November 16, 2015
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CONTENTS November 16, 2015
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CITY Few low-income tenants benefit from anti-eviction lawyers By Frank Runyeon Administration skips evaluations for schools with neediest students By Patrick Wall from Chalkbeat New York
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STATE
PATRICK CASHIN / MTA
A snapshot of New York’s nuclear units
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BUFFALO Competition aims to jump-start the upstate economy By Justin Sondel
FROM THE EDITOR’S DESK
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INFRASTRUCTURE The obstacles keeping transit from moving into the 21st century … Nicole
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Gelinas on the MTA’s runaway costs … MTA funding spurs calls for upstate investment ... Cuomo’s restructuring of the Long Island Power Authority comes under fire
Whether it’s the delays or crowded trains, in New York City people love to complain about the Metropolitan Transportation Authority. As someone who takes a crowded bus to a crowded train to get to work from Queens every day, I understand the gripes. But most people put up with the system because it is cheap and very easy to navigate – assuming you only use the subways and buses that accept MetroCards. It’s when you want to go someplace where the MetroCard is not accepted that things get complicated, expensive and frustrating. In an age when making things more seamless and simple is often the key to success, there appears to be no real talk of trying to make commuters’ lives easier. We wanted to know why. In this issue veteran reporter Bob Hennelly explores the history that led to the tangled bureaucracy we have today, which forces travelers to buy three different tickets if they want to go from White Plains to Hoboken. It’s an enlightening look cit yandstateny.com
at the obstacles standing in the way of a modern transportation system. A quick hint – it’s far more than money. We also did something new this issue. We’re changing the format for the Q&As we do with government and elected officials on the topics we spotlight. Instead of asking a few officials several questions, we are going to reach out to more newsmakers and ask them each to answer one or two pointed questions. We think this will keep our readers better informed on a wider variety of topics. Finally, I wanted to make reference to the wonderful illustration on the cover of the magazine. It was done by Rémy Trappier, who has created several 3-D illustrations for us this year. Our goal was to drive home the point that “infrastructure” really means everything that we rely on to live – from the power we use, to the clean water we get, to the roads and subways we take. Rémy’s illustration brings that point vividly to life.
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OPINION
Stephanie Miner on how climate change should shape infrastructure … Bertha Lewis says Wegmans doesn’t belong in Brooklyn … Steven Cohen on the future of energy in New York … Evan Siegfried on de Blasio’s problematic press strategy
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BACK & FORTH A Q&A with political strategist Roger Stone
November 16, 2015
CIT YANDSTATENY.COM
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Cover concept by Guillaume Federighi 3-D illustration by Rémy Trappier
city & state — November 16, 2015
Michael Gareth Johnson Executive Editor
FROM THE COVER
PEELING BACK THE LAYERS 1 61 Broadway, Suite 2235 New York, NY 10006 Editorial (212) 894-5417 General (646) 517-2740 Advertising (212) 894-5422 info@cityandstateny.com
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1. Overhead electric wires are the norm in upstate New York but relatively rare in New York City. Con Edison has nearly 87,000 miles of underground electric cables in the five boroughs – the largest system of its kind anywhere in the world.
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CITY AND STATE, LLC
2. New York City Transit had an average weekday bus ridership of 2.1 million in 2014. Some advocates and experts are pushing for more bus rapid transit lines with dedicated lanes and fewer stops as an alternative to new subway construction.
Chairman Steve Farbman President/CEO Tom Allon tallon@cityandstateny.com PUBLISHING 9. Nearly half of the state’s generating capacity in 2015 is from power plants that can use natural gas or oil.
3. A 2012 study found that 56 percent of New York City households had no vehicle. In 2013, there were about 2 million cars registered in New York City and 10.9 million in the state as a whole. 4. About a quarter of the state’s electricity came from renewable resources last year. Nuclear power makes up 14 percent of actual capacity – although it generates much more than that – and hydropower makes up 11 percent of capacity.
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5. Two-thirds of New York’s electricity is used in the heavily populated southeastern portion of the state, but only half of its generating capacity is located there. 6. More than 500,000 households in New York lack access to competitive-speed broadband, according to the governor’s office, and more than 6 million people face obstacles in connecting to broadband.
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Publisher Andrew A. Holt aholt@cityandstateny.com Vice President of Advertising Jim Katocin jkatocin@cityandstateny.com
10. The Long Island Rail Road carried 85.9 million passengers last year, while Metro-North had a ridership of 84.7 million. New York City also is the busiest Amtrak hub, with more than 10 million tickets to or from the city last year.
Director of Sales and Events Jasmin Freeman jfreeman@cityandstateny.com Associate Publisher Samantha Diliberti sdiliberti@cityandstateny.com Business Development Scott Augustine saugustine@cityandstateny.com
11. The new Hudson Yards station that opened this year at the end of the No. 7 extension was New York City’s first new subway station in 25 years. Its opening brings the total to 469 stations in the city.
EDITORIAL Editorial Director Michael Johnson mjohnson@cityandstateny.com Associate Editor/Senior Correspondent Jon Lentz jlentz@cityandstateny.com
12. The City Hall Loop is one of the most notable of New York City’s abandoned subway stations. It features stained glass, elaborate tiling and chandeliers.
Opinions Editor Nick Powell npowell@cityandstateny.com Albany Reporter Ashley Hupfl ahupfl@cityandstateny.com
13. New York City has 14 wastewater treatment plants that treat 1.3 billion gallons of wastewater each day.
Buffalo Reporter Justin Sondel jsondel@cityandstateny.com Staff Reporter Sarina Trangle strangle@cityandstateny.com
7. New York City has the country’s largest unfiltered water supply, which mostly comes from rain and snow collected in watersheds in the southeastern part of the state. About a quarter of the state uses groundwater, including Long Island, which has one of the country’s most productive aquifers.
Editor-at-Large Gerson Borrero gborrero@cityandstateny.com Copy Editor Ryan Somers rsomers@cityandstateny.com Editorial Assistant Jeremy Unger junger@cityandstateny.com Editorial Assistant Jeff Coltin jcoltin@cityandstateny.com
city & state — November 16, 2015
8. Con Edison’s steam system, which serves 3 million Manhattan residents below 96th Street, provides heat, hot air, air conditioning and more. It is the country’s largest district steam system.
14. No actual dinosaur fossils have been found in New York, but dinosaur footprints were identified in Nyack. Other fossils dating from the early Paleozoic era have also been found. -JL
PRODUCTION Creative Director Guillaume Federighi gfederighi@cityandstateny.com
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Sources: New York State Independent System Operator, MTA, U-M Transportation Research Institute, state Department of Motor Vehicles, state Health Department, state Department of Environmental Conservation, Con Edison, New York City Department of Environmental Protection, Amtrak
For more on New York infrastructure, check out our spotlight section, starting on Page 14.
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Senior Designer Michelle Yang myang@cityandstateny.com Marketing Graphic Designer Charles Flores cflores@cityandstateny.com Digital Strategist Chanelle Grannum cgrannum@cityandstateny.com Multimedia Director Bryan Terry bterry@cityandstateny.com Copyright ©2015, City and State NY, LLC
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JOHN BONACIC State Sen. John Bonacic has been in government for decades, serving as an assistant district attorney, a local planning board member, an Orange County legislator and a member of the state Assembly and Senate. But the veteran lawmaker says his goal of achieving balance in his life – making time for family, focusing on policy as well as politics, cultivating friendships across the aisle – has kept him from trying to climb any higher on the political ladder. It’s no surprise, then, that Bonacic’s district office in the Hudson Valley is filled with mementos of family and friends, and only a handful of the sorts of awards and photos with big-name politicians that many of his colleagues keep on their desks. “When you look around my office, you will see more family than you will see pictures of presidents or political relationships or prominent elected leaders, both nationally and statewide,” he said. “I have those pictures, but I don’t keep them in my office.” Join us for a tour around his office ... - JL
FAMILY TRIP TO VAIL, COLORADO
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and really you couldn’t interconnect socially. It was strictly business and everyone went their own way. By playing basketball, I got friendly with many of the Democrats in the Assembly.” SON AND DAUGHTER
“It was back in the ’80s. That’s my son on the left. I took him on his high school graduation to Vail. I had never skied before, and I learned to ski in a hurry. … I became a senator upstate – I have Belleayre, I’ve got Windham and I have Hunter. And naturally, we try to bring economic vitality there. And they come in my office, and they say, what the heck is this Vail? Where’s the other pictures of your other ski resorts?”
city & state — November 16, 2015
HARLEM GLOBETROTTERS GAME
“That was a highlight because we played with a lot of our colleagues. When I went up to the Assembly – I was an assemblyman for nine years – you had the Democrats on one side and the Republicans on the other,
when we were in the Assembly. He loved to play basketball like I did. I can remember when he got elected and beat Mario Cuomo, we were ecstatic because he was the underdog, and we went down to New York City in the Hilton, and I said, George, it’s like you hit a three-point jump shot. And he said, ‘While being fouled!’” SENATOR JOHN BONACIC EMERGENCY DEPARTMENT, CATSKILL REGIONAL MEDICAL CENTER
“These are my kids – my son Scott, who’s an attorney, and Melissa, who’s a teacher. And I have three grandchildren, all boys.”
CARDINAL TIMOTHY DOLAN
“I think (Dolan) is a great guy, and he would make a great pope, but I don’t know if we’ll ever see it. He’s got good political instincts, too, and he relates to the common person.” FIRE HELMETS
GEORGE W. BUSH, BONACIC AND GOV. GEORGE PATAKI
“That would have been in the city when the governor had George Bush in on a Republican fundraiser. George Pataki and I used to hang out together
“I discourage people naming things after me while I serve. … There were two that were done, one without my permission, a park in Delaware County, and the Sullivan County emergency room was named after me. … I’ve saved three hospitals from bankruptcy, my rural hospitals. We’ve had 13, and I’m never going to let a rural hospital go out on my watch.”
“When you get something like this, you’re an honorary member of that fire company. It’s not just, hey, you’ve done a good job, here’s something to remember us by. There’s three fire companies we’ve saved or have identified with me that I’m an honorary member.” cit yandstateny.com
COMMEMORATING JOHN LINDSAY Earlier this month, New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio and first lady Chirlane McCray hosted a reception celebrating the 50th anniversary of John Lindsay’s mayoral election in 1965. Hundreds of notables, elected officials and Lindsay’s friends, family and former colleagues attended. In his welcoming remarks, de Blasio called Lindsay’s election a “turning point in New York history ... a beginning of a moment when so many good people came into public service.” “He fought against discrimination in all its forms earlier and better than so many others, and he opened up the halls of government to people who had never had an opportunity to serve,” the mayor added. “It gave people hope.”
Former Lindsay Chief of Staff Jay Kriegel presents Lindsay memorabilia to Mayor Bill de Blasio and first lady Chirlane McCray
Federal Judge Robert Sweet, Venable LLP’s Gordon Davis and astrophysicist Neil deGrasse Tyson
Eastdil Secured’s Martha Wallau, philanthropy adviser Hildy Simmons and Weber Shandwick’s Micho Spring
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WHO DECIDED KIDS DON’T NEED PHYS ED?
For more information, contact PhysEd4All@heart.org.
Former city Comptroller Harrison J. Goldin, Diana Goldin, former Mental Health Commissioner Dr. June Jackson Christmas and former Mayor David Dinkins CS 4875x6 ad2.indd 1 cit yandstateny.com
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city & state — November 16, 2015
JOE WOOLHEAD
Smithtown Supervisor Patrick Vecchio, Public Policy Strategies’ Ted Mastroianni, lawyer and former Lindsay aide Sid Davidoff and Time Inc.’s Steve Haft
CIT Y
UNTENDED TENANTS
FEW BENEFIT FROM MILLIONS SPENT ON ANTI-EVICTION LAWYERS
city & state — November 16, 2015
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Tentants are lined up around the corner earlier this year waiting to get into Housing Court in the Bronx. In an effort to combat homelessness, New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio has spent nearly $20 million over two years to provide lawyers for low-income tenants fighting evictions in Housing Court. But the funds aid only 12 percent of those tenants, according to calculations by City & State. The city estimates it will provide legal counsel to 10,100 low-income tenants this year, and aims to raise that number to 32,700 by 2017. But even if it reaches that goal, the effort will only supply attorneys to roughly a third of low-income New Yorkers facing eviction, if current trends continue. Over 200,000 tenants have eviction proceedings filed against them every year, and 50 to 60 percent of them are low-income, according to estimates used by the city Independent Budget Office. A spokesman for the city explained that the funding is aimed at helping low-income tenants in neighborhoods where research shows evicted tenants would be more likely to end up homeless. Millions of dollars more are also being spent on other programs to help keep tenants in their apartments. Tenants have long lacked legal representation in Housing Court. Unlike defendants in criminal court, people contesting their eviction are not
guaranteed access to legal counsel. As a result, very few tenants have lawyers. “About 99 to 98 percent (of tenants in Housing Court) are unrepresented,” said Deputy Chief Administrative Judge Fern Fisher, who oversees the day-to-day operations of trial-level courts in New York City. Meanwhile, Fisher said, 85 to 90 percent of landlords do have lawyers representing them in court. David Neustadt, a spokesman for the Human Resources Administration, the city agency overseeing the mayor’s initiative, said he knew of no formal study on the subject. But he agreed that “far too many people in Housing Court don’t have representation, and that affects the outcome.” According to one study conducted in 2001 by tenant advocates, low-income tenants are four times more likely to be evicted if they do not have a lawyer. “Landlords have big-money attorneys working for them,” said Delsenia Glover, campaign manager at the Alliance for Tenant Power. “The tenant walks into court without any representation, they don’t stand much of a chance.” Glover says any help for tenants will make a big difference. “This will be a really terrific tool in helping tenants to navigate the legal
system when it comes to landlords,” she said. Early last year, City Councilman Mark Levine introduced a proposal to fully fund legal representation for low-income New Yorkers in Housing Court. According to the Independent Budget Office, the effort would cost the city $173 million to $276 million a year. The legislation remains in committee. The mayor’s funding initiative, meanwhile, is part of an effort to stem the tide of homelessness by reducing the number of evicted New Yorkers who end up in shelters or on the street. Studies show that homelessness in New York City has increased over the last six years – and a rising proportion of New Yorkers entering the shelter system say they are homeless because they were evicted. Nearly 27,000 city tenants were evicted from their homes last year. Judith Goldiner, attorney-incharge of civil law reform at the Legal Aid Society, said legal advice is indispensable to people facing eviction. “Often, what we find is that tenants have no idea what their rights are,” Goldiner said. But even if a tenant is aware of their rights, it’s very difficult for them to express their case without
legal training, she said, especially when their landlord has a lawyer. Goldiner’s organization is one of the principal legal service providers receiving city funds to represent low-income tenants. Landlord advocates argue that additional funding for tenant lawyers will not solve the deeper problems that cause evictions and homelessness. “They regurgitate that year in and year out, but at the end of the day all that is going to do is beef up their rolls of staff attorneys,” said Mitch Posilkin, general counsel for the Rent Stabilization Association. “It’s just easier to repeat the mantras of the past, and that’s what they’re doing, instead of really trying to solve this. ... What they should be doing is supporting or thinking about creating meaningful rental subsidies for low-income tenants.” But Jenny Laurie, executive director of the nonprofit Housing Court Answers, says she and her employees regularly witness tenants being taken advantage of without legal counsel. “Since most tenants are not represented, they are settling their eviction case in the hallway with the landlord’s attorney – unsupervised by any court personnel,” Laurie said. This dynamic leaves tenants vulnerable, and they often end up getting a raw deal, advocates say. “I’m not condoning it,” Posilkin said of the hallway deals. “But it’s the current and long-standing dynamic of the courts.” Everyone in Housing Court should be represented, he added. Laurie, however, contends that more tenant attorneys will make a difference, even if some tenants who want a lawyer can’t get one. “In the future, there are going to be a lot more tenant attorneys in the halls, witnessing (the hallway deals) and calming the waters, so tenants aren’t taken advantage of at the same rate,” Laurie said. “It will change the culture – or we hope it will change the culture – in the hallways and in the courtroom.” cit yandstateny.com
ADI TALWAR/CITY LIMITS
By FRANK G. RUNYEON
CIT Y
FUNDING $15
DE BLASIO WOULD ASK STATE FOR HELP PAYING HIGHER MINIMUM WAGE By SARINA TRANGLE
New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio’s push for a $15 minimum wage in Albany will likely be accompanied by another ask: additional funding for contracted personnel. Months after de Blasio began prodding the state to authorize a $15 minimum wage for all workers, Gov. Andrew Cuomo used his executive authority to raise the wage floor for some workers last week, announcing all state workers would earn $15 an hour by 2021. The move came with a suggestion that de Blasio do the same. The mayor’s administration pointed out municipal contracts put most workers ahead of their state counterparts on the track to $15 an hour.
Contracted workers are another matter. De Blasio’s staff has indicated it would turn to the state for funds should it need to pay at least $15 an hour to staff at the thousands of mostly nonprofits contracted to do social service work with seniors, the homeless and other city residents. This year the de Blasio administration included nearly $60 million in the budget to ensure these contractors pay personnel at least $11.50 an hour. Council members responded with praise – and a push to get that sector earning at least $15 an hour. But Bronx City Councilwoman Maria del Carmen Arroyo asked
how the mayor envisioned turning his $15-an-hour minimum wage campaign into a reality for contractors at a hearing earlier this month. “Where does the money come from?” Arroyo asked. “Do we go print it at City Hall … or is this going to be another one of those unfunded mandates that we often talk about? It feels good. It’s a nice press release, a nice press conference. At the end of the day, the revenue of the city is what it is. How do we accommodate?” P.V. Anantharam, deputy director of the Office of Management & Budget responded, “We definitely hope that any increases that comes as a result of state legislation will bring funding
along with it.” De Blasio’s staff said the state reimburses the city for part of its human services contract spending. So the city would like to see that portion adjusted to reflect any new minimum wage law. Details about what that deal would look like were described as “premature” by the administration. De Blasio spokeswoman Amy Spitalnick said the mayor would not let up on his push to raise the minimum wage. “Of course the mayor will continue to fight to ensure all workers, across every industry, make a wage on which their families can live,” she said in a statement.
I’m Brett, U.S. Navy veteran and a New Yorker.
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In the last two years, we’ve helped over two-thirds of our homeless veterans find a place to call home. Now we need New Yorkers to help us cross the finish line.
Help house a veteran
join nyc’s mission home Go to www.nyc.gov/missionhome or call 311 if you're an owner or broker to find out about incentives for renting to veterans. cit yandstateny.com
city & state — November 16, 2015
Brett Morash Services for the UnderServed
CIT Y
GRADES PENDING
ADMINISTRATION SKIPS EVALUATIONS FOR NEEDIEST SCHOOLS By PATRICK WALL from CHALKBEAT NEW YORK
far behind at traditional high schools, and schools in District 75, which serve students with severe disabilities at over 300 sites across the city. Together, the two groups of schools enroll roughly 35,000 students. “There’s no information for you to make your own assessments outside of visiting the schools in person,” said Lori Podvesker, a policy manager at INCLUDEnyc, a support agency for young people with disabilities, whose son attends a District 75 school in Manhattan. “That’s so fundamentally wrong.” Most city schools were issued two public reports last week: a “snapshot” for parents and a “guide” for educators.
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city & state — November 16, 2015
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The reports include key school data, including test scores, graduation rates, and the results of parent and teacher surveys. The reports are designed to hold schools publicly accountable for their results and to help families decide where to enroll their children. They are also meant to give schools “a set of urgent priorities on which to focus improvement efforts,” as an Education Department press release put it. An Education Department spokeswoman said the city is still deciding how to fairly measure the performance of transfer and District 75 schools, since they serve such challenging populations. In the meantime, the most recent report cards available for those schools date from 2013, before de Blasio took office. “You’re sort of letting those schools off the hook in terms of any accountability measures,” said Kim Nauer, education research director at the New School’s Center for New York City Affairs. The need to come up with fair metrics for those schools should not keep them waiting indefinitely for reports, she added. “Parents need them,” she said, “and the schools need to know that people are looking at their results.” “When a student has to find a
transfer school, it’s already a difficult process,” said Ashley Grant, a staff attorney at Advocates for Children. “So to not have all that information in one place is extremely challenging.” Education Department spokeswoman Devora Kaye pointed out that Bloomberg did not introduce progress reports for any schools until five years after taking office, and said those for transfer and District 75 schools were “oversimplified” and did not include measures that matter to parents, such as a school’s social-emotional support for students and its efforts to help them prepare for college or work. “The first full school year of the de Blasio administration was 2014-15 and the data for that school year was available as of September 2015,” she added in a statement. “We just finished the reports for the largest school types and we are working on developing the first fair and useful reports for the other school types to best inform students, parents, educators and community members.” ny.chalkbeat.org.
Chalkbeat New York is a nonprofit news organization that covers educational change efforts. Visit ny.chalkbeat.org.
PHOTOGRAPHER/MAYORAL PHOTOGRAPHY OFFICE
Thousands of families were left wondering how well their children’s schools are performing last week after the city released new school report cards – but left out schools serving the city’s neediest students. Together, the left-out schools enroll as many students as the city of Buffalo. Yet they have not received public report cards since Mayor Bill de Blasio took office nearly two years ago, even though the same schools received yearly progress reports under the previous administration. Schools that have now been left out of two rounds of annual reports include “transfer” schools, which enroll dropouts and students who fell
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The city said it is still developing a fair way to evaluate transfer and District 75 schools. cit yandstateny.com
STATE
THE NUCLEAR FAMILY Proponents of nuclear power note that it is a relatively clean and reliable source of electricity, and the fact that it makes up a substantial portion of the country’s energy portfolio would make it hard to quickly replace. Nonetheless, opponents have sought to shut down nuclear plants for years, citing safety risks, especially in the wake of the 2011 disaster at a nuclear power plant in Fukushima, Japan. But even before that meltdown, there had been a long drought in the construction of new nuclear plants in the U.S. Additionally, a glut of cheap natural gas poses a competitive threat to the ongoing viability of nuclear power. In New York, where nuclear currently makes up 14 percent of the state’s generating capacity – and nearly a third of its electricity in 2014 – a few facilities have been at the center of debate in recent weeks. Here’s a snapshot of the six operating nuclear units at four sites across the state and what to watch for in the months ahead. - JL NINE MILE POINT NUCLEAR GENERATING STATION
JAMES A. FITZPATRICK NUCLEAR POWER PLANT
INDIAN POINT ENERGY CENTER
ONE UNIT OUTPUT: 583 megawatts LOCATION: Ontario, N.Y. OWNER: Constellation and EDF Group OPERATOR: Exelon Corporation LICENSE ISSUED: 1969 LICENSE EXPIRES: 2029
TWO UNITS OUTPUT: 1,758 megawatts LOCATION: Scriba, N.Y. OWNER: Constellation and EDF Group OPERATOR: Exelon Corporation LICENSES ISSUED: 1974, 1987 LICENSES EXPIRE: 2029, 2046
ONE UNIT OUTPUT: 838 megawatts LOCATION: Scriba, N.Y. OWNER: Entergy OPERATOR: Entergy LICENSE ISSUED: 1974 LICENSE EXPIRES: 2034
TWO UNITS OUTPUT: Over 2,000 megawatts LOCATION: Buchanan, N.Y. OWNER: Entergy OPERATOR: Entergy LICENSES ISSUED: 1973, 1975 LICENSES EXPIRE: 2013, 2015
Management said in early 2014 that it was considering shuttering the facility, one of the oldest in the country, spurring a review that led to a plan to keep it open for 18 months – at the expense of local ratepayers – to ensure system reliability while developing replacement power sources.
Nine Mile Point has not made headlines like the other three nuclear plants in New York. However, one ratings agency has suggested that one of its units is also at risk of closure.
Entergy recently announced plans to close the plant, citing poor market conditions, which kicks off a state reliability review. The move comes after negotiations to keep the plant open failed, although Gov. Andrew Cuomo said his administration would do all it could to keep the plant open and save the more than 600 jobs at the facility.
Gov. Andrew Cuomo is openly opposed to federal renewal of the licenses for Indian Point, citing its proximity to New York City, and his administration has explored how to replace its generating capacity. However, reviews have found that a closure in the short term would undermine the grid’s reliability.
Sources: New York Independent System Operator, U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission, company figures, news reports cit yandstateny.com
For more on infrastructure, check out our spotlight section starting on Page 14. And read Columbia University Earth Institute Director Steven Cohen’s take on 21st-century energy solutions on Page 32.
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city & state — November 16, 2015
GINNA NUCLEAR GENERATING STATION
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BUFFALO
BUFFALO IDOL
COMPETITION AIMS TO JUMP-START THE UPSTATE ECONOMY
city & state — November 16, 2015
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Beneath a massive video screen, a leather jacket-clad entrepreneur sold his vision of a world in which global crop yields are dramatically increased, while a panel of tech investors and a crowd of a few hundred watched. After his presentation was finished, Brennan Duty, along with Stephane Corgiere, his partner at the start-up company Uma Bioseed, were grilled by a panel of judges, all of whom have been part of successful investments in New York City and Silicon Valley. In some ways, the event, which culminated with 11 teams receiving prizes ranging from $250,000 to $1 million in start-up capital, felt like it could have taken place in Palo Alto, California. But 43North, New York’s state-sponsored business competition designed to jump-start a growing entrepreneurial community in Buffalo, took place in the historic Shea’s Performing Arts Center on a windy, rainy, 45-degree day. Backstage, the competition’s executive director, John Gavigan, said the entrepreneurial community in the Nickel City has been growing for some time, but hasn’t been nurtured or cultivated by the business and political class of Western New York until now. Gavigan said the competition, and the backing of Gov. Andrew Cuomo’s administration, are starting to make an impact. “Our two primary missions have been solely focused on economic development in Western New York and really building on a culture of entrepreneurism here,” Gavigan said, adding that the state sees an opportunity to turn around the decades of decline in Buffalo’s industrial sector through promoting entrepreneurship. While comparisons to Silicon Valley may be far-fetched, Gavigan says he is excited to be creating any buzz in the start-up universe. “Is there a feel of it?” Gavigan said. “Absolutely, and that’s what makes it
NANCY J. PARISI
By JUSTIN SONDEL
Entrepreneurs gather on stage to receive their prizes during the 43North business competition in Buffalo. so energizing. We haven’t seen that here in a long, long time. We were the Silicon Valley at the turn of the 20th century. It’s nice to get a piece of it back.” The competition, now in its second year, is part of a growing effort from the Cuomo administration to make sizable investments into new technologies in order to change New York’s image, particularly upstate. In addition to the 43North competition, which is funded by Buffalo Billion money and the New York Power Authority, Cuomo has put significant funds into a variety of emerging industries – solar power, photonics, biomedical research, nanoscience – across the state. He has also invested in educational programs to prepare high school students for careers in the emerging fields and offered businesses opening on or near college campuses the opportunity to operate tax-free for a decade through the Start-Up NY program. Speaking to City & State, Christopher Schoepflin, Empire State Development’s Western New York
regional director, described Cuomo’s investment in the competition as representative of a “broad and bold” plan to change the course of Buffalo’s economy. “This region, historically, was an amazingly innovative community,” Schoepflin said. “We’ve gotten away from it. Innovation drives economies. It drives economic development. It creates jobs. And part of the vision around entrepreneurship is to get back to our roots.” For its investment in each company, the state takes a 5 percent ownership claim, and the company is required to headquarter its operations in Buffalo. The company also receives free office space in a downtown incubator where last year’s winners are already working. In addition, winners get the full support of the 43North executive staff. Still, the state’s chances of cashing in on any of this investment through its ownership stakes are slim. When it comes to start-up companies, there is an extremely high rate of failure. Only
1 in 10 companies will ever achieve long-term success. But this is all part of the cost of doing business if the state wants to move the upstate economy forward, Schoepflin said. “To have meaningful, purposeful growth, you are doing things as a community that you have not been doing for some period of time,” Schoepflin said. “I think economic development can be articulated and realized in many different ways.” Some of the Cuomo administration’s investments and programs have drawn scrutiny. SolarCity, the company set to start operating next year out of a stateowned, $900 million factory in South Buffalo, has caught the attention of The New York Times and Investigative Post, with both news outlets writing about the risky nature of the company and the solar industry. The company’s stock price tumbled more than 20 percent last month after its quarterly financial report showed a loss that was 10 percent higher than expected, and company executives said they were cit yandstateny.com
Callwood said. “Absolutely nothing. This is my first time here.” But after a week of tours and meeting other contestants – most of whom are from Western New York or Southern Ontario – he feels like Buffalo has a chance at becoming the tech hub in which the state is placing so much confidence and money. “Culture comes down to community,” Callwood said. “And I think what we’ve seen in the crowd is a testament to that.”
Rightful concerns about developmental disabilities services Enormous challenges lie ahead for New York’s system of care for individuals with Developmental Disabilities. The answers are not simple and unilateral decisions by New York State won’t make it any easier.
and retain them. It requires paying people decent wages in both the public and private sector, ensuring that people have the help they need on the job and truly demonstrating that the care of the individuals is the top priority.
THE ANSWERS ARE NOT SIMPLE
The Cuomo At CSEA’s urging, Administration needs AND UNILATERAL DECISIONS recent efforts by to listen to the concerns the Office of People that have long been BY NEW YORK STATE WON’T with Developmental raised by parents, MAKE IT ANY EASIER. Disabilities to advocates and the implement intensive workers who care for intake and training individuals every day. for state operated Families are rightly programs are a step in the right direction. The concerned that their loved ones will continue intent here is to get qualified and capable new to receive the care they need. Staff are rightly staff onto the job quickly to relieve severe concerned they will be able to provide the care understaffing that has undermined care that is needed and have the help to do it. and morale. As the governor considers a move to a new model of care, scores of questions remain unanswered. There is still much more to be done and it Stakeholders must be part of the conversation to begins with meaningful dialogue followed by find workable solutions. It is clear that the status purposeful action. quo is not acceptable but neither are the vague A generation ago, New York’s system of public pronouncements that have been offered developmental disabilities services were the model up to date. for caring, community-based care. It is time for New York to once again lead the nation. There is a wide spectrum of need for individuals currently receiving developmental disabilities services and individuals and families on waiting lists. Many of these individuals and families cannot simply live on their own with superficial caretaking. Many need more intensive assistance for multiple disabilities, medically-involved conditions and other specialized care. That care requires a work force that is experienced, compassionate and well supported. It takes a special kind of dedicated person to do this difficult work and it’s not easy to recruit, train
9190_Advertorial DevDis 7.485x10 CS.indd 1 cit yandstateny.com
process for independent contractors, said he had watched the competition last year and he and his partners decided to enter after seeing a Facebook campaign promoting this year’s round of funding. Callwood, who, along with his partners, will be moving to Buffalo soon from Richmond, Virginia, said he had never really thought about the Queen City as a destination for tech companies before hearing about 43North. “I knew nothing about Buffalo,”
BUFFALO
Excitement rose as the awards were announced. ACV, a Buffalo company that developed an application to automate used-car auctions, took the $1 million grand prize. Afterward, the stage became the site of a cocktail and hors d’oeuvres hour where state officials joined prize winners and their families and friends to celebrate. Ace Callwood, a member of the team that finished second and won $500,000 for a program that simplifies the tax
DA N N Y D O N O H U E , P R E S I D E N T
Danny Donohue is president of the nearly 300,000 member CSEA – New York’s Leading Union – representing workers doing every kind of job, in every part of New York.
11/10/15 11:08 AM
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looking to slow growth and focus on profitability. Start-Up NY also drew criticism after it was reported that it only created 76 jobs in its first year of existence. Leslie Whatley, the program’s executive vice president, has been touring upstate cities defending the initiative, saying that it would take time to build momentum. Whatley added that the program should take off soon, now that all the building blocks are in place. Fred Floss, a professor of economics at SUNY Buffalo State and the former executive director of Albany’s Fiscal Policy Institute, said that while some of Cuomo’s investments are risky, it is necessary to take a different approach. “If you’re going to jump-start a region, you’re going to have to take some risks,” Floss said. He pointed to the nanoscience hub in Albany as an example of delayed success. It started with a great deal of risk when the groundwork was first being laid nearly 20 years ago, but it has grown into a model of smart development over the last two decades. In some ways, Floss said, the state’s efforts mimic the techniques used by venture capitalists, like those judging the 43North competition. “They’re trying to pick a number of high-tech programs with the idea that some of these are inevitably going to fail or not come to fruition,” Floss said. “The trick is to do enough of them so that some of them succeed and you can keep on going.” Floss also pointed out that upstate cities are able to change their image by investing in high-tech industries, helping to attract young, educated residents. “I think there is a big part about trying to make Buffalo a place where younger people, hopefully younger people, will then come move to Buffalo, and then have children, who will help to redevelop the area,” Floss said. Back at the 90-year-old theater with ornate carved wood ceilings where the 43North event was held, the 11 teams of mostly 20- and 30-somethings gathered on the stage to receive their prizes – the culmination of a week of preparation, tours and workshops. The awards event featured light displays, highly produced videos and a series of speeches from state officials, including Lt. Gov. Kathy Hochul and NYPA board chairman John Koelmel, each praising Cuomo for his vision in setting up the competition and pushing the narrative of a Buffalo renaissance.
SPOTLIGHT:
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New York is the third biggest economy in the United States. If we were our own nation, we’d have the 15th largest economy in the world. While most of that wealth comes from sexy industries like financial services, tech and media, it’s the massive and very unsexy infrastructure that makes all of this possible. When the roads, bridges and sewer systems start to crumble, so does the economy. Lawmakers may lose sight of this when tackling topics that garner better headlines, but ultimately some of the most important decisions they make are about where, and how much, to spend on infrastructure.
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The obstacles keeping transit from moving into the 21st century By Bob Hennelly
Ignoring MTA costs is like trying to outrun a train By Nicole Gelinas
MTA agreement spurs calls for a similar upstate investment By Ashley Hupfl
Cuomo’s restructuring of LIPA comes under fire By Wilder Fleming
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MOVING TRANSIT INTO THE 21ST CENTURY ARE WE TOO STUCK TO TRY SOMETHING NEW? By BOB HENNELLY
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OLD AND GETTING OLDER Well into the 21st century, this massive megalopolis is served by a transportation system whose key components, like the trans-Hudson rail tunnels between New Jersey and New York, were built a hundred years ago and were badly damaged in 2012 when Superstorm Sandy flooded them with salt water. Amtrak says a catastrophic failure is a distinct possibility. This past summer, some NJ Transit riders got a taste of what Hudson tunnel disruptions could mean when electrical problems turned their 15-mile commutes to Manhattan into three-hour nightmares. Amtrak’s East River rail tunnels, also a hundred years old, which are used by the Long Island Rail Road, were also severely damaged by Sandy. Last year, state Comptroller Thomas DiNapoli released a report that indicated 90 percent of New York City’s subway stations had structural defects, like damaged platforms and broken stairs, yet subway ridership goes up by tens of millions of trips every year. The region is served by multiple independent transit authorities, like NJ Transit, the Metropolitan cit yandstateny.com
ON HOW THE STATE SPENT THE DEPARTMENT OF FINANCIAL SERVICES BANK SETTLEMENT MONEY ... “We felt, given we’re in the Northeast, have an aging infrastructure and are directly responsible for not only some major roads, bridges, canal bridges and things of that nature all the way from New York City across upstate New York, that a greater lion’s share of that should have went to infrastructure. Both because there is a need and you can’t keep pushing it down the road – it will only get more expensive – and also because this was one-time money and it made great sense to me to take care of things that would last 20 or 25 years out. Not only would the jobs put people to work, but also help taxpayers. I was in the camp and spoke at rallies and had dialogue with my colleagues, both as a transportation chairman and as my own opinion and what I was hearing from people in my district and knowing the need here. I thought more of it should have gone into infrastructure, especially roads and bridges. I’m glad we did Tappan Zee and there are some transportation projects, but I think I can say loosely that I for one really felt we should have spent more of that money on those projects.”
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the tri-state suburban and exurban communities that surround it are now home to over 13 million people. After the bursting of the housing bubble in 2008, new regional residential construction has been weighted towards multi-family rental units near rail hubs and away from the McMansion cul-de-sacs of another era. Young adults are opting away from car-centric suburbia toward carless urban living. Yet in the era of E-ZPass and the Fitbit, what they encounter is a costly transit system that still has train conductors collecting paper tickets, just as they did a century ago. With technology rapidly making lives more efficient, tolerance is waning for outdated systems like the convoluted bureaucracy that governs tri-state transit, especially when there are numerous examples throughout the world of how to better move people where they want to go. Creating a more seamless model for moving across the region may have once seemed impossible, but that suggestion is unacceptable to a generation that eagerly embraces innovation. In order to move our transit system into the 21st century, an overhaul of the current structures that govern transit may be the only way forward.
JOSEPH ROBACH
Chairman, State Senate Transportation Committee
Transportation Authority and the Port Authority, with a collective annual operating budget of close to $23 billion. Their collective multi-year capital spending plans total over $57 billion, with the Port Authority and the MTA paying out $3.75 billion in debt service annually. The Republican-controlled Congress has been increasingly hostile to helping fund the region’s transit system. “New local transit projects used to get an 80 percent federal-20 percent local support split,” Nadine Lemmon of the Tri-State Transportation Campaign told City & State. “Now it is a 50-50 split.” The latest proposed House Republican cuts to Northeast transit projects still have to survive a conference committee process with the Senate. But the latest pending rollback is just another sign that the region is going to be increasingly left to its own devices. This is despite the fact that for decades the region has been shortchanged in terms of federal appropriations it receives compared with what it sends the federal government in tax revenue. NEW CENTURY, NEW MODEL? What are we getting for these vast sums – much of it borrowed – we are spending locally on transit? Almost a
hundred years since the formation of the Port Authority, it might be time to have the courage to think outside of the box we’ve been in. What if the region’s transit agencies were to be merged and integrated in a way that transcended the political subdivisions that so often get in the way of regional cooperation and collaboration? Ironically, it was just such an imperative that led to the creation of the Port Authority in the first place. “In fact we have talked about it,” said Kathryn Wylde, the president and CEO of Partnership for New York City, a nonprofit civic group sponsored by some of the city’s major corporations and employers. “Our members have people who live and work on both sides of the Hudson who in total represent a million jobs.” “People are no longer just going to work in New York City. We have people working in Jersey City from Manhattan and people from New York City working in White Plains,” Wylde told City & State. Wylde says the biggest impediment to delivering a world-class 21st-century transit system for the region is the inability of the agencies involved to build their projects on budget and on time. “Most of our public infrastructure projects like East Side Access or the Fulton transit hub
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It’s a change so massive you can see it from space – but here on Earth it’s hard to see the big picture because we’re always stuck in traffic. In April 1921, when Congress approved the bi-state compact to create the Port Authority of New York & New Jersey, New York City had 5.4 million people and the surrounding suburbs were a fraction of their current population. For context, consider Bergen County, New Jersey, which now approaches a million people but had just 210,000 in 1921, around the size of today’s Ulster County. New York City, by density alone, was the center of this part of the universe. Fast forward to 2015. The city’s population is over 8.4 million and
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come in at one and half to twice the original cost estimate and take twice as long. The procurement process is just notoriously inefficient.” In contrast, consider that in 1931 the Port Authority completed the George Washington Bridge, then the world’s longest spanning bridge, below cost estimates and ahead of schedule. Last year Wylde served on the MTA’s Transportation Reinvention Commission, which issued a comprehensive blueprint for improving the agency’s performance. The commission’s report concluded there had to be a “new MTA” created “that gets the right work done faster and cheaper and that is more efficient, transparent and accountable to the public.” One way to do that, Wylde suggests, is to form public-private partnerships where “the private sector assumes the risk for potential cost overruns and delays.” “Where we are now is just not working,” Wylde said. “There’s no incentive for entrepreneurial thinking.” But the status quo exists because it has served entrenched interests for decades. The current system
incentivises contractors to offer lower initial bids just to get in the door – and those lowball numbers find their way into official press releases and speeches at high-profile groundbreaking events. As the actual costs climb once a project is underway, no one is held accountable for a process that keeps building trades unions and construction companies working. It doesn’t hurt that both groups are some of the biggest campaign donors in New York politics. TOO MANY CHIEFS Former NYPD Detective Nick Casale, who was the MTA’s first deputy director of security for counterterrorism, says the independent authorities like the MTA and the Port Authority should all be abolished. “Why do we have these? Because it serves the political crony system,” which Casale says rewards campaign donors with places on the authorities’ governing boards. “So you have layer upon layer of bureaucratic folly insulated from the Legislature and public accountability,” he said. Casale says there’s no greater example of the wasteful redundancy
ON THE INNOVATIVE STORM-PROTECTION INFRASTRUCTURE PROJECT FROM 23RD STREET DOWN TO MONTGOMERY STREET ON MANHATTAN’S LOWER EAST SIDE … “Many people were calling for flood walls and making sure that we wouldn’t flood in the event of another Sandy. And what we didn’t want to have is the type of infrastructure that was a big, bulky flood wall that, yes, would work, but during all those days where there’s no hurricane or coastal storm or flood risk is cutting off our neighborhoods from our greatest natural asset: our waterfront. We wanted to approach it a little differently and really think about the integration of flood risk reduction measures into our neighborhoods in a way that enhances the neighborhood fabric. “We’ve been working with the community on scoping out the project, and it’s turned into a mixture of temporary and permanent flood protection measures. In some cases, it is an elevated berm that is part of the park, and helps to access the bridges that get you over the highway, over the FDR. And then some temporary features, where when for any number of reasons you can’t have permanent flood protection put in place because of public access or how it fits into the neighborhood, there will be sections where flood protection can be temporary in nature – where it can be installed in advance of the storm. We’re making sure that it is stitched together in a rational way to provide that protection when needed, but enhance the neighborhood fabric on those days when there is no flood risk.”
DANIEL ZARRILLI
Director, New York City Mayor’s Office of Recovery and Resiliency
built into our current alphabet soup of transit agencies than the multiple police forces that have sprung up to protect them. “What we have seen is these fiefdoms grow exponentially,” Casale said, and argues that these police forces should be absorbed into municipal departments. He pointed to the merger under Mayor Rudolph Giuliani in the 1990s of New York City’s NYPD with the transit and housing police departments. “Now New Yorkers are safer today because the NYPD got total jurisdiction of the subway and housing police departments,” Casale said. “In an emergency there would be no need for notification between these multiple jurisdictions” in the same geographic territory, “which can cost precious response time.” He says police forces run by independent authorities lack the kind of public accountability that municipal, county or state police have through a command structure that ultimately answers to an elected official. “It can be an elected sheriff, mayor or governor – it still means citizen accountability,” Casale said. He cited the role of the Port Authority police in the Bridgegate scandal – the traffic-blocking 2013 “study” on the George Washington Bridge that federal prosecutors now allege was a political dirty trick executed by New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie loyalists against a mayor of the opposing political party – as an example of what happens when a police force is insulated from citizen accountability. GRASS-ROOTS EFFORTS David Peter Alan is a semi-retired patent attorney who lives in South Orange, New Jersey. He depends on public transit because he is blind in one eye and nearsighted in the other. Alan’s vision is “not bad enough to prevent me from being able to do my work or notice a beautiful woman,” he told a videographer who documented how his 17-mile train commute into New York City can take up to two hours. Alan, who chairs the Lackawanna Coalition, a commuter advocacy group, has been a vocal transit advocate since 1985. The grass-roots Lackawanna Coalition regularly attends public NJ Transit meetings to monitor service cuts and fare hikes. “In 2009, NJ Transit was getting $320 million in state support,” Alan told City & State. “Now it’s down to $32 million and
service has been decimated.” Alan says the nature of his law practice means he uses NJ Transit’s trains at off-peak hours. His advocacy group recently won a victory when NJ Transit reinstituted late-night Morris and Essex Line trains it had cut. “My curfew had been made 45 minutes earlier without notice,” Alan said. Alan says transit consumers need to be represented on the NJ Transit board. The MTA, in contrast, has three nonvoting delegates who represent riders from New York City and the Metro-North and Long Island Rail Road service areas. “Keep in mind that the last hike in New Jersey’s gasoline tax was in 1988 and at the same time NJ Transit fares have been raised nine times,” Alan said. Alan has a near-encyclopedic knowledge of the region’s entire network as well as other U.S. transit corridors. He thinks one regionwide transit system would be a “great idea,” but is skeptical it could ever come to pass. “The Port Authority makes too much money out of the automobile with tolls to do anything meaningful for mass transit,” Alan said. HAVE SCANDALS PAVED THE WAY FOR A RESET? The December 2013 Metro-North train derailment in the Bronx that killed four people and left dozens injured cast a spotlight on the MTA’s operations. The state comptroller documented a serious decline in the quality of service for MTA customers in 2013 and 2014, prompting him to suggest on a talk show that the city was “moving backwards.” Meanwhile, thanks to the sprawling Bridgegate probe by the U.S. Department of Justice, the Port Authority continues to find itself enmeshed in an ongoing criminal investigation, which recently prompted the resignation of United Airlines CEO Jeff Smisek. Last year, graduate students from Columbia University’s Earth Institute were commissioned by the Regional Plan Association to study both authorities. The students found that “easy access to huge revenue streams, lack of transparent oversight … and persistent debt” were “reducing the effectiveness and threatening the longterm financial sustainability” of the two critical transportation authorities. The team conducted a global comparative analysis that looked at large public transit systems in cit yandstateny.com
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INFRASTRUCTURE that made their way through the state Legislatures in Albany and Trenton. “Had those two bills passed we would have gone a long way to a new level of collaboration and re-establishing a regional vision of infrastructure planning and building.” Doig, a longtime critic of the Port Authority’s commissioners, says he still has confidence that the Port Authority’s current Executive Director Pat Foye and its Chairman John Degnan are “a strong enough team” to turn the beleaguered agency around. One thing that has changed, however, is that the commissioners, who historically never engaged in public debate with each other, are increasingly willing to go “off script,” which is the perquisite for true independence. “We are so out of our league. We don’t know what we are doing,” proclaimed Port Authority Commissioner David Steiner at a September meeting addressing plans for replacing the bi-state agency’s aging 66-year-old bus terminal. “If the board does not seek ideas from others, we’re going to make the wrong decision, as we’ve done before.” LIGHT AT THE END OF A NEW TUNNEL? Thanks to the intercession of U.S. Sens. Charles Schumer of New York
and Cory Booker of New Jersey a deal was reached last week between New Jersey, New York, the Port Authority and the federal government to pull together the tens of billions of dollars in financing necessary to build a new rail tunnel under the Hudson. The powers that be plan to create yet another entity called the Gateway Development Corporation, which will be a subsidiary of the Port Authority and governed by a board of four members from the key stakeholders. The federal government and Amtrak have agreed to pay half of the cost of the project, which has been estimated to cost $20 billion. But there is tinge of “Groundhog Day” to their approach. In 2010, citing the potential for cost overruns, Christie canceled similar plans finalized during the Corzine administration to build a transHudson tunnel. That move freed up hundreds of millions of dollars, which the Christie administration redirected to transportation infrastructure work. The windfall took pressure off of Christie to find a way to replenish the state’s near-empty Transportation Trust Fund, which relies on gasoline tax revenues. Will this time be different? Up until recently, Cuomo had been acting indifferent to the tunnel proposal, telling reporters in August “it’s not my tunnel,” indicating he had no skin in the game.
One thing that is different this time is that over the next several months the defendants in the Bridgegate scandal will be fighting in court to preserve their liberty. Last week, lawyers for former high-ranking Port Authority official and Christie confidant Bill Baroni and former Christie staffer Bridget Anne Kelly filed papers alleging that prosecutors and Christie’s lawyers were withholding relevant emails and other documents the pair needed to prepare their defense. Some of the documents the defense wants are communications between former Port Authority official and Christie partisan David Wildstein and former Christie spokesman Michael Drewniak, who now works for NJ Transit. Wildstein has pleaded guilty to his role in the plot to create a massive traffic coronary in Fort Lee, New Jersey. These trials are going to give us a behind-the-scenes look into the netherworld of political patronage and abuse of power that for far too long has corrupted the public agencies into whose hands we put our lives every day. There hasn’t been an alignment to provide the opening for meaningful reform like this in our lifetimes. How ironic it would be if a cynically arranged traffic jam could lay the foundation for tri-state transit to finally get unstuck.
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Vancouver, Singapore, Tokyo, Stockholm, Hong Kong and London. In the London case study, the team learned that recent moves to vest broad authority over the operation of the transit system in the office of the city’s mayor produced “significant fiscal and management improvements.” “We need a real regional approach between the states and the Port Authority … but the problem is the politicization of the Port Authority,” said Dick Dadey of the goodgovernment group Citizens Union. “The Port Authority became a place where patronage dominates the sense of public interest which historically got lost to the turf war between the two governors of the two states.” Jameson Doig, professor emeritus at Princeton University’s Woodrow Wilson School of Public and International Affairs, agreed. “In the case of the Port Authority, you need to get it separated out from the shortterm political demands of the two governors,” he said. In his book, “Empire On the Hudson,” the definitive account to date on the history of the Port Authority, Doig wrote that for decades the commissioners appointed to the authority’s board were certainly “active in politics” but “in fact, the commissioners often entered the fray to defend the Port Authority’s independence from patronage and political opportunism.” Over the last 20 years, that firewall between policy and politics became nonexistent, Doig says, which set the stage for Bridgegate. In the wake of the scandal, both Govs. Christie and Andrew Cuomo commissioned a special panel to comprehensively review the Port Authority’s operations. In December the panel produced its report, “Keeping the Region Moving.” The 100-page document called for greater transparency and a move back to the agency’s “core mission of facilitating transit through the region for the millions of commuters, visitors, and cargo carriers who rely on its transportation infrastructure, ensuring that these facilities are worthy of the people and businesses they serve.” Around the time they got the report, Cuomo and Christie dealt a blow to reformers in both New York and New Jersey by vetoing legislation that supporters said would have made the bi-state agency more transparent, accountable and independent. Citizen Union’s Dadey says he had high hopes for the identical bills
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MTA DEAL IGNORES RUNAWAY COSTS
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The state-run Metropolitan Transportation Authority has just unveiled a “fully funded” investment program for the rest of this year and the next four years. Fully funded, that is, if you don’t pay attention to the fact that nobody knows where the money is going to come from. The MTA still needs $8.3 billion from the state and $1.8 billion from the city to pay for this plan. Yet the governor, the New York City mayor, and state and city lawmakers haven’t said where we’ll get that cash. We’ll inevitably hear calls from transit advocates for a new “revenue source.” But first, it’s useful to review what kind of revenues the MTA already gets, and why these revenues – all of which were “new” at one time – have failed to build New Yorkers a modern transit system. The transit experts are always saying that what transit authorities need is a permanent source of revenue, so that entities like the MTA are not dependent on the whims of state and city politicians. That’s true. But the good news is that the MTA has had permanent revenue sources for nearly three and a half decades now. Back in 1981, then-MTA Chairman Dick Ravitch persuaded the city’s business leaders to convince Gov. Hugh Carey and
MTA CAPITAL CONSTRUCTION / REHEMA TRIMIEW
By NICOLE GELINAS
Albany lawmakers to enact the first dedicated taxes for the MTA: five separate levies to raise nearly $800 million annually. The idea was to provide a “growing and dependable” money stream for the MTA so that it could make long-overdue investments in tracks, trains, stations and the like, The New York Times noted at the time. A year later, the MTA got another tax, and they’ve grown from there. Today, whenever you buy oil, take out a mortgage, sell a building, register or rent a car, or take a taxi, you pay the MTA a little bit of money. And when you earn money to pay for these costs, your employer pays a little
bit of money to the MTA too, on your earnings. How much does the MTA take in from these taxes, as opposed to fares? The total was $5.3 billion last year – more than twice as much as the $2.1 billion those original early-1980s taxes took in, adjusted for inflation. The MTA now takes in a third of its resources from such taxes, nearly matching the $5.7 billion it takes in annually from transit fares. And over the past decade, these tax revenues have grown faster than fares have – up 43 percent after inflation, compared with 30 percent for fares. The MTA really isn’t lacking for a permanent
source of revenue; it has plenty. The authority’s real problem is costs. Over the same 10 years, the MTA’s operating costs – employee wages and benefits, fuel, and so forth – have risen 49 percent after inflation. With money going out faster than it comes in, the MTA has had no choice but to borrow heavily for its capital investments. Debt was $26.8 billion a decade ago, after adjusting for inflation. Today, it’s $36.5 billion. But all that debt hasn’t bought the city a top-notch transit system. More than 30 years after the MTA first began reinvesting in its long-neglected infrastructure, the authority must cit yandstateny.com
yet another new revenue stream. Among the possibilities, congestion pricing makes sense; the Move NY plan could raise $1.1 billion a year for transit. Levying new taxes on property owners who benefit from new investments is another possible solution. There’s no reason why Long Island towns couldn’t encourage apartment construction along the Long Island Rail Road route to help pay for East Side Access, the $10.2 billion project to bring the railroad into Grand Central. No matter what, though, any new revenue only buys the MTA time, and not that much of it. Growing costs could exhaust any new revenue from congestion pricing within five years. When you only pay attention to one half of an equation – in this case, revenues, not costs – you’ll never solve your problem.
Nicole Gelinas is a contributing editor to the Manhattan Institute’s City Journal. Twitter: @nicolegelinas
ON THE RECENT AGREEMENT BETWEEN GOV. ANDREW CUOMO AND MAYOR BILL DE BLASIO TO FUND THE MTA CAPITAL PLAN ... “I’m really happy … It seems to be, for the most part, most people are very happy with it. We’ve got close to 9 million people a day riding the mass transit system, be it the subways, buses or the rail lines coming into the city and going out. They rely on this system and it’s got to be constantly kept up and it was a worry for us, and I’m sure other New Yorkers, that this wasn’t going to happen.” ON HIS FOCUS AS THE NEW ASSEMBLY CITIES COMMITTEE CHAIRMAN ... “I have to look at the needs of the cities and one of the things we’ve found out, certainly during the last winter, we have waterlines busting all over the place. Across the river in Troy and Rensselaer, they were having massive problems with that and the rest of the state, too. We have some very vocal members out there, mayors, who are very concerned and turned my attention on that and I want to look at them seriously. This is the proper role of government – to take a look at the entire state’s needs and deal with them.”
INFRASTRUCTURE
now spend $2.3 billion over the next five years trying to get subway and bus assets into a “state of good repair” – that is, into halfway decent shape. The MTA must spend another $7.2 billion on “normal replacement” in the city – that is, replacing the stuff that it bought and fixed starting 30 years ago. But the MTA has not repaid the debt it borrowed to buy the stuff that is now breaking down; instead, the authority has added to it. Meanwhile, New Yorkers will probably have to wait another generation for a half-built Second Avenue Subway; Gov. Andrew Cuomo and Mayor Bill de Blasio are now delaying plans to add stations to the three already under construction. If New York’s economy holds up, Cuomo and de Blasio will do what most politicians prefer to do: push this problem to the future, as their predecessors did. That is, they’ll use state and city surpluses over the next four years to pay for the new menu of MTA investments, minus much of the Second Avenue Subway. If we do have a recession, though, they’ll be searching for
MICHAEL BENEDETTO
Chairman, Assembly Cities Committee
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city & state — November 16, 2015
citylabor
cit yandstateny.com
INFRASTRUCTURE
BUTTRESSING UPSTATE
MTA AGREEMENT SPURS CALLS FOR SIMILAR STATEWIDE INVESTMENT By ASHLEY HUPFL
city & state — November 16, 2015
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When Gov. Andrew Cuomo and New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio announced a plan to fund the MTA’s capital program in early October, New York City residents and lawmakers breathed a sigh of relief. But in the following weeks, lawmakers outside New York City responded with calls for an equitable investment in upstate’s aging infrastructure. And while infrastructure needs are a typical part of every year’s budget negotiations, the MTA agreement could spur enough political pressure during the 2016 legislative session for a significant statewide pledge. “I do hope and think there is a need to pay more attention to this in the upcoming session,” state Senate Transportation Committee Chairman Joseph Robach said. “The time’s long overdue to now spend some money on transportation issues before they get too out of our hands, too dangerous or (start) demanding our attention all at once, which could really be very detrimental to New York.” A 2014 report released by state Comptroller Thomas DiNapoli found the combined annual investment required to support the projected infrastructure needs for local roads, bridges, and water and sewer systems is $3.9 billion. In 2012, capital spending
by New York’s local governments totaled $1.2 billion for these systems. Meanwhile, according to the MTA capital program agreement, the state will contribute $8.3 billion over the next five years, and New York City will contribute $2.5 billion. “While large projects such as the MTA’s capital plan and the Tappan
“While large projects such as the MTA’s capital plan and the Tappan Zee Bridge replacement get most of the attention, we know there are roads, bridges, and water and sewer systems across the state that are in dire need of repair or replacement.” - Thomas DiNapoli, state comptroller
Zee Bridge replacement get most of the attention, we know there are roads, bridges, and water and sewer systems across the state that are in dire need of repair or replacement,” DiNapoli told City & State. “For our state’s economic future, we need to fix them. The key is prioritizing projects and clearly identifying how the funds will be spent.” Several key pieces of infrastructure in upstate cities, such as I-81 and I-787, are nearing the end of their functional lives. Robach said the state Senate Republican conference has long called for more equitable funding for upstate infrastructure, but there needs to be a louder call from the Assembly, as well. A spokesperson for the Assembly Democratic Conference said Speaker Carl Heastie spent the summer touring the entire state and “is well aware of the needs of upstate and supports investments in infrastructure throughout New York.” Bronx Assemblyman Michael
Benedetto agreed, and said he will be holding hearings around the state to talk about infrastructure and the needs of various counties and cities. “There have been questions from others, and rightfully so, from upstate who are not involved in the MTA, and they have concerns about infrastructure throughout the state,” said Benedetto, the chairman of the Assembly Committee on Cities. “We always want to do these things, but where are we going to get the funding from? So many are calling for the upstate infrastructure and that has to be addressed, I believe, at the same time.” Robach noted the federal government has decreased its funding for infrastructure and said he would fight to increase the amount. “Everyone in this country ought to know by now that the infrastructure in the northeast part of country is aging,” Robach said. “So, just like they’ve spent money to help some parts of the country expand, it cit yandstateny.com
Infrastructure
The state has said something must be done to address the aging I-81 in downtown Syracuse. certainly makes sense to me to have the federal government spend some money on us to minimally maintain our infrastructure, as well.” Robach said he has met with transportation officials from New York City and on the local government level in upstate counties, all of whom have told him a major investment in
infrastructure cannot be put off for much longer. “I think more and more people are starting to pay attention, understand the need and certainly in the media, when you see bridges being closed or literally being safety issues, people get very concerned,” he said. “We need to address this more aggressively.”
Read Syracuse Mayor Stephanie Miner’s thoughts on how climate change should shape our infrastructure on Page 29.
Ú
INFRASTRUCTURE
Invest in
It’s a Necessity, Not a Luxury New York needs infrastructure investment to move forward
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n Economic
ON HOW THE SURFACE TRANSPORTATION REAUTHORIZATION AND REFORM ACT HELPS MOVE THE I-81 PROJECT FORWARD ... “The STRR Act provides long-term solutions to address many of Central New York’s pressing infrastructure needs. This bill breaks the cycle of short-term extensions and, importantly, speeds up project delivery and provides stability so that our state can plan for the long term. At my request, the bill designates I-81 through Central New York as a ‘high-priority corridor,’ signifying the House Committee on Transportation and Infrastructure’s recognition of the importance of I-81 to our community and to our national economy.”
n Jobs
Creation: A plan that invests $5 billion in the state’s economy will create more than 150,000 jobs initially, and more than double that in spin-off economies, related suppliers and material suppliers.
n Increased
Tax Revenues: Modern transportation, transit and energy systems benefit companies doing business in New York and improve its desirability as a home for corporate taxpayers.
n Improved
Safety and Mobility: Infrastructure upgrades reduce congestion and commuter time, and save lives and billions lost due to poor road conditions, traffic delays and related accidents.
n Enhanced
Quality of Life: Traffic relief, safe roadways and bridges, better transit systems, and access to clean energy, clean water, and safe waste water disposal improve the lives of all New Yorkers.
JOHN KATKO
Member, U.S. House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee
Leaders in the business of engineering
www.acecny.org cit yandstateny.com
city & state — November 16, 2015
ON REPLACING THE ELEVATED PORTION OF I-81 THROUGH DOWNTOWN SYRACUSE ... “This project is the largest civic project in the history of Central New York. Early in my term, I had concerns that the final scoping document would permanently discard feasible, constructive options for the I-81 rebuild. For this reason, I urged state and federal stakeholders to present a comprehensive range of options to the public in the state’s final scoping document – and I was happy that they did so. Our community is now able to move forward with a public conversation on the future of this project.”
Growth: Funding for transportation, the environment, renewable energy, brownfields and related development can be the catalyst to promote economic expansion.
CRITICS SAY CUOMO BLEW HIS CHANCE TO REFORM THE LONG ISLAND POWER AUTHORITY
INFRASTRUCTURE
BUNGLED REPAIRS? When Superstorm Sandy ravaged the coast of New York in October 2012, nearly a million Long Islanders lost power and Gov. Andrew Cuomo wasted no time in blasting the Long Island Power Authority and its system operator, National Grid, for what he characterized as a “failed” restoration effort and “poor communication” between LIPA and its customers. After some ratepayers didn’t see their lights come back on for well over a week, the governor convened a commission to investigate utilities’ responses during the storm. In June 2013, Cuomo announced a “landmark agreement on legislation to dramatically revamp” Long Island’s troubled power utility, promising to eliminate LIPA’s dysfunctional management structure, increase government oversight, stabilize rates – Long Islanders pay some of the highest utility bills in the country – and improve customer service. In the process, National Grid lost its contract with LIPA, to be replaced by PSEG Long Island, a newly formed subsidiary of the for-profit Public Service Enterprise Group headquartered in New Jersey. But the governor’s restructuring has come under fire from customer advocates, the state comptroller’s office, and even from some who sit on the LIPA board, who maintain that the customer’s best interests have not been accounted for. “There is a problem with the LIPA
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Fallen power lines after Superstorm Sandy in Garden City, Long Island. Some Long Island customers didn’t get power back for a week. Reform Act,” said Matthew Cordaro, a member of the LIPA board of trustees who was appointed by then-Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver. “It doesn’t hurt to have additional oversight, but it’s not the ultimate answer. There is a better way to do this.” Cuomo had initially proposed privatizing LIPA in 2013 – perhaps,
“It doesn’t hurt to have additional oversight, but it’s not the ultimate answer. There is a better way to do this.”
- Matthew Cordaro, a member of the LIPA board of trustees
cit yandstateny.com
some speculated, in an attempt to wipe his hands of any responsibility he had over the utility once and for all. Although the governor had the power to fill nine of 15 seats on the authority board, he had made only a single appointment in the years leading up to Sandy. LIPA’s last president and CEO, Kevin Law, had stepped down the same year Cuomo took office in 2011, and the governor had never replaced him. When Sandy hit, LIPA’s management had already been adrift for some time, and the utility was notorious for its high rates, high debt, and poor service and customer relations. In the end, however, LIPA remained a public authority under the governor’s 2013 reform act. But stripped of much of its staff, the utility was largely reduced to a holding company with
a newly reduced, nine-member board charged with overseeing PSEG Long Island, which would take care of all day-to-day maintenance and operations. Before, LIPA had largely been the face of utility service on Long Island. Now PSEG would try to fill that role. As part of the reform act, LIPA and PSEG have also become subject to scrutiny from the state Public Service Commission for the first time. And the very first rate case since the reform, which wrapped up last month, resulted in the approval of a $325.4 million rate hike over three years. Last week, LIPA lowered the hike to $287.4 million, citing lower than expected fuel and purchased power costs. “One of the other reasons that LIPA’s rate increase was fairly big,
city & state — November 16, 2015
LITTLENY / SHUTTERSTOCK.COM
By WILDER FLEMING
INFRASTRUCTURE
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or if you want, why the cost of the commodity on Long Island is fairly high (is) you have a lot of deferred maintenance that is being made up for,” said Richard Berkley, executive director of the Public Utility Law Project of New York. “LIPA was not spending enough money on its storm preparation and basic operations and maintenance before. The increase disturbed customer advocates like AARP, however, which has noted that over 17,000 LIPA accounts were terminated in 2014 – around 46 a day. It also unnerved some LIPA board members, who say the increase could have been further reduced. “There are always ways of manipulating the budget to provide adequate service and minimize revenue requirements, minimize rates. You can always sharpen your pencil a little bit more,” Cordaro said. “And I had a concern that we hadn’t gone far enough in doing that.” The problem, advocates say, lies in the structure of the reform act itself, which made revisions to the so-called operations services agreement, the master document according to which PSEG operates the system for LIPA. The new agreement, they contend, fails to account for customer affordability
when calculating rate increases. “I would say there was a whole slew of issues that the reform act addressed, but clearly, from what occurred recently, it appears there is a flaw in that law – that affordability needs to be considered when the trustees examine the official recommendation from the PSC,” said Bill Ferris, AARP’s legislative representative for New York state. Under the 2013 reform act, LIPA’s board must implement the recommendations of the PSC, unless LIPA decides that the recommendation is “inconsistent with the authority’s sound fiscal operating practices, any existing contractual or operating obligations, or the provision of safe and adequate service.” “The misleading part of it is the LIPA reform act really limits the grounds under which the board can challenge the (PSC’s) recommendations,” Cordaro said. “It narrows it to three specific fiscal-type issues. It doesn’t give the board the responsibility to make a determination on whether indeed the (Department of Public Service) in its final recommendation has come up with something which represents the lowest achievable rates while still providing adequate service. … I think it is a failing of the LIPA
ON PUBLIC-PRIVATE PARTNERSHIPS IN GOVERNMENT WORK ... “P3s are by no means a silver bullet for our transportation and infrastructure needs, but they can unlock tremendous potential and possibilities for a country’s infrastructure. The need for investment in our roads and bridges has never been greater and we as a country are falling behind. This hurts our competitiveness, our labor markets and our economy as a whole. While Congress certainly needs to pass legislation with a robust source of traditional federal funding for infrastructure, we can and should be doing more. P3s aren’t right for every project, but when wellexecuted and done in a way that ensures we are protecting our workers, they have the potential to get more projects done quickly.”
city & state — November 16, 2015
ON HIS PUBLIC-PRIVATE PARTNERSHIP BILL ... “The Public-Private Partnership Infrastructure Investment Act creates an office within the Department of Transportation to assist states in making use of P3s. P3s are used throughout the world but since they are still relatively new in the United States, many states and municipalities lack the resources or expertise to make use of this method of project delivery. By providing states and municipalities with technical expertise, contract drafting assistance, and strategies for how best to leverage their assets and unlock private investment, this office can ensure that projects are able get off the ground with proper funding in a timely manner.”
SEAN PATRICK MALONEY
Member, U.S. House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee
After Sandy, National Grid lost its LIPA contract, to be replaced by PSEG Long Island.
Reform Act and definitely something which complicated this concept of oversight by the PSC.” A Department of Public Service spokesman, however, said the reform act has been “a tremendous success.” He pointed out that LIPA trustees could have voted down the rate recommendation if they could demonstrate that it was not set at the lowest achievable level or consistent with sound financial practices, but that they couldn’t point to a single item
(including) budget oversight and cost control mechanisms, performance measurement metrics, storm cost provisions, and compensation terms.” LIPA customers, the comptroller noted, on average paid 22 percent above the state median and 78 percent above the national median in 2013. Specifically, the comptroller pointed out that, unlike in the old agreement, PSEG is not required to give monthly budget reports to LIPA comparing actual results of month-
“One of the other reasons that LIPA’s rate increase was fairly big, or if you want, why the cost of the commodity on Long Island is fairly high (is) you have a lot of deferred maintenance that is being made up for.”
- Richard Berkley, executive director of the Public Utility Law Project of New York
that could have reduced rates. “After a three-year rate freeze customers will save $720 million over the next three years,” he said. “Additionally, storm preparedness plans and massive upgrades are underway to provide improved service and reliability for all of Long Island.” A July report from state Comptroller Thomas DiNapoli’s office was also critical of the 2013 renegotiation of the operating agreement between LIPA and PSEG, claiming that “many of the beneficial terms and protections built into the original contract were modified or eliminated …
to-month collection of customer payments against the overall budget – eliminating LIPA’s ability to watch for early warnings of cost overruns or schedule delays. Finally, the comptroller contended that “LIPA’s 2014 performance evaluation, prepared in accordance with the Public Authorities Reform Act of 2009, does not identify any specific efforts to limit or reduce costs for ratepayers, or to provide reliable and responsive electric service.” A memorandum filed by the LIPA board of trustees disputed the comptroller’s report, saying it cit yandstateny.com
INFRASTRUCTURE
PHOTOS BY PSEG LONG ISLAND
ON THE VERIZON FIOS BROADBAND EXPANSION ... “Verizon signed a contract with New York City to provide FiOS service to city residents who want it. Verizon needs to take the necessary steps to make good on its word, and Mayor Bill de Blasio’s administration needs to be ready to exercise every legal option to hold Verizon to its agreement. That said, we need to assess the practical problems Verizon is reporting it’s had in trying to extend service, and look into whether there are actions we can take to help Verizon. The biggest example seems to be figuring out how to make it easier for Verizon to pass through private property in order to lay cable and complete installations. We need a full accounting of requests for FiOS and whether they were fulfilled, we need to communicate consumers’ rights clearly so they know what they have a right to expect, and we need to establish clear standards for what Verizon’s real obligations are under the contract they signed.”
LIPA board member Matthew Cordaro says PSEG seems better prepared for a storm.
cit yandstateny.com
interest to have the two acknowledged experts in this area in the state both be involved?” As far as storm preparedness is concerned, board member Cordaro says PSEG does appear to be better prepared than before. The utility has installed new computer systems to help better manage and track work and repair efforts, and is replacing outdated equipment, modifying substations that are vulnerable to flooding and generally hardening the system against future severe weather. “It does appear that they have made strides for better preparation. But you never really know until a major storm hits,” Cordaro said. “They have been very fortunate up to this point that there has been a very minimum amount of severe weather where they can be tested. … But having been in the utility industry for over 40 years, I can tell you that definitely they have improved the level of preparedness. And they have a significant amount of experience.” Cordaro also concedes that LIPA’s operating structure is better than it was, but thinks the for-profit utility model is fundamentally flawed. “It’s not as haphazard – at least there is some formula to the madness here. I think as it was, it was totally ad hoc and LIPA was the judge, jury and executioner,” he said. “But I don’t think it’s an improvement over what would have been the case if when LIPA was restructured it had been restructured as a full-service municipal utility without having a for-profit entity provide its service.” The LIPA board is expected to make a final vote in December, which will include the new, PSC-approved rates.
GALE BREWER
Manhattan Borough President
ON IDENTIFYING INNOVATIVE WAYS TO REBUILD CRITICAL INFRASTRUCTURE IN NEW YORK ... “Among the projects I have been involved with is LaGuardia Airport, which had expanded in a piecemeal fashion since it first opened in 1939. The governor had a bold vision to take a comprehensive look at LaGuardia and reimagine it as a stateof-the-art facility, worthy of New York City in the 21st century. Through an innovative public-private partnership, half of the proposed $4 billion LaGuardia project will be privately funded. We are breaking ground next year, and with it, creating 8,000 construction jobs alone. Having completed work on LaGuardia, the Airport Advisory Panel the governor appointed, of which I am a member, is now focused on JFK and exploring ways to overhaul Stewart and Republic airports. “Another major initiative that the governor has been championing is the use of alternative project delivery mechanisms – like public-private partnerships and design-build – to foster innovation and deliver major infrastructure in a costeffective and time-efficient way. The construction of the New NY Bridge to replace the Tappan Zee over the Hudson River is a great example of designbuild – the “I Lift NY” super crane helped reduce construction time and project costs from original estimates. We are currently working with other state entities, including the MTA, to deliver major infrastructure projects using design-build and other innovative delivery systems across the state.”
JACQUELINE SNYDER
State Special Adviser for Infrastructure
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city & state — November 16, 2015
“misstates the authority’s financial condition” and ignored a new financial plan to reduce the level and cost of future borrowings while using the Utility Debt Securitization Authority to reduce the cost of existing debt for customers. The memorandum also says the comptroller’s report “fails to acknowledge that the authority’s rates are up to 40 percent lower than neighboring electric utilities operating in the same region.” LIPA pointed out that taking inflation into account, rates have declined by 30 percent since 1998, whereas the rates of neighboring utilities have gone up as much as 27 percent, adjusted for inflation. It should be noted that as part of the LIPA Reform Act, the state comptroller’s office was stripped of its mandate to review and approve any LIPA contract worth $25,000 or more. Berkley of the Public Utility Law Project says there is no doubt that oversight was inadequate before Sandy, and says giving the Public Service Commission a role in the ratemaking process is an “important step towards transparency and accountability.” But he says the comptroller should not have been left out of the equation either. “I think maintaining or establishing a powerful role for the comptroller is equally important because the Public Service Commission and the comptroller do two different things by statute,” Berkley said. “The Public Service Commission is designed to work in the area of rates – they also do management audits of utilities and emergency plan audits – but it is less of their everyday function than doing rate proceedings. The comptroller’s primary job is financial audits, management audits and program audits. And isn’t it better for the public
Look Who’s Talking with
Bronx Borough President Ruben Diaz, Jr.
Alphonso David, Chief Counsel to Governor Cuomo
New York City Public Advocate Letitia James
State Senate Democratic Conference Leader Andrea Stewart-Cousins
State Comptroller Thomas DiNapoli
To learn more about attending our events or partnering with City & State, visit Events.CityandStateNY.com or contact Jasmin Freeman 646.442.1162
CLIMATE CHANGE SHOULD SHAPE OUR INFRASTRUCTURE INVESTMENTS
OPINION
OPINION
By STEPHANIE MINER
cit yandstateny.com
one who called me at home – and prevented any loss of life. We cleaned up the aftermath, assessed the infrastructure impact, and discussed the unprecedented nature of the event – a narrow geographic area with a large volume of water falling in record time. Two weeks later the same exact thing happened. Welcome to the new normal. As a country, we are in the midst of a vibrant debate about a governing agenda. The state of our infrastructure is a frequently raised topic. Just about everyone can point to a potholescarred road, a deteriorating bridge, or a leaking water main. Yes, we as a country need to bring our vaunted
infrastructure systems back to prominence. But simply looking at them in a vacuum by excluding the impact climate change is having – and will continue to have – undercuts our ability to have a functioning economy and society. Look no further than Superstorm Sandy’s impact on New York and New Jersey and the drought’s continuing impact on California as prime examples of this inconvenient truth. Microbursts, droughts, and unfamiliar events are here to stay and public policy needs to recognize this. Indeed, the public discourse on infrastructure can no longer be limited to simply bringing infrastructure
Stephanie Miner is the mayor of Syracuse.
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city & state — November 16, 2015
It was raining when I got on the phone. A panicked voice on the other end said water was rising in her house and she could not get her elderly mother-in-law up the stairs. As she pleaded for help, something seemed off – her house was a five-minute drive away from mine, but there was only a light rain falling when I peered outside. When I called my fire chief moments later, he told me two inches of rain had fallen in a short time over that one neighborhood, creating flash flooding and overwhelming the sewer system. Yet the rest of Syracuse was fine. We immediately responded to the neighbors – including the
systems up to a “state of good repair.” Those standards were implemented for a different time. Parts of Syracuse’s sewer system were built as far back as the 1860s and designed with a capacity for 1- to 2-year storm events. This June, experts said we had two 25-50-year storm events two weeks apart. Syracuse is just one of hundreds, if not thousands, of places facing this daunting challenge. Our infrastructure is old and neglected just at the very time when our climate is creating unprecedented change. As a country we need to seize the opportunity to create policy recognizing the important connection between climate change and infrastructure. Failure to do so will lead to investing precious resources into failing systems and weaken our ability to compete in the modern economy. In contrast, meeting this challenge will create prodigious benefits. Not only will it give us a better quality of life, but modernizing our infrastructure to face these issues will harness engineering talent, create jobs, and develop new products and new technology that are needed around the world. My office overlooks the remnants of the Erie Canal – an infrastructure project conceived and built to meet the challenges of a very different time, and yet the lessons from that audacious project also ring true today. The national candidates asking to be our leaders should not forget our most American of traditions – meeting and overcoming challenges and transforming the world in the process. Melding the issues of infrastructure and climate change is just the opportunity we have to demonstrate our American ingenuity once again.
COOL OR NOT, WAL-MART-ESQUE STORES HAVE NO PLACE IN BROOKLYN
city & state — November 16, 2015
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Back in 2013, the prospect of Wal-Mart setting up shop in the five boroughs was one of the few topics that galvanized the different candidates jockeying to be the next mayor. Christine Quinn, the former City Council speaker, declared Wal-Mart would open in New York City “over my dead body.” Then-Public Advocate Bill de Blasio broke out the scripture, warning Wal-Mart, “As you reap, so shall you sow.” Wal-Mart’s atrocious record on labor issues is well-known, but worth reviewing: The megastore has paid its workers the minimum wage and denied benefits, forcing taxpayers to subsidize its employees through Medicaid, food stamps and other programs. Wal-Mart
pro-labor de Blasio administration, Wegmans is coming to the Brooklyn Navy Yard next year, even after the mayor gave his word he would only back a union shop. So let’s see how Weg-Mart stacks up to Wal-Mart’s impressive record of
screwing over working America: Ruthless business practices? Check. Just like Wal-Mart, Wegmans’ arrival in inner cities has plunged locally owned small businesses across the Northeast and Mid-Atlantic into bankruptcy.
Letters
to the
Editor
Dear Editor, We are compelled to set the record straight. Bertha Lewis had some blatantly false things to say about Wegmans. We don’t know Ms. Lewis, and clearly she doesn’t know Wegmans, nor did she reach out to us to verify the accuracy of her information. We also have no idea what motivated her to attack our reputation as a great employer and an ethical company. Here is the truth: Wegmans is a family-owned company founded in 1916. Today, we have 88 stores in six states and 45,000 employees, and our business was built on the simple philosophy that the path to great customer service begins with treating employees right. There are five values that guide our company: caring, respect, empowerment, high standards and making a difference. We care about our employees, and we care about the communities where we have stores. We could rebut each of Ms. Lewis’ allegations point by point, but instead we share the following: Wegmans has been named one of the “100 Best Companies to Work For” by Fortune magazine for 18 consecutive years, ranking No. 7 in 2015. Inclusion on this list is based largely on employee responses to an anonymous survey conducted by a third party. In the 2014 Harris Poll Reputation Quotient study, Wegmans ranked No. 1 for corporate reputation among the 100 “most-visible companies” nationwide. A number of benefits (health care, too) are available to full-time and part-time employees, and that includes a benefit that is unique in the retail industry: the Wegmans Employee Scholarship Program. Since it began in 1984, this program has awarded $100 million in college tuition assistance to 32,000 Wegmans employees, and many recipients have gone on to build careers with our company. In closing, we want to say how much we look forward to building a team of 450 employees at our Brooklyn store and opening the doors to welcome our new customers. Sincerely, Jo Natale Vice president of media and consumer relations, Wegmans
cit yandstateny.com
CREDIT
BERTHA LEWIS
has cruelly denied its workers legally required breaks during their shifts, forced them into hours of unpaid overtime, and ruthlessly cracked down on union organizing attempts by firing tens of thousands of employees under illegal false pretenses. None of these things helped Wal-Mart’s image, but here’s what really doomed it in New York City: It sells cheap crap and its brand is deeply uncool and synonymous with red-state America to Brooklyn’s upwardly mobile population. Even the true leaders of the Republican Party – Wall Street’s laissez-faire Masters of the Universe – would certainly invest in Wal-Mart, but wouldn’t be caught dead shopping in one. I mention Wal-Mart because there’s another soulless labor abuser set to waltz into town – Wegmans. But rather than continuing the sharp rhetoric that kept Wal-Mart at bay, we’re welcoming the big-box grocery store with flattery and a generous helping of public subsidies. And the only difference? The upper-middle-class creative set has declared them cool. Wegmans’ labor record is weak enough that it would be more appropriate to call them “Weg-Mart.” And yet, with the support of the
to the
Editor
To the Editor: While I was dismayed by Ms. Lewis’ decision to rehash outdated, discredited criticisms of Walmart in order to advance her argument against another retailer, I thought it was important to set the record straight. Ms. Lewis did not mention that 1.3 million associates choose to work at Walmart, including the 36,500 who live in New York state. The fact is that Walmart is investing $2.7 billion in wages, education and training for our associates. We offer competitive wages and benefits, including quarterly bonuses for stores that meet sales goals, a 401(k) program with a 6 percent company match and health benefits. And the starting wage for every associate is above the New York state minimum, with an average hourly wage of $13.26 among associates in New York. Our associates know these are not just jobs, but careers with real opportunities for advancement. Nationwide, about 75 percent of store management began as hourly associates. The reality is that many working families rely on us to help them save money on fresh produce, organic groceries, everyday essentials and a variety of other products. Furthermore, New York City residents already are visiting Walmart stores just outside the five boroughs, having spent $215 million at nearby stores in 2013. Additionally, a Quinnipiac poll released in August revealed 64 percent of residents would shop at Walmart if a store opened in the city. Sincerely, Lorenzo Lopez Senior director, communications, public affairs and government relations, Walmart
Putting worker safety at risk for profits? Check. The U.S. Labor Department’s Occupational Safety and Health Administration is set to fine Wegmans $188,000 for failing to address ongoing safety hazards that have resulted in worker injuries. It’s not the first time OSHA has sounded the alarm about unsafe practices at Wegmans – they also fined the company in 2007, 2010 and 2011. Cutting benefits and shifting costs to taxpayers? Check. In 2013, Wegmans unceremoniously eliminated health care benefits for part-time workers, and recommended their employees seek Medicaid coverage under the Affordable Care Act. Hostility to labor unions? Check. Wegmans has aggressively fought off worker representation in its stores. False promises? Check. Wegmans has promised the Navy Yard location will create 450 jobs, but industry experts say the real number will be more like 100. cit yandstateny.com
Some of Brooklyn’s affluent new arrivals might be willing to overlook worker exploitation in exchange for a few artisanal cheeses, but longtime Brooklynites have no interest in giving this gentrification-accelerator a free pass. Shamefully, the company had to resort to astroturfing local support from the Farragut Houses and other nearby NYCHA developments. If our mayor is truly serious about fixing inequality, then he should revisit his decision to turn down the pro-union bidders that promised to create well-paying jobs with benefits. And he should forfeit his right to complain when even more of the surrounding neighborhood’s affordable housing is lost. After all Mr. Mayor, “as you eat, so you shall sow.”
Bertha Lewis is the founder and president of The Black Institute.
By EVAN SIEGFRIED Relations between Mayor Bill de Blasio and the Fourth Estate have reached a new low. The press is given increasingly rare access to a thinskinned and hostile executive who only takes questions on items that are on his preferred topic. Remember when this was supposed to be the most transparent administration in history? Moreover, de Blasio and his team insist that he is answering the questions of New Yorkers constantly, through radio interviews limited to on-topic questions from interviewers, and a single town hall – where guests were preselected from a pool of the mayor’s supporters – that looked more like a pep rally. “Bonkers” is how one Democratic operative described this press strategy. The City Hall press corps’ job is to inquire and to inform about the operations within government and the entities that are around it. De Blasio is now, in essence, poking a bear with a stick. The mayor has urged the press to report on the things he wants reported. The press, by virtue of his antagonism, is not likely to oblige him. In an interview with Rolling Stone in May, de Blasio responded to a question about his declining poll numbers by saying that New Yorkers didn’t appreciate the “very special” things he has accomplished in his short time in office. Now, de Blasio’s poll numbers have continued to decline and his approval rating among New Yorkers currently sits at a paltry 38 percent. Obviously, the messaging on those special accomplishments, if there even are any, is falling on deaf ears. A familiar pattern is emerging when things get rough for the mayor: blame a group(s) that he believes is responsible for a perceived misconception. In truth, the problems of Bill de Blasio can be traced back to one source: Bill de Blasio. During the 2013 mayoral race, de Blasio promised anything to any group that would support him. The anti-horse carriage group NYCLASS supported de Blasio in exchange for him banning horse carriages on day one. (He abandoned them.) He told
anti-police groups that he would act swiftly on their concerns and grievances. (According to them, he hasn’t and doesn’t truly listen to them.) He promised to ban member items in the City Council. (They’re still here and flourishing.) And his greatest promise – ending inequality and division in the city – has stagnated. In December 2013, de Blasio criticized then-Mayor Michael Bloomberg for not being on scene immediately after the Metro-North derailment in the Bronx. However, in August of this year, when a New York City firefighter was shot in the line of duty, the mayor continued on with his workout – in the middle of the day – at his Park Slope gym after he was informed about the incident. The optics were terrible and the public judged him accordingly. The initial failing of de Blasio’s press strategy was firing Lis Smith (because he did not approve of her boyfriend, Eliot Spitzer), his top press aide during his mayoral campaign, and a pro who would have prevented many of his selfinflicted snafus. Ever since Smith’s unceremonious departure, de Blasio and his team have taught a master class in how to not run a press office – attacking the press for focusing on things he deemed unimportant; telling reporters what they should report; dismissing them for asking tough questions about his favors for lobbyists and campaign donors; mocking them for holding him accountable for his claims of transparency. New Yorkers are taking note of de Blasio’s inability to be competent and are punishing him with appropriate questions and an increasing lack of faith. He can no longer blame the public or the press. Instead, de Blasio need only look in the mirror and point a finger.
Evan Siegfried, a Republican strategist, is president of Somm Consulting, a public affairs firm based in New York City. He can be followed on Twitter @evansiegfried.
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city & state — November 16, 2015
Letters
HOW NOT TO RUN A PRESS OFFICE
THE FUTURE OF ENERGY IN NEW YORK By STEVEN COHEN
city & state — November 16, 2015
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Last week, Entergy, the company that runs both the Indian Point and FitzPatrick nuclear power plants in New York, decided to close FitzPatrick while continuing its push to keep Indian Point open. As James Conca observed in Forbes last week, the reason the plant is closing is mostly economic. Even though FitzPatrick does not emit carbon, it does not benefit from utility rate preferences for renewable energy. The price of natural gas is so low that nuclear power can’t compete, and “the FitzPatrick plant carries a high cost structure because it is a single unit, like the other plants recently closed and those at risk of closing. Most nuclear plants come in twos or threes, making for positive economies of scale.” Gov. Andrew Cuomo and most of the elected officials in Oswego County, home of the plant, want it to stay open mainly due to its positive impact on the local economy. But while the governor is eager to keep FitzPatrick open, he is also trying to shut down Indian Point. It brings to mind his father Mario’s opposition to the Shoreham Nuclear Power Plant on Long Island. While on the surface the Governors Cuomo might seem inconsistent on nuclear power, in reality they both maintained consistent principles. The issue they worried about at both Indian Point and Shoreham was evacuation in the event of an emergency. As Mario Cuomo learned, if an accident occurred at Shoreham, there would be no way to evacuate Long Island. Similarly, Indian Point is just too close to New York City and there are simply too many people there to safely evacuate if Indian Point faced a “Fukushima-like” loss-of-coolant accident. FitzPatrick is different. While an accident would devastate upstate land and waterways, the people living near the plant could be evacuated with enough warning. My own view of nuclear is a bit more cautious than the governor’s. While the likelihood of an accident is low, the impact of an accident would be high. Any technology managed by humans – in other words, all technology – should assume that at some point Murphy’s Law will come into play: If something bad can happen, it will happen. That is what took place in Japan – mismanagement,
bad governance and sloppy safety protocols led to a devastating accident. Given the risk, why take the chance? It brings to mind the words of the late, great environmentalist Barry Commoner: “Nuclear power: It’s a hell of a complicated way to boil water.” I understand the advantages of nuclear power, especially its ability to generate power without greenhouse gases, but the toxicity of nuclear fuel and waste makes nuclear technology too risky to rely on. The decommissioning of America’s civilian nuclear power plants would take many years, and some will continue to push to construct new plants and relicense old ones. In the end, I think that economic forces will work against nuclear power in the United States. Nuclear power is very capital intensive, and regulatory requirements for multiple safety systems increase costs. The need for coolant means that nuclear plants are located near water, and the growing competition
for waterfront sites for residential and commercial development is driving up the price of land. As New York state’s substantial investment in a huge solar cell factory near Buffalo indicates, the future of our energy system will not be dominated by large, centralized energy plants, but by decentralized networks of renewable energy tied together by microgrids and smart grid technology. The world economy is increasingly composed of large networks of highly specialized forms of production. A modern automobile is made up of thousands of components made by hundreds of companies in scores of nations; the car is designed and assembled by one company but is manufactured by many. Only energy retains the centralized, vertically integrated form common to the 20th century. But that is going to change in the 21st century. Energy production will be decentralized and distributed, more efficient, and less vulnerable to breakdown. It is clear that Cuomo
understands this. But he and all of us are reacting to the pain and agony of the loss of 615 jobs at the FitzPatrick plant. These highly trained and wellpaid workers are the greatest losers in this plant closing, and history tells us that little will be done to help them find new employment. Rather than trying to keep FitzPatrick open, the state could attract a high-tech business to replace it. Perhaps Entergy would consider building its renewable energy business and New York state could provide some subsidies to help make it happen. If they’re not interested, let’s look somewhere else. We’d be better off investing in the future than reviving the past. Steven Cohen is the executive director of Columbia University’s Earth Institute and a professor in the practice of public affairs at Columbia University’s School of International and Public Affairs.
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BACK & FORTH
THE AUTUMN OF TRUMP Described by the Daily Beast as a
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“self-admitted hit man for the GOP,” veteran political strategist Roger Stone has helped elect conservative candidates to statewide and national offices for decades. Stone helped guide both Presidents Richard Nixon and Ronald Reagan to the White House, and was most recently Donald Trump’s top campaign adviser until the two parted in August. Since then, Stone has continued to appear in a commentary role on cable news advocating for Trump, whom he still supports. His book, “The Clintons’ War on Women,” was released last month. City & State’s Jeremy Unger spoke with Stone about Hillary Clinton’s 2016 chances, the political strategy of Donald Trump, and how the Republican Party’s move to the right could impact local races in New York. The following is an edited transcript. City & State: From what you’ve learned of Hillary Clinton in researching for your book, what is the one change she could make to make her campaign more successful against Bernie Sanders and Republicans down the line? Roger Stone: I don’t think the problem is fixable. The problem is that the basic premise for her campaign is that she is an advocate for women and children, but the historical record shows that she is neither. She in fact is the individual who has terrorized and denigrated Bill’s sexual assault victims. It was “co-president” Hillary Clinton who vetted the Cabinet, including Janet Reno, who gave the final assault order at the Branch Davidian compound in Waco in which 18 innocent children were killed. She tells us that she is an advocate for those who suffer from domestic abuse. In October she came out with a proposal that said if you have been accused of domestic abuse then you shouldn’t be able to buy a gun. Well that would mean that under her proposal she wouldn’t be able to buy a gun because we have evidence that she has punched, kicked, slapped, scratched and thrown hard objects at her husband. So the problem here is
and liberal Democrats. That’s no longer true. We’re more like Britain now, there’s a party of the left and a party of the right. The media spends a lot of time talking about right-wing extremism, but what about left-wing extremism? Bernie Sanders, really? He thinks that increasing everyone’s taxes, including the middle class, is the answer to economic prosperity? Give me a break. And also Bernie’s never been off the public payroll his entire adult life, he’s part of the system.
A Q&A WITH
ROGER STONE that she is a fraud and there is no way to fix that, so the best thing for her to do in all honestly is to drop out. C&S: You’ve had a long history in politics of developing opposition research against candidates of both parties. Do you think from your experience that politics is becoming more divisive than 20 to 30 years ago? RS: Politics ain’t a beanbag. Abraham Lincoln’s opponents went around spreading the rumor that he was of mixed race. This is a contact sport in the United States. Maybe Donald Trump put it best when he said he’s fed up with nice. Maybe that’s the problem with our foreign affairs: We’re too nice as opposed to being tough and doing what’s in the best interest of our country. I really think this is a rough-and-tumble business. There’s an enormous amount of power at stake, but the Ivy Leaguers and the political class, the people who’ve been running the country for the past 100 years, they’re not doing too well, so maybe it’s time we try something else.
C&S: There’s been a lot of chaos in the Republican Party in the last month, with Rep. Paul Ryan’s speakership election being hotly contested originally with some Republicans even thinking Ryan wasn’t conservative enough. Do you think a drift to the right like this at the national level will make it more difficult for Republicans running for Assembly or state Senate seats in moderate or blue states such as New York to win elections? RS: No, because all politics is local. Nobody is going to cast their vote for the state Assembly based on who the speaker of the U.S. House of Representatives is. That’s wishful thinking by those who don’t wish the Republican Party well. On the other hand, never underestimate the Republican Party’s ability to be stupid and to form the firing squad in a circle. But at the same time, the two parties have now finally become a left-right party. In other words, in the 1960s there were liberal Republicans and conservative Republicans and there were conservative Democrats
C&S: A lot of election analysts have argued that as we get closer to the primaries, the numbers for Trump and Sanders will begin to decrease as voters begin to coalesce around a more traditional candidate. Trump has said he would drop out if his poll numbers began to suggest this. Do you think that will be the case? RS: I just got off the phone with Trump about 20 minutes ago. It’s complete nonsense. He was being asked these hypothetical questions – if your poll numbers dropped into the single digits and you had no chance of winning would you get out of the race? And he said, well look, I’m not a masochist, if I had no prospect I would get out the race. But he’s leading, he’s the front-runner. But I do think it’s interesting that the people who say that are the same people who said he’d never run, that the whole thing is brand building to get more publicity for the Trump brand and then those same people said he’ll never file his financial disclosures, he’ll never show the American public how much he’s really worth, and of course he filed on time while Jeb Bush had to keep asking for extensions. So no, I don’t think he’s going anywhere, nor should he, given his continued strong standing. The summer of Trump is turning into the fall of Trump. Well, make that the autumn of Trump.
For the full interview, including more of Stone’s thoughts on the 2016 race and his new book on Cory Booker, visit cityandstateny.com.
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W e d n e sday , d ecember 2 nd • n eW y ork L aW s ch o o L • 185 W e st b r oadWay
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Worker reLIance on taxPayer subsIdIzed PubLIc assIstance Programs LIke Food stamPs , and stImuLate consumer sPendIng throughout the economy .
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S ponSorShip i nForMation g et In Front oF the n eW y ork Leaders and PoLIcy makers about changes to the state ’ s mInImum Wage . L earn about J asmIn F reeman at JF reeman @c Ityand s tate ny. com .
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