Media Links
December 15, 2011
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Source: WABC 7New York City is celebrating six months of East River Ferry service with free service. On Thursday, Council Speaker Christine Quinn and other officials are greeting riders when they arrive in Manhattan after a free ride. The free ride celebrates that nearly a half million riders have used the ferry since it started running.
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Source: NY1Governor Andrew Cuomo held a summit Wednesday to discuss a bill that would allow livery cab drivers to purchase street hail medallions for areas outside of Upper Manhattan, but he wasn't able to reach a deal with industry leaders. NY1's Josh Robin filed the following report.
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Source: ForbesThe Obama administration’s directive that the Federal Transit Administration not consider “Buy America” waivers means that United Streetcar, Oregon Iron Works’ subsidiary and the only domestic streetcar manufacturer, pretty much has its pick of projects. Foreign companies could theoretically partner with American firms to compete for contracts, as the Czech Republic’s Škoda is doing with United Streetcar, but it’s unlikely that any other companies could compete with Oregon Iron Works’ upfront investment and political advantages – that is, the contracts it already has under its belt, plus the fact that many of its capital costs, including the cost of its prototype, were paid for by the federal government. The company is pretty much guaranteed to win all US streetcar contracts for the foreseeable future.
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Source: Brooklyn DailyThe city broke its promise to let a railway enthusiast build a trolley service from Downtown to Red Hook that would have passed through a shuttered subway tunnel under Atlantic Avenue, a bombshell $160-million lawsuit charged last week.
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Source: San Francisco ExaminerEric Williams won a five-person race to succeed Rafael Cabrera as president of the Transport Workers Union Local 250-A, which represents 2,200 Muni operators. Cabrera, along with the rest of the union’s current leadership, elected not to run for re-election in the vote, which was held on Friday.
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Source: DNAinfo.comDespite the millions of New Yorkers who ride subways and buses and the thousands of life-altering traffic injuries suffered by residents of the five boroughs every year, transit and safe streets are typically second- or third-tier issues in the city’s big-time political campaigns. The 2013 mayoral election could be different: NYC DOT’s program to re-orient city streets for transit, biking and walking has raised the profile of transportation and public space issues. And that’s before any bike-share stations have hit the streets.
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Source: AFL-CIO NowThe growing gap between the rich and the rest of us is not just a problem in the United States. Over the past two decades income inequality has soared around the world. But a new report from the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OCED) says if nations make the right policy decisions, income inequality is not inevitable and can be reversed.
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Source: Reclaim / Transportation AlternativesThe Metropolitan Transportation Authority is facing a crisis and the man who can save it doesn’t seem to care.
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Source: CBS New YorkThousands of unionized New York City office cleaners hit the streets Wednesday afternoon to demand a fair contract.
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Source: GothamistAs part of a SVA course taught by designer Stefan Sagmeister called "Can Design Touch Someone’s Heart?," two MFA design students, Lizzy Showman and Kathleen Fitzgerald, decided to do a kindness for the drivers of the M15, the second busiest bus in the country. Namely, they made them adorable seat cushions—which also make great fart mufflers and faux briefcases!—and handed them out to drivers around town. As you can see, the drivers were touched.
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Source: NY TimesThe Obama administration will propose new regulations on Thursday to give two million home-care workers minimum wage and overtime protection, a White House official said.
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Source: NY Daily NewsIt may not seem like a big deal to ask a subway station cleaner to change a light bulb or unclog the toilet, but the MTA is demanding such work-rule changes — and it could make contract talks contentious.
December 14, 2011
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Source: Streetsblog New York CityHanleyTappanZeeLetterDespite widespread opposition, Governor Andrew Cuomo is plowing forward with plans to build a new Tappan Zee Bridge without transit. Even so, there’s still no plan for how to pay for the bridge. Cuomo has proposed that union pension funds put up some of the money, but there’s been no explanation of how those pension funds would be paid back. Stepping into the mix is Amalgamated Transit Union International President Larry Hanley, a former Staten Island bus driver who now leads an 190,000-member union, the largest transit union in the country. In a letter sent out last week to leaders of other major unions, Hanley urged his colleagues to use their influence to ensure that mass transit, and bus rapid transit in particular, is included on the Tappan Zee.
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Source: Capital TonightHere’s an unusual turn of events, Teamsters President Greg Floyd, who surprised the NYC political world when he filed paperwork for a 2013 mayoral run back in September, just informed me during a CapTon interview that he has decided to pull his hat out of the ring.
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Source: NY PostMillions of New Yorkers uptown and in the outer boroughs are being denied the right to legally hail a livery cab because of a political fight over an obscure health issue, The Post has learned. Mayor Bloomberg’s hard-fought taxi-expansion bill is being held hostage to a battle with the Cuomo administration over whether the city is entitled to share in the proceeds when EmblemHealth, the health-insurance giant created by the merger of GHI and HIP, converts from a nonprofit to a for-profit company, sources said.
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Source: Albany Times UnionTucked into last week's agreement overhauling the state's income tax brackets was a little-noted clause that critics say could represent a marginal consolidation of power by Gov. Andrew Cuomo. It doesn't affect the personal income taxes that New Yorkers will pay, but instead gives the governor's Department of Taxation and Finance broad new authority to select businesses that can share in a $25 million package of tax breaks.
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Source: aiCIOAs US and global infrastructure crumbles as a result of wear and tear by soaring populations, governments, in a state of desperation, are increasingly turning to the large cash reserves of pension funds for help. New York Governor Andrew Cuomo exemplifies that trend among cash-strapped governments: in order to create jobs and aid the state's ailing economy, he is eyeing union pension funds to finance major projects, such as rebuilding the Tappan Zee Bridge. As part of the Governor's proposal, he is championing the creation of a so-called “infrastructure bank.”
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Source: Huffington PostWhen Governor Andrew Cuomo signed a $320-million reduction in the downstate payroll tax on Monday, the MTA, which runs New York City's subways, lost a critical, dedicated revenue stream. Cutting the payroll tax was essential to getting Cuomo's much-touted income tax deal through the state Senate. But the burden that deal places on the MTA may make it even more difficult for the transit agency to fill a $9.9 billion capital budget gap in the years leading up to 2014.
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Source: MTA Press ReleaseAs part of its growing effort to attract greater participation from minority-owned, women-owned and disadvantaged businesses, the Metropolitan Transportation Authority (MTA) is encouraging a number of these firms to consider becoming suppliers to the bus manufacturing industry. The initiative is aimed at helping to create efficiencies and increased competition in the industry that in turn will generate savings to the MTA. As part of the effort, the MTA yesterday held a well-attended outreach conference where interested firms learned more about the bus manufacturing industry.
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Source: NY Daily NewsSubway scammers who sell discounted MetroCard swipes to riders aren't stealing from the MTA, the state highest court ruled Tuesday. The Court of Appeals overturned the petit larceny conviction of Joseph Hightower, 28, who swiped a rider into a midtown station for a fee. The court indicated a lesser charge — unauthorized sale of MTA services — would be more appropriate.
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