In a letter sent to Gov. David Paterson last Thursday, Assemblyman Jeffrey Dinowitz advised Paterson against considering former Department of Environmental Conservation Commissioner Christopher O. Ward for the head position of the New York/New Jersey Port Authority because of Ward’s poor track record in spearheading the city’s efforts to build a giant water filtration plant in Van Cortlandt Park.

Ward pushed for the plant to be built in Van Cortlandt Park instead of the city-owned industrial site in Westchester. He left the DEP after getting final approval for the project, which has nearly tripled in cost over the past three years. A little over a year after he left the DEP, Ward was appointed executive director of the General Contractors Association (GCA), which lobbied heavily for the plant to be built at its current site.

“Water rates in New York City have skyrocketed and this is partially a result of the terrible decision by Christopher Ward to place this project in Van Cortlandt Park,” Dinowitz said in a statement. “I just hope that [Paterson] does not make an appointment that will create more problems than it will solve.”