Transit-supporting pols rallied in Midtown hours after the Trump administration ordered the Adams administration to stop building the 34th Street busway — and the transit lovefest even featured an appearance by the commissioner of the city Department of Transportation who is capitulating to the federal tantrum.
DOT Commissioner Ydanis Rodriguez said at the hastily called Midtown rally late on Friday that he wants to move ahead eventually, but did not lay out a strategy.
"We are confident that the design complies with all applicable federal laws and regulations," he said. "There's not another city in the whole nation that has the best planning department as we have in the Department of Transportation in New York City. We have a commitment that we will defend this critical project."
Rodriguez's promise to "defend" the project after announcing that he would, in fact, halt it until the dust and legal battles settle, didn't satisfy anyone.
"Why do you continue to bend the knee [to Trump]," state Sen. Brad Hoylman-Sigal said, addressing the Adams administration. "We should not be pausing the busway. We should be installing the busway without any delay."
He openly mocked an Oct. 16 letter sent from the Federal Highway Administration to the state and city DOTs that claimed the city failed to properly notify the federal government about its plans to install a busway similar to the existing, and successful, one on 14th Street. The Trump administration letter cites unspecified concerns about the movement of trucks and emergency vehicles along the corridor, though trucks are not banned on the busway, and emergency vehicles are not inhibited.
"The letter from the federal government is not worth the paper, it's printed on," Hoylman-Sigel said.
Others also cited the letter as evidence that Trump is simply waging war on New York City.
"That letter is a thinly veiled action, yet again, by the Trump administration to inflict harm and vengeance on the city of New York," said Assembly Member Micah Lasher. "And the only way that those fascists win is when we acquiesce, and that's true on big issues and small issues, issues of great moral consequence and issues of operational improvement like this busway. And the state and the city should move forward with speed, just like the speed that this busway gives to this city."
He specifically condemned FHWA Administrator Sean McMaster, who also opposes congestion pricing and has led the federal assault on the traffic-reducing policy.
Even regular people showed up to complain that the president has no business blocking New York City from improving bus service.
"I am outraged that the Trump administration is trying to turn our 'Miracle on 34th Street' into more misery on 34th Street," said Chris Sanders, a Midtown resident and bus rider "We're not going back to gridlock. We're not going back to exhaust. We're not going back to a system that punishes people who rely on it the most. And we will not be pushed around. Get out of the bus lane, get out of New York City."
And Betsy Plum, executive director of Riders Alliance, reminded the president that if he really cares about working people, as he claims, he would get out of the way and let New York City improve bus service.
"Every minute that a bus is stuck in traffic is a minute stolen from a working New Yorker," she said. "So it is our message today to the president is to get out of the bus lane. You don't decide how New Yorkers move. And to our mayor and to our governor: you need to get the red paint out and deliver on the promise of a busway."
The Adams administration, of course, famously paused the long-planned busway back in July. At the time, the Trump-friendly mayor offered no reason for the pause.
The mayor restored the busway about a month later as part of a rezoning deal that would build more housing in Midtown, another priority of the mayor.
The off-again/on-again flip-flop predated an initial letter from FHWA, on Sept. 8, that raised federal qualms about the busway. It is unclear if the DOT ever answered that letter, but the agency did respond to the FHWA's Oct. 16 letter, saying it would pause the busway for now.
"We are confident that the design complies with all applicable federal laws and regulations, and we will work with the federal government to advance this critical project," DOT spokesman Vin Barone said last week.
