Jim Brennan
Streetsblog Basics
Three Ways the MTA’s Finances Are Severely Screwed
The MTA may be cash-strapped, but it has even deeper problems than that.
August 24, 2018
Jim Brennan’s Transpo $ Plan: Gas Tax, Income Tax, and Forced City Funding
A bill from Assembly Member Jim Brennan, who chairs the Committee on Corporations, Authorities and Commissions, would create a transportation finance authority to collect new taxes and help fund the MTA as well as roads, bridges, and transit statewide. It's the first major transportation funding proposal to come out of Albany this year.
April 10, 2015
Assembly Members: We Have to Stop Cuomo’s $40 Million Transit Raid
Yesterday, a group of Assembly members and advocates took Governor Cuomo to task for the $40 million transit raid in his budget proposal. The legislators unveiled a letter [PDF] urging Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver to restore the funds in the legislative budget, due for a vote on March 12.
March 3, 2014
Who, Me? Cuomo Vetoes Lockbox Bill, Denies Raiding Transit
Hours after the MTA announced that it would be scaling back planned fare hikes in part because of better-than-expected tax receipts, Governor Cuomo vetoed two transparency bills designed to discourage Albany from siphoning away those very same dedicated transit funds. The governor capped his veto with a brazen denial: Despite getting caught raiding the MTA's budget earlier this year, Cuomo insisted that he's done no such thing.
November 14, 2013
Jim Brennan Reintroduces $4.5 Billion Bond Measure for Transit and Roads
When New Yorkers go to the polls less than a year from now, they'll definitely be voting for a new mayor, and they might also be voting for billions in state-backed transportation funding, if a measure put forward by Assembly Member James Brennan clears Albany.
December 19, 2012
Brennan Proposes $4.5B Transpo Bond for Next MTA Capital Plan
With the next three years of the MTA capital plan officially moving forward -- even without dedicated funding from Albany -- it's time to start talking about 2015. That's when the next MTA capital plan starts. And distant as it may seem, on the political calendar it's just around the corner.
April 6, 2012
Cuomo “Eviscerated” Transit Lockbox, Says Bill’s Sponsor
Governor Andrew Cuomo and the leadership of the state legislature added insult to injury last night, neutering the transit lockbox bill even after they put hundreds of millions in dedicated transit revenue at risk. While lockbox language did make it into the omnibus legislation passed last night, the governor's office stripped out the meaningful provisions and added a giant loophole.
December 8, 2011
Brennan Drops Plan for More Atlantic Yards Parking, Will Push Transit Instead
Assembly Member James Brennan has abandoned the idea of implementing additional parking minimums at Atlantic Yards. That plan would have led more people to drive to the arena while failing to keep on-street spaces open for area residents.
July 12, 2011
Jim Brennan Wants to Force Ratner to Build More Atlantic Yards Parking
Could the state legislature get in on the costly, congestion-inducing parking minimum game? And could they do it at the site of Brooklyn's biggest transit hub? Under a proposal by Assembly Member James Brennan, that's exactly what would happen.
July 7, 2011