AMNY Subway Tracker

Are you heading "Dowtown?"

The J/Z line hopes so, because that's where it's takin' (wink) you. We spotted this sign at the Fulton Street station in the financial district. So .. at first we wondered if the direction had been re-christened ... you know .. in honor of the Dow and the direction it is geographically from Fulton .. and you know .. because that's the way it's been heading lately.

Or maybe the MTA just needs to travel around with pocket dictionaries.

Tempers are frayed within the MTA over the beleaguered Fulton Street Transit Center.

Normally, a meeting of the Capital Construction committee is equivalent to half an Ambien. But on Tuesday, Mark Lebow, a Bloomberg appointee to the MTA, vented his frustration with committee chair Nancy Shevell for the delays to the above-ground portion of the station. Once designed as an elaborate modern structure with a glass dome, the station's top was deemed too expensive before being scaled back. Lately, the MTA has been silent about the structure's future and unable to say when it would be ready.

"We're getting impatient with what is happening above ground, which isn't very much," Lebow said.

"The fact that you have no date even estimated for completion is extremely alarming," Lebow said. "This is obviously a major problem."

Shevell, a Pataki appointee, admitted the project suffered from "a total disconnect between engineering and all the other groups."

The whole concept of the structure was a problem, "from the beginning," Shevell admitted. "Our hands were tied. We weren't allowed to decide what would be built there."

The MTA has said publicly that it will announce a completion date for the Fulton Transit Center exterior sometime in May. In the meantime, underground work on the platforms and connections continues.

"We are trying to design a structure that will make everybody happy and we can afford," MTA Chairman Dale Hemmerdinger said.

MTA officials made it clear today that they were less than thrilled with the LMDC for butting-in to their troubled Fulton Street mega-project. The Times Arts section reported on the LMDC's suggestion that the MTA put a performing arts center on top of the long delayed and over budget Fulton Street Transit Center on Thursday. The Post and the Observer have also reported the suggestion in past weeks. But it looks like the idea is going nowhere.

“What we’ve basically said is we appreciate the suggestions, we’ll evaluate them, but at the same time we’re trying to preserve the very things we said to the community originally,” said William Wheeler, director of planning for the MTA. “And one of them is to be able to look at the transit center from a distance and say, ‘There’s the station.’”

The LMDC quickly backed away from the irritated MTA today, explaining that its idea to put the Joyce Theater on top of the Fulton St Station--replacing the much-loved oculus, aka glass dome -- was barely even an idea. It was, they said, whatever that thing is that comes before the idea stage. Drawings of the idea were given to the MTA, but they were more like something you'd sketch on a piece of looseleaf, not formal architectural plans, the LMDC said. Still, it's a supposedly cost-saving idea for a project that is very late and has a budget that's increased from $750 million to $1.19 billion. So, if ever the MTA wants it, the LMDC is ready with a theater. But then there wouldn't be a cool glass dome.

State Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver (D-Manhattan) lashed out at the MTA today after hearing that the Fulton Street Transit hub as we knew it is in jeapordy.
Here's a statement from Silver, who represents Lower Manhattan:

The MTA's plan to reduce the size of the Fulton Street Transit Center
in Downtown Manhattan is outrageous and unacceptable. Those who live,
work and visit Downtown have been misled for far too long with grand
plans and unrealistic timetables for projects, and enough is
enough. What was promised to this community by the MTA must be funded
and built.

It had been scaled back, but now it's gone.

Soaring construction costs have done in the glass dome that was to greet commuters at the Fulton Street transit hub. MTA officials at the Capital Construction committee meeting this morning said the underground part of the project would be completed, but, at least for now, the dome is gone. Much of a city block was razed for the project. Watch for more updates from Marlene here later today ....

Rolando Pujol

UPDATE:The MTA is moving forward with its plans to turn the maze of ramps between several subway lines into a straight passageway, but any above-ground work has been sent back to the drawing board.
Even without the glass structure, the price of finishing the below ground work will cost $30 million more than the current $888 million budget, officials said. The building alone would cost the MTA $250 million.
The MTA had already scaled back the size of the hub after unexpected delays and cost overruns sent the project above an $850 million contribution from the federal government. Set to fully open in 2009, the underground part of the project will now open in late 2010.
MTA officials will present a new plan for the hub next month after meeting with community groups. The MTA is considering several alternatives to the hub, including a street plaza or some sort of structure funded by a private partnership with the MTA, officials said.
Soaring construction prices have also raised the cost of the rest of the agency’s huge projects, like the Second Avenue Subway, by about a billion dollars above previous estimates. The MTA is asking its construction chief, who was set to retire at the end of this month, to stay longer and find ways to shave off any unnecessary parts of the projects.

Only one company bid on an MTA contract to build a domed hub atop Fulton Street subway lines, and the offer was above the project’s budget, officials said yesterday.
The bid on the glass and steel building, which has been delayed and scaled back before, leaves the structure’s future unclear. Agency officials would not say if the building would be scaled back again or suffer more delays.
The MTA said it was considering a variety of solutions and would release more details in the coming weeks. The project’s goal is to make transferring between several subway lines easier.
Last year, the agency had to dip into MTA operating funds when the project’s cost soared $56 million above $847 in federal funding, according to budget documents.
The Daily News reported on the project's contract problems today. Listen to Elliot Sander explaining what happened here.

The latest powerpoint presentation on the Fulton Street Transit Center complete with renderings is here.

http://www.mta.info/capconstr/fstc/documents.htm

-- Chuck Bennett

Small businesses in the wrecking ball path of the Fulton Street Transit Center got their evictions pushed back until Aug. 31, according to a press release from Manhattan Borough President Scott Stringer. The BP along with  Rep. Jerry Nadler have said for weeks that because the big $850 million project is delayed, the evictions should be delayed too.

Business owners have also long complained that the MTA wasn’t fulfilling their legal obligation to help them relocate.

Which reminds me of overhearing a top MTA exec privately joke with colleagues last year that the Fulton Street businesses could be relocated to the Freedom Tower and all new towers planned for Ground Zero which are desperate for tenants.

-- Chuck Bennett

Fulton stays Grand: At an otherwise dull series of MTA committee meetings yesterday, it was revealed that the Fulton Street Transit Center will not be scaled back, even though the project is $100 million over budget and will be two years behind schedule. [Newsday via amNY]

Fouling Up Fulton: The Post’s vocal and influential downtown critic Steve Cuozzo goes off on the entire Fulton Street project. He calls it “unnecessary”  and says it is choking downtown. Then, he provides this little nugget, while the feds are footing the bill now, the MTA will be responsible for any cost overruns over $847 million. [NY Post]

Back to the table: The school bus drivers union, ATU Local 1181, and the bus companies are back at the table today. If a strike is called July 1, tens of thousands of kids are going to have a tough time getting to summer school. The Dept. of Education already promised MetroCards for students. [NY1]

New LIRR line to the new Mets?: The possibility of bringing a new line to the new Mets stadium could be discussed at the MTA board meeting tomorrow. [Field of Schemes]

Save the Taylor Law: The Daily News editorial board on Sunday argued that the Taylor Law should not be “gutted” by the Assembly under the influence of powerful union leaders. [Daily News]

-- Chuck Bennett

Peter Kalikow just told the Tracker he is sticking around for a while.

“There are five projects that are very important to the system and the agency and I intend on staying until [they] are in a place, that I get them done,” Kalikow said.

Those projects are: digging the Second Avenue Subway, extending the Long Island Rail Road to Grand Central Station, expanding the No. 7 train to the West Side, building the new Fulton Street station, and rehabilitating the South Ferry station.

"I  want to get them done, and whatever  it takes it takes,"  he said.

Needless to say, Senate Democrats weren't pleased. State Sen. Kevin Parker said Gov. Pataki is trying to "govern from beyond the grave."

-- Chuck Bennett

The return of subway graffiti, and the MTA's battle to keep the scourge in check, grabbed lots of headlines today. Other stories making news down below:

The Fulton follies:  We reported yesterday here on the latest problems facing the downtown answer to Grand Central. The project, a big art of lower Manhattan's resurgence, may be scaled back. [The New York Times]

Break out the hard hats: An overview of the city's seemingly sudden explosion in transit projects. [McGraw-Hill Construction]

Pets in a storm: When disaster strikes, people, not Fido, come first, Bloomie says. [The New York Sun]

Meet your neighbor: Breaking down who's on the train with you in the morning. [graphpaper via Gothamist]

-- Rolando Pujol

The $800 milllion Fulton Street Transit Center is overbudget.

Mysore Nagaraja, president of the MTA’s capital construction committee, said he has got to figure out how to cut $40 million from the project’s budget to keep it on track.

“We are looking at all options,” he told reporters at MTA headquartrs.

The culprit for the projected overrun is stricter rules for demolishing surrounding buildings that may contain absetos or World Trade Center dust. Last month the MTA halted demoliton of 189 Broadway because of concerns of toxic WTC dust.

Skyrocketing real estate values for the properties didn’t help either, Nagaraja said.

Too early to tell if the glass dome that would allow natural light down onto the subway platforms could
scrapped or severly rejiggered.

The project is scheduled to be completed in June 2009.

-- Chuck Bennett

Construction of the new $750 million Fulton Street Transit Center downtown is going to displace about 150 small businesses.

Yesterday, Rep. Jerry Nadler and Manhattan borough president Scott Stringer accused the MTA and its contractor of not doing enough to help those businesses to relocate. Federal law requires they provide relocate assistance.

The MTA, as expected, said it is going above and beyond what they are required to do.

With so many big projects on the books or underway -- Second Avenue subway, No. 7 extension, JFK Rail Link -- we should expect more complaints of displaced businesses and home owners.

Of course, the big subway news of the day is the transit union is back in court.

-- Chuck Bennett