July 4 that the bridge towers were not lit up at night as she has seen on past Independence Days.
Coleman said the bridge was not lit because the Port Authority had received warnings about conserving electricity to avoid a brownout.
“It takes tremendous amounts of electricity to illuminate the bridge,” Coleman said. “We were following the guidance of the utility companies.”
