Tom Caramanico Dishes with Philadelphia Magazine

Tom Caramanico recently sat down with Philadelphia Magazine’s Sam Katz for his Power Lunch column, aptly titled “Roads Warrior” for this month’s April 2010 issue.  At Tinto Restaurant, Tom candidly discussed the City’s infrastructure and transportation issues, as well as his own humanitarian efforts – namely, the Caramanico School in Cambodia. Below is an excerpt from the interview:

Sam Katz: We all assume that the bridge we need and the road we drive on will always be there for us. But these assets are crumbling. Why haven’t people understood how critical infrastructure is to our future?

Tom Caramanico: Money. It’s as simple as that. Elected officials are unwilling to fund these projects.

SK: Because their constituents are unwilling to be taxed?

TC: Remember the bridge collapse in Minnesota two years ago? After the collapse, there was a poll asking Minnesotans whether they would support a gas tax increase to pay for the bridges. The majority said no. I don’t interpret that as “Hell no, don’t tax us.” I think it signals that people don’t have confidence in government to get these jobs done for what they say they’ll cost, or when they say they’ll finish them.

SK: Like the South Street Bridge.

TC: Another classic case. How long was the South Street Bridge in absolutely terrible shape? And it took forever to get it to construction. There are bridges like that all over our region. The public knows we don’t get them fixed fast enough.

SK: What should the public expect the reward to be for taxing or tolling to fund these investments?

TC: They need to see huge projects get done a lot faster. Not just four years instead of five — next summer! We should put up signs that tell people who paid for projects, that say “Work will start on X date, and this will be open on Y date.”