AMNY Subway Tracker

The next governor will inherit a host of transportation headaches from Gov. George Pataki. With no shortage of major projects competing for funds, and a looming MTA budget deficit, the next four years will not be easy ones. Newsday's Herbert Lowe breaks it down.

And here's a quick look at the priorities the two candidates have identified:

John Faso
Would use revenue from state sales tax on gasoline and diesel for "pay as you go" financing for roads, bridges and transit plans statewide.

Complete Second Avenue subway project, LIRR-Grand Central link.

Has called for negotiations with MTA's unions to focus in part on better productivity.

Eliot Spitzer

Give priority to projects such as Second Avenue subway and LIRR link to Grand Central Terminal, which he calls essential to providing transit capacity to handle job growth in Manhattan and commuting growth from Long Island.

Reform transportation agencies.

Complete major regional projects around the state, including construction of Interstate 86, aimed at expanding economic activity from the Pennsylvania border to the New York State Thruway in Orange County.

And from the Tracker archives, here's amNY transportation columnist Joe Rappaport's take on the next governor's challenges.

-- Rolando Pujol

Photos: AP

All politicians have baggage and one of Gov. Pataki’s pieces is the transit union.

About a dozen TWU Local 100 members followed Pataki down to D.C. today as he continues to test the presidential waters.

One union members says they are there to “tell the truth about his failed leadership in NY. ... They are kicking off a campaign to follow Pataki to campaign stops around the nation.”

Let’s see if their protest makes the stories about Pataki’s speech -- “Energy Freedom – Putting an End to Foreign Oil’s Dangerous Grip on America’s Future” -- at the National Press Club.

That said, the union’s protests outside the homes of MTA board members didn’t seem to have any impact in getting their contract ratified.

UPDATE: No mention of the protest in the AP story about the speech. And Patakii didn't talk about mass transit.

UPDATE2: No mention in the story, but check out the AP pictures. It looks like they were noticed!

UPDATE3: Second write-through of AP story has this in the last paragraph: "While the focus was on energy throughout much of Pataki's appearance, hecklers from the Transport Workers Union of Greater New York briefly interrupted the governor during the question-and-answer period. The union has been without a contract since December."

-- Chuck Bennett amNY.com

Photo: Eileen Sullivan, right, of the Transport Workers Union Local 100, is removed from the room by an unidentified security official as her colleague Donovan Smith, seated left,, continues to shout, during the appearance by Gov. George Pataki at the National Press Club in Washington. (AP)

Gov. Pataki will be on the presidential campaign trail tomorrow in Washington D.C. talking about how to wean the country away from foreign oil dependence. First he’ll appear on Fox News and then deliver speech to the National Press Club.

I wonder if he’ s going to talk about expanding mass transit as a viable option and to that extent his stewardship over the MTA? Will he take the Metro between events or an SUV?

-- Chuck Bennett amNY.com

Photo from MTA Web site

“By 2012 East (Side) Acess and the Second Avenue Subway will be achieved,” Gov. Pataki promised in a press release yesterday applauding the Federal Transit Adminstration for commiting $4 billion to the two megaprojects. It was a pretty bold promise given the MTA’s habit of completing big projects late and overbudget.

Of course, Pataki will long be out of the governor’s mansion by then.

-- Chuck Bennett

Apparently, Gov. Pataki didn’t learn much from the December transit strike.

At a presser today, Pataki once again said he is not getting involved with the contract talks between the MTA and transit union.

When asked if the pension refunds — which he vigorously opposed —  could  be put back on the table, Pataki said:

“I’m going to leave that to the MTA to work out. The basic premise of what I’ve believed from the beginning is you do not resort to an illegal act, and the strike was an illegal act, but they will negotiate. They will reach, hopefully, an agreement.”

As New Yorkers remember, Pataki refused to get involved during the lead up to the Dec. 20 strike.
He said that it is best to let the “professionals” handle the negotiations.

And then he was supposedly shocked and angered by the pension rebates in the post-strike contract.

Now once again, Pataki is telling New Yorkers he isn’t getting involved.

So, once this contact does get settled, can we expect the governor to be shocked again?--

-- Chuck Bennett