Priorities for our new governor

Volume One, Issue 15, January 5 - 11, 2007

“Day One” has come and gone in Albany and now Governor Eliot Spitzer’s real work changing Albany begins. The new governor has laid out an ambitious agenda that will need deft political skills and public support to achieve.

Downtown, admittedly, has been one of the beneficiaries of “three men in a room” government, because one of the guys is Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver. The speaker, who represents Lower Manhattan, continues to serve the district and state well but change is needed, including more open government and a reining in of the money.

One of the most important and politically difficult reforms proposed by Spitzer is to create a nonpartisan commission to redraw Assembly and State Senate district lines. It is more common for Albany legislators to get indicted than lose a re-election bid. New York is one of the country’s bluest states, yet the G.O.P. has had a lock on the State Senate because of unfair district lines. Nonpartisan district panels have been tried in other places, and New York should draw from the best examples around the country.

Closer to home, we appreciate Spitzer’s promise to look at Lower Manhattan redevelopment with a set of “fresh eyes,” particularly the Freedom Tower, which is being built with massive public subsidies. The memorial and a World Trade Center cultural center are two projects we particularly hope he puts on the front burner.

Spitzer has already moved to take control of the two most important public authorities, the Metropolitan Transportation Authority and Port Authority. We look forward to hearing the new leader’s specific views on issues like the proposed Lower Manhattan rail link, Second Ave. subway and W.T.C. redevelopment. New York is expected to get almost $2 billion in 9/11-related transportation money, and it’s essential this money be spent to help Downtown, which bore the economic brunt of the attack on America and has always been crucial to New York’s well-being.

In local mega-projects, we hope Spitzer, with Silver’s backing, now gets behind the Moynihan Station project, allocating the funding and allowing it to start, and also continues former Governor Pataki’s support for the Javits Center expansion.

On another authority, Spitzer has five appointees on the Hudson River Park Trust’s board of directors. His first appointee, Carol Ash, is an ex officio, or automatic, appointment, under the Hudson River Park Act, since she’s Spitzer’s new State Parks commissioner. Ash has a long record of involvement with parks, and we’re glad Spitzer tapped her, rather than using the position as a political plum. We hope his subsequent Trust board appointments — including, we expect, a new chairperson — are as qualified.

Pier 40, for which a request for proposals elicited two development plans, will be high on the Trust’s agenda. A talented board will be needed to assess whether one, or maybe none, of the plans should be selected.

We’ve liked what we’ve heard from candidate and Governor Spitzer so far. Let “Day Two” begin.