Build down for a better Penn
This column’s criticism of the $30 billion Gateway boondoggle began five years ago when we went after the $6 billion Penn South, which would needlessly tear down a Midtown swath for a dead-end NJTransit terminal. We wrote “Tunnel blockheads” during the Obama years, not yet knowing of other major savings, like a far better way to repair the Hudson tubes or constructing a much more economical Portal North Bridge over the Hackensack.
Gov. Cuomo is right in wanting more capacity at Penn, but Penn South is wrong and his plan, exploded to gargantuan size of 20 million square feet of office space stacked into 10 tall towers by plowing under 50 buildings with 500 small businesses and nonprofits and residences, was thankfully limited in the state budget.
The $1.3 billion appropriation is restricted to “transportation improvement projects and not for above-grade development.” Much better than “the initial property acquisition required to implement the project” Cuomo wanted. Great, because improving Penn doesn’t require knocking down a single structure or expanding the station’s footprint in a neighborhood that, while not necessarily perfect, is definitely not blighted.
The Penn hellhole has been Amtrak’s since May 1, 1971, the railroad’s birth. But Amtrak has left, moving across Eighth Ave. to the beautiful Moynihan Train Hall, which cost New York $1.6 billion, of which Amtrak only paid $105 million, a measly 6.5%.
From the fancy lounge to ticket windows to baggage claim to red caps, everything has moved. Amtrak.com tickets show “Moynihan.” Only the ever-helpful and friendly Julie at 800-USA-RAIL is confused by “Moynihan,” thinking it’s upstate Corning, even though Amtrak has never served Corning.
Rather than pursuing an unnecessary Midtown remake, simply rehab Penn. Amtrak must clear out, letting New York extend tracks 1 to 4 into Moynihan’s West End Concourse and lengthening the central corridor down to 31st St., while doubling vertical access points. Then dig the long-sought link to Grand Central, called Alternative G in never-realized plans. You can do a lot with $1.3 billion.