I think this is something we all can agree on. That proposal is so silly and I do not think Vornado who shelled out millions on renovating 2 Penn is going to like the idea of tacky add-ons being affixed to their building.
I wouldn’t doubt that the people behind that proposal paid a bunch of people to give their plan more traction. Many far nicer and more serious proposals exist that should get the extra attention but they don’t and that sucks.
Everyone’s afraid to contradict Donald at this point.
Seems he was involved:
In 2019, Byford helped push state lawmakers to sign off on congestion pricing, which launched earlier this year, tolling drivers who enter Manhattan south of 60th Street and directing the funds to the MTA’s construction department.
source: Daddy’s home: Andy Byford to make NYC return for Penn Station remake, White House says - Gothamist
In any case, I am sick and tired of seeing the “Train Daddy” moniker. I can’t imagine that anyone he knows would ever call him that. I’m sure he hates it. It’s like with Jim Mattis. No one except the president called him “Mad Dog.”
That’s amazing. Considering he worked in London, which has congestion pricing since the early 2000s, he may have had experience with their highly successful program and could give advice about implementing it in NYC.
Why are people so excited about this guy? Just about anyone with good intentions who has collaborated with this regime (including its previous iteration between 2017 and 2021) has been in due time ridiculed and forced out (or alternative has quit out of frustration). One example is the aforementioned Jim Mattis, but there are countless others.
I would be extremely surprised if Byford is still associated with this project at the end of 2025.
Nothing is going to happen until 2029. Ludicrous to think the convicted felon in chief and the Real World dude care about rail transit.
Exactly.
There is some weird religious fascination with Byford bordering on a cult.
This guy is not the mashiach!
If you look at his past achievements when he ran MTA you will see why he is greatly admired. Like Bratton before him he was getting results and those above him got jealous. Typical for NYC.
Isn’t this an occasion to insist on the “past results do not guarantee future performance” disclaimers that we see in personal-injury lawyers’ ads on the subway?
OK, this Byford guy was successful in getting things done while managing Cuomo’s ego. But for all his faults, Cuomo is not a nihilist. He genuinely believes in infrastructure and in construction. Byford’s new boss believes in the opposite of construction, which is destruction. I really don’t see how Byford’s hiring is going to do any wonders for Penn Station or NYC. He will be up against insurmountable odds.
Maybe. But Byford is qualified, and that’s a good thing.
Plus he has Donald’s blessing for the time being. I think Hochul will stay out of his hair.
https://www.nytimes.com/2025/05/23/nyregion/andy-byford-penn-station.html
Reasons are manifold, but this article does a good job of making it clear that the key to his success is contained within your own question @Waymond_Womano …i.e. excepting Mario Cuomo, everyone at every agency wants to work with this guy!
Implementing mass transit in an autocratic country is a snap, but in a republic loaded with jurisdictions and fiefdoms, winning support in the balkans of bureaucracy is more than half the battle.
Plus let’s not forget Cuomo did everything in his power to stop the De Blasio plan to develop Sunnyside Yards.
Mario Cuomo’s political career ended in 1994.
LOL sorry, I meant Andrew aka Mr. Muscle Car. I’m currently doing research for a filmmaker for a Mario Cuomo project, so had him on the brain. Mario has been dead for some time!
They need to let the Grand Penn Community Alliance proposal die already. Its one of the worst ones that doesn’t fix anything. Its astonishing how more attractive proposals get less attention than this one.
Vishaan Chakrabarti’s design has been the most superior BY FAR for Penn Station.
Reminds me of Lincoln center, in a good way.