Government Organizations

Governor Andrew Cuomo focused heavily on jobs and the economy in his 2012 State of the State address this afternoon. He also devoted a few minutes to his infrastructure initiatives. Yet, despite serving as chief executive of the state where residents depend the most on transit service and transit infrastructure for access to jobs, Cuomo spent about as much time discussing the MTA as the 1953 Corvette.

New York City transit riders might have taken some small measure of satisfaction from the sight of Carl Kruger resigning from the State Senate earlier this week. Pleading guilty to federal corruption charges, Kruger became the third member of the "Fare Hike Four" -- the gang who killed a 2009 plan to fund transit by putting a price on NYC's free bridges -- to exit Albany in disgrace. Two others, Pedro Espada and Hiram Monserrate, were run out of town by voters and their fellow legislators under clouds of scandal. Ruben Diaz, Sr. is the only one who remains, reduced to irrelevance now that marriage equality is the law of the land and the Republicans control the Senate.

Earlier this week, Streetsblog contributor Charles Komanoff crunched the numbers to see what could happen if Governor Andrew Cuomo doesn't follow through on his pledge to restore the $320 million in MTA funding cuts he signed into law on Monday. The cost to commuters, the economy, and public health, he found, could substantially outweigh the value of the tax relief.

Albany’s latest raid of transit funds could hit New York City particularly hard. To help pay for his upper-middle-class tax cut, Governor Andrew Cuomo and the state legislature are stripping an estimated $320 million a year in revenues from the MTA payroll tax. Although the legislation is said to contain a pledge to find equivalent funds elsewhere, the as-yet unspecified reimbursement mechanism is likely to make the transit agency more vulnerable to future cuts, as Streetsblog noted last week.The potential deterioration in service could easily end up costing drivers and transit riders more in lost time and damaged health than they will gain in lower taxes.

Governor Andrew Cuomo sent out an "editorial" this weekend putting infrastructure investment at the center of his job creation agenda. In a rough outline, the governor touted public-private partnerships (or PPPs, as they're known) as a key mechanism to pay for "the repair and development of highways, bridges and major construction projects."

The state Department of Transportation announced yesterday the cancellation of plans to rebuild 5.3 miles of the BQE and the Gowanus Expressway. It wasn't a new round of freeway revolts that killed these projects but the state's busted transportation budget.

State transportation commissioner Joan McDonald deserves an award for chutzpah. In the face of overwhelming opposition from local elected officials to the state's decision to build the new Tappan Zee Bridge without transit, McDonald has, incredibly, taken the stance that the state did no such thing.

The City Council today passed a home rule message backing Albany legislation that would allow the city to implement a residential parking permit program. The vote was 40-8. Charles Barron, Lew Fidler, Peter Vallone, and Al Vann joined four out of the five Republicans on the council in voting against the measure. (Eric Ulrich was the GOP vote in favor.)

Call it the mystery of the missing transit. One of the state's biggest transit projects, in the works for nearly a decade, was canceled overnight and no one will explain why, or even claim responsibility for the decision.