Andrew Cuomo proposes mayoral control of NYC transit system — rivals say he ‘had his chance and failed to deliver'
'I know the MTA very well. It's a behemoth. It's bureaucracy on top of bureaucracy,' Cuomo said Wednesday on Fox 5's Good Day NY.
'I would propose that New York City take over management of the New York City Transit Authority. …Let the mayor manage the New York City Transit Authority.'
Advertisement
5 Cuomo said that the mayor should have control over the subway rather than the MTA.
Fox5NY
The campaign proposal quickly drew snickers and eye-rolls from transit advocates and election rivals who called out the disgraced ex-gov's transit controversies while at the agency's helm.
Cuomo's notable moves steering the MTA include driving out beloved transit chief Andy Byford, using $5 million of the cash-strapped agency's funds to bail out upstate ski resorts, spending more than $100 million on decorative lights and tiles on bridges and in tunnels, and the notorious 'summer of hell' transit service in 2017.
Advertisement
'Andrew Cuomo had a decade as governor — and complete control over the MTA — to make changes. If he believed in letting New York City take over the Transit Authority, he could have done it then. But instead, he played politics with our transit system, centralized power in Albany, and micromanaged from afar while subway service suffered and riders paid the price,' said Mayor Eric Adams, who is running for re-election as an independent.
'Now, years after he walked away, he suddenly has ideas? It's a little late for that. …Cuomo's comments are nothing more than political theater from someone who had his chance and failed to deliver.'
Cuomo's oversight of the MTA as governor makes him a bad pitchman for giving City Hall control of the subways and buses, said John Kaehny, director of the watchdog group Reinvent Albany that monitors transit service.
5 Andy Byford, Chief Executive Officer of the New York City Transit Authority, announced he will be leaving the MTA at a board meeting thursday.
William Farrington
Advertisement
His handling of the MTA was 'endless drama,' Kaehny added.
Cuomo spent more than $100 million on vanity projects to erect decorative lights on the MTA bridges and tens of millions of dollars more to retile two city tunnels — the Brooklyn Battery and Queens Midtown — in the state's blue-and-gold color scheme, instead of using the dough for desperately needed subway repairs, he said.
He also approved the controversial law to impose congestion pricing on vehicles entering the Manhattan business district to help fund the MTA's capital plan and got construction of the decades-delayed Second Avenue subway line completed.
Republican mayoral candidate Curtis Sliwa quipped that 'I'm reliving the summer of hell' when asked about Cuomo's transit takeover plan.
Advertisement
5 Curtis Sliwa and his Guardian Angels patrol the city's subway lines helping the homeless and keeping New Yorkers safe while they travel.
Matthew McDermott
'Cuomo had his chance and he ruined the subway system,' Sliwa said. 'Running transit is not what a mayor does. He wants to be governor.'
One government watchdog said Cuomo, who is now running on the independent 'Fight and Deliver' ballot line, looked 'desperate.'
'He's really desperate to throw ideas out there and see what sticks,' said Nicole Gelinas, a senior fellow at the Manhattan Institute think tank.
Cuomo's pitch comes after Democratic mayoral nominee Zohran Mamdani grabbed attention during the primary by proposing fare-free bus service that would be financed by $9 billion in higher taxes on millionaires and corporations. The recommended tax hikes would require Albany's blessing.
5 Zohran Mamdani and Brad Lander speak at a Riders Alliance rally in Flatbush, Brooklyn in support of improving reliability and infrastructure around mass transit in New York City.
LP Media
'He's looking for a simple idea to counter Mamdani's free bus proposal. This is not it,' Gelinas said.
Splitting up the MTA would be a complicated issue. Nearly $9 billion in taxes are imposed on businesses by the governor and legislature to fund mass transit and the regional agency — that also includes the Long Island Railroad and Metro-North commuter rail lines — has nearly $50 billion in debt.
Advertisement
'It's a silly proposal. It will never happen,' Kaehny added.
Such a transfer of power would also require approval in Albany, from the legislature and Cuomo's successor, Gov. Kathy Hochul.
5 Mayoral candidate Andrew Cuomo speaks to supporters during a Democratic primary watch party, Tuesday, June 24, 2025, in New York.
AP
Hochul said she's not addressing the 'hypothetical' proposal.
Advertisement
'Governor Hochul is not commenting on hypothetical campaign proposals, she is focused on delivering for the millions of riders who rely on the MTA every day,' a Hochul spokesperson said.
It's not a new idea.
In 2019, former City Council Speaker Corey Johnson proposed breaking up the state-run Metropolitan Transportation Authority and transferring city trains and buses to a mayoral-run agency called 'Big Apple Transit' — or BAT.
During the Democratic primary campaign, Cuomo proposed increasing subway and expanding outreach by social service workers and providing alternatives to homeless individuals removed from the transit system.
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
NBC News
23 minutes ago
- NBC News
UCLA says it is losing some federal research funding
The California university UCLA said Thursday that it has been notified that it is losing federal research funding over alleged antisemtism, a move the chancellor called "a loss for America." 'UCLA received a notice that the federal government, through its control of the National Science Foundation (NSF), the National Institutes of Health (NIH) and other agencies, is suspending certain research funding to UCLA,' university Chancellor Julio Frenk said in a message to the campus community. 'This is not only a loss to the researchers who rely on critical grants. It is a loss for Americans across the nation whose work, health, and future depend on the groundbreaking work we do,' he wrote. The announced notice comes as the Trump administration has sought to pressure or retaliate against universities across the country following student protests on college campuses about the war in Gaza. Some Republican members of Congress and others have called the protests and some of the conduct antisemitic. Frenk in his message to the UCLA community said that the federal government used antisemitism as its reason for the loss of funding. "In its notice to us, the federal government claims antisemitism and bias as the reasons. This far-reaching penalty of defunding life-saving research does nothing to address any alleged discrimination," he wrote. UCLA announced Tuesday that it has agreed to pay $6 million to settle a lawsuit that alleged discrimination, and which was brought by Jewish students and a faculty member. The lawsuit filed in June 2024 accused the university of failing to take action when pro-Palestinian protesters set up encampments on campus that spring. Frenk wrote in the message to the Bruin community — as the UCLA community is known — that antisemitism has no place on campus but acknowledged room for improvement. He said that the university has taken steps to combat it, and put in place policies about student protests. The National Science Foundation and the National Institutes of Health did not immediately respond to requests for comment late Thursday. Frenk in his message to the university did not say how much federal funding will be suspended. He highlighted important work done by UCLA, which included helping to create what would become the Internet, and he said researchers "are now building new technologies that could fuel entire industries and help safeguard our soldiers." President Donald Trump during his campaign pledged to crack down on universities because of student protests against the war in Gaza, which Israel launched against Hamas after the Hamas attacks on Oct. 7, 2023, that targeted Israeli civilians, including at a music festival. There is now a humanitarian crisis in Gaza, and this week t he United Nations said the U.N.'s Integrated Food Security Phase Classification, or IPC, showed mounting evidence of a worsening famine there. The IPC emphasized that its warning constituted an alert and was not a formal 'famine classification.' Columbia University in New York City was among the universities targeted by the Trump administration over allegations of antisemitism, and last week Columbia announced a settlement with the federal government in an effort to restore cut federal funding. Brown University in Rhode Island said Wednesday that it reached an agreement with the federal government to restore funding. The university said that agreement resolves three reviews of Brown's 'compliance with federal nondiscrimination obligations.'
NBC News
2 hours ago
- NBC News
Trump's super PAC raises a massive $177 million, bolstering his political influence
The super PAC affiliated with President Donald Trump's raised $177 million in the first half of 2025, new fundraising reports show — with GOP megadonors, key Trump allies (including some government officials), big business, a secret-money group and a family member of a person who received a presidential pardon among those filling the group's coffers ahead of next year's midterms. Even in an era of overflowing money in politics, the massive sum sticks out. It is a sign that Trump's political operation will continue to wield major influence even though Trump himself is barred by term limits from running for president again. The group spent just $4.6 million over that time, meaning it has more than $196 million banked away as Trump continues to put his stamp on the Republican Party and looks to keep Congress in GOP control in the 2026 midterm elections. Trump also has yet more money nestled away in other committees he can use for various political causes. The list of MAGA Inc. donors included Elizabeth Fago of Florida, who made a donation of $1 million on April 3. Nursing home executive Paul Walczak, Fago's son, received a pardon from Trump on April 23 after pleading guilty to tax crimes months earlier. According to The New York Times, Walczak's pardon application highlighted Fago's political activity, and Fago attended a pricey fundraiser for the Trump super PAC shortly before Walczak received a pardon. Fago's $1 million donation exceeds all of her previous individual donations to GOP campaigns combined, according to Federal Election Commission records. Billionaire GOP megadonor Jeff Yass, who donated $16 million to the group, was the Trump super PAC's top donor. After sending MAGA Inc. $1 million days before Trump's inauguration, Yass gave another $15 million in early March. His trading firm holds a significant stake in the parent company of the Chinese social media giant TikTok, and Trump has repeatedly delayed implementing legislation banning the app in America until it could be sold to an American owner. The second-largest donation in the new report, $13.75 million, came from a nonprofit group called Securing American Greatness, Inc. The nonprofit popped up in 2024 and ran ads on Trump's behalf ahead of last year's election, and it doesn't have to publicly disclose its donors. Kelcy Warren, the head of energy company Energy Transfer LP, gave the Trump super PAC another $12.5 million, while cryptocurrency firms Foris DAX and gave $10 million and $5 million, respectively. Elon Musk also chipped in $5 million to MAGA Inc. on June 27, when he also gave the same amounts to the main Republican super PACs involved in House and Senate races. Musk spent heavily to help Trump win in 2024 and joined his White House. But just weeks before his donation to the pro-Trump group, Musk left the White House while criticizing Trump's signature tax cuts and spending bill and while attacking the president for his ties to convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein. Kelly Loeffler, who is now a member of Trump's Cabinet as head of the Small Business Administration, gave $2.5 million to MAGA Inc. on June 25. Her husband, Intercontinental Exchange CEO Jeffrey Sprecher, gave another $2.5 million. Jared Isaacman, the billionaire entrepreneur Trump tapped to lead NASA before pulling his nomination in early June, gave the group $1 million on the final day of June. And Warren Stephens, the Arkansas-based businessman whom Trump tapped as his ambassador to the United Kingdom, gave $1 million. Other prominent donors include: Venture capitalists Ben Horowitz and Marc Andreesen, who each gave $3 million. Ronald Lauder, an heir to the Estée Lauder cosmetics and pro-Israel activist, who gave $5 million. Billionaire businessman Timothy Mellon, who gave almost $2 million. Lynsi Snyder-Ellingson, the president of In-N-Out Burger, who gave $2 million. William Ford, an investment CEO who also serves on the board of TikTok parent company ByteDance, who gave $1.25 million. Antonio Gracias, a private equity CEO who served in a high-ranking, volunteer role with Trump's "Department of Government Efficiency," who gave $1 million. Dallas Cowboys owner Jerry Jones, who gave $1 million. early Bitcoin investors, who each gave about $500,000.
Politico
2 hours ago
- Politico
Trump goes after Susan Collins for her voting record
The simmering dispute over the FBI's future headquarters derailed Senate efforts Thursday night to launch floor debate on the legislation that funds the agency, as well as the departments of Commerce and Justice, NASA and science programs. Sen. Chris Van Hollen objected Thursday night to including the bill in a larger package of funding measures. The Maryland Democrat demanded that the Senate agree to adopt language that would require the FBI to meet a specific security threshold for its headquarters, as the Trump administration keeps the agency in downtown Washington instead of relocating it to the suburban Maryland campus previously selected after a yearslong competition. But Sen. Jerry Moran (R-Kansas), who chairs the funding panel that handles the bill, shot down that request on the Senate floor Thursday night, after the dispute over the FBI headquarters already snagged committee action on the bill. Tearing up as he spoke on the floor, Moran said he knows 'no path forward' that would allow Van Hollen's amendment. 'Our appropriations process is fragile,' he said. If Van Hollen, who serves as the ranking member on the Commerce-Justice-Science Subcommittee, hadn't objected, his amendment would have been teed up for a vote. But Van Hollen didn't want to take the risk that the language would not have been adopted. 'That is a simple request that I would have thought all of us could stand behind,' Van Hollen said, 'making sure that the new headquarters of the men and women of the FBI meets the security requirements that we and they have set out.' Senate appropriators already killed another amendment Van Hollen proposed in committee, which would have barred the Trump administration from dipping into a $1.4 billion construction account for anything besides relocating the FBI to the previously selected site. After the proposal was initially adopted, the committee later voted to strike the language because so many Republicans were threatening to tank the underlying bill if it rebuked Trump on the headquarters decision. 'We did it because the president of the United States was going to throw a fit if that provision stayed on, that's why people reversed the position,' Van Hollen said on the Senate floor Thursday night. 'And we shouldn't make our decisions out of fear about what somebody in the White House is going to do, because that distorts the entire process here in the United States Senate.' Moran's Thursday evening request was to tie together four bills to fund the government for the fiscal year that begins Oct. 1. Those bills would collectively fund the departments of Veterans Affairs and Agriculture, as well as military construction projects, the operations of Congress and the FDA. The Kansas Republican touted that those four measures had made it through the full Senate Appropriations Committee with bipartisan support and 'in some instances, unanimously.'
