Wednesday, February 14, 2018

MTA funding going to upstate bobsled track


From NBC:

Winter athletes and their neighbors in the Adirondack Mountains have long praised Albany for funneling subsidies to the upstate Olympic Training Facility. But last year some downstate lawmakers criticized Gov. Andrew Cuomo for diverting almost $5 million from the 2016 MTA budget to the Olympic Regional Development Authority (ORDA), the quasi-state agency that manages Lake Placid’s Olympic venues.

“The MTA is supposed to be for the mass transit system here in New York City and its surrounding suburbs, and yet millions of dollars were going upstate to finance a ski resort,” said state Sen. Michael Gianaris (D-Astoria). “It struck a lot of us as odd, especially at a time when the MTA is in a desperate situation. The trains are breaking down. They’re not running on time. Delays are increasing by the day.”

At the time, the Cuomo administration defended sending the $5 million payment to ORDA, saying it was a routine way of reimbursing the state for money the MTA owed to Albany. It’s also worth noting, $5 million is a tiny fraction of the nearly $7 billion Albany sends to the MTA annually.

Still, the cash transfer has given birth to a simple question: should any money intended for the downstate subway tracks go to help fund an upstate bobsled track?

10 comments:

Anonymous said...

Short answer: no.
Long answer: F*CK NO.

Anonymous said...

Cuomo and de Blasio are engaged in a political fight and the only ones getting beaten up are NYC citizens.

Joe Moretti said...

The bar is set so fucking low for leadership in NYC and NY. Pretty much you need to know how to spell C-A-T & D-O-G. No prior experience needed, in fact, experience is frowned upon.

Anonymous said...

It makes no sense and its another example of our hard earned tax dollars going towards something that is not going to benefit us whatsoever. New York will never host a Winter Olympics ever again. At least not in my lifetime.

Anonymous said...

Wonderful crap. Everyone in this state is corrupt its crazy!! I don't understand why you idiots don't vote or vote for the same idiots. Mayor dumbdumb, cuomo and schumer are the three CORRUPT stooges! This is such crap in this state.

Anonymous said...

FUCK NO
Perhaps the crooked Governor is schmoozing upstate votes to run for president?
How many bobsled fans do we have to even vote, who gives a shit about bobsled sports in New York. This makes no sense. Screw millions to make a handful of screwy people happy 2 cold months a year?

Anonymous said...

Their solution for the uncontrolled spending and squandering of our hard earned taxes is to put new tolls on streets, bridges, and what else. The clueless, out of touch, autocratic Albany swamp has to be fully drained immediately.

JQ LLC said...

Although it's too late because Mario's son already did the re-allocation, why isn't Lake Placid under the purview of the state or federal park dept. and get funding from there?

I wonder who did the lobbying to get their millions and why they thought it was proper to pilfer from the subways and buses. It's criminally ludicrous that all that the funding of this deserted ski resort took precedence over the needs of millions of frustrated, angry commuters.

Sure it's just a small amount, according to that boob at NBC but they are not going to criticize the sporting event they're broadcasting, but that could have went to fix some tracks or finish renovating a station or even to get the stupid ass wifi and usb ports installed.

Anonymous said...

>No prior experience needed, in fact, experience is frowned upon.

You'd prefer professional politicians?

Anonymous said...

Joe Moretti said:
Pretty much you need to know how to spell C-A-T & D-O-G. No prior experience needed, in fact, experience is frowned upon.

You hit the nail on the head Joe. Its a cancer in this country politically and in every company doing business.