Andrew Cuomo

How does Andrew Cuomo plan to pay for the new Tappan Zee Bridge? The state isn't saying -- and it isn't letting the public weigh in, either.

State troopers driving in Westchester County for Governor Andrew Cuomo's security detail injured two pedestrians in separate crashes over the last two days, according to a report by the Associated Press. The AP report, via Capitol Tonight:

While predicting that work on the new Tappan Zee Bridge could start as early as this summer, incoming Thruway Authority executive director Tom Madison revealed at confirmation hearings yesterday that financing for the new bridge is still very much a work in progress.

After Andrew Cuomo's State of the State address last week, Streetsblog looked a little closer at the governor's plan to build the nation's largest convention center at the Aqueduct racino in Ozone Park, Queens. Counting on a huge convention center near JFK airport to deliver economic development seemed like a dubious proposition, but the other side of the plan -- converting the Javits Center site on the West Side of Manhattan into a mixed-use neighborhood -- has a lot to recommend it.

While congratulating Andrew Cuomo on his first-year achievements, Nicole Gelinas of the Manhattan Institute thinks yesterday's State of the State address was pretty weak. In her Post column, Gelinas derides two of Cuomo's signature economic initiatives -- conventions and casinos -- as strikingly out of touch.

Jay Walder may have exaggerated when he claimed this week to have put the city transit system "back on firm financial footing" during his stint as MTA chairman, but he did show remarkable reserve in not letting loose on Albany for undercutting rail and bus service at every turn. Unfortunately the media failed to fill in the blanks.

Governor Andrew Cuomo focused heavily on jobs and the economy in his 2012 State of the State address this afternoon. He also devoted a few minutes to his infrastructure initiatives. Yet, despite serving as chief executive of the state where residents depend the most on transit service and transit infrastructure for access to jobs, Cuomo spent about as much time discussing the MTA as the 1953 Corvette.

New York City transit riders might have taken some small measure of satisfaction from the sight of Carl Kruger resigning from the State Senate earlier this week. Pleading guilty to federal corruption charges, Kruger became the third member of the "Fare Hike Four" -- the gang who killed a 2009 plan to fund transit by putting a price on NYC's free bridges -- to exit Albany in disgrace. Two others, Pedro Espada and Hiram Monserrate, were run out of town by voters and their fellow legislators under clouds of scandal. Ruben Diaz, Sr. is the only one who remains, reduced to irrelevance now that marriage equality is the law of the land and the Republicans control the Senate.

When it comes to transit, Andrew Cuomo seems to see only the costs and never the benefits.