[Weekly Compilation of Presidential Documents Volume 35, Number 20 (Monday, May 24, 1999)]
[Pages 936-938]
[Online from the Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]

<R04>
Remarks at the Launching of the Pennsylvania Station Redevelopment 
Corporation in New York City

May 19, 1999

    Thank you very much. Chairman Gargano, Governor, Secretary Slater, 
thank you all for all you have done to make this day come to pass. I 
thank the leaders of Amtrak, the MTA, the Port Authority, the Post 
Office; Mr. Peck, the Commissioner of Public Buildings; the 
distinguished architect who has drawn a beautiful plan. Speaker Vallone, 
Mr. Green, Senator D'Amato, thank you for pushing this. And Mrs. 
Moynihan, you haven't yet been acknowledged, but you had a lot to do 
with the arm twisting on this, and I thank you, too. Thank you very 
much.
    Senator Moynihan has been called the Nation's best thinker among 
politicians since Lincoln, and its best politician among thinkers since 
Jefferson. Today we might say he also may be the best arm twister since 
Farley. [Laughter] You know, it was said that Jim Farley actually knew 
the names of 50,000 people by heart. Pat Moynihan knows 50,000 ways to 
get any politician to do what he wants. [Laughter]
    I cannot tell you how much I appreciate the fact that he gave me an 
opportunity to be a small part of this day and this project. For decades 
he has worked to give voice to the dreams of New Yorkers, to create a 
new Penn Station truly worthy of the name and of this wonderful city.
    If I can borrow a few words from the famous inscription on this 
building: Neither snow, nor rain, nor heat, nor gloom of night could 
have stopped Pat Moynihan from bringing this day to pass.
    Throughout his public career, which has spanned so many different 
jobs in so many different places in the United States and

[[Page 937]]

abroad, Senator Moynihan has always cared about preserving our history 
and our spirit through our great buildings. Nearly 40 years ago, 
President Kennedy challenged him to revitalize Washington's Pennsylvania 
Avenue, to bring back civic pride to the heart of our Nation's Capital. 
He never gave up on that goal, a job he completed with the dedication of 
the Ronald Reagan Building a year ago this month.
    Thirty-five years ago, when I went to Washington, DC, for the first 
time as a wide-eyed college student, Pennsylvania Avenue was a mess and 
a disaster. Today, it is a tribute to our history, to our values, and to 
our future, thanks to the vision of Senator Daniel Patrick Moynihan.
    Many people also forget that in addition to helping to rescue Union 
Station in Washington and Grand Central Station here--which he was 
whispering in my ear about while we were waiting for our turn--back in 
1962 he authored the wise principles that guide the Federal Government's 
architecture decisions today. In the words of your distinguished 
architect, David Childs, Senator Moynihan is a true inspiration to 
everyone working in architecture and urban design.
    This latest project also, as he and others have said, is an example 
of how this Senator and his allies have also fundamentally changed the 
way we invest in transportation. He has secured vast resources not 
simply for concrete and for mass transit, but for communities, for 
historic preservation, and for advanced technologies to meet the 21st 
century needs of America.
    I thank him and Senator D'Amato and Secretary Slater for fighting to 
see that we did not turn the transportation bill in Washington into just 
another road-building bill, without any concerns for the needs of urban 
America and others who need mass transit, intermodal transportation, and 
a broader vision of how we will reconcile our desire to have livable, 
sustainable communities and to get around in a hurry. He did that, along 
with the others, and I thank them all. New York can be very, very proud 
of every one of them.
    Let me finally say that this Penn Station--I was astonished by how 
brief Senator Moynihan was, but I noticed that the closer he comes to 
getting his way, the shorter his speeches get. [Laughter] Back in '93, 
when he first talked to me about it, I got the whole load of wax, man. 
[Laughter] I knew everybody--I knew the people who had planted the 
explosives on Penn Station in the '60s. [Laughter] I knew the whole 
history of the thing. And as we made progress, you know, his words 
became fewer as his satisfaction increased. But I think it's worth 
noting that this journey to this moment has not only been a public 
service, but a point of personal pride for this quintessential New 
Yorker and American.
    Senator Moynihan grew up in this neighborhood, shined shoes around 
the corner. As a young ensign, he used to fall asleep in the rooms off 
Penn Station's grand ticketing hall as he waited for his train back to 
Norfolk. Grand public buildings like the old Penn Station and the New 
York Public Library became like home, especially for a boy whose family 
kept moving to a new apartment just about every year.
    I tell you this story not only to capture what this journey must 
mean for him but to remind us of the fundamental significance of our 
great public buildings. Because whether you are a wealthy industrialist 
or just a person with a few dollars to your name, you can feel ennobled, 
as people did--ordinary citizens and great ones alike--in the old glass 
and steel cathedral that was Penn Station. People without tickets could 
come to the old Penn Station in the afternoon just to dream about what 
it would be like to get on the train, and watching the crowds go by.
    When I was a young man, I used to go to train stations and watch 
people and wonder what they were doing, where they were going, and I 
always felt better when I walked out than when I walked in. I'll bet 
nearly everybody here has had a similar experience.
    Now, Mr. Childs' design is not intended to replicate the old Penn 
Station, but it will have, as you see, the same stunning effect for 
everyone. Here in this beautiful McKim, Mead, and White building the 
Postal Service has graciously now agreed to share, this design will take 
the best elements of the past and create a remarkable station for the 
future.

[[Page 938]]

    Of course, there will be some hurdles--the environmental and 
historic preservation requirements, which I'm quite certain will be 
met--but the other hurdle is money. One of Clinton's laws of politics 
is, if someone stands up and shakes his finger and says to you, ``this 
is not a money problem'' he is almost always talking about someone 
else's problem. [Laughter] I want to do what I can to help close the 
funding gap. I will ask the Congress to increase the Federal commitment 
to this project by $60 million over the next 3 years.
    As a tribute to Senator Moynihan, and because it's the right thing 
to do, I hope that Members in both parties, in both Houses, will join 
with me to secure this funding. We're not quite there yet. Others will 
have to do more as well. But if we all do our part, we can honor one of 
the first great buildings of the 20th century and create the first great 
public building of the 21st century. In so doing, New York once again 
can provide a model for the entire Nation.
    The First Lady and I have worked very hard to help communities to 
honor the past and preserve it as part of our gift to the new 
millennium. Just today she awarded the first Save America's Treasures 
grants, to help meet urgent preservation needs across our Nation, from 
conserving the second largest collection of Thomas Jefferson's personal 
correspondence, to restoring Martin Luther King, Jr's., Ebenezer Baptist 
Church.
    I know our Nation is still young, and sometimes still we lose sight 
of the enormous value of the history that is embodied in our buildings, 
our documents, our artifacts, our monuments. We must do better in 
preserving the past, and in building new buildings and monuments which 
capture our vision of the future, the enduring commitment we have to our 
freedom, and the public space that makes community more possible, and 
reminds us of our common humanity across all the lines that divide us.
    That is what this building will do. I hope at this moment of great 
prosperity and optimism for the United States, we will use the example 
of this project to redouble our determination to build great buildings 
and dream big dreams for the future.
    Again, I want to thank all of you who never gave up on this 
ambitious project. I want to urge you never to give up on it until it is 
completely finished. And on behalf of Senator Moynihan, Senator D'Amato, 
myself, and all others who will be out of office when it is finally 
done, I hope you'll invite us to the building dedication.
    Thank you, and God bless you.

Note: The President spoke at 11:55 a.m. at the James A. Farley Building. 
In his remarks, he referred to Charles A. Gargano, chairman of the 
board, Pennsylvania Station Redevelopment Corporation; Gov. George E. 
Pataki of New York; architect David Childs; Peter F. Vallone, New York 
City council speaker; Mark Green, New York City public advocate; former 
Senator Alfonse M. D'Amato; and Senator Daniel Patrick Moynihan's wife, 
Elizabeth.