A Twenty-First-Century Subway

This chapter explores how the Metropolitan Transportation Authority (MTA) relied on debt to pay for 65 percent of its 2000–2004 capital program, compared to 37 percent in the previous program. When negotiating the MTA's $17.1 billion five-year capital program, Governor George Pataki and the legislative leaders agreed to place a $3.8 billion bond referendum on the November 2000 ballot. The referendum failed, but instead of eliminating funding for the Second Avenue subway, Pataki wanted the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey to help pay for the new subway by selling off some of its extensive real estate holdings, most notably the World Trade Center in Lower Manhattan. At the same time, the governor was turning over the reins of the MTA from Virgil Conway to a real estate developer named Peter Kalikow, who would be the first MTA chair to champion the Second Avenue subway since William Ronan in the early 1970s. In early 2001, the MTA said it would begin construction on the Second Avenue subway in 2004. On September 11, however, building a Second Avenue subway was not a priority to anyone, anywhere. Nevertheless, the aftermath of the September 11 attacks highlighted how the subway had prevented the city's economy from collapsing.