Andrea Bernstein

U.S. Senator Kirsten Gillibrand (D-NY) (photo courtesy Senator Gillibrand)

Nothing startling here, but U.S. Senator Kirsten Gillibrand gave her most extensive remarks that I'm aware of on a national infrastructure bank today.

"This is a basic public private partnership that cuts government spending as it takes pressure off state and local government and pressure off our property taxes to do some of these long-term, large-scale infrastructure projects," Gillibrand to the Association for a Better New York breakfast.

Following is a full transcript of her remarks on infrastructure:

Another very common sense idea that I think would be so important for NewYork is a national infrastructure bank.  Now this is not a Democratic idea or a Republican idea ,it is just a good idea.

As we know in ny our roads, bridges, highways, sewers, and ports desperately need investment. Many are crumbing before our eyes. Fixing these is not just an economic issue about how do we create jobs now or in the future, it’s also an issue of public safety.

A national infrastructure bank will allow for direct private equity investment into these long term large scale infrastructure projects.  It will be a vehicle for investment for  pension funds, life insurance companies, for  private equity, and the trillions of dollars that is sitting on the sidelines of our economy today.  It’s a vehicle whereby we can invest in traditional and new infrastructure.

We could do high speed rail, we could do rural broadband, we could do health care IT,  we could do a new electric grid.

All of these investments create long term growth opportunities. Instead of being run at the whim of politicians who come and go, a national infrastructure bank would be run by a non partisan board of directors, similar to the Federal Reserve  -- experts serving terms well beyond a campaign cycle.

It would be like having a capital budget just like states and businesses do -- not an operating budget run through the appropriations process.

So the idea could really make a difference.

When you look at history infrastructure has not been a Democratic idea or a Republican idea  -- really is a non partisan idea. For example Republican President Dwight D. Eisenhower created the national highway system and President Ronald Reagan who increased the investment while he was president to maintain it.

This is a basic Public Private Partnership that cuts government spending as it takes pressure off state and local government and pressure off our property taxes to do some of these long-term, large-scale infrastructure projects.

When you reduce the government’s role in spending you can take the politics out of the process so that many of these projects can move forward.

Mayor Michael Blooomberg, Transportation Commissioner Janette Sadik-Khan, and Police Commissioner Ray Kelly (NYC Mayor's office photo, 12/29/11)

SCROLL DOWN FOR TRULY FUNNY VIDEO OF MAYOR "RIDING" TO THE STATE OF THE CITY
In his state of the city address today, New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg promised to add more protected bike lanes and touted the city's planned summer launch of North America's largest bike share program.  He also promised to step up traffic enforcement.

The Mayor started off with highly-produced video (at the bottom of the post) nodding to several of his signature initiatives from last year, including creating a plan to allow hailing of livery cabs outside of Manhattan. The video also featured a cameo of Deputy Mayor Howard Wolfson and Transportation Commissioner Janette Sadik-Khan riding a  bike in a bike line, as Bloomberg admonishes Wolfson to "stay in the bike line."

The Mayor has faced withering criticism and even a lawsuit -- since dismissed -- over protected bike lanes, particularly one along Prospect Park, in Brooklyn.

“Now, I realize the debate over bike lanes has sometimes been hot and heavy," the Mayor said in his address, delivered in a Bronx High School and largely focusing on education.

"But the reality is more and more New Yorkers are biking, and the more bike lanes we put in, the fewer deaths and serious injuries we have on our streets."

He continued:

“This year, we’ll take steps to enforce the law requiring every delivery rider to have proper safety equipment and clothing that identifies the name of the business. At the same time, we’ll launch the largest bike share program of any city in the country. Those bikes will create another option for getting around town faster and easier, and so will new Select Bus Service in Brooklyn, which we’ll launch in partnership with MTA Chairman Joe Lhota."

The Mayor, whose NYPD has also faced criticism over lax traffic enforcement,  also promised more vigilance.

“We’ll also make our city smarter and safer by deploying Traffic Enforcement Agents to safety hot spots at key intersections, doubling the number of 20 mile-per-hour zones for schools.

The Mayor also name-checked the proposal to start a "select bus service" in Brooklyn, with off-board payment and priority lanes.

 

Building America's Future, the pro-infrastructure spending group chaired by Ed Rendell, Michael Bloomberg, and Arnold Schwarzenegger, can't stop campaigning.

After spending $250,000 to buy ads in New Hampshire, the group is spending $75,000 - maybe more -- to inject the issue into the South Carolina campaign.

There was some talk of infrastructure spending in the Granite State, though not much, and the issue didn't make its way into any debates.

But hope springs eternal.  Maybe the issue will come up in one of the two  South Carolina debates, which will be on January 16th and the 19th.

(Romney already discussed the issue in SC, here. )

You can read up on Rick Perry, Newt Gingrich, Rick Santorum, and Mitt Romney's transportation records here.

Yep, Staten Island, your bus will come. And now, you can know when. The MTA is today launching real-time bus information for the entire borough. Users can find out where their bus is -- actually, not theoretically.

Which means you can linger in a shop, or not bother to leave your house on a cold morning, until you know the bus is truly about to arrive at your stop.

Though the MTA has been running a pilot on the B63 from Bay Ridge, Brooklyn to downtown, this will be the first system rolled out on a borough-wide basis.

Knowing this information, the American Public Transportation Association says, can be a key factor in convincing travelers to use public transportation rather than personal vehicles.

There are a few ways to get the info. You can go to the MTA's website, mta.info/bustime, and click on a map which shows you where all the buses are. (The MTA says the Staten Island service will go live around noon on Wednesday.) Or you can text from your phone (smart, or not) and ask the system to find you.

That's an improvement from what users on the B63 pilot have faced. B63 riders have had to text a unique code, and will get information on how many stops (or miles) away the bus is. That means users have had to memorize codes, or got through a cumbersome system of looking up the codes online.

The information is based on GPS, and in Brooklyn, at least, has proved to be uncannily accurate.

The MTA is launching real-time bus information on Wednesday for the entire borough of Staten Island. 

Joseph Lhota, on his second official day as chair and CEO of the MTA (photo by Stephen Nessen/WNYC)

When Jay Walder took office in 2009, he made no bones about his priorities: installing countdown clocks, Oyster cards, and bettering bus service. But the new CEO, Joseph Lhota, confirmed Monday by the New York Senate, seems to have a less lofty goal: getting the public not to hate on the nation’s largest transit agency.

Yes, he wants to improve efficiencies; yes he wants more and better communication with customers; yes, he’ll strenuously defend the expenditure of taxpayer funds on the transit agency. “There’s not a transit agency in the country that burdens their riders with solely paying for the system,” Lhota says, echoing remarks he made at yesterday’s hearing.

But at the end of the day, Lhota says, “I’m finding a lot of people don’t have a whole lot of respect for the MTA."

He sat down Tuesday with WNYC’s Jim O’Grady to talk about the MTA’s image problem, why there won’t be more bus service anytime soon, and why he’s encouraged by a move by the Transport Workers Union to extend the contract deadline beyond Sunday night.

[TWU President] “John Samuelsen and I have tried to do everything to create a relationship with each other.  We’re open and honest with each other,” Lhota said.

A transcript of the interview follows.

O’Grady: Under your predecessor, Jay Walder, a set of his main accomplishments were innovations like the countdown clock and real time information for riders. What innovations do you have in mind?

Lhota: I think you’re going to see a continuation of more information, more communications with all of our customers, our riders.  The ability to tell them how soon a train is coming or how soon a bus is coming is a very important thing. I’m going to spend an enormous amount of time on increasing the efficiency of the MTA and also changing what most people think of the MTA.

I’m finding a lot of people don’t have a whole lot of respect for the MTA. It's an organization that allows eight and a half million people to travel to and from work every day and to travel home every day and to school, to dates on Saturday night. I want people to understand how important the MTA is to their lives. At the end of the day I’d like them to feel good -- or feel better -- about the MTA.

O’Grady: Do you have any ideas in the technology realm?

Lhota: In the technology world there are an enormous amount of innovations.  We started a contest for apps, so we can provide data to people who develop apps for iPhones and smartphones. The best thing to do for technology is not for a government agency determine what to do, but to harness the power of young people who seem to have a much better understanding, a much better grasp of technology.

O’Grady: What ideas do you have for funding the MTA?

Lhota: Some of the senators yesterday said they wanted to find a way to end any taxpayer funding for the MTA. And I reminded them in 1968 when the legislature back then with then Governor Rockefeller --they created the MTA with the intent that the burden of the transit system would not be solely on the rider, that it would be more broad-based, that there would be tax revenues.  The concept of totally eliminating tax funding for the MTA would be inconsistent with how it was created. There’s not a transit agency in the country that burdens their riders with solely paying for the system.

O’Grady: Where’s that money going to come from?

Lhota: I don’t know where the money is going to come from but I’ll work with the state legislature and I’ll work with leaders across the state. The question of revenues right now not isolated to the MTA -- all government agencies are under pressure. The current condition of our economy is really providing the lack of revenues.

I’ll work with Albany, with City Hall and the federal government, on new and better fund sources.

O’Grady: Jay Walder said in Hong Kong that New York’s transit system was underfunded and under developed.

Lhota: I heard Jay’s comments. They were taken out of context. Jay was comparing the brand new system in Hong Kong to a hundred plus year-old system here in New York. It’s really tough to compare something that is brand new with something that has being operated for over 100 years. The comparison is not apt.

O’Grady: There was a close vote on [the MTA] board about restoring bus service. People are always clamoring for connecting underserved areas like, say, Red Hook to Williamsburg as one example.  Would you consider restoring or adding bus service anywhere in New York?

Lhota : When we get the finances under control. Our budget is currently very fragile [and] we have a lot of risky assumptions in our budget. We have to constantly evaluate where should we have our routes, where should we change service, where should we increase it, where should we decrease it. We need to do that based on the demographics of what’s going on, but until we get our financial house in order we will not be seeing restorations.

O’Grady: Getting your financial house in order -- where does the consolidation play into that? Are there savings to be had from consolidation?

Lhota: There are some savings to be had -- and dealing with what people unfortunately pejoratively call the bloat -- with the MTA.  Where do we have too many lawyers, where do we have too many accountants,  where do we have too many paper pushers? That will provide some help but not substantially all, we need to find ways to do what we do with the resources we have.

O’Grady: Just give me your general impression of how its going with the Transport Workers Union.

Lhota:  Negotiations are ongoing, they’ve been constructive, they’ve been very helpful. John Samuelsen and I have tried to do everything to create a relationship with each other. We’re open and honest with each other. We tell him things that we like.  I tell him things I don’t like and there are no repercussions from it. The negotiations are ongoing but will remain behind closed doors.

O’Grady: Are you going to hit the deadline?

Lhota: We’re going to do everything we can to hit the deadline. The executive committee of the TWU has already extended the deadline by saying if they don’t have a contract by that date they’re willing to extend it out. That was a very encouraging sign by the leaders of the TWU, so the pressure we normally have on us is not there. That being said, we’re going to do everything we can to have it resolved by midnight next Sunday night.

The New York subway is the only major city subway that runs through the night (and one of few in the world), complicating track and system repair. With some fanfare, the Metropolitan Transit Authority is rolling out FASTRACK, "a new way to work on the rails."

Beginning tonight, the 4, 5, and 6 lines which run down the East Side of Manhattan will be closed from 10 p.m. until 5 a.m., from Grand Central station to Atlantic avenue, Brooklyn's largest train hub. A busy six-mile stretch with 15 stops will have no trains passing through at all. That's a good thing, the MTA says, meaning repairs can happen much more quickly than they could with repair workers darting between trains (metaphorically speaking.)

Even so, in New York, where the subways run round the clock, anytime is someone's time. Here's a sampling of night riders, and what they had to say.

Frances Ruiz, on her way back to Flatbush, Brooklyn from visiting relatives in Riverdale, the Bronx.  "I don't know what we would do. It would be a problem."  (Photo: Jim O'Grady)

 

Adam Martinez, heading home from a successful date. "I live and work in the Bronx but I take the 4,5,6 regularly to have a social life and if this line is shut down four times a year, four days in a row, it'll greatly hinder that." (Photo: Jim O'Grady)

Writer Andrea Mustain, commuting back to Crown Heights, Brooklyn. "10 o'clock, that's crazy. How dare they." (Photo: Jim O'Grady)

Comedian Eric Mangin:  "I believe I can take the N or the R to Atlantic and switch to the 2,3. I have four trains at my stop so I'm pretty lucky. I don't think it's going to be too much of an inconvenience but I know for a lot of people, it's a big headache." (Photo: Jim O'Grady)

Darlene Womack, who travels from Morrisiana in the Bronx to her security guard job in the West Village. "Get it together, fix the tracks, you know. Do it on they (their) time not on ours." (Photo: Jim O'Grady)

Severe weather events in 2011 — the worst in history according to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration — continue to cost the U.S. big bucks.

Renderings of new Queens convention center (Courtesy of Arquitectonica)

Transit advocates are expressing doubt over the capacity to run an express subway train from midtown Manhattan to a proposed new convention center in Queens.  Governor Andrew Cuomo signed a non-binding agreement last week to build the world's largest convention center at Aqueduct Racetrack, but details about how conventioneers would get to and from Manhattan are sketchy.

Even though Governor Cuomo just proposed the plan, he's already signed a non-binding agreement with a potential developer, Genting Americas. That's raising questions about just how the plan to develop the site would work, including transportation options.

(Read Ilya Marritz's terrific profile of Genting here. )

In a brief statement issued Thursday, Genting said it and the "state would work alongside the MTA to help fund and introduce uninterrupted subway service between Midtown Manhattan" and the convention site.

But the MTA is already struggling to provide service, and has a multi-billion dollar hole in its capital construction plan.

Governor Cuomo also recently cut the payroll mobility tax, which pays for MTA operations, though he said he will replace those funds.

One idea bandied about was that the MTA would run express trains along the A line. But that idea was tried once before — in the now-defunct "Plane to the Train."  That service was plagued by low ridership, and created hostility by setting up a service that whisked past waiting straphangers on the local platforms.

"If one of their ideas is to create a convention express modeled after the JFK airport express, that's going to be much harder to do than it was in the 1970's and '80's," the Straphangers' Campaign's Gene Russianoff said.

Russianoff noted that many neighborhoods along the A and C lines — including Fort Greene, Clinton Hill, and Bedford-Stuyvesant — have undergone rapid growth in recent years, and couldn't withstand reductions in service.

But Bob Yaro, president of the Regional Plan Association, which is backing the convention plan, thought adding express trains might be possible.

Yaro also said the air train to JFK could be extended to Aqueduct, or the LIRR Rockaway Beach line could be brought back to life. Both plans would cost considerably more.

A spokesman for the MTA, Jeremy Soffin,  issued a statement saying:

"Though we haven’t seen any proposals, we look forward to working with all involved to discuss ways to improve transit access to the site within fiscal and operating constraints.”

Upstate New York roads, as viewed by helicopter (photo by Karen DeWitt/NYS Public Radio/WXXI)

Severe weather events in 2011 -- the worst in history according to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration -- continue to cost the U.S. big bucks.

Tranportation Nation has reported on the costs of climate change, now the U.S. DOT is announcing it's releasing some $1.6 billion  to 30 states.  Vermont, devastated by Hurricane Irene will get $125.6 million, North Dakota $89.1 million for severe flooding, and both New York and New Jersey are getting close to $90  million each.

Full release and list of grantees follow:

U.S. Transportation Secretary LaHood Announces Close to $1.6 Billion in Funding for Repairs to Damaged Roads and Bridges Supplemental Funding from Congress Makes Reimbursement Possible

WASHINGTON - U.S. Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood today announced nearly $1.6 billion to states and territories across the nation to help cover the costs of repairing roads and bridges damaged by a variety of natural disasters.

“Communities from coast to coast are still recovering from disasters that have affected the roads they use, their homes and businesses,” said Secretary LaHood. “The Obama Administration stands ready to provide emergency relief and reimburse these communities for the work that has been done to restore their critical transportation needs.”

Funding from the Federal Highway Administration’s (FHWA) Emergency Relief Program was provided by the Consolidated and Further Continuing Appropriations Act, 2012.  FHWA will provide a total of $1.58 billion to 30 states, American Samoa, U.S. Virgin Islands, Puerto Rico and federal land management agencies to reimburse them for repairs to roads and bridges caused by storms, flooding, hurricanes and other natural and catastrophic disasters.

“States and communities can rely on the federal government during these critical times,” said FHWA Administrator Victor Mendez.  “When disaster strikes, the Department will do all it can to provide help to the affected areas.”

Vermont, hard hit by Hurricane Irene, will receive $125.6 million; North Dakota will receive $89.1 million for the Devils Lake Basin for damage caused by Spring 2011 runoff; and Iowa will receive $37.5 million to repair damage caused by the May 2011 Missouri River flooding.  A complete list of states and funding amounts is listed below.

This money will reimburse states for fixing or replacing highways, bridges and other roadway structures. Costs associated with detours, debris removal and other immediate measures necessary to restore traffic flow in impacted areas are also eligible for reimbursement.

For a state-by-state breakdown click here (http://www.dot.gov/affairs/2012/fhwa0212.html).

 

Transit advocates are expressing doubt over the capacity to run an express subway train from midtown Manhattan to a proposed new convention center in Queens.  Governor Andrew Cuomo signed a non-binding agreement last week to build the world's largest convention center at Aqueduct Racetrack, but details about how conventioneers would get to and from Manhattan are sketchy.

Congressional inaction is leading to a $561 hike in the taxes of transit riders, charges the American Public Transit Association.

When Brian O. Selznick wrote "The Invention of Hugo Cabret," a graphic novel about an orphan in 1930s Paris, he imagined the secret spaces of the Gare Montparnasse train station i...

Photo: Brian Selznick in Grand Central's Clock Tower (photo Maya Bernstein/WNYC)

When Brian O. Selznick wrote "The Invention of Hugo Cabret," a graphic novel about an orphan in 1930's Paris, he imagined the secret spaces of the Gare Montparnasse, in Paris.  For inspiration, he visited Grand Central Terminal, and drew his interiors in pictures that were three inches by five inches. But the scenes in the book -- hidden tunnels, secret rooms, the giant clock tower -- were all drawn from Selznick's imagination, and then turned into the movie "Hugo," by Martin Scorcese.

The tour -- not open to members of the public -- took them to Grand Central's deepest sub basement, its lost and found, along its catwalks, and up into the clock tower.  And at each step along the way the station gave up its secrets, secrets eerily similar to the story of Hugo Cabret, a small boy who keeps the clocks running, steals to eat, and struggles to repair a lost automaton, his last connection to his dead father.

That struggle leads him to Isabel, an orphan raised by the station's toy seller, who mysteriously owns the key that will unlock the automaton.

Illustrations from The Invention of Hugo Cabret. Copyright 2007 by Brian Selznick. Used with permission from Scholastic Press.

 

Click for the audio and slide show on the slide show here.

 

When New York Governor Andrew Cuomo announced Wednesday that he would set up a $15 billion fund to rebuild 100 bridges and 2,000 miles of road, there was delight in many quarters -- but in his long list of projects, the governor never said the word "transit.”

Andrea Bernstein, director of the public radio Transportation Nation project and senior correspondent for WNYC, discusses Governor Cuomo's proposed "Energy Highway" and the pages he chose not to read while at the podium for the State of State.

UPDATED WITH TRANSCRIPT: New York Governor Andrew Cuomo wants to build, build, build.   In his state of the state address Wednesday, he put forth a $15 billion plan to repair roads, bridges,  parks, flood control, and municipal water systems. (Transcript of his actual remarks below)

Cuomo did not specifically refer to transit projects, (in fact, the word "transit" wasn't uttered during the speech) though he did discuss capital construction by the New York Metropolitan Transportation Authority, which he controls.

Cuomo said all the investment would come under one umbrella "New York Works" fund.

"Right now, believe it or not, agencies and authorities do their own construction, their own development,  their own master plan – all  disconnected one from the other, without even any conversation."

In a speech that veered wildly from prepared remarks, Cuomo said:  "So the MTA has a capital plan that they are pursuing different that the Port Authority, which has a capital plan which it's pursuing , different from the Department of Transportation which has a capital plan which its pursuing , different from the Department Of Housing which has a capital plan that it’ pursuing.  It makes no sense.  It never did. This is not the time to be squandering resources. "

The idea of having one entity make funding decisions won praise from planners: "The state has really been substandard in capital construction," said the Citizens' Budget Commissions Elizabeth Lynam.  "It's a long time coming that they tried to orchestrate that."

"In the long run if you put together a board that looks to state infrastructure interests--  not just political interests -- that can be very strong," added City College of New York Professor Robert "Buz" Paaswell.  But Paaswell said setting up a fund would be very complex -- since authorities can legally borrow, while the state DOT cannot.

But transit advocates were dismayed by Cuomo's glancing over public transportation.

“While the Governor is right to call for greater investment in infrastructure, Albany cannot continue to give short shrift to funding transit across our state,” said Transportation Alternatives Executive Director Paul Steely White. “Public transit projects create a jobs dividend that stretches from the five-boroughs to Upstate New York. From manufacturing jobs in the North Country to construction jobs in the metropolitan area, fully funding public transit not only helps get millions of people to work every day, it creates good-paying jobs for New Yorkers.”

Cuomo first introduced the idea of an infrastructure bank during his tax proposal, which passed last month.  In his state of the state he offered more details, but the governor has yet to release a full-blown plan.

"We want to find a  20 to 1 leverage in these projects so we maximize the impact of the state money," Cuomo said.

Among the fund's uses:  "We are planning to improve more than 100 bridges which will include finally building a new Tappan Zee bridge, because 15 years of planning and talking and commiserating is too long. It is time to build and to act and to perform."

"We are going to repair 2000 miles of roads," he added.  "That’s from Buffalo to New York City 5 times. We are going finance upgrades to 90 municipal water systems,  improve 48 parks and historic sites that are visited by 37 million people per year.  And after hurricane Irene and storm Lee repair 114 flood control projects across this state."

Cuomo also proposed a $2 billion "energy highway" from Quebec to New York City.

"We have a tremendous need for power in downstate New York.  Let's connect the supply dots to the need what Eisenhower did in the 50s by building an interstate system is what this energy highway can be to the next generation."

TRANSCRIPT OF CUOMO'S REMARKS FOLLOWS:

I’m proposing setting up the New York works fund and task force.  This task force will be made up of leading public and private3 sector experts and members of the legislature.  It will coordinate for the first time all the states capital construction,

 

Right now, believe it or not, agencies and authorities do their own construction, their own development,  their own master plan – all  disconnected one from the other, without even any conversation.

 

So the MTA has a capital plan that they are pursuing different that the Port Authority which has a capital plan which its pursuing , different from the Department of Transportation which has a capital plan which its pursuing , different from the Department Of Housing which has a capital plan that it’ pursuing.

 

It makes no sense it never did.   This is not the time to be squandering resources.  You can’t have that many agencies and authorities coming up with their own vision for the state -- we need a comprehensive vision and we need the expertise frankly to help us get it done. It’s not the state’s forte.

 

There are people in the private sector who are expert at this who want to be helpful. We want to invite them in, put together a task force, and actually lead this effort.

 

We want a comprehensive master plan of all of the state’s construction over the next few years and how we can coordinate and maximize that work that work to have a positive synergy among the projects.   We also want to accelerate the construction.

 

We cant do this on government time -- this has to happen on real time. It can’t take 3 years to put a shovel in the ground, it just can’t work that way any more.  And it’s not going to.

 

(applause)

 

As I said in the beginning the task for us is to find leverage with private sector partners. We want to find a  20 to 1 leverage in these projects so we maximize the impact of the state money.

 

We are planning to improve more than 100 bridges which will include finally building a new Tappan Zee bridge, because 15 years of planning and talking and commiserating is too long.  I is time to build and to act and to perform.

 

We are going to repair 2000 miles of roads.  That’s from Buffalo to New York City 5 times. We are going finance upgrades to 90 municipal water systems,  improve 48 parks and historic sites that are visited by 37 million people per year.  And after hurricane Irene and storm Lee repair 114 flood control projects across this state.

 

Let’s build an energy highway system that doesn’t exist now…we have supply of power in northern New York, Quebec, we have power supply in western ny we have a tremendous need for power in downstate ny lets connect the supply dots to the need what Eisenhower did in the 50s by building an interstate system is what this energy highway can be to the next generation.

 

If we want the state to develop and we need the job and we need the businesses,  we’re going to need the power this is the way we’re going to do it.

 

The state can master plan a system, issue an ftp  allow private sector companies to come to in to bid it  build it we believe it can generate $2 billion in infrastructure. This is no doubt a comprehensive and ambitious jobs program, 15 billion in infrastructure,  4 billion for a convention center, 2 billion for Javits transformation, 2 billion for energy, 1 billion for gaming,  1 billion for buffalo that we believe will generate additional money for the private sector.  This program will make a major impact on the of this state’s economy if we get it done.

 

 

UPDATED In his second annual State of the State address, New York Governor Andrew Cuomo did not mention the word "transit," according to the prepared text of his speech.

Cuomo controls the MTA, the nation's largest transit system.

In the written speech, Cuomo did promise to rebuild "100 bridges and 2,000 miles of road" and vowed to move forward on his plan to build a new Tappan Zee Bridge between Westchester to Rockland Counties.  And he talks about the state's efforts to repair roads and bridges devastated by Tropical Storms Irene and Lee.

Cuomo also referred  to the MTA (or Metropolitan Transportation Authority) in two places -- by touting how he cut the payroll tax, which funds the MTA, and later by noting how "investments by the Metropolitan Transportation Authority help protect the reliability of the transportation network that supports the metropolitan New York regional economy and 8.5 million riders a day."

He also points out that the MTA's "Built in NY" program "has an impact on the economic development throughout new York State, from Oriskany to Jameston, Yonkers to Plattsburgh."'

Cuomo's delivered speech differed from his prepared remarks. Nevertheless,  Cuomo also did not say the word "transit" in his actual speech.  In his oral remarks, he did (briefly) refer to cutting the MTA payroll tax, and to MTA capital construction projects, though only in the context of his proposed infrastructure bank.

Want an early peak at the Presidential campaign 2016?  Okay, now that we have your attention, join us at 1:30 EST here as join a team live-chatting New York Governor Andrew Cuomo's State of the State address, with a particular eye towards what he has to say on transit and transportation.

A NYC plow working after the post-Christmas blizzard. Azi Paybarah/WNYC

Mayors of both Chicago and New York said Tuesday they'd be making the locations of snow plows public during winter storms via public websites that will show GPS tracking information.

While the idea of a snowplow tracker isn't new -- it exists in Montgomery County and Howard County, Maryland, just to name a couple -- New York and Chicago would be the first major cities to deploy this technology.

Mayor Bloomberg hit once of the lowest moments of his mayoralty last winter when New York ground to a halt during the blizzard of 2010. It was particularly frustrating for outer-borough residents when streets outside of Manhattan went unplowed for days (while the Mayor recommended they take in a Broadway show.)

Also galling: city officials were increasingly unable to tell members of the public (or even elected officials) when streets would be cleared.

In an information vacuum, WNYC developed a plowed street tracker, based on crowd-sourced information. Later, Mayor Bloomberg promised to add GPS to all snow plows. But that information wasn't made available to the public. Yet.

Enter Chicago, where Mayor Rahm Emanuel (who wasn't even in office last winter),  a notorious type-A techno-geek, announced with some fanfare Tuesday that city would set up a Plow Tracker. "During major snow cleanup efforts," according to a press release, " the City will activate the real-time 'Plow Tracker' map, allowing the public to track the progress of City snow plows and make snow removal efforts more transparent."

Looks like Emanuel may have upstaged Bloomberg (himself something of a type A techno-geek)

Asked at a press conference (on an unrelated subject) Tuesday whether New York would be making snow plow location information available on a public website, Mayor Bloomberg said:

"Yeah, we have a whole plan we'll get you very quickly.  We've been enhancing what we do.  I don't know that it necessarily improves our ability to plow. We have the routes and we're gonna do it, but it does let you see where plows went and when they went there, and that's all. Our best thing so far is my strategy so far. Look outside - streets are clean, no snow."

While Chicago's website is now live (www.cityshovels.org), New York City officials cautioned that it's not yet clear what the New York website will look like, or when it will be up and running.