People

Andrew Cuomo is not going to seize the chance to lead New York City out of its hellish traffic congestion and fund key improvements to its transit system, judging by this tweet from New York Times reporter Thomas Kaplan:

Next month's MTA fare and toll increase will be the seventh hike in 15 years, noted "Gridlock" Sam Schwartz this morning. "But there is one traveler that hasn’t seen any change in the cost of travel," he said. "And that’s the person that drives into Manhattan."

As Albany contemplates paying for the MTA capital program by borrowing as much as $15 billion, it's worth pausing to examine the debt load straphangers are already shouldering. To put it in perspective, the MTA carries more debt than Bolivia, Tanzania, and Luxembourg combined, according to numbers compiled by the Straphangers Campaign. The MTA owes more than at least 30 nations, including several with populations much larger than New York City.

Mayor de Blasio unveiled his preliminary budget proposal this afternoon. In an address outlining the broad strokes of the budget, de Blasio called out Albany for neglecting the MTA and warned that inaction on federal transportation funding could undercut the Vision Zero program.

Surprising no one, the leadership of Carl Heastie's Assembly looks just about identical to Sheldon Silver's. After publicly voting in Heastie to succeed Silver as speaker on Tuesday, Assembly Dems announced top posts and committee chair positions yesterday. There were few changes to speak of, and as expected Rochester rep David Gantt will remain chair of the Assembly transportation committee.

It's state budget season! Governor Andrew Cuomo's executive budget is chock-a-block with raids of dedicated transit funds, questionable transfers, and toll cuts doled out as election-year favors. It's a mess that doesn't answer how the state will close the $15.2 billion gap in the MTA capital program.

For the first time in two decades, the New York State Assembly has a new speaker. Assembly Democrats elected Carl Heastie of the Bronx to succeed longtime speaker Sheldon Silver, a week after Silver was indicted on federal corruption charges.

Nearly four dozen advocates from across the state will travel to Albany tomorrow to make the case for better policies to support walking and biking as budget hearings get underway in the state legislature. The push comes days after the Cuomo administration told legislators that while it is committed to active transportation, dedicated funding that would make up for shrinking federal funds isn't necessary.

At approximately 5 p.m. Monday, Governor Andrew Cuomo announced that he had ordered the complete closure of New York City's bus and subway systems in the face of an oncoming snowstorm. If nothing else, it was a stark reminder that the transit system is not a political orphan. The MTA is, in fact, Cuomo's agency.