The nightmare continues.

The Second Avenue Subway has become one of the great boondoggles of New York City construction history.

After decades of planning, billions of dollars committed, sidewalks and businesses disrupted -- the MTA wants to delay this project again?

This is an insult to neighborhood residents, commuters, taxpayers – and especially small business owners.  Storefronts all over Manhattan are vacant because of the recession.  How can small businesses along Second Avenue be expected to survive month after month, and now year after year, blocked by monumental construction?  Riders are paying significantly more because of the recent fare increase.  Where are those funds going?

I call on the MTA Inspector General to open an immediate investigation of what has caused this latest delay.  The people and businesses of our city deserve not an endless list of excuses and rising costs, but an actual subway that will reduce crowding on the Lexington Avenue lines and provide service to East Side residents who have not had trains for decades.

Two days ago, the Government Accountability Office noted that New York State would be receiving approximately $4.4 Billion in fiscal year 2010 and that the Governor’s office plans to reveal his strategy for the use of those funds this coming November. In addition to the Inspector General’s investigation, I urge the MTA to immediately develop a plan for leveraging some of the stimulus money to bring the project back to schedule and keep the affected small businesses on Second Avenue viable.  I also urge the state to create a comprehensive plan for aiding businesses and neighborhood residents who are suffering from the MTA’s inability to get this project done.

Source: Scott Stringer, Manhattan Borough President