streetsblog-nyc-logo-alt

streetsblog-nyc-logo-dark

lede_post_card_default

lede_post_card_stacked

lede_post_card_featured_post

lede_post_card_featured_post_3:2

lede_post_card_featured_post_1:1

lede_post_card_featured_posts_hero

lede_post_card_featured_posts_hero_3:2

lede_post_card_featured_posts_hero_1:1

lede_post_card_featured_posts_sidebar

lede_post_card_highlighted_post

lede_post_card_horizontal_a

lede_post_card_horizontal_c

lede_post_card_related_post

lede_post_card_square

lede_article_featured_16x9

lede_article_featured_16x9_full_width

lede_article_featured_3x2

lede_article_featured_3x2_full_width

lede_article_featured_1x1

lede_article_featured_1x1_full_width

lede_article_featured_flexible

lede_article_featured_flexible_full_width

lede_article_content

lede_article_content_wide_width

lede_article_content_full_width

lede_byline_avatar_post_card

lede_byline_avatar_highlight

lede_profile_coral_avatar

lede_logo

lede_logo_banner

lede_logo_footer_banner

lede_logo_simple_header

lede_sponsorship_logo

lede_sponsorship_logo_river_card

lede_sponsorship_homepage_card_logo

lede_sponsorship_homepage_card

Awesome Categories

Streetsblog Basics

Streetsblog Network

Top Categories

Covering the fight for sustainable cities

streetsblog-nyc-logo

Streetsblog New York City

Donate to Streetsblog

SB NYC Initials 16-9 crop

Support Streetsblog

<p>Before becoming Albany Bureau Chief in late 2025, Austin C. Jefferson was a state politics reporter for <i>City &amp; State NY</i>, covering state government, elections and major legislative debates. His reporting has also appeared in the Daily Freeman, Chronogram Magazine and The Legislative Gazette. Having grown up in the Hudson Valley, he&#8217;s always happy to argue about where Upstate New York truly begins.</p>


austin jefferson square headshot

Austin C. Jefferson

NYS Capitol Building

Streetsies 2025

Streetsies 2025: The Worst From Albany

Streetsies 2025: The Best from Albany

<div class="c-message_kit__blocks c-message_kit__blocks--rich_text">
<div class="c-message__message_blocks c-message__message_blocks--rich_text" data-qa="message-text">
<div class="p-block_kit_renderer" data-qa="block-kit-renderer">
<div class="p-block_kit_renderer__block_wrapper p-block_kit_renderer__block_wrapper--first">
<div class="p-rich_text_block" dir="auto">
<div class="p-rich_text_section">Nolan Hicks is a longtime reporter in New York City, who focuses on investigative stories. He spent six years at The New York Post where his stories prompted the MTA to redesign parts of the Second Avenue Subway&#8217;s East Harlem extension and helped uncover the LIRR overtime scandal. As a contributor to Curbed/New York Magazine, he dove into Amtrak&#8217;s failing power grid, NJ Transit&#8217;s reliability crisis and why it costs the MTA $100 million to put elevators into stations. He has also worked at the New York Daily News, Austin American-Statesman and San Antonio Express-News.  He joined Streetsblog in January 2025.</div>
</div>
</div>
</div>
</div>
</div>


IMG_5905

Nolan Hicks

crowded subway

Kathy Hochul

Hochul Vetoes Bill Mandating Two Operators on Most Subway Trains

34th_St_5th_6th_Avs_Mid_18

Buses

Mamdani’s Free Buses Plan Faces ‘Uphill Battle’ in Albany

Bus-16-person with map

Rural Transit