zz_ins
MTA to GOP: What?!
CityTime Feeding Frenzy
The CityTime settlement agreement calls for the contractor to pay the government $466 million "within one business day after executing this agreement." City Council members are already claiming it should be used to restore child care, afterschool, library, cultural and Fire Department cuts in Mayor Mike Bloomberg's budget. "We should be in a good position to restore most of the cuts, if not all, with some left over," said Councilwoman Tish James, who will highlight her early opposition to the CityTime contract if she runs for public advocate. A mayoral spokesman said the budget is balanced. Another plus for the city: The unnamed CityTime whistle-blower cannot claim 30% of the recovery because the False Claims Act does not apply to the conspiracy statute SAIC was charged under.
After the Budget: Minimum Wage
An Albany insider said Assembly Speaker Shelly Silver's minimum-wage proposal has not been part of the current horse-trading because Gov. Andrew Cuomo has promised to push the bill after the budget is passed. "This is the way politics works," the insider said. "Everyone gets something. And the governor is willing to give Shelly his minimum-wage increase."
Green Groups Split on Trash Project
The Bloomberg administration took issue last week with the Insider's portrayal of its plan to test waste-to-energy technology as being opposed by environmentalists. NYPIRG and other groups do, but the League of Conservation Voters and the Environmental Defense Fund support the city's effort to convert some of the 10,000 tons of New Yorkers' daily solid waste into energy. But more than 50 organizations, including dozens of environmental groups, object. In a letter to the mayor last month, they said it could release "mercury, dioxin, and other toxics, particulate matter, and greenhouse gases," just as incinerators do. The letter was not made public because "we were hoping to head this off at the pass," said NYPIRG's Laura Haight.
DEP Hypes Year of Success
Among the accomplishments in 2011 touted by the Department of Environmental Protection in a report it's releasing today: beating back state and federal mandates that could have cost the city billions without benefiting public health; opening more than 6,000 acres of watershed land to the public; and establishing an office of green infrastructure. The agency writes that last year it launched 99 initiatives that will make it "the safest, most efficient, cost-effective and transparent water utility in the nation."
MTA to GOP: WTF?
Two months ago, a lobbyist for the Metropolitan Transportation Authority was confident that the Legislature would raise the agency's debt limit by the $7 billion needed to fund the next three years of its capital plan. "I can't imagine there being an issue," he said in January.
Time to think again? Senate Republicans' budget resolution axes $770 million in capital funding from the transit agency and denies its requested bond cap increase. According to a letter MTA boss Joe Lhota fired off to Senate Majority Leader Dean Skelos Tuesday, it would derail a $3 billion low-cost federal loan the agency needs to finish East Side Access and other projects.
"While the Federal government is looking favorably on this loan, they have made it clear that its approval will be contingent on a fully funded capital program," Lhota wrote. He alluded to the fact that East Side Access would connect Skelos' Long Island constituents to Grand Central Terminal, and that suppliers in upstate (Republican) districts depend on MTA capital funding. Its $21 billion 2005-2009 capital plan generated 80,000 jobs upstate and 50,000 on Long Island.
While the Assembly and the governor are likely to insist that a final budget restore funding and lift the debt limit for the MTA, mass-transit advocates are fuming. "The Senate GOP talks about bringing more jobs to New York but then votes to defund our mass-transit system," an insider said. "The MTA should not be a political football."
A spokesman for the Senate GOP did not respond to a request for a comment. Skelos has called his chamber's budget "in line with our priorities to cut taxes, control spending and create jobs."
A transit insider sneered, "That's downright laughable."
CORRECTION: Mark Thompson is not considering running for Councilwoman Jessica Lappin's seat (Insider, March 14). He is "seriously considering" a run to replace Councilman Dan Garodnick, as is Steve Newmark. Two candidates, Hill Krishnan and Ben Kallos, are running to replace Lappin. A third, Nico Minerva, intends to run.
CHARLIE AND CAS: Charlie Herman, WNYC radio's business and economics editor, and Crain's Assistant Managing Editor Erik Engquist will interview Deputy Mayor Cas Holloway at a Crain's breakfast forum Tuesday, March 20, at the Hilton New York, 1335 Sixth Ave.
Republicans' mayoral malaise
Wealthy women pressure Quinn on sick pay
Stringer-for-comptroller rumors heat up
Sponsored Content: The DOJ cracks down on white-collar crime. What that means for corporations and executives