Comments on: Comptroller: MTA short over $9 billion for capital plan http://secondavenuesagas.com/2008/03/14/comptroller-mta-short-over-9-billion-for-capital-plan/ A New York City Subway Blog Sat, 22 Nov 2008 11:43:30 +0000 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.6 By: Alon Levy http://secondavenuesagas.com/2008/03/14/comptroller-mta-short-over-9-billion-for-capital-plan/#comment-30129 Alon Levy Sat, 15 Mar 2008 08:27:36 +0000 http://secondavenuesagas.com/2008/03/14/comptroller-mta-short-over-9-billion-for-capital-plan/#comment-30129 As Jane Jacobs explains, it's not the capital improvements that make a city, but the city that makes capital improvements. The Erie Canal gave New York and Jersey City the same natural advantages, but only New York grew explosively subsequently. The St. Lawrence Seaway and the ensuing decline of the Erie Canal devastated Upstate New York, but Downstate New York emerged unscathed. The TVA was meant to transform the Upper South, but the region remained impoverished even after it had dammed every river and strip-mined every coal field. Calgary has existed as a railroad town for almost a century, but it only became of any significance once they discovered oil in the area. As Jane Jacobs explains, it’s not the capital improvements that make a city, but the city that makes capital improvements. The Erie Canal gave New York and Jersey City the same natural advantages, but only New York grew explosively subsequently. The St. Lawrence Seaway and the ensuing decline of the Erie Canal devastated Upstate New York, but Downstate New York emerged unscathed. The TVA was meant to transform the Upper South, but the region remained impoverished even after it had dammed every river and strip-mined every coal field. Calgary has existed as a railroad town for almost a century, but it only became of any significance once they discovered oil in the area.

]]> By: The Secret Conductor http://secondavenuesagas.com/2008/03/14/comptroller-mta-short-over-9-billion-for-capital-plan/#comment-30101 The Secret Conductor Sat, 15 Mar 2008 06:00:34 +0000 http://secondavenuesagas.com/2008/03/14/comptroller-mta-short-over-9-billion-for-capital-plan/#comment-30101 I'm a little upset that someone had to put numbers to what we already know is true... then again, business is numbers so... Anyway, the decision might be obvious but I still doubt that representatives that represent other parts of the state will send money to a district that isn't theirs. I have read books and studied history of how trains, planes and roads transform towns into cities and wastelands into Las Vegas, but I never witnessed it personally. The L line and the communities it served literally transformed into the trendy money making places it is now (also thanks to good work by the police as well). I remember the L train was a train you TOTALLY avoided along with the neighborhoods it went through. Now you have trains running every 4-6 minutes and most are PACKED all the way to Broadway Junction!!! J line PACKED. A line PACKED 12am in the morning... We want to build a east side lux co-ops, on the west side we want parks, a new MSG and build over the LIRR 42 street yards. They want a new NETS stadium, co-ops, hotels and brand new businesses at ATLANTIC AVE. We want a new CONEY ISLAND, we want a new Gateway Park in brooklyn, we want Averne By The Sea in the Rockaways. We want our Ivy League schools to take more land and build. We want more housing for the 1 million + people who will be here in the next decade or so. We (as in the state representatives) want to tax the workers, the housing developers, the businesses to the tune of billions of dollars a year... A YEAR... but it won't happen because we can't get the 10-12 BILLION over the course of a decade to fix and improve our subway system. Second ave subway (with 3 tracks) should be a no brainer. 7 train extension with 2 stops to the west side? No problem. Fulton street hub... not to sure, but with the rents they would have collected from the businesses, it might have been nice. Bottom line, this is an emergency need. This is not a "well, I wish we could but...". These projects basically will decide whether or not NYC will continue to grow or at the very least, keep things going strong. People are not going to keep wanting to pay 2,000 rent a month and get crap for it just to live in NYC. 750,000 homes with home owners paying 25-50,000 a year in taxes... you can get a 5 bedroom, 3 bath somewhere else with the same money and pay WAY less tax on the land a year. We don't just need a better subway, we demand a better subway. PERIOD. Sorry for the rant, but this is ridiculous. I’m a little upset that someone had to put numbers to what we already know is true… then again, business is numbers so…

Anyway, the decision might be obvious but I still doubt that representatives that represent other parts of the state will send money to a district that isn’t theirs.

I have read books and studied history of how trains, planes and roads transform towns into cities and wastelands into Las Vegas, but I never witnessed it personally. The L line and the communities it served literally transformed into the trendy money making places it is now (also thanks to good work by the police as well). I remember the L train was a train you TOTALLY avoided along with the neighborhoods it went through.

Now you have trains running every 4-6 minutes and most are PACKED all the way to Broadway Junction!!! J line PACKED. A line PACKED 12am in the morning…

We want to build a east side lux co-ops, on the west side we want parks, a new MSG and build over the LIRR 42 street yards. They want a new NETS stadium, co-ops, hotels and brand new businesses at ATLANTIC AVE. We want a new CONEY ISLAND, we want a new Gateway Park in brooklyn, we want Averne By The Sea in the Rockaways. We want our Ivy League schools to take more land and build. We want more housing for the 1 million + people who will be here in the next decade or so.

We (as in the state representatives) want to tax the workers, the housing developers, the businesses to the tune of billions of dollars a year… A YEAR… but it won’t happen because we can’t get the 10-12 BILLION over the course of a decade to fix and improve our subway system.

Second ave subway (with 3 tracks) should be a no brainer. 7 train extension with 2 stops to the west side? No problem. Fulton street hub… not to sure, but with the rents they would have collected from the businesses, it might have been nice.

Bottom line, this is an emergency need. This is not a “well, I wish we could but…”. These projects basically will decide whether or not NYC will continue to grow or at the very least, keep things going strong. People are not going to keep wanting to pay 2,000 rent a month and get crap for it just to live in NYC. 750,000 homes with home owners paying 25-50,000 a year in taxes… you can get a 5 bedroom, 3 bath somewhere else with the same money and pay WAY less tax on the land a year.

We don’t just need a better subway, we demand a better subway. PERIOD.

Sorry for the rant, but this is ridiculous.

]]>