AMNY Subway Tracker

PRESSMAN: What about the Bloomberg administration's effort to buy or invest
$500 million in the west side rail yards, which you have so far indicated that
you're very much opposed to. You think that that's a bargain.

Mr. SPITZER: Well, here's the issue. This is a piece of property that
should be developed and should be developed extraordinarily quickly.

PRESSMAN: Controlled by the Metropolitan Transportation...

Mr. SPITZER: Owned by the MTA.

PRESSMAN: Right.

Mr. SPITZER: So it is a state asset. The question is what does the state
get for that money? Michael Brick, good friend, somebody that I look forward
to working with, said we'll pay you $500 million for it. Now, an appraisal
came in the other day--and I objected, saying I thought it was worth more than
that. An appraisal that the MTA did came out and said it was worth about a
billion and a half dollars. Now, I'm not adverse to helping out the city to
the tune of a billion dollars, the city needs it. But the reality is the MTA
should get what it is worth. Why is that? Because that money will then be
invested either in the subways or in ongoing maintenance of the subway system
or in building the platform over...

PRESSMAN: That's the property over the rail yard on the west side.

Mr. SPITZER: Precisely. And so there is no agreement, I don't think, about
the need to develop that property quickly, wisely, in accord with some wise
urban plan. And the question is what is it worth? I wouldn't give away a
city property to somebody for less than value. I'm sure Mike would agree with
that. I don't think the state should do anything akin to that, either.

PRESSMAN: Some of the mayor's advisers are reported by The New York Times to
have said this seems like the second coming of Giuliani.

Mr. SPITZER: I saw that in the articles. I'm not quite sure what it means,
but, look, I get along great with Dan Doctoroff, who is the deputy mayor for
economic development...

PRESSMAN: Right.

Mr. SPITZER: ...who has been the one primarily driving the real estate
decisions for the mayor. He and I get along great, and I look forward to
working with him as well. I think the issue here is what is it worth, how do
you develop it quickly, how do you do it right so that you don't deprive our
subway system of the money it needs to get the improvements that we
desperately need?

PRESSMAN: Is there--is there a built-in kind of collision course between the
governor, who controls the MTA, and the mayor, who's trying very hard to get a
bargain for the city?

Mr. SPITZER: Well, I wouldn't use the metaphor a collision course as though
this is somehow demolition derby. I would say that this is two cars,
hopefully, driving in parallel, maybe they bump up against each other, but
we're still moving in the same direction because the objective we have is the
same, which is to develop this site wisely on a very quick timetable, so we
can get this done.

PRESSMAN: Also on the west side, the Moynihan station project.

Mr. SPITZER: Right.

PRESSMAN: The old post office on the west side being converted into a new
home...

Mr. SPITZER: Right.

PRESSMAN: ...for the Pennsylvania Railroad and other railroads that feed in.
Sheldon Silver, the speaker of the assembly, apparently has indicated that
he's against it.

(Poor Gabe must have had a senior moment)

Mr. SPITZER: I'm not sure if he's against it. I can't speak for him, and I
wouldn't want to. I think there is a timing issue. I think virtually
everybody agrees this, and again, I speak for only myself here, is a wonderful
project. What it, in conceptual form, would happen is that the Madison Square
Garden could be moved a block west. We would redevelop Penn Station into a
new modern transit entry point for the city, develop millions of square feet
of commercial space and some residential space above that site, getting
commercial space, residential space, retail space, a new Penn Station and a
new Garden. Those are the pieces that can fit together. Now, financing it is
still an issue and getting Penn Station built and who pays for it is an issue,
but conceptually, this is a wonderful project.

PRESSMAN: And it was a dream of the late Senator Pat Moynihan, an icon in New
York's politics.

Mr. SPITZER: Right. My political hero. My intellectual--a man who defined
what public service is all about.

PRESSMAN: But wasn't ground supposed to be broken by now for this huge
project?

Mr. SPITZER: Well, it has grown over time. I think that's part of what's
happened here. The project initially was just the redevelopment of the post
office. That piece is moving forward. The other pieces, in terms of moving
the Garden and developing the space above it, that is a more recent conceptual
addition, and I think that is working its way through the system. We should
do it quickly. It would be great for the city.