Rick Cotton on ‘the airport business, the bridges and tunnels, roads, commuter railroad business’

Infrastructure plays an important role in our everyday lives, state and local economies. 

City & State’s upcoming Rebuilding New York Summit will gather decision makers from private development and government to address current infrastructure planning, financing, study, design, project development, and completion in New York.

The event, to be held at the The Museum of Jewish Heritage in Lower Manhattan on Tuesday, will gather professionals, builders, construction specialists, urban planners, and government officials focusing on making sure New York’s infrastructure is safe and modern.

Keynoting the event is Rick Cotton, executive director of the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey, who has led some of New York’s most recent large-scale public infrastructure development projects, including renovations to LaGuardia and JFK Airports, the Moynihan Train Hall and Penn-Farley Complex, completion of the new Tappan Zee Bridge, expansion of the Javits Center and the Metropolitan Transportation Authority’s Second Avenue Subway project.

City & State sat down with Cotton to discuss his background leading up to his work at the Port Authority and totease some of the topics that will be discussed at the upcoming summit. 

This interview has been edited for length and clarity.

First, please introduce yourself to City & State NY readers as if they have never heard of you.I tell people “I’m in the airport business, the bridges and tunnels, roads, commuter railroad business.” The World Trade Center campus is also in the agency's portfolio. My background is not typical. I came to work at the governor’s office after 25 years at NBC as general counsel and then moved to the Port Authority eight years ago. I’ve worked in the federal government a long time ago in the Carter administration, practiced law and then came to the Port Authority. The main challenge that repeats itself is to get large organizations to carry out big projects consistently with alacrity and speed and that’s a challenge. 

Are you excited about next week’s Rebuilding New York Summit? What do you plan to discuss in your keynote speech?

I want to lay out the current challenges that the Port Authority is facing and to remind people about some of the accomplishments that we have been able to achieve and to look at what are the events of the last three weeks. We had a groundbreaking for our midtown bus rebuild; we had on June 3 the first flight by an electric airplane to land at one of the Port Authority's airports; and Kennedy added a number of new access points for commuters so the community can get to the train station.

This represents our commitment to get things done. We are in the middle of a $30 billion investment program. La Guardia is complete. We are halfway through our Kennedy project and what’s under way now are our international terminals and an overhaul of the roadways. Last year Forbes named LaGuardia as the best airport in the U.S. when it had been named by the same publication as the worst before. We are proud of that. We tore down Newark’s Terminal A and rebuilt it which has received accolades. We did this all by listening to feedback and incorporating voices, by connecting the communities.

What can construction and infrastructure project management professionals gain from attending the summit next week? Is there anyone person or panel in particular you are looking forward to hearing speak?

Well I thought the mega project panel and the panel focused on “mobility” are real tent poles of the Port Authority’s approach–figuring out how to manage mega projects–for example how we use public private partnerships.  There are many features on how we approach projects that I’m excited to share and hear other opinions on. For instance, we always want to be highly conscious about the surrounding community, economic contributions and gathering opinions of all stakeholders. I assume how different people go about doing this will be the grist around the panels. 

I watched a video interview from 1970 (and you still have the same great hair!) of you speaking about Justice Brennan’s (who you clerked for after graduating from Yale law) impact on your career as a television network attorney. Do you think Brennan’s influence has extended past your news career into your infrastructure management career?  If so, how?

The dominant influence Justice Brennan had was to reinforce my admiration and commitment to public service and he was a justice and a judge who brought to his work a complete commitment to the public good. He was a student of the constitution and always aimed to distill the values of the constitution and to bring it to life. He believed it was a  living document.  Brennan was a believer in coalition building and he believed in working with the other justices. I brought those values with me in terms of watching him work. He used to say “you can disagree but you don’t have to be disagreeable.” He was constantly looking for common ground. He used to say “it's easy to be a Supreme Court justice. You just have to know how to count to five.”  So he was always looking for common ground. 

Picture yourself 10 years from now looking back at your work as you plan to retire. What do you hope you will be able to say about your accomplishments at that point and what is the legacy you hope you will be remembered for the most?

Well I think the simple answer is having made a significant contribution to the continued vitality of New York and I would hope the public facilities that we have built will be perceived by travellers as world class, as being part of their journey that they didn’t endure, that they took away a memory that there were highpoints that they took away.   Transportation facilities are gateways and we have made a big focus through pub art installations through concessions of having the facilities be a reflection and a positive reflection of the region and the quality of experience that travel and that’s what I want to be remembered for.

In addition to Cotton’s keynote, the summit will feature  four 45-minute panels: two in the morning and two in the afternoon:

• “Revitalizing New York’s Building Industry,” moderated by Rich Kassel, partner AJW, Inc. and including speakers Len Greco, senior vice president, Capital Program, NYCEDC; Will Xia, director of program operations & partnerships, NYSERDA; Eric C Macfarlane, first deputy commissioner, NYC Department of Design + Construction; Charlette Hamamgian, deputy comptroller for contracts and procurement, Office of the New York City Comptroller; Charlie O'Shea, executive for government strategy, T-Mobile for Government.

• “Reimagining New York’s Transportation Future,” Moderated by Matt Daus, partner and chair of the transportation practice group, Windels Marx Lane & Mittendorf, LLP;  Minosca Alcantara, executive director, New York State Bridge Authority;  Samuel Turvey, chairperson, ReThinkNYC; Christine Mizioch, senior vice president, AI Engineers, Daniel Baer, senior vice president, WSP USA; Scott Cullinane, national account director - transportation and critical infrastructure, Skydio; Pierre Vilain, managing director, KPMG;  Seth Wainer, program director of innovation, Port Authority of New York and New Jersey.  

• “Mega Projects: The Biggest Building Initiatives Shaping New York,” Moderated by Holly Pretsky, city editor, City & State NY;  Ahmed Tigani, acting commissioner, New York City Department of Housing Preservation & Development;  Girish Behal, vice president, projects and business development, New York Power Authority;  Bridget O’Hanlon, deputy commissioner, design and construction, Office of General Services;  Rebecca Zack, senior director of government and community affairs, Gateway Development Commission;  Zach Miller, director of metro region operations, Trucking Association of New York.

• “Mobility and Infrastructure in New York’s Counties and Cities,” moderated by Samantha Liebman, transit reporter, NY1;  Kisha Santiago, deputy secretary of state for planning, development and community infrastructure, New York Department of the State;  Edward P. Romaine, executive, Suffolk County;  Mark Poloncarz, executive, Erie County;  Danette Carl, innovation project manager, planning and regional development, Port Authority of New York and New Jersey;  Donovan Guin, public transportation lead, US IBM

For more information on other coming events, visit the events section on City & State’s home page.