Cuomo’s $106M light show reportedly gathering dust in storage
The state has spent $106 million on a light show that is gathering dust in storage four years after Gov. Andrew Cuomo promised it would “blow people away,” according to a report.
The “Harbor of Lights” project has been on the shelf for years as $37 million worth of LED bulbs meant for New York-area bridges and tunnels sit stashed away in a warehouse, Politico New York reported.
“The New York Harbor Crossings Project” announced in 2017 was supposed to slap multi-colored light fixtures on all nine MTA bridges and tunnels, along with the Port Authority’s Hudson River crossings and the Thruway Authority’s Mario M. Cuomo Bridge.
The project was expected to cost at least $212 million total, according to reports from 2017. The $106 million that was ultimately spent included the cost of the LED lights — made by Phillips — plus design and construction done before the state paused work in July 2017, Politico said.
Cuomo’s push for the project earned jeers that summer as the MTA faced daily, outrage-inducing delays due to years of underfunded maintenance and repairs. Amid criticism, the state tried to cancel the $37 million LED lights order — to no avail, the report said.
The New York Power Authority wound up footing the bill and not the MTA, Politico said.
A spokesman for the governor insisted that the project is not dead but resting.
“As we’ve seen in London, Montreal, Paris, Philadelphia and other cities with similar attractions, this project will drive tourism — helping to rebuild an incredibly important part of New York’s economy that was destroyed by this pandemic — and make New York an even more dynamic place to live and open a business,” said the rep, Rich Azzopardi.
“We continue to be excited about the Harbor of Lights project and intend to see it through.”
Azzopardi blamed delays on the MTA capital plan and COVID-19, even though the project was initially scheduled to launch in 2018 two years before the pandemic began.
He said San Francisco’s Bay Bridge light show rakes in $100 million annually for the city.
Others aren’t so sure.
“They didn’t remember that stupid idea until you came along,” Sen. Liz Krueger (D-Manhattan) told Politico.
“I don’t think the power authority or the whole state should be screwing around in a warehouse with light bulbs,” Krueger told The Post on Monday.
“There were many people who when they first heard of this proposal four years ago started to raise red flags about this not being a very good idea no matter which direction you looked at it.”
