POLS DON’T GO YARD
Cuomo and de Blasio are no-shows at big opening for Hudson project
A pair of pols were noticeably absent from the ritzy ribboncutting at Hudson Yards: Mayor de Blasio and Gov. Cuomo.
Neither of the state's top executives were on hand for the opening of the new complex of office towers, apartments and open space built atop rail yards on Manhattan's West Side — one of biggest developments and changes to the city's skylines in decades.
“No plans at this moment,” de Blasio said Thursday when asked if he intended to visit the new development.
The complex is opening just weeks after plans for Amazon to come to the city collapsed in part due to subsidies the company was set to receive — and the private development at Hudson Yards, which was green-lighted under the previous mayoral administration, was subsidized with billions of dollars.
Hizzoner spoke briefly about the project Friday morning when he was asked about it on “Morning Joe” — and noted the subsidies were before his time.
“That decision, as you know, was made in the previous administration and the kinds of subsidies that were approved in the previous administration we no longer do,” de Blasio said.
The mayor did have a full schedule Friday morning — after “Morning Joe,” he attended a breakfast with schools Chancellor Richard Carranza and the state Board of Regents, had his weekly radio appearance, attended a memorial for Fire Marshal Chrstopher Zanetis, and testified at a state Senate committee.
But even on a slow day, rubbing elbows with real estate bigwigs at Hudson Yards was unlikely to be de Blasio's scene. The mayor critiqued capitalism during his morning television gig.
“We're not here to continually empower the one percent. We're not here to have government policies that make the rich richer while working people work harder than ever
and get the — less, less and less back,” he said.
Ironically, one person on hand for the ribbon cutting was “Sesame Street's” Big Bird — the nickname Bo Deitl had tried to give de Blasio in the 2017 mayor's race.
Also absent was Cuomo, who, like de Blasio, had been a proponent of the Amazon deal and its subsidies.
“The governor is in Albany working on the budget,” communications director Dani Lever said.
De Blasio's predecessor, Michael Bloomberg, also sat out the ribbon-cutting.
The mega-development, built atop a working MTA rail yard, is home to four skyscrapers, a super high-end mall anchored by the city's only Neiman Marcus department store, a performance arts structure dubbed the Shed, and a honeycomb-like piece of public art that can be climbed called The Vessel that was panned by The New York Times architecture critic and compared to a spit of chicken shawarma by Eater.
The development is also home to a slew of restaurants from big-name chefs including José Andrés, who is spearheading a Spanish market at the site, Thomas Keller and David Chang.
A ritzy opening-night party Thursday drew scores of people to munch on hors d'oeuvres — including celebrities like Tom Brady, Anne Hathaway and Diane von Furstenberg.
The mayor didn't attend the soiree — but Sen. Chuck Schumer was spotted at the affair.