State legislative power politics hurt MTA capital plan

Neither Assembly Speaker Carl Heastie nor State Senate Majority Leader Andrea Stewart-Cousins relies on the Long Island Rail Road to commute to work or travel into Manhattan for entertainment. But from their perches in the Bronx and Yonkers, respectively, both should understand the importance of public transit.

Yet, the two legislative leaders gave the region's riders an awful holiday season gift — a last-minute Christmas Eve rejection of the Metropolitan Transportation Authority's 2025-2029 capital plan, one day before the $68 billion proposal would have been automatically approved. The move reeked of politics, an apparent toying with fellow Democrat and capital plan supporter Gov. Kathy Hochul, in the wake of the back-and-forth over new Manhattan tolls. Such games leave Long Islanders — and residents regionwide — the real losers.

Heastie and Stewart-Cousins blocked the plan through the MTA's Capital Program Review Board, an opaque panel of gubernatorial and New York City mayoral appointees. The CPRB has been used as a political tool before, most notably with the LIRR's Third Track; in 2017, then-Senate Majority Leader John Flanagan nearly torpedoed the project by threatening to have his board representative obstruct a capital plan amendment that included the project. Only after the MTA offered community benefits to local mayors and state senators did Flanagan say yes.

Heastie and Stewart-Cousins haven't specified what they want in exchange for their support. The leaders stayed silent for 88 days after the MTA board approved the capital plan, asking no questions and voicing no concerns. In their veto letter, Heastie and Stewart-Cousins emphasized the capital plan isn't fully funded yet. That much is true. Questions about the source of funds and the mix of federal, state and city investment are important. But a rejection — which likely will make securing funding more difficult — isn't the answer. It hinders the MTA's ability to immediately seek federal dollars, which might be tougher to get under the Trump administration. Heastie and Stewart-Cousins said a capital plan deficit can be "solved" in state budget negotiations, but relying on that murky process is a recipe for failure.

The leaders' rejection puts at risk accessibility improvements, station upgrades, new train cars, and promised dual locomotives that switch between electric and diesel power, a particular concern for LIRR riders. Work to keep switches, signals and tracks in good repair remains up in the air. Larger efforts, like electrification, can't move forward. Just days after the review board's move, the MTA again delayed its planned acquisition of the Lawrence Aviation property in Port Jefferson Station, where the agency wants to build a rail yard.

The MTA has significant challenges in managing projects and finances and, as state Comptroller Thomas DiNapoli recently pointed out, in consolidating purchasing and procurements. The legislature's oversight powers remain key. But that doesn't mean Heastie and Stewart-Cousins should stop critical capital improvements from moving forward without sufficient explanation. They must put riders first and clear the tracks ahead.