Saturday, December 10, 2011

The City's latest money pits


From the Daily News:

The Hudson Yards development project on Manhattan’s far West Side is about to become New York’s next big money pit.

The city could be on the hook for more than $500 million by 2015 just to pay interest on $3 billion in Hudson Yards bonds — largely because commercial and apartment building construction in the area has not reached anywhere near the level Mayor Bloomberg’s top aides predicted back in 2005.

Meanwhile, costs have ballooned for Hudson Yards’ two main public improvements: extension of the No. 7 subway to 34th St. and 11th Ave., and construction of a new ribbon park and midblock boulevard between 10th and 11th Aves.

During the past few months, the Metropolitan Transportation Authority has quietly revised the price tag for the subway extension to nearly $2.4 billion from $2.1 billion.

City Hall continues to insist, nonetheless, that the overall project is still on budget.

“Total project cost for the 7 train and redevelopment area was and remains $3 billion,” mayoral spokesman Marc La Vorgna said recently.

So how do the mayor’s number-crunchers manage to make this increased cost disappear?

They miraculously found $235 million in “cost savings and unused contingencies elsewhere within the project budget,” according to a Hudson Yards bond document released in October, while also adding $32 million to pay for “certain 11th Ave. reconstruction work necessary to construct the subway extension.”

Well, not exactly.

By a maneuver worthy of Houdini, the city has buried more than $10 million in infrastructure costs for Hudson Yards in the budgets of other agencies.


From the Brooklyn Paper:

The cost of a proposed footbridge from Brooklyn Heights to Brooklyn Bridge Park’s Pier 1 — a key amenity for residents seeking quick access to the world-class park — jumped 26 percent after park officials upgraded the design then failed to find a contractor who could meet the original budget.

On Monday, Brooklyn Bridge Park announced that Kelco Construction won a $6.2-million contract to design the Squibb Park Bridge, a 400-foot timber structure that will link Columbia Heights to the verdant park below that was budgeted to cost $4.9 million.

City planning experts called the 26-percent cost increase common in city government but still significant.

6 comments:

FlushingRepresenter said...

found $235 million.


Ever been pulled over by the cops and had more than 200$ in cash on you and they ask all types of questions as to why you have "so much money".

Yet these people MIRACULOUSLY find TWO HUNDRED THIRTY FIVE MILLION dollars.

What I want to know is... HOW THE FUCK DO YOU LOSE/MISPLACE THAT MONEY IN THE FIRST PLACE.

Politics = crime time

Anonymous said...

Why can't the salary/income of the folks who own/run - not the actual workers - these construction projects be made public?... and perhaps capped! I can't believe that these capitalists aren't making a shit load of money off of our public projects.....

Anonymous said...

Ever been pulled over by the cops and had more than 200$ in cash on you and they ask all types of questions as to why you have "so much money".

Yet these people MIRACULOUSLY find TWO HUNDRED THIRTY FIVE MILLION dollars.

What I want to know is... HOW THE FUCK DO YOU LOSE/MISPLACE THAT MONEY IN THE FIRST PLACE.

Politics = crime time
-----------------------------------
Are you freaking kidding me? these people aren't street level, they are conducting crimes where no cop, local or federal, will EVER be allowed to peer into. Face it folks, we are little people, and those that truly control everything TRULY are above the law, and will never get pulled over in a car or have warrants issued to search their premises. Just the way it is, either accept it, or start a worldwide riot.

FlushingRepresenter said...

Just the way it is, either accept it, or start a worldwide riot.

=====================================

Agreed.

Anonymous said...

Just the way it is, either accept it, or start a worldwide riot.
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Yea, Queens, the land of can't, don't, wouldn't.

Thank God for freedom loving Russians - can get 50,000 people to rally against Putin.

We can't get 5 people to say something nasty about a local money grabbing hack that overturned term limits. But boy oh boy, if the hack has $500 in ice cream money in their pocket and a desire for a photo op with the locals and the doors come off the hinges from the riot.

Anonymous said...

Wall Street is disappearing unto the internet and never coming back. No more big tax base for all your leftist fantasies