Silver Sharply Criticizes Downsizing Of Fulton Street Transit Center In Letter To MTA Executive Director

Assembly Speaker says transit hub is already years behind schedule, labels downsizing plan a "slap in the face" to Downtown community

Assembly Speaker says transit hub is already years behind schedule, labels downsizing plan a "slap in the face" to Downtown community

Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver today called on the Metropolitan Transportation Authority (MTA) to restore the scope of the Fulton Street Transit Center and include full funding for the project in the five-year capital plan that the agency will be releasing shortly.

A plan to dramatically downsize the transit center was revealed by the MTA earlier this week.

"The MTA has once again arrived at a conclusion without ever granting those who live and work in the Downtown area the courtesy of engaging them in discussion about how to meet their needs," Silver wrote in a letter to MTA Executive Director Elliot Sander. "This proposal is another slap in the face to a community that has worked tirelessly to re-emerge as a vibrant center after the terrorist attacks of September 11 - a community that had expected to be using the Transit Center by now."

"The plans for the Transit Center have been repeatedly downsized since the original announcement and the residents and workers of Downtown have patiently stood by," Silver continued. "However, they cannot be told that their patience will be rewarded by further delays and only a shadow of what had originally been envisioned. They should not be the victims of the MTA's continued poor planning which has resulted in the delays and rising costs over time."

Silver noted that the MTA is required to submit a new five-year capital plan in the coming weeks, and said that he expected the plan to include the Fulton Street Transit Center "fully funded, complete and at a scale that resembles what has been repeatedly promised."

Original plans for the Fulton Street Transit Center included renovations to the underground connections between the 2, 3, 4, 5, A, C and R/W lines, as well as an above-ground station with a 110-foot-tall glass and steel dome at Fulton Street and Broadway. More than 140 business owners were displaced for the project.

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Click here to view a copy of the letter from Speaker Silver to MTA Executive Elliot Sander.