The New York City Subway system is in crisis. So says the city’s mayor.
“We have a subway system in crisis,” Mayor Bill de Blasio said on Fox 5’s Good Day New York, according to a transcript.
The mayor and New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo have been sparring about funding for the famed transit system. This is the same system that falls under the Metropolitan Transit Agency (MTA), which spends billions of dollars to build a mile of track, a New York Times expose found last month.
Under a proposed executive budget from Cuomo, the city would be responsible for “a bigger-than-ever share of the financial responsibilities,” am New York reported. Yesterday, representatives for de Blasio on the MTA Board of directors “blocked contracts worth more than $200 million,” blocking the $1 billion Enhanced Station Initiative that would have refurbished eight stations, including a pair at Penn Station, the New York Daily News reported.
Hizzoner has also called for a higher to tax on millionaires in the city.
“I believe taxing New York City millionaires and billionaires and using those proceeds to fix the MTA for the long term is the best and most reliable approach,” he told the station.
The mayor may find some support for such a plan. Last year, a Quinnipiac University poll of registered voters found 64 percent of registered New York City voters prefer a millionaires’ tax instead of a form of congestion pricing as the best way to raise money for mass transit, while 21 percent oppose such an approach.
Meanwhile, the MTA Board approved a $1.4 billion contract buy 535 next-generation R211 subway cars for use on the “B Division” and the Staten Island Railway.
