Transit Archives - Reinvent Albany

Mayoral Succession and Potential Special Election Fact sheet and detailed infographic on NYC mayoral succession and special elections

New District-By-District Breakdown of Businesses MTA Paid $35 Billion Over Last Decade MTA Vendors Earned Nearly $35 Billion Over 10 Years in Every Single Congressional District in NY, NJ, and CT

The MTA Is Big Business in the Tri-State Region 100,000 New York Jobs at Risk from Cancellation of Congestion Pricing

Agency Transparency Plans All Fizzle, No Sizzle Our report reviewed 66 transparency plans by NYS agencies to Gov. Hochul in Q1 2024, finding them incomplete and underwhelming.

Upstate Law Firms Reap Undisclosed Millions from IDA Deals that Cost Public Billions Big political contributions from law firms earning transaction fees on IDA deals may fuel more and larger corporate subsidies.

IDAs Have Perverse Incentive to Give Away Tax Dollars IDAs have a perverse incentive to give away tax revenue that would otherwise support schools, parks, and emergency services.

Listening to FOIL 2024: Lessons from Six NYS Agencies Our new report looks at the open records requests made per the Freedom of Information Law to six agencies of NYS government.

“Open Criminal Courts” Report Finds At Most 6% of NY Criminal Court Decisions Published The report calls for criminal court decisions to be published to improve transparency and public accountability.

“Open ESD” Report Recommends Major Reforms for Secretive State Authority Report includes 35 specific actions to improve Empire State Development’s transparency, governance, oversight, and ethics.

NJ Businesses Earned $3.3B from MTA Contracts from 2014-2022 MTA is big business for NJ, with $3.3B paid to NJ companies over last 9 years.

New Report Shows Buying Influence Works The science is clear: Gifts, including campaign contributions, influence the decision-making of elected officials.

Lump Sum Warning Report Finds $14.8B Waste/Corruption-Prone Pots of Money in Budget Reinvent Albany and Citizens Budget Commission released a joint report finding $14.8B in proposed lump sum pots in Gov Hochul’s Executive Budget

Major Studies Show Film and TV Tax Credit Programs Create Little Payoff NYS leaders are proposing a massive expansion of NY’s film/TV tax credit that would cost $7B over the next decade. There's substantial evidence that these credits don't create the promised effects on jobs, incomes, or economic growth.

Debunked: 25 Major Studies Showing Corporate Handouts Do Not Work There is overwhelming evidence that government handouts to corporations and industries are a waste of taxpayer funds.

NY Opportunity Zones May Be Subsidizing Guns, Oil, Crypto NY may be subsidizing investments in gun mega-sellers, oil companies, and crypto mining under the Opportunity Zone (OZ) tax break, Reinvent Albany said in new report: “Guns, Oil, and Crypto.”

Gov Hochul Doubling Down on Totally Discredited Corporate Welfare An analysis of the four biggest boondoggles that Governor Hochul mentioned in the State of the State.

State Still Keeping Nine Big Secrets About Vornado/Penn Station Deal ESD and the Hochul administration continue to hide basic information about the Penn Station redevelopment project. We call on them to be fully transparent with the public and release this critical information.

TIFs: No Such Thing as Free Money Tax Increment Financing (TIF) schemes divert future tax revenue from special districts to government-backed projects intended to reduce blight or create jobs via redevelopment. We oppose TIFs because they are off-budget and put tax dollars at risk.

Skipping Out: NYS Not Making $375 Million/Year in Payments Promised to MTA By ending budget scams, Gov. Hochul can immediately restore $375 million in MTA funds from the 18-b program and PMT replacement funds.

PACB Vote Approving Penn Redevelopment Plan Completely Abnormal Analysis of Newly-FOILed Records Confirms July 2022 Penn Resolution One of Only Two of 1,017 “Applications” Voted on by the PACB NOT about Project Financing

Everyone Says They Love Workforce Development, But What, Exactly, Is It? NYS has over 500 workforce development programs but doesn’t have an actual definition of “workforce development.” This report explores the many definitions of workforce development and proposes solutions for improving it.

Ridership Down: The MTA Fiscal Cliff Is Real The MTA faces a fiscal cliff that could obliterate transit service when federal emergency COVID aid runs out and needs billions in new, recurring, state dedicated funding.

Twenty Major Studies Showing Taxpayer Subsidies to Businesses Don’t Work 20 Major Studies Showing Taxpayer Subsidies to Businesses Don’t Work

Empire State of Emergency: Overuse of Governor’s Emergency Powers Invites Abuse of Power and Corruption Recommends legislation to rein in emergency powers and restore oversight