After his $500,000 donation to NY State Republicans was revealed, Mayor Bloomberg explained why he did it to reporters while attending a Mayors Against Illegal Guns conference, "I've said repeatedly, I will help those who help us. They have stood up for the city a number of times — when we needed to have a voice in Albany and we didn't have that voice from the Assembly or from the governor, whether it was the......

A New York State Assemblyman ticked off about congestion pricing for suburban drivers is retaliating by proposing a $4-per-ride surcharge for taxi riders, rather than the congestion fee of $8 for motorists entering Manhattan below 60th St. That taxis are another form of mass transit that allow New Yorkers to get around without owning a car escapes Assemblyman Richard Brodsky, whose district includes parts of Westchester County. Brodsky and other representatives of suburban communities feel......

Less than two weeks after Gov. Spitzer publicly reaffirmed his commitment to going forward with plans to construct Moynihan Station despite a $1 billion funding shortfall, it looks like the matter may be out of his hands. The New York Times is reporting that the whole $14 billion project, which would involve building Moynihan Station at The Farley Post Office building and constructing a new Madison Square Garden on the site, is on the brink......

No one thought congestion pricing would be easy but now some of the economic reality is sinking in. The MTA announced that it would need $767 million to upgrade service if people shift from cars to mass transit. How does that money break down? According to the NY Times, there's "$284 million in 2008 and 2009 for 367 new city and suburban buses, 46 new subway cars and many station renovations and service enhancements; $163......

As part of the deal to advance congestion pricing (and nab the $354 million the feds are offering), the city and state have announced their appointees to a panel to, ur, study congestion pricing and develop a recommendation. The Mayor, Governor, City Council, State Senate Majority Leader, and State Assembly Speaker each get to select three appointees, while the Senate minority leader and Assembly minority leader each select one. Mayor Bloomberg said, "Today we are......

The failure of congestion pricing (at least for this legislative session) has cast a pall on NYC-Albany relations. Not least because Mayor Bloomberg spent some time yesterday slamming state lawmakers. He said:New York City is today poorer because of Albany's inaction yesterday, and I think, sadly, it appears that we jeopardized, at best, and probably lost, a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to do something with someone else's money. "And [we] demonstrated once again that Albany just......

Yesterday, The Politicker reported that Assembly Leader Sheldon Silver "quietly" met with Governor Spitzer and Senate Leader Bruno (separately) and that congestion pricing was one of the topics discussed. Silver has publicly doubted the feasibility of Mayor Bloomberg's congestion pricing plan, leading the Mayor to go on the offensive and try to shame Silver and other lawmakers for holding up the legislation - especially when there's $500 million in federal funds for the taking.......

The Daily News has an exclusive with Jan Gehl, the Danish architect the Department of Transportation would like to hire to help reduce congestion in the city. It's a nice introduction to Gehl, who has worked on congestion-reducing projects in London and Copenhagen, but it also seems like the perfect article to fire up passions. Gehl said, "...we can do is to reduce the number of parking spots. I would raise the price for......

As the clock is counting down the time Albany has to approve Mayor Bloomberg's ambitious - and controversial - congestion pricing plan in order to qualify for $500 million in federal funding, Westchester Assemblyman Richard Brodsky is getting ready to explain why Albany shouldn't. He is releasing a report that calls congestion pricing "un-enactable". He suggests that the Mayor's plan is very different from what's before the Legislature. From the NY Sun:While Mr. Bloomberg......

Though the Partnership for New York City's Kathryn Wylde told the NY Times that she finds Assembly Leader Sheldon Silver "quite the opposite" of the "dark Darth Vader figure of Albany" that many people think him to be, we're betting that Mayor Bloomberg thinks Silver is quite Vaderish. A number of lawmakers confirmed to the Post that the many people hate Bloomberg's congestion pricing plan for the city, offering comments like "It sucks, it does......

Ah, the first rumble between MTA Executive Director Elliot Sander and the city! Sander has threatened to stop the 7 line extension if the city won't pay for cost overruns. Because Assemblyman Richard Brodsky asked about the project's budget, Sander wrote a letter to him (which he made public), stating, "It is M.T.A.’s position that we are under no legal obligation to absorb any additional costs or overruns." Ha! As we all know, MTA projects......

Even though Governor Pataki may have agreed to not to fill all seats at state agencies, there are many things for the Democrats to be upset about. For instance, the Empire State Development Corporation, headed by Pataki flunky Charles Gargano, selling 185,000 square feet at 633 Third Avenue - aka Governor Pataki's NYC offices - for $100 million without letting other state officials know. Democratic Assemblyman Richard Brodsky tells the Daily News that the $100......

There's rarely any good news when the West Side railyards are involved. Yesterday, it seemed like a sure thing, the city and MTA coming to an agreement that would divvy up various parts of the land, open it up to new zoning, and usher in the long-awaited 7 line extension. But now critics say the . How? Well, the way the deal is structured, the city is required to pay only (!) $2.1 billion for......

Well, the heat wave is past, the dead are being counted, and so it is now time for the city's papers to fill up their first-Saturday-in-August issues with newsprint on the aftermath and what could've gone worse. So let's just go with that old-blog-standard, the roundup: - Many (we'd guess most) West Queens residents who suffered through the eight-day blackout last month are not in the least amused by ConEd's offer of a $3......

After surveying flood damage around the region, Governor George Pataki came to Manhattan with good news: The U.S. Customs and Border Protection office will lease 600,000 square feet in Freedom Tower. At a rate of $40-50 per square foot, this is considerably less than midtown rents which are around $75 per square foot (the agency has a few offices around town), but they won't be able to move in for five or so years.......

State Assembly members met with various parties involved with the World Trade Center rebuilding yesterday to discuss development progress. Or, rather, the lack of progress. Assemblyman Richard Brodsky even said, "I wouldn't do any more groundbreaking right now" as a zing to all the ceremonies, photo ops and public puffery but little actual work getting done. And what's more, WTC leaseholder and developer Larry Silverstein says that insurance companies may not pay out all of......

The sad truth for the MTA: People are less than thrilled for the discounted holiday Metrocards, buying less than the projected 250,000 cards the MTA set aside. Does this mean that the whatever discount the MTA doesn't have to pay down gets to stay with the MTA? And does this mean that a crappy ad campaign and an insignificant gesture from the MTA means very little to the average subway rider? Some people point......

While the city has been reassuring its residents that we're going to be okay during the case of a natural disaster, like a hurricane, State Assemblyman Richard Brodsky claims the city's plan is "replete with failures". Of course, Brodsky, a Westchester Democrat, hasn't actually seen all of the city's disaster plans (not for lack of trying; he says that the city wouldn't let him review the evacuation plans), may be trying to drum up some......

Roosevelt Island, pop. 10,000, is in the news again. The small town in the middle of the big city, one of the great urban planning "eh-steps" (not quite a misstep, but close), was last seen in the news scaring Jennifer Connely in "Dark Water." But now its got a political scandal, or the makings of one, to call its very own. Let's see if you remember all of this: The 147-acre island was leased......

After two dogs were shocked by a store's cellar doors on First Avenue and St. Mark's Place on Tuesday night, Con Ed is being questioned again. The incident, not too far from where East Village resident Jodie Lane was fatally electrocuted, raises questions about Con Ed's crackdown on fixing "hot spots" last month. The Utility Workers Union is saying the crackdown was a "con job," as accusations will stary to fly once again that shoddy......

Apparently, the key to getting more money from the NY state is to threaten that mass transit will have to be dramatically decreased. And you know what, that kind of threat works for Gothamist. When MTA Executive Director Katherine Lapp went to Albany to beg for some money, she said, "We will have to make very difficult decisions that may affect service levels throughout the city." Translation: Give our agency, in spite of cooked books......