Special Reports

Andrew Cuomo ran down his list of big transportation projects in the State of the State Address yesterday, and despite the billions it will take to build everything on his agenda, the governor didn't say anything about how he'll raise the money to pay for it. He did work in a line about toll cuts for Thruway drivers, though.

Did “toll shopping” figure in the death last week of cyclist Kevin Lopez in Long Island City?

Andrew Cuomo styles himself as a guy who gets stuff done. That's what muscling through the Tappan Zee Bridge double-span boondoggle and the multi-billion dollar LaGuardia renovation is all about. But when reporters ask Cuomo about funding transit by putting a price on NYC's free bridges, he likes to portray himself as a helpless bystander, stymied by politics.

Yesterday on WCNY's "Capitol Pressroom," Susan Arbetter hosted Governor Andrew Cuomo for a discussion of the MTA capital program. Lately, the governor has been pushing City Hall to fund a greater share of the authority's investment plan. Arbetter, pressing the governor, asked a simple question: "Isn't the MTA a state entity?"

There's been a lot of noise so far this week about toll reform and the MTA funding gap, but the people who can actually do something about it remain conspicuously silent. Chief among them: Governor Andrew Cuomo.

Mayor Bill de Blasio's One New York plan, focused on the intersection of income inequality and the environment, doesn't hesitate to make big recommendations to the MTA, like a new subway line. To pay for those plans, de Blasio will need Governor Cuomo and the state legislature to take action, but the mayor isn't putting forward his own ideas about how to fund the MTA.

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."

Yesterday, a group of Assembly members and advocates took Governor Cuomo to task for the $40 million transit raid in his budget proposal. The legislators unveiled a letter [PDF] urging Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver to restore the funds in the legislative budget, due for a vote on March 12.