Newsday reported Thursday that private firms could soon begin "buying" state transportation venues, which would provide much-needed cash for state coffers. To recoup their investment, the private firms would charge tolls for the use of the roads and bridges with an eye toward making a profit.

"There are capital needs all over the state, and this is a creative, modern way of looking at it," David Sigman, a senior vice president at LCOR, a Pennsylvania developer, told the paper. Sigman's firm is looking at building a new bridge to replace New York City's Tappan Zee Bridge, then administer it over the long run.

For Pataki, the idea isn't a new one. He's been thinking about it for a decade.

In 1995, the paper reported, he told a group of Republican governors, "New York's transportation facilities, such as the airports and Thruway, are worth billions."

He has already submitted a legislative proposal to the state Legislature which "would permit the state and its authorities to sell or lease a wide variety of facilities from bus stations to ferries," the paper reported.

Private businesses could begin charging tolls and fees at tunnels, bridges and other roadways where they currently exist or where improvements are made, says the paper.

Nothing has been finalized, Pataki officials said, but the idea is getting serious consideration. To get it approved, however, state law regarding privatization of state assets would have to be changed.

As expected, not everyone is enthusiastic about the proposal. "They give Donald Trump the Second Avenue subway. He builds it. How do you think he pays back his bank? He raises fares," Democratic Assemblyman Richard Brodsky told the paper.

Other analysts of public-private ventures say while the governor is likely to raise a considerable amount of money for the state, it is a one-time venture and could wind up backfiring.

Robert Paaswell, director of the University Transportation Research Center at City College, told Newsday if the private projects wind up going bankrupt, the state would have to intervene and it could wind up costing taxpayers a whole lot more, especially if the value of the property being returned has gone up.

Others don't see that as a problem, though. Robert Poole, a public-private advocate for the Reason Foundation, a libertarian think tank in L.A., cited an example of a Texas company that went bankrupt after it built and tried to manage a tollway. Rather than sock taxpayers, he told Newsday, the state bought "a brand new toll road at a very bargain basement price."

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