Cuomo: Get ‘adopters’ to pay for fixes

NOW IT’S “our” MTA.

Gov. Cuomo, who controls the Metropolitan Transportation Authority, announced an “Adopt-A-Station” program Thursday that calls on private companies to foot the bill for fixing dilapidated subway stations.

“We have to change our attitude. This is our MTA, right? This is our transit system,” Cuomo told members of the Association for a Better New York as he stood beneath a jumbo screen that flashed the words “We must change our attitude: OUR MTA.”

“There has to be an air of civic engagement and participation, investment in this system,” the governor added.

Thursday’s comments mark another shift in tone from Cuomo about his relationship with the MTA. A week ago, the governor and his staff cited decades-old statutes to insist that “it’s the city’s legal obligation” to pay for subway upgrades — claiming the state helps out because it’s the right thing to do “on a moral level.”

He’s wavered between holding himself accountable for completing big projects like the Second Ave. subway and claiming he doesn’t run the system, since he doesn’t appoint a majority of the MTA’s board members.

Now, he’s embracing the “Our MTA” message to press Mayor de Blasio to kick in half of the $836 million emergency subway rescue plan agency chief Joe Lhota announced this week.

Cuomo’s also tapping the private sector for help. For $250,000, Cuomo said, a civic group or company can be a member of a “partnership council” that will fix subway stations.

Early members of this subway conservancy include publisher Hearst, Mastercard, investment firms Blackstone and Blackrock, real estate firm Rudin Management Co., cosmetics giant Estée Lauder and the Partnership for New York, according to a spokesman for Cuomo.

Private sponsors can also pay — up to $600,000, depending on size and foot traffic — to “adopt” a station, where they can install art and help keep it clean and safe.