“#Kill Bill de Blasio’s white-elephant ferry now”
The mayor’s a huge fan, but he’s gone in just 14 months; no successor will feel any real ownership of the ferries, and cash is going to be scarce.
As it is, the system is burning tens of millions of dollars in subsidies — $53 million from the de Blasio-controlled city Economic Development Corp. last year alone.
That’s not the only waste this mayor is funding with the EDC: A few years ago it was sending more than $100 million a year in profits from its investments to the general fund; now it’s just $28 million or so.
As state Sen. John Liu (D-Queens), a former city comptroller, put it, “The problem is that it’s not part of the budgeting process; it’s a unilateral decision on the part of the mayor, just to keep one of his pet projects afloat.”
De Blasio insists the ferry is a boon for all New Yorkers. Launching it in 2017, he even hailed it as “a new day for our city.”
But it’s not a major new commuter service, certainly not for working-class folks. The EDC’s own ridership surveys show that higher-income commuters are the main beneficiaries of the highly subsidized rides. Most passengers use it for sightseeing.
EDC analysts found that 64 percent are white, while riders’ median annual income falls in the $75,000 to $99,000 range. And the city burns an average $9.34 in subsidies for each fare.
Save this money for teachers, cops or Yiddish-speaking contact tracers: The public can’t afford any more failed pet projects.
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