City Officials Continue To Insult The MTA

Posted by Transit Blogger

December 27, 2007

Last Thursday, outgoing deputy mayor Daniel Doctoroff announced that the city would be willing to pay for half of the costs to build the much talked about Hell’s Kitchen stop at 41st St. & 10th Ave. The most pathetic part of this announcement is the fact that the original plan called for the city to foot the entire bill for the two stop 7 line extension which has now become a 1 stop extension.

The increasing costs of the original plan led city officials to change their plan & only fund the completion of the 34th St. & 11th Ave. stop along with a shell for the Hell’s Kitchen stop at 41st St. & 10th Ave. Approximately six weeks before the ceremonial groundbreaking, city officials announced plans to scrap funding for any work to create the stop at 41st St. & 10th Ave.

I am sorry but the city is looking to give the ultimate screwjob to the MTA with this project. What is even more disgusting is how Mayor Bloomberg & the rest of his cronies are trying to pass the buck to federal officials. As much as the federal government is partially responsible for the lack of adequate funding for the MTA, this one can’t be put on their backs. The city was all excited for this extension when it was obsessed with trying to get the Olympics to New York along with a new New York Jets stadium, but now they want to renege on their promises because they don’t have a huge prize waiting for them behind door number one.

Why should the MTA spend money from their capital fund to help fund a project the city promised to pay for? Why does the city think a tree-lined promenade in the yet to be built Hudson Rail Yards development is more important than a stop in a growing community? Seriously they need to get their heads out of their asses & realize a tree-lined promenade will NEVER be more important than a subway stop. They also need to realize that if they don’t fund the creation of the stop in Hell’s Kitchen now, it will be a huge mistake that will cost much more to fix in the future. While I do not support the extension, I am of the belief that it should be done right the first time instead of trying to fix unnecessary & costly errors in judgment later.

xoxo Transit Blogger

7 Line Extension