Two of the city’s greatest public-private projects on Manhattan’s West Side have suffered setbacks in recent weeks. First, various government entities have hinting that Moynihan Station—a $900 million project that ballooned into a $14 billion mega-development—will never see the light of day. Then, a deal between the Metropolitan Transportation Authority and a real estate developer to create office towers, apartment buildings and parks over the rail yards on the far West Side collapsed.  read more »

An addendum to our article earlier this week on the never-ending Moynihan Station saga: The concept of converting the Farley Post Office into a rail station is widely viewed as belonging to the late Senator Daniel Patrick Moynihan, its most persistent advocate from the early 1990s until his death in 2003. But the history goes back a bit further, and started as a partnership between the U.S. Postal Service and Amtrak, both of which stood to gain from a redevelopment of Farley.

Two of the major forces behind the plan's genesis: Donald Pross, who served as Amtrak’s director of real estate and development until 1995, and Dennis Wamsley, who ran the Postal Service’s asset management division.

Amtrak, eager to have a more presentable flagship station, was looking at options of how to improve Penn Station in the late 1980s and early 1990s, according to Mr. Pross.

Around the same time, a postal service executive was heading up a program known as asset management for the agency, finding ways to take existing properties, add other uses, and bring in some new money.  read more »

Sometime around late 1991, Senator Daniel Patrick Moynihan caught wind of a plan being studied by Amtrak and the U.S. Postal Service to expand Pennsylvania Station into the neighboring Farley Post Office. The two agencies envisioned an expanded rail station with a sense of grandeur, as Penn Station’s train platforms ran under the column-lined post office.

New York’s senior senator, a Manhattan native, was sold on the concept almost immediately; he placed the estimated $315 million project at the top of his agenda. From then until his death, in 2003, he became the project’s biggest advocate as he pieced together the support of local politicians, fought for funding in Congress, and brought in President Clinton for the push. Now, still just a concept, the plan bears his name.  read more »

If there was an award for loudest cheerleader encouraging Michael Bloomberg to run for president, it would unquestionably go to Kevin Sheekey, one of his political advisers, who keeps finding both big and small ways to suggest that the mayor will enter the race.

The latest: a subtle change to Sheekey’s profile on Facebook.

A reader who Sheekey 'friended" on Facebook pointed out that Sheekey recently left the “New York” network and joined the one for “Washington D.C.” Technically, Sheekey hasn’t worked in the capitol since his days with Pat Moynihan.

The changes he made to his profile after the jump.

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The late senator’s daughter finds herself caught between developers and preservationists on massive Moynihan Station project.  read more »

He also, for the first time, brings up the burning question that has lurked behind this project since trouble started brewing earlier this year: Would going ahead with the partial Moynihan plan now have put the state and city government in a better negotiating position vis-a-vis tax breaks for Madison Square Garden and the contribution for a redeveloped Pennsylvania Station--than it would be if it were to wait until everything came together before breaking ground?

Full statement after the jump.  read more »

Here's what Rudy's press office had to say back in 1998:

Mayor Rudolph W. Giuliani today congratulated Senators Alfonse D'Amato and Daniel Patrick Moynihan on the crucial roles they played in protecting $2.6 billion in Medicaid funding for New York City and State. On June 25, the U.S. Supreme Court, by a 6-3 margin, struck down as unconstitutional the Line Item Veto Act adopted by Congress in 1996. The decision protects New York City hospitals against a loss of federal Medicaid funds that could have been as great as $2.6 billion.