Bloomberg pledges $5B in public works projects won’t be hindered by budget cuts

From left: Atlantic Yards, Mayor Bloomberg, College Point Police Academy

The city will invest more than $5 billion in public works projects even as the recession necessitates budget cuts elsewhere, Mayor Michael Bloomberg said yesterday in a broadcast on 1010 WINS News Radio. The projects, which he said would be made possible by agreements reached last week with the city’s construction unions, are intended to create jobs and prevent labor strikes, saving $300 million in taxpayer funds over the next four years. “When there’s a budget crunch, city governments all too often cut back on maintaining and upgrading essential infrastructure. That’s what New York City did during the fiscal crisis of the 1970s — and for years afterwards, we all paid a steep price in fixing bridges, sewers, and other facilities after they’d already broken down,” Bloomberg said, citing the planned College Point Police Academy and renovations of public schools, and praising the recent court decision that gave Bruce Ratner’s Atlantic Yards development the green light. TRD