AMNY Subway Tracker

(via Hardcore Shutterbug on Flickr)

The Observer reports that the governor is going to release the request for proposals to develop the MTA's West Side Rail Yards. The area was once going to be a football stadium but now will hold office and residential buildngs. The fate of the High Line is still up in the air.

The West Side yards, or so says this late-night sign at Penn Station. Well, at least it's an off-peak ride.

-- Rolando Pujol

The Politicker stopped by the Council hearings on the West Side Yards where deputy mayor Dan Doctoroff was the star attraction. Check it out.

UPDATE: MTA skipped this meeting again. But MTA says it wasn't a diss or a snub. Just a scheduling conflict.

-- Chuck Bennett amNY.com

The MTA board just voted to go into business with the city and sell the West Side Yards. More drama to follow.

-- Chuck Bennett amNY.com

Buried at the end of the MOU on the No. 7 extension is this provision under the heading “Termination.”

“If, at any time prior to the completion of the Project, HYIC determines that it will be unable to fund the Project in the amount of the then-applicable Agreed Capital Investment, then HYIC or the City may terminate this Agreement by giving written notice thereof to the other parties. Thereupon, this Agreement shall be null and void and no party shall have any further rights against, or obligations to, any other party”

-- Chuck Bennett amNY.com

Mark Page, is a Bloomberg appointee to the MTA board.

He’s also chairman of the Hudson Yards Infrastructure Corp., the city company that will develop the West Side Yards and adjoining area. Its the company signing on the dotted line for the big yards deal to be voted on tomorrow.

What does Page do tomorrow? Recuse himself? What kind of conflict does this create?

-- Chuck Bennett amNY.com

Spitzer is giving his support to the Yards deal. From his gov. campaign:

Eliot is pleased that the City and the MTA have come to an agreement on the Hudson Yards that will allow the MTA to receive fair value through an auction process for this important asset while enabling the city to move forward with its financing for an extension of the No. 7 line. We hope the MTA and the City will move expeditiously to complete this auction process.

-- Chuck Bennett amNY.com

MTA Board members will be briefed at 1 pm and 3 pm today on the latest West Side Yards deal. Kalikow is already calling it a "historic paternship." So, is it a done deal? Some board members are still worried about cost overruns for the No. 7 extension. Should be interesting tomorrow.

See press release touting it as a done deal after the jump.

-- Chuck Bennett amNY.com

The MTA’s appraiser valued the West Side Yards at $1.5 billion. The city offered $300 million and another $200 million for the adjacent air rights, according to the New York Times.

“Clearly, this is a new wrinkle in the deal,” said Peter S. Kalikow, chairman of the transportation authority.

Photo from AP via 1010 Wins

-- Chuck Bennett amNY.com

Charged words: Mayor Bloomberg sparked a public spat with Queens lawmakers in residents after a praising Con Ed chief Kevin Burke’s handling of the blackouts which left thousands of folks in the dark and wreaked havoc on subway schedules. [amNY]

Found money: Better than expected real estate tax revenues brought in $211 million more than expected to the MTA. But how that plays out in the preliminary budget tomorrow is unclear. Anyway, the MTA’s “found” money and growing surplus is becoming a reoccurring story. [amNY]

West Side Yards: It looks like a vote on the city’s $500 million offer for the rail yards won’t be rushed through a board vote tomorrow. Too many questions and not enough time, board members say. [Newsday via amNY]

Maybe he’s no a morning person. Union protests outside MTA Chair Peter Kalikow’s home yesterday. But was Kalikow even there? Meanwhile, an analysis by the Daily News concludes that the union’s public pressure campaign failed to get its contract ratified failed. Binding arbitration begins August 4. [amNY, Daily News]

Hit on the job: Transit worker Dexter Stinson, 38, was hit early yesterday morning by a No. 2 train near the Jackson Ave. stop while inspecting something on the tracks. A cherry picker was need to haul the 300 pound man to an ambulance. Rescue workers couldn’t handle him alone? Between two people it seems manageable. Anyway, Stinson, a train operator who joined the MTA in 1998, was in intensive care last night. [NY Post]

Second Ave. subway: The MTA is moving forward with underground easements to build the first part of the Second Ave. subway from 96th Street to 63rd St. Completion date is still 2012. [Daily News]

Oooh that smell: Curbed has a lively discussion on various smells on the subway and PATH. [Curbed]

Photo by amNY

-- Chuck Bennett

Overlooked last Friday, Mayor Bloomberg gave a little more detail into why the city wants to pay $500 million for the West Side Yards during his weekly WABC radio show.

“What we want is the city to be in control of what goes there and not somebody from outside this city or a private developer who is just trying to maximize his or her bottom line. This is just too important. The city should be in control.”

So, basically Bloomberg is afraid a private developer’s plan for the site wouldn’t be best for the city. I bet some of the old Jets stadium foes would fine that ironic. And with the city in control, Bloomberg could reject a plan he doesn’t like, no matter how much the developer ultimately bid. He also spoke about brining the no. 7 train to West Side.

But still no hints on what Bloomberg wants, “I think we don’t have any one list of projects but we know that good development in this city requires mixed-use, it requires open spaces, it requires good transportation, it requires schools, it requires a lot of things.”

Another interesting nugget from last week’s radio show: “And the subway system – New York City owns that. The MTA doesn’t own it. We lease it to the MTA and they are the operating authority. But this is really buying something from ourselves, and it will give us the opportunity to then go out and to let people compete for the rights to develop various things, but it will leave the city in charge of what is built there.”

Can anyone explain this arrangement? I had no idea that the city technically owns the subway. I always assumed it was all MTA property.

-- Chuck Bennett

For the record, here' s the rail yard offer: Download mtarail_yards.pdf

The city today formally offered the MTA $500 million for the MTA's John D. Caemmerer West Side Yard -- best remembered for the whole Jets stadium fight. It sure beats the Jets initial offer for the just the West Side Yards. And expect lot of long, dense stories about air rights, floor to air rations, and the like.

MTA chairman Peter Kalkow already put out a statement, "Naturally the MTA’s principal interest in the yards has been the conversion of its property rights to support our ongoing enormous capital needs. In that light, the MTA will give serious consideration to the City’s proposal."

-- Chuck Bennett

Today, I look at what the MTA could be getting from the city in the mayor’s proposed budget. Predictably, transit advocates say it’s not enough.

And what will happen to the West Side of Manhattan and the 7 train extension without a football stadium for the Jets? Newsday’s Dan Janison takes a look a closer look.

“It’s totally on tract,” Dan Doctoroff, deputy mayor for economic development said. But plenty of questions still surround the project.

And there are two interesting stories in the Daily News. A look at the subways of tomorrow. Anyone who’s been to Hong Kong has an idea.

On the transit union front, Peter Donohue asks the obvious, can’t they put up the rejected contract to a new vote?

Union officials repeatedly said no but no one knows if they will change their mind.

-- Chuck Bennett