MESSAGE
| DATE | 2025-04-20 |
| FROM | Ruben Safir
|
| SUBJECT | Subject: [Hangout - NYLXS] The never ending appetite of the MTA and the Penn
|
The feds' Penn Station takeover is ALL about protecting taxpayers from
NY pols' seedy schemes
Post Editorial Board
2–3 minutes
Maybe the best thing about the Trump administration kicking the MTA out
of any Penn Station redo is that it puts a stake through the heart of
the Cuomo-Hochul plans — which would’ve guaranteed the least bang for
the buck and a project designed to serve donors and other special interests.
It also frees any project from New York laws that balloon costs on major
public works by enabling the worse union featherbedding and mandating
payoffs to “community” politicians.
Group of people standing at the entrance of Penn Station on corner of
31st and 8th Ave in New York City on July 25, 2017
People enter Penn Station on the corner of 31st and 8th Ave. Annie
Wermiel/NY Post
In truth, the only reason to do anything (beyond maybe some
track-extension work) at Penn now is to provide cash baths for the
connected and a pretext for politicians to fund-raise from monied
interests — both bribes for those seeking a piece of the action and
protection money from those aiming to guard what they have.
The MTA certainly has far better uses for any cash that comes its way;
it was only dragged into these plans as a pawn in the pols’ games.
Penn Station is now just fine as it is. For the hundreds of thousands of
commuters who flow through daily, recent projects have done more than
enough — NJTransit and the LIRR have perfectly fine new vestibules,
entrances and exits, including Moynihan Station.
Nor do commuters want fresh disruptions for work that does nothing to
speed up the trains: Nobody spends more time at Penn than they must,
because they’re all on their way somewhere else.
Which makes burning billions of dollars to turn its central hall into a
grand architectural masterpiece pointless except for those looking to
wet their beaks.
This development isn’t remotely about President Donald Trump looking to
put (yet more of) his stamp on the city; Transportation Secretary Sean
Duffy is just protecting federal taxpayers from another New York scam.
“The days of reckless spending and blank checks are over” was the key
part of his announcement.
Gov. Hochul is peeved because it shuts down her scheming, but New York
taxpayers (and the MTA!) can celebrate their liberation from a worthless
white elephant.
--
So many immigrant groups have swept through our town
that Brooklyn, like Atlantis, reaches mythological
proportions in the mind of the world - RI Safir 1998
http://www.mrbrklyn.com
DRM is THEFT - We are the STAKEHOLDERS - RI Safir 2002
http://www.nylxs.com - Leadership Development in Free Software
http://www.brooklyn-living.com
Being so tracked is for FARM ANIMALS and extermination camps,
but incompatible with living as a free human being. -RI Safir 2013
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