Nadler, New York City Local Elected Officials, Community Members Rally Against The Trump Takeover Of Penn Station

In new letter to DOT Secretary Duffy, leaders demand answers for the secret, politically driven process that resulted in the appointment of Penn Transformation Partners as the "master developer" for the Penn Station renovation

NEW YORK, N.Y. - Today, Congressman Jerrold Nadler (NY-12), Manhattan Borough President Brad Hoylman-Sigal, NYC Comptroller Mark Levine, Assemblymembers Tony Simone (District 75) and Micah Lasher (District 69), State Senators Liz Krueger (District 28) and Erik Bottcher (District 47), and New York City Councilmember Carl Wilson (District 3) railed against Donald Trump's attempt to make New Yorkers pay for his takeover of Penn Station.

"The Trump administration has weaponized the Department of Transportation against New Yorkers in a blatant attempt to steal money, land, and power," said the lawmakers. "The Penn Station redevelopment process has broken every precedent and trampled on the rights of New York City residents and the hundreds of thousands of riders who use Penn Station every day. There has been no transparency on the overall cost, who will pay this unknown price, no input from the MTA or key stakeholders, and no public proposal over which land will be used and for what purposes now or later. New Yorkers' voices have been muted from the discussion happening between billionaires behind closed doors.

The lawmakers continued, "Additionally, the legislation moving through Congress right now-the McDowell and Moulton Amendment-is a blatant attempt to advance the Trump agenda, hurting New Yorkers in the process. The amendment strips away local control and hands broad authority to a Trump-controlled Amtrak and his real estate developer friends. These entities, all of whom have a significant financial stake in this project, would have the ability to permanently reshape land use around Penn Station while exempting themselves from New York's laws, weakening our tax base, and bypassing our communities. Without any discussion or negotiation, Amtrak and big real estate would now be exempt from local zoning laws and New York City real estate taxes. The current process has already shown a disregard for New Yorkers. If the McDowell-Moulton Amendment is adopted, New Yorkers' homes and hard-earned dollars will be up for grabs by Donald Trump and the billionaires and multinational corporations he handed this project to. This is an infringement on local authority and New Yorkers' pocketbooks."

"We represent Penn Station, the riders who rely on the transportation it facilitates, and the community members who live here. We will never stop fighting to make sure their voices are heard, and their hard-earned dollars are protected from corrupt efforts to fulfill Donald Trump's fantasies for Penn Station and New York City," said the lawmakers.

"Before anything else, Penn Station's rebuild should save commuters time and money," said Riders Alliance Policy & Communications Director Danny Pearlstein. "A secret selection process and legislative land grab are the opposite of the transparency and accountability riders deserve. We must have reassurance that riders' needs aren't taking a back seat to private ambition. With so much at stake for millions of people far beyond the West Side of Manhattan, it's essential that New York leaders have a seat at the table to protect what belongs to riders and advance our needs throughout the renovation."

"My New York City neighborhood, including all of Block 780, should never have been under the threat of destruction by former governor Cuomo or the Amtrak, MTA and NJ Transit Railroads and their allies including the RPA for an unneeded, horrendously expensive, outdated and inefficient terminal track southern expansion of Penn Station. The case for this destruction of a vibrant New York City neighborhood was never made as industry standard Rail Traffic Controller dynamic modeling simulations were never performed. These simulations should have been used to determine if through running plans could meet future capacity needs within the existing footprint of Penn Station before an expansion was even considered by the Railroads and their allies. Such simulations have or are being performed for every other capacity expansion proposed for Penn Station including Penn Access and the Empire Corridor. No government agency - federal, state or local - should ever be able to demolish an entire neighborhood and waste so much taxpayer money to build an expansion train station when these simulations haven't been performed. We have and continue to ask the DOT and others for transparency on this issue. If the Railroads have performed such simulations, it is time for them to stop wordsmithing objections to their production and share the results with the public. If Andy Byford and the Penn Transformation Partners are sincere in their promises to see our neighborhood spared we hope they will see to it that RTC simulations are performed and the matter of the need for a southern expansion of Penn Station is finally put to rest," said Eugene Sinigalliano, 251 West 30th Street Residential Tenants Association.

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