NOT TOO BRIGHT
Gov, mayor wage dumb war over fancy MTA bridge lighting as city needs subway hell fix
WITH THE SUBWAY system crippled by delays and fires, the state plans to spend hundreds of millions of dollars on adding razzle-dazzle, choreographed light shows to Metropolitan Transportation Authority bridges.
Disclosure of the outlays proposed by Gov. Cuomo drew the scorn of Mayor de Blasio as the two officials wage guerrilla warfare over who will pay for a mass transit rescue soon to be unveiled by MTA Chairman Joe Lhota.
The state funds most of the MTA’s capital plan. Cuomo has vowed to boost support by $1 billion next year while pressing a resistant de Blasio to pony up as well.
De Blasio pushed back at the governor Wednesday.
“I can tell you that people that ride the subways are not interested in a light show,” de Blasio said. “They’re interested in getting the trains to run on time, and they’re interested in being able to get to work, and that’s what we should focus the resources on going forward.”
The program to outfit the bridges with LED lights is slated to cost about $216 million, according to the minutes of a New York Power Authority meeting held in March. That expense, first reported by Politico, comes as commuters have begged Cuomo to steer more of the state-run MTA’s money toward city subways, with chronic delays wrecking commutes and endangering employment.
The Cuomo administration said the $216 million figure was just a placeholder — and that, though lights will be gracing MTA bridges, the MTA won’t pick up the bill.
“The funding of these lights are not an MTA issue,” Lhota told the Daily News.
Cuomo spokeswoman Dani Lever said, “The mayor should know the facts before speaking. The MTA will not pay for the Harbor of Lights proposal — period.”
“It is an economic development and energy-efficiency proposal that would be paid for by” Empire State Development and the New York Power Authority.
That’s not the impression the power authority was under in March — its meeting minutes indicate the cost would be picked up or recovered by MTA Bridges and Tunnels. A spokeswoman for the power agency said those discussions were premature.
A top MTA official told The News the original understanding
was that the money would indeed come from MTA Bridges, with the power authority tasked with actually raising it.
Whether the money comes directly from the MTA or not, it will come from the state, which controls the MTA. The state has argued it will spur economic development by drawing tourists who will be enamored with the LED lights, which can be set to music played by local radio stations while the visitors take in the city skyline. Officials also said the lights are more energy-efficient and will wind up saving money.
The aerial esthetics come as the city is in the grips of a subway crisis — and as de Blasio has called on the state to shift resources to the subway system while refusing a larger contribution by the city.
It also comes after Cuomo has touted other creature-comfort upgrades to the transit system, like wireless internet.
De Blasio argued those are good ideas — but only if the “basics of the system are working.”
“I never want to take away from efforts to improve the quality of life once you’re on a subway, but much more important is: Does that subway ever show up? And does that train ever come? And does it get you where you want to go?” he said. “I would say those (extras) are good things, but they’re not the priority.”
De Blasio has repeatedly emphasized that the state runs the MTA and pushed back at the notion that the city should pony up more cash.
Cuomo’s office countered the city “owns” the subways — referring to the technicalities of how the system is leased to the MTA, which operates it.
“The mayor should also read the law,” Lever said. “New York City owns the subway and is solely responsible for funding its capital plan. Most people would call that control, and if he cares about commuters he should put his money where his mouth is.”
Historically, the state and debt service have funded much of the capital plan.
“We know riders are frustrated and they have every right to be, which is why the governor is focused on improving service with a $14 billion funding commitment and ordering a 30-day audit to overhaul the MTA,” Lever added.
The choreographed lights have already made a debut on the Kosciuszko Bridge — even featuring a special Mother’s Day show. Covering the first of two spans of that bridge in the LED lights cost $4.5 million, though Cuomo’s office says that was only a little bit more than it would have cost for lights to make the bridge safe for boats and planes.
State officials note a similar program on the Bay Bridge in San Francisco, which officials there told the press could boost the local economy by $97 million over two years. The banks alongside the Bay Bridge feature upscale eateries with bridge views. Flanking the Kosciuszko, which crosses Newtown Creek, are a waste transfer station and a National Grid energy facility.
Meanwhile, electrical and signal problems have plagued the subways, leading Lhota to suggest banning food on the trains.
De Blasio said, “I don’t think it’s fair to people to say you can’t eat on the subway” because “the time on the subway is often the only time you have to eat.”
Lhota chided the mayor for “finger-pointing,” and said “eating food on the subway is not a right.”
“The opportunity to eat a breakfast bar or protein bar, the opportunity for someone who is diabetic to eat an orange to regulate their blood sugar, those things are all absolutely necessary,” Lhota said.
But “when you see folks eating whole meals in Styrofoam containers and sometimes it ends up on the floor, we have to be more respectful of the other passengers. We have to be more respectful of the fact that it’s our MTA . . . . We need it to work efficiently and effectively, and we need it to be clean.”