For much less than the five billion dollars that Cuomo and friends want to spend doubling the width of the Tappan Zee Bridge, we could restore passenger [rail] service to Nyack, West Nyack, New City, Stony Point and Haverstraw.
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9 February 2012
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4 February 2012
Assembly transportation chair David Gantt has a history of blocking bills that would allow localities to implement life-saving traffic technology.
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3 February 2012
A Cancer in Our Midst
I’ve been writing about the problems created by the Tappan Zee Bridge for months now: problems that have existed for 56 years, problems that would only continue and get worse if the bridge is replaced as the Governor plans. The bridge is a cancer in our midst, spewing sprawl across the Hudson Valley. There is no way to redeem it with “Bus Rapid Transit.” The only way the valley can heal itself is if the bridge is gone.
Cosign!
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17:00
Don't pee on my back again! — capntransit.blogspot.com
This increase in traffic volumes is presented as a fact of nature, one that nobody can control, least of all the little ol’ Federal Highway Administration and New York State Department of Transportation. But the State has the authority to set tolls, and in today’s New York Times, economist Nancy Folbre, recipient of a MacArthur Foundation “Genius Grant,” summarizes the well-supported case that toll prices can affect traffic volumes.
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28 January 2012
A particularly worrying downside is that to come up with the funds, Albany might be forced to starve roads and bridges in other parts of the state, or even transit in and around NYC — not in a “one-shot,” but year in and year out.
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17:01
I’ve run some numbers, and they’re so disturbing that even I’m not sure how much credence to give them. But with the fast-tracking of the jumbo-sized, jumbo-priced rebuild, I felt it was less risky to put them out than to sit on them.
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15:20
Cost of Tappan Zee Mega-Bridge Could Cause Tolls to Triple
A toll increase of that magnitude — in the $10 ballpark — would almost certainly send “demand” (the number of car and truck crossings) into a tailspin. That in turn could necessitate another toll hike to ensure that bondholders stay paid and set up another round of the downward spiral — the same whirlpool that nearly swallowed dozens of utilities a few decades ago.
The history of utilities collapse brought about by the expense of nuclear power, given at the beginning of the post, is interesting in itself. I had no idea that happened, I just assumed nuclear was subsidized to the the point that its outsize costs were not felt by consumers and private operators.
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21 January 2012
While Walder may be a better technocrat, Lhota may have the political savvy to better deal with the mouth-breathers in the Senate.
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17 January 2012
‘Mr. Lhota Goes to Albany’ — secondavenuesagas.com — Readability
Of course, no day in Albany would be complete without unnecessary references to a tired cliche, and here Lhota acquitted himself nicely. During the Finance Committee hearing, Lhota said it was time to cease repeating eight-year-old claims proven false about two sets of books. “It needs to end,” he said. “It was nothing more than a marketing gimmick by a former state controller who didn’t know what he was talking about.”
This is the most heartening thing Lhota has said so far.
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14 December 2011
In 2000, then-Mayor Giuliani cut a deal to slash New York City’s contributions to the pension plans for two years (giving him extra money to throw around while running for Mayor), in exchange for the employees getting to slash there own contributions (by 75% over their careers) permanently. Now MTA head Joe Lhota was Giuliani’s budget director at the time. Was he involved with that deal? How did he justify it then, and what does he think of it now?
