Friday’s Headlines: Car-Brained Governor Edition

Governor, your car is a powerful vehicle.

Even though he ran the MTA, disgraced ex-Gov. Andrew Cuomo rarely if ever rode the subway during his decade-plus tenure as the state’s executive.

Cuomo reportedly resisting entreaties from his advisers to take public transit with everyday New Yorkers. “The image of a ‘passive straphanger’ doesn’t align with the governor’s can-do persona,” Dana Rubinstein wrote in Politico in 2018 amid widespread public frustration over the state of the subway system. “He’s smart enough to know that if he showed up on a subway platform at this point, he’d get his ass kicked,” one insider told Rubinstein.

Apparently that mentality persist seven years later as Cuomo campaigns for the 2025 Democratic nomination for mayor. The ex-gov rolled up to an endorsement meeting with Teamsters Local 237 on Thursday in what appeared to be a late-model Dodge Charger 392 Scat Pack.

Cuomo, who supposedly lives in a swanky luxury building in the Sutton Place section of Manhattan, parked in a truck loading-only spot right in front of the union’s headquarters near Union Square and strolled in for his meeting. It’s not clear if some unfortunate staffer moved the car to a legal spot after the arrival photo op ended. (Streetsblog has not been shared the ex-governor’s schedule and arrived at the scene after the confab concluded. We did run Cuomo’s plate; it was clean.)

Cuomo crafted his “car guy” image while he was trying to cultivate support among car-dependent suburbanites during his three terms in Albany. But he’s running for mayor now — and the vast majority of city commuters rely on public transit to get around, especially to, from and around Manhattan.

Four years ago, Eric Adams made a point to campaign underground as he touted his career as a transit cop and campaign pledge to rein in subway crime. Now Cuomo, who described “the anxiety rises up in your chest as you’re walking down into the subway” in his 18-minute-long campaign launch video, is running on a similar message — but when was the last time the longtime Westchester County resident experienced the city’s transit for himself?

Not unrelated: On Thursday Cuomo also insisted the city’s economy is too fragile for congestion pricing, Gothamist reported — disregarding several economic indicators that point to the continued growth even after the new toll’s launch. As Streetsblog has reported, foot traffic, subway ridership, retail sales and restaurant reservations are all up since the toll launched on Jan. 5 (and Broadway is booming). At this point, any Democrat campaigning against congestion pricing is an enemy of the “everyday New Yorkers” that they name-check every chance they get.

Governor, let’s hope Jalopnik’s story is in your clip packet today. Its title says it all: “Everyone Who Claims Congestion Pricing Is Elitist Or Bad For The Working Poor Is Lying To You.”

In other news:

• Harry Siegel asked if New Yorkers buy the ex-governor’s claim the city is in crisis. (Vital City)
• Watch: Council Speaker Adrienne Adams discuss on her run for mayor, taking credit for the “City of Yes” zoning changes, yet not mentioning them by name. (NY1)
• The Times wonders if Mayor Adams is even running for re-election.
• Central Park is getting the first of several redesigns of its park drives this spring. Hopefully, the placard perp zone — once a bridle path — gets returned back to the people. (Gothamist)
• Manhattan pols are pitching high-rising housing for the area around Penn Station. (Crain’s)
• NYPD arrested the alleged hit-and-run driver who killed a moped rider while fleeting a traffic stop in November. (Daily News, Streetsblog, with a street-safety focus)
• Move over New Yorkers, U.S. DOT Secretary Sean Duffy is picking on another Democratic Party-run city — Washington, D.C. (NY Times)