12 FEBRUARY 27, 2020 RIDGEWOOD TIMES WWW.QNS.COM
Cuomo-Trump feud may derail subway modernization plan
As he made his way out of MTA
HQ hearing chants of “Train
Daddy” above the skreel of the
bagpipes, former transit chief Andy
Byford moved past hundreds of supporters,
many in the crowd had derisive
things to say about Governor Andrew
Cuomo’s roll in Byford handing in his
resignation on Jan. 23.
Insiders say Byford felt sidelined
by the governor’s realignment of the
agency the transit guru had turned
around since taking over at the end
of 2017’s “summer of hell” as Cuomo
described it.
Now Byford’s work is in jeopardy and
Queens straphangers have reason to be
concerned.
It’s Cuomo’s blood feud with another
so-called “Queens boy” that is now
endangering Byford’s $51 billion Fast
Forward plan to modernize the subway
system depends on congestion pricing
and the fees motorists will have to pay to
navigate below 60th Street in Manhattan
with tolling set to begin in January
2021.
But the plan requires approval of
the Federal Highway Administration,
part of the Trump Administration’s
EDITORIAL
Andy Byford left MTA headquarters and now his plan to modernize the subway system could be endangered by
a feud between Governor Cuomo and President Trump. Photo by Mark Hallum
Department of Transportation, which
claims that New York state has failed to
provide the necessary documentation
until last month.
Cuomo acknowledged the feds have
not told state authorities which type
of environmental review they need to
submit to gain federal approval of the
ambitious project, which has never
been tried in the United States.
In recent weeks, the U.S. Department
of Homeland Security barred New
Yorkers from the federal Trusted Travelers
program and this week the federal
government cut $8 billion to New York
State’s Medicaid programs.
“I’m not holding my breath for them
to approve congestion pricing,” Cuomo
said during an unrelated press conference.
Cuomo added that he assumed
federal approval of the project would
be “perfunctory,” but how could that
be when you’re a high profi le Democrat
from the Empire State and you
trade insults with President Trump on
Twitter.
The “Train Daddy” is no longer at
the helm of the city’s subway system
and that’s a bad thing for Queens commuters.
The lack of congestion pricing
funding Byford’s Fast Forward plan
would no doubt bring back the “summer
from hell,” but this time it might play out
over many more seasons of systemwide
meltdowns, poor signal systems and rail
infrastructure overhauls.
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