Photo: Mayor de Blasio last Thursday chatted up an MTA worker as he and fellow leaders took to the subway for national Stand Up for Transportation Day. Photo Courtesy of Rob Bennett/Mayoral Photography Office.
Mayor Bill de Blasio last Thursday morning joined U.S. Sen. Charles Schumer (D-N.Y.), Partnership for New York City President and CEO Kathryn Wylde, and CITY Department of Transportation Commissioner Polly Trottenberg on the R train to City Hall for national Stand Up for Transportation Day to call on Congress to pass long-term legislation that increases investment in transit, roads, and bridges.
With the federal transportation bill set to expire on May 31, de Blasio and a broad coalition of bipartisan elected officials, business and labor leaders, and many others, representing over 150 cities and spanning nearly all 50 states for a day that includes events across the country to push Washington to fully fund cities’ transportation infrastructure.
Since 2009, according to the administration, federal funding for transportation infrastructure has remained at the same level, and has come in unreliable short-term patches. The lack of a long-term federal funding bill creates local funding uncertainty, de Blasio said, which jeopardizes transportation project planning and discourages private sector investment. Such uncertainty threatens to stifle local business investment and job creation in the Big Apple, de Blasio added.
“Our transit, roads, and bridges are a lifeline for every New Yorker—and every American—connecting those who need it most to jobs, school, and economic mobility,” de Blasio said. “Yet years of flat funding means we continue to fall behind. This broad coalition of bipartisan mayors, business leaders, and many others is making clear: the status quo is unacceptable. Congress must truly invest in our future and pass a long-term bill that increases funding for our transit, roads, and bridges, and gives cities more control of the dollars.”
Schumer added, “If Congress fails to act, it could likely delay hundreds of infrastructure projects across New York State and would have devastating consequences for our infrastructure, our economy, and for middle-class jobs.”
De Blasio indicated that he will also join mayors from around the country in Washington, DC to lobby Congress the week of May 11.
By Michael V. Cusenza michael@theforumnewsgroup.com
