During the speech, Cuomo suggested that one way to get more funding for the ailing transit system would be to offer companies the opportunity to sponsor subway stations for an annual fee. That money could go toward “enhanced maintenance, additional security, and aesthetic features.” — Curbed NY
The practice of letting corporations put their stamp on the subway has precedents— in 2009, the MTA sold the naming rights for Atlantic Ave–Pacific St station in Brooklyn to Barclays, which according to NY Times, gets MTA $200,000 per year for the next two decades.
However, many crucial aspects of Cuomo's proposal, like maintenance of stations, are still unclear. MTA chair Joe Lhota said that the details of the plan are still being worked out.
It’s easy to see a corporation fighting to put its name on Union Square or a similarly well-trafficked station; but will stations deep in the outer boroughs then go ignored? Similar issues play out in city parks, where those with deep-pocketed donors—the High Line, Central Park, etc.—are well-maintained, while those without … well, not so much.
During that same speech, the governor also announced that the new Tappan Zee Bridge—renamed the Mario Cuomo Bridge will have its grand opening (presumably with a flashy light show) on August 25.
neoliberal
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privatized infrastructure. Imagine the consequences of companies "sponsoring" stations with the implicit understanding they are but the rights to access at peak hours.
Could have sworn we already tried this whole private subway thing...
Maybe if the MTA stopped buying expensive clocks and touch screens that play Facebook videos they could afford to repair tracks and upgrade signals.
Economics is in practice an ideology used to benefit a few at the expense of many.
neoliberal
Lets see how open Cuomo is to corporate sponsorship when Fox News, Smith & Wesson, Chick-fil-A, or Hobby Lobby roll up with truck loads of cash. Cuomo will be the first one to get in front of a news camera to do his outraged liberal performance.
Cuomo is no liberal.
https://takingnote.blogs.nytim...
This is what a Liberal is in the United States in 2017.
If they finally install safety partitions along the tracks, I don't care if it gets renamed to BP Deepwater Horizon Metro System. Falling onto subway tracks is a nightmare that should have been left behind in the god damn Gilded Age.
That is a completely separate issue than the topic of this article.
I'm waiting for Musk to start advertising the Hyperloop in the subway.
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