New York Gov. Cuomo Asks Private Companies to Help Fix Subways
Where’s the tax money?
Democratic New York Governor Andrew Cuomo has asked the private sector to help foot the bill to fix the subway in New York City. From New York Daily News:
“We have to change our attitude. This is our MTA [Metropolitan Transportation Authority], right? This is our transit system,” Cuomo told members of the Association for a Better New York as he stood beneath a jumbo screen that flashed the words “We must change our attitude: OUR MTA.”
“There has to be an air of civic engagement and participation, investment in this system.”
Cuomo’s position has changed dramatically in the past week. He first said that fixing the subway remained “the city’s legal obligation,” but admitted that the state would help out “because it’s the right thing to do ‘on a moral level.'”
But I guess New York City and the state of New York has squandered too much tax money because Cuomo has offered the private sector to join a “partnership council” for the small price of $250,000. From Reuters:
He said firms including BlackRock, Estee Lauder and Blackstone already agreed to contribute the funds, and that companies could “adopt a station” to help fund cleaning, art or even wireless internet service for additional contributions up to $600,000.
Such an approach could open the door to subway stations branded with corporate names.
MTA Chairman Joseph Lhota introduced an $836 million plan to fix the aging subway. This plan includes “adding cars on trains to ease overcrowding, removing seats from some cars to increase capacity and prioritizing door maintenance.”
Cuomo also stated that “he wants to put more responsibility on the NYPD and Con Ed to keep subways running smoothly.” This means more police and less littering:
Cuomo also chided the NYPD for failing to bust subway litterbugs, whose trash ends up on the tracks, causing fires. Only 79 summonses were issued for littering, NYPD Assistant Transit Bureau Chief Vince Coogan told the MTA this week. Coogan said at the MTA meeting he’d send the message that transit police should be more aggressive in ticketing for littering.
“Littering — ‘well that’s just a nuisance.’ No, littering starts fires on the track and it is dangerous,” Cuomo told the breakfast crowd on Thursday.
“And we need the NYPD to step up and do that role.”
He also pushed Con Ed “to hook up an emergency generator within 30 minutes to power up any city station in the event of an emergency” and to install “sensors on its equipment to get early warnings about a potential loss of power.”
Cuomo promised the state can provide 50% of the bill. But he also wants the federal government to chip in for a project that includes “a new tunnel under the Hudson River to Penn Station,” which will cost $30 billion.
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Comments
Well Andrew, we gave your buddy Barack a Trillion dollars for “shovel ready” jobs and somehow the money evaporated. If you want a tunnel pay for it yourself. We are broke.
And Trump’s buddy Christie killed the tunnel when he took office 8 years ago. He diverted the money for road projects because he didn’t want to raise what was the lowest gas tax in the country. Now, as Christie leaves office as a hated man, he is supporting a the resurrection of the tunnel project. Had he not killed it then, it would be close to completion.
Oh yeah, one of the many misleading statements in this article concerns the tunnel – THE TUNNEL IS NOT PART OF THE SUBWAY SYSTEM -DUH! It is in fact, a tunnel under the Hudson River that connects 2 states and is primarily used by NJ commuters coming to NY for good paying jobs – who are not paying taxes to NY!
It is NJ commuters who suffer if there is any problem with NJ trains because the is only 1 train tunnel with 2 tracks crossing the river. If there is any problem, everything backs up.
Christie was right to kill that tunnel. It would have brought yet another incompatible system into Manhattan, with no connections to existing lines or infrastructure.
That’s part of the problem- there are 4 different transit ’empires’ beholden to 4 unions. Each transit system has different voltage, incompatible rolling stock, third rails, etc. and they’re all burdened by pensions and benefits packages that eat up 1/3 of the budget.
Bring in a goliath-slayer, standardize the tracks and power and the existing network could easily connect the whole region. But, Cuomo’s pet projects get more press, even when they’re incredibly stupid. Bah!
Then Christie could have shown some leadership and worked toward fixing the problems you allege with great exaggeration. But all he did was gobble up the money to meet his pledge not to raise taxes.
He did nothing to address the problem. Even he now concedes that there is a problem and he supports a new tunnel.
Yes, there are incompatibilities. Yes, there are labor problems. But during my lifetime there have been significant moves made to address those and other problems.
You may or may not know that the incompatibilities result from the fact that most of that infrastructure was one owned by private companies that competed with each other and did not want to be compatible. They abandoned them when they stopped being profitable. The fact that so much of the system is integrated is a miracle. They there will always be incompatibilities and inefficiencies is just a fact of every complex system – public or private. And the private ones are quick to ask for subsidies when they are unprofitable. I will be glad to provide you with numerous examples, but they are irrelevant to this article.
“Bring in a goliath-slayer, standardize the tracks and power and the existing network could easily connect the whole region.Bring in a goliath-slayer, standardize the tracks and power and the existing network could easily connect the whole region.”
You are either a fool or full of it. Do you have any idea what the cost, time and inconvenience would be. One thing I can say with absolute authority is that you are not the person capable of accomplishing that. If fact, you are a object lesson in the foolishness of the conservative movement. You think there is a simple solution to a complex problem. The truth is that when simpletons impose their ‘simple solution’, they generally add an additional layer of complexity or they screw a lot of people and then deny it.
Leave it to someone who’s name ends in snake to get all riled up after admitting this isn’t the real discussion anyway.
Well, this lying ‘fool’ is always on the lookout for better ideas, and she doesn’t waste her time spewing ad hominem attacks to try and intimidate people; her comments were based on this group’s well-thought out regional plan- http://www.rethinknyc.org/ which would take all kinds of time and money (and political support) to implement, but it’s a concept many find intriguing.
Politicians will likely never give this plan any serious thoughts, just like they never built the public toilets they promised years ago. So now, they came up with a new scheme that city residents are not too happy about. http://www.inquisitr.com/2744467/new-york-city-will-allow-public-urination-but-relief-may-cost-you-25/ Anyway, when all the noise dies down let’s see how many corporations adopt subway stations. As long as it’s voluntary..
@Chicklet rethinknyc is very interesting. But it still needs the Amtrak Gateway Tunnel. In case you hadn’t noticed, people here are hostile to that. They are hostile to doing anything to benefit NYC and the sentiment is returned.
As for Christie, he did not offer an alternative. He scarfed up the money for road projects. Then he got the Pulaski Skyway paid for with Port Authority money in a deal that let NY rebuild the Trade Tower complex and the Oculus. That doesn’t show well for Christie or Cuomo – neither of whom is headed to higher office. Cuomo also screwed the Tappen Zee replacement. It was obvious that there should have been a MetroNorth connection to Rockland County.
As for the unions – good luck. We have a police union that turned the body camera idea on its head. Now the police get to look at the footage before they make a statement (probably with their lawyer). But the person on the other side doesn’t. The media have no right to see the footage.
Granted the unions need to be reined in. I remember Mike Quill and Mr. Lindsley (as he called him). But a Scott Walker like solution isn’t the answer. For 1 thing, I don’t like the animus he showed. For another, the unions turn out their people in the primaries.
I intend to study ‘Run’. But in the absence of a Robert Moses type or a Bloomberg type who is gung ho on mass transit, I don’t see how it happens. I guess it could start with the NY region not sending more money to Washington then we get back.
BTW, I am more than curious why the East Side Access project is so far behind schedule and so over-budget. The Sand Hogs are not corrupt and take great pride in their work.
I know this is all off topic. But this particular article really frosted me. Companies adopted miles of non-descript highway. Why not a train station? And the author did conflate the subway with the Gateway tunnel.
Notice Christie is still where he belongs in liberalville, so he can pretend that he is a conservative … errr Republican. Christie was kicked to the curb by Trump and for good reason. Private beach anyone?
Eventually Trump kicks everyone to the curb.
Clearly you have never lived in one state and worked in another. I did for years – and one of them was New York. You end up paying taxes in both states though you might get part of what you paid in one rebated by the other. And I would bet that NYC doesn’t care where you live. If you earn money there, you pay taxes there.
The NYC collects no tax from NJ commuters. NY State has a payroll tax of 0.34% in the metro region. NYC has none.
Granny is correct on NYS collecting income tax on NJ residents working in NYC (or anywhere else in NYS). NJ residents don’t pay NYC personal income tax unless they are employed by NYC.
https://ttlc.intuit.com/questions/1901019-how-do-i-file-a-state-return-if-i-live-in-new-jersey-and-work-in-new-york
https://tax.custhelp.com/app/answers/detail/a_id/571/related/1/session/L2F2LzEvdGltZS8xNTAxMzQ3MzUwL3NpZC9mVUhMaGVuYmdha1RiRnkyUjBibFY5blJOVDh0amJaMXZ1ZmgwVmVxX2h5cWV5QVNFRmZ0VVRGOHQ0RUVMVE55azNHWGtMY3lnZnlHWEE3MmdYU1paYmhsWG1YTEVPMVVPSDlRY0VzMWhmRnFyVkZCUEkyekVzOUElMjElMjE%3D
What does Trump have to do with this?
Hey, your boys Cuomo and that oaf mayor of NY own this 100 percent.
You should get a job with that harry potter author. She’s in the leftist cult too as a spreader of propaganda. She has a a lot of money to throw around – maybe she can use you.
We sure can’t.
Even Jarred can’t fix this one… 😮
Why not do it the good old fashioned way? Raise taxes? A per ounce tax on sugary drinks (including diet ones, like Chicago), raise the tobacco tax yet again, and put a surcharge on fast food?
Why don’t they just raise fares? After all, those people making their new $15 minimum wage can afford it now, right?
Yes, people earning the minimum wage are living high on the hog. Why don’t you move here? The streets are paved with gold.
NYC leaders revoked the law so that you can now pee freely in public, in vestibules and corners everywhere. Now, they’re concerned about sanitation…
They took away the garbage cans ‘carry out your trash’ they said, right before the garbage on the tracks issue became serious.
Andrew wants to beg Washington for money at the same time he’s bashing President Trump. What a mind! And he thinks someone is going to support him for the white house, HA!
Lying, ignorant, BS
The change the law to an offense since locking people up was counterproductive. It is and was always illegal to piss in a vestibule and you know it. Personally, I go about my life and never see what you claim or smell it.
They did, in a misguided attempt to discourage trash remove the cans. But they have admitted their error and they are back. it was only a pilot program and it was cancelled 3/29/17. I guess you never make a mistake.
Money needs to be distribute based on merit. If we are dependent on Trump’s mood and vindictiveness, we are all in trouble. BTW, Trump’s business is still very dependent on the condition on NYC. He may fly in and out on a helicopter, his buildings do not. He seems to be attempting to benefit his businesses in any way he can. He would be remiss in not doing that for his NYC holdings.
Actually, I’m much more OK with a solicitation than taxation.
I don’t mind someone asking for money. I DO mind them taking it.
Nice theory. But even in Singapore they collect taxes and they impinge on civil liberties in ways that I would personally find excessive.
As I point out elsewhere, the amount mentioned here is grossly inflated.
Lastly, the vast bulk of transportation is financed by taxes – directly or indirectly. Even if you don’t drive, the goods and services you use transportation. Are private tolls roads more efficient? They seem to privatize profits and socialize losses.
GoFundMe
if the city/state want sanctuary status – i want them to complete the job and have no demands on the rest of the country to pay for their giving aid and comfort to the invading hoards.
let the KlintonKrimeFamily pay for it – they got plenty of money, while I got plenty of Nothing (from the LibRules).
You know things are critical when a Liberal resorts to – “because it’s the right thing to do ‘on a moral level.’”
Yes, bungling your job doesn’t elevate you to some higher moral plane.
Actually the subways are part of a regional system and Cuomo controls the Board. He is legally responsible and he also needs the votes of downstate. Upstate is more republican.
Claims to the contrary, I have seen no evidence that either liberals or conservatives are more moral.
Yet only the Gov. has invoked the moral aspect.
If Cuomo wants private investment maybe a private company should take over and run it. They could keep open the heavily used stations and close any underused stations. Standardize the tracks and tell the unions to go to hell.
Yeah, lets do away with the police and correction unions, too. Why do they need collective bargaining?
What a bizarre tangent.
How so? If we are getting rid of unions, why not include 2 of the most abusive.
Because of the collective bargaining agreement of the NY corrections union, the leader of a gang of guards that beat to death a prisoner (not even the one who they thought had a loud mouth) was not prosecuted and allowed to retire. No one else was punished. https://www.nytimes.com/2015/12/14/nyregion/clinton-correctional-facility-inmate-brutality.html
This article is a misleading hit piece.
To begin with, the Governor is asking local business to ‘Adopt a Station’ – similar to road programs that have proliferated across the country. The money is not for operating expenses or capital expenditures. It is an opportunity for businesses to enhance the experience of their employees who commute on the subway. Without the subway, those businesses could not function. Yet more national and multi-national corporations are moving to NYC – not out!
2nd – The “new tunnel under the Hudson River to Penn Station,” which will cost $30 billion.” IS NOT PART OF THE SUBWAY SYSTEM. I repeat the tunnel and the new Penn Station are not part of the subway system, although the subway does have stations from 2 lines that stop at Penn Station. The cost of the tunnel – alone – is 13 Billion.
The tunnel was planned, under construction, and mostly funded when Trump’s friend Christie took office. One of his 1st acts was to cancel the part of the funding coming from NJ and kill the project. The 1 existing Tunnel is owned by Amtrak, but mostly used by NJ Transit to carry New Jersey residents to high paying jobs in NY. They do not pay taxes to NYC! Neither do they pay the regional tax that supports ALL of the rail lines that bring millions into the city every working day.
There are only 2 tracks in the existing tunnel . The goal was to double the capacity and add redundancy. The NJ lines are the least reliable in the whole regional system. Just one failure can delay every train by 30 minutes or more. My line, MetroNorth has a 98% on time rate based on a 2 minute window! NJ Transit’s rate in 87% based on a 6 minute window. Trains are often 30+ minutes late.
Belatedly, Christie now supports a new attempt to build a 2nd tunnel. The Penn Station project is related, but a separate project. The cost for the tunnel is 13B – not 30!
2nd – the subways are NOT the responsibility of the Mayor. REPEAT – not the responsibility of the Mayor. The subways are part of the Metropolitan Transportation Authority (MTA) – a regional organization that controls the subway, roads and bridges, and commuter railroads in the entire region. The Governor appoints the majority of Board members. The taxes are collected regionally. It is his legal responsibility. It is not the city’s responsibility, albeit, it is critical to the city. Whether the author of this article knew this or simply cheery picked information to support an ideological view is irrelevant.
NYC didn’t ‘squander’ the money. The subway is over 100 years old and runs 24/7. It carries more people then at any time since the ’40s. It charges the same fare regardless of how far you go and you can transfer to buses in outlying regions. The complaints are probably less than the complaints when you get caught in a traffic jam or are diverted by a construction project. Are there problems? Yes. Are there problems with every mode of transit in this country? Yes!
Cuomo specifically said that donations would not open the door to subway stations branded with corporate names; not that that would be so terrible. Most stadiums now carry corporate names
When Bloomberg was mayor, he used the subways regularly to commute from his home to City Hall. Obviously, he had a car for transport when traveling to events.
Cuomo also pushed Con Ed “to hook up an emergency generator within 30 minutes to power up any city station in the event of an emergency” and to install “sensors on its equipment to get early warnings about a potential loss of power.” Why the “F” not? Is an imposition on a company that is responsible for providing the power and gets paid well for doing it?
“Cuomo promised the state can provide 50% of the bill. But he also wants the federal government to chip in for a project that includes “a new tunnel under the Hudson River to Penn Station,” which will cost $30 billion.” The cost of the tunnel is estimated at 13 Billion. Remember, this tunnel has nothing to do with the SUBWAY! But the cost is to be shared by 2 states (NY & NJ) and is also entitled to be funded by the Feds under the same law that funds the Interstate Highway System. It serves similar commerce purposes and the law is that 80% goes to roads – 20% to mass transit.
One last thing – The city residents, pays more to the federal government than they receive in return! Part of the reason they can do that is that the concentration of people and the mass transit system allow them to generate a significant portion of the wealth of the country. 55 Fortune 500 companies are headquarter in NY – most in the NYC Metropolitan Area within access to mass transit.
This is an object lesson in basing your reporting on ideology, bias and partisanship. If the management of this site wish to add a little honesty to their coverage, they know how to contact me.
You’re awful ready to spend my tax money as an Upstater on a system I will never use. Mighty white of ya.
But by all means, continue to blovate about the evils of Christie (As opposed to De-Bolshevik who is actually in charge in NYC) and how a brand new tunnel that has “nothing to do with the SUBWAY! ” will solve the woes of the NYC subway system.
When you can please provide a URL to your entire treatise on how you can save the system. Or most likely, to quote you directly so you can apply the words to yourself: “One thing I can say with absolute authority is that you are not the person capable of accomplishing that.”
Having lived in Ulster & Delaware Counties for extended periods of time, it seems to me that tax money paid for my services, too.
BTW, we will gladly make a deal with you. Do away with all the taxes that downstate pays to the state (income & sales) and we will pay our own bills while you starve. I don’t know a down-stater who wouldn’t jump at that deal.
We had a tunnel project here in MA that was projected to cost $2.4B but ended up costing close to 10X that amount, perhaps you have heard of the Big Dig?
So if the new tunnel is expected to cost $13B expect the actual amount to be over $100B and add a few years or perhaps a decade to the expected completion date.
This is how all government run projects end up. Don’t kill the job…
Mary that is the single key question here.
“Where’s the tax money?”
Who stole the tax money?
Er…excuse me…who misappropriated all that money?
Governor, why don’t you ask your vast government megacomplex to come up with the money. Take it out of your government employees salaries as a fee. They make at least twice as much as the average private sector employee doing the same job and they have to pay social security, ObamaCare (if even available) and lots of other things you government employees are exempt from. CUT THE SPENDING!!!!
Wait…. Get the private sector to fix things…. That sounds like something #Hitler would do.
Isn’t he worried about those private entities limiting access to the subway?
And to think that this liberal Socialist wants to be our president! He can’t run a state without bankrupting it and now he wants to move up to the big league? Imagine a minor league baseball player hitting .105 and asking management to put him in the big league! This is Cuomo. The man is a failure at the lower level but wants to try his hand at an even tougher job. That’s called chutzpah! That’s the problem with ALL Demorat candidates, they all come from failed jobs. Not since Bill Clinton have any of the Demorat candidates been successful at their old jobs.
NYS is going bankrupt? Thanks for the extreme advance notice. Should I short the bonds now or wait for any sign that you know what you are talking about?
As for losers, ask the employees, bond holders, stock holders, contractors and NJ tax payers about casino bankruptcies. You know who did make out, Trump. He paid himself a salary, consulting fees, expenses, whatever. He outright lied to the NJ Casino Commission when he said he wouldn’t finance the Casinos with junk bonds. My guess is he could have charged with something criminal. So I guess it is OK to bat .000 and get elected President.
BTW, that was not his only total failure. Just a particularly egregious, notable & well documented one. It is one that is impossible to dispute because so much of it is on the record.
So now, Trump was powerful enough to single handedly bankrupt NYC. The guy is amazing, isn’t he? Thank goodness he’s president and can do the same to foreign nation with interests adverse to ours.
Your assertion is an incredible lie, worthy of that idiot writing the harry potter books.
Hey, how about your mother, George Soros, and his malignant antics in breaking the bank of England?
http://www.investopedia.com/ask/answers/08/george-soros-bank-of-england.asp
A reporter (certainly not one from the democrat media) ought to shout-out a question to obama about where the trillions in ‘stimulus’ money went – it sure didn’t go to fixing major cities’ infrastructure?
NYC is often suicidal. It elected de blasio – an incompetent, corrupt malignant leftist oaf who couldn’t find his ass in the dark with both hands. NY State elected the malignant Cuomo, who screamed that the people he now seeks money from don’t belong in NY.
F–k Cuomo, and F–k NYC, till it gets its political house in order and dumps the psychos running its government. Elections have consequences. Let NY live with those consequences and keep its hands out of everyone else’s pockets.
I was writing about Trump losing money in Casinos – a hard thing to accomplish. Either you knew it and preferred not to answer what can’t be denied; or you can’t read.
Hey, I wish I was related to Soros. He is rich and he does good works. But you guys always mix him up with Emanuel Goldstein. Goldstein is the evil behind every attempt to bring down Oceania.
Oh, 2 other things. NYC received this year’s installment and the tunnel is on schedule. 2nd, you don’t understand that 20% of the Highway Trust Fund is earmarked for mass transit. I assume none of that is head to the dumb f-k place where you live.
1 other thought. I am not sure how Soros was relevant to a story that conflated Subway donations with a tunnel that is not part of the subway.
But I was familiar with Soros shorting the pound. I would guess you would be celebrating his actions if it was anyone other than Soros. The 2nd thing is that he just accelerated what was bound to happen. You do believe in market forces?
Maybe Soros should be President instead of Trump. Even Trump would have to admit that he is richer and has more experience in politics.
If NYS is in such great shape, then THEY can afford to pay for it themselves, right?
None of Americas FEDERAL tax dollars are needed, right?
Frankly, MOST Americans do not care about New York, city OR state. We figure they elected the government they deserve, and should deal with it themselves.
Hey, we will be happy to stop taking from the feds less than we give; as soon as you stop taking more than you contribute.
Frankly most Americans (the 5 million more who voted for Clinton) don’t really give a damn about you and the other bigots. We are just stuck with you.
New York is bankrupt, morally and economically.
And Trump lived his whole life in NYC. What does it say about him – especially when he was grabbing pu$$y, buying politicians and in every sense of the word a participant?
Your hatred is noted. Thank you for your uninformed and ignorant opinion.
we already played that game — BHO ???? worse than the Peanut, by far. When I-Ran and I-Slam (with the aid of the Norks and the pakis )start taking over the world, you can thank the 12th Imam — BHO — (why aren’t the obama females in burkas ????BTW lets not forget about the Fakitinian Egyptians, whose leader just ‘loved’ those ‘dancing Boys’.
Ex-NSA analyst: Arafat
preyed on boys
http://www.wnd.com/2005/09/32263/
that sounds like a hillary clinton scenario.
Thats your girl.
that conment was dieected at yellowtail – or yellowsnake – or whatever he calls himself.
“And we need the NYPD to step up and do that role.”
Actual law enforcement? In New York City? What a novel idea.
Using highly trained policemen and women for janitorial duties makes sense only to socialists and of course that does not show as a cost for running the subway.