Massive Waste on NYC’s Second Avenue Subway
Under liberal rule, every government project looks like a looting spree. Consider single-party New York:
The Metropolitan Transportation Authority spent nearly twice as much on consultants for the Second Avenue Subway as it did to actually dig the tunnel from 63rd to 96th streets, a damning new assessment revealed Monday.
Sounds like graft, but with Democrats in command, it could be simple mismanagement.
The 400-page report from researchers at New York University also revealed that the MTA’s failure to properly supervise the outside firms allowed costs to spiral in other key ways: contractors and unions overstaffed the project, dug caverns for platforms that were double the necessary size and drew up station designs so bespoke that each of the three new stops has escalators made by a different manufacturer.
Democrats tax and spend quickly. In other matters, their pace slows dramatically:
“Other places in the world – in Madrid, in four years, they built 80 miles of subway,” said Eric Goldwyn, one of the authors of the report. “We’ve built just a mile.”
If only NYC bureauweenies ran up debt that slowly:
The MTA now has more than $40 billion in debt on its books and spends more than $3 billion annually making payments on those bonds. …
Every subway project the MTA has built over the last 20 years has shattered the previous world record it set in terms of cost:
• The 7-train extension to Hudson Yards cost $2.4 billion and officials abandoned plans to build a station at 42nd Street and 10th Avenue to contain costs.
• The $4.5 billion Second Avenue Subway’s first phase through the Upper East Side was even more expensive on a per mile basis.
• The second phase of the Second Avenue Subway through East Harlem is expected to cost $6 billion, twice as much as the first leg on a per mile basis.
Big Government is not known for its efficiency. Big Government run by Kathy Hochul, Eric Adams, et al.? As they say in New York, forget about it.
New York Gov. Kathy Hochul plans to tap casino revenue and increase downstate payroll taxes to avoid transit service cuts. New York City subway fares might still go up. https://t.co/XOc9QIgimE
— The Wall Street Journal (@WSJ) February 1, 2023
On a tip from Jack D.
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