of subway track on earth the most expensive mile

C M Y K Nxxx,2017-12-29,A,001,Bs-4C,E2_+

U(D54G1D)y+,!@!,!=!/

An accountant discovered thediscrepancy while reviewing thebudget for new train platforms un-der Grand Central Terminal inManhattan.

The budget showed that 900workers were being paid to digcaverns for the platforms as partof a 3.5-mile tunnel connecting thehistoric station to the Long IslandRail Road. But the accountantcould only identify about 700 jobsthat needed to be done, accordingto three project supervisors. Offi-cials could not find any reason forthe other 200 people to be there.

“Nobody knew what those peo-ple were doing, if they were doinganything,” said Michael Horod-niceanu, who was then the head ofconstruction at the MetropolitanTransportation Authority, whichruns transit in New York. Theworkers were laid off, Mr. Horod-niceanu said, but no one figuredout how long they had been em-ployed. “All we knew is they wereeach being paid about $1,000 ev-ery day.”

The discovery, which occurredin 2010 and was not disclosed tothe public, illustrates one of themain issues that has helped leadto the increasing delays now tor-menting millions of subway ridersevery day: The leaders entrustedto expand New York’s regionaltransit network have paid thehighest construction costs in the

world, spending billions of dollarsthat could have been used to fixexisting subway tunnels, tracks,trains and signals.

The estimated cost of the LongIsland Rail Road project, knownas East Side Access, has bal-looned to $12 billion, or nearly $3.5billion for each new mile of track— seven times the average else-where in the world. The recentlycompleted Second Avenue sub-way on Manhattan’s Upper EastSide and the 2015 extension of the

No. 7 line to Hudson Yards alsocost far above average, at $2.5 bil-lion and $1.5 billion per mile, re-spectively.

The spending has taken placeeven as the M.T.A. has cut back oncore subway maintenance be-cause, as The New York Times hasdocumented, generations of poli-ticians have diverted money fromthe transit authority and saddledit with debt.

The Times found that a host offactors have contributed to thetransit authority’s exorbitant cap-ital costs.

For years, The Times found,

The Most Expensive Mile Of Subway Track on Earth

Archaic Rules and Too-Generous ContractsCombine to Inflate New York’s Bills

By BRIAN M. ROSENTHAL

Continued on Page A20

SYSTEM FAILURE

Excessive Costs

In Hempstead, a Long Islandtown where the typical propertytax bill tops $10,000, residentshave lined up all week to prepaythose taxes for next year. Theyhave been trying to save thou-sands of dollars before the newfederal tax bill, which goes into ef-fect on New Year’s Day, sharplylimits deductions for state and lo-cal taxes.

But late on Wednesday, the In-ternal Revenue Service issuednew guidance that those peoplemay not be able to save the moneyafter all, because a loophole thatthey were hoping to exploit might

be narrower than thought. Sowhen Donald X. Clavin Jr., Hemp-stead’s receiver of taxes, showedup to work Thursday morning, thelines were still there — but resi-dents had fresh questions. Mr.Clavin had few answers.

“Everybody on line, they’re go-ing, ‘Don, are we going to be ableto do this?’” Mr. Clavin said. “AndI can’t give them a yes or a no.”

The new tax bill, and its $10,000

cap on all local and state tax de-ductions, has generated a varietyof strong emotions — includinganxiety and frustration — inplaces like Hempstead.

By Thursday, however, thatstew of emotions had been re-placed by utter confusion, as wellas rage, including among peoplewho had shelled out money only todiscover that they might not getany benefit.

This week’s tax-prepaymentroller coaster could be just the be-ginning. Republicans pushedthrough their tax overhaul at blis-tering speed, giving lawyers andaccountants only about a week tostudy the bill before it takes effect.

But already, those people study-

Lining Up to Prepay Taxes, With No GuaranteesBy BEN CASSELMAN

and JEFFERY C. MAYS

Residents of Clarkstown, N.Y., began lining up at the tax office before 9 a.m. on Thursday.JAMES ESTRIN/THE NEW YORK TIMES

I.R.S. Throws Ice Wateron Tactic to Thwart

Deduction Cap


new NATO headquarters cost,”Mr. Trump told the leaders, hisvoice thick with sarcasm. “I refuseto do that. But it is beautiful.” Hisvisceral reaction to the $1.2 billionbuilding, more than anything else,colored his first encounter withthe alliance, aides said.

Nearly a year into his presiden-

cy, Mr. Trump remains an erratic,idiosyncratic leader on the globalstage, an insurgent who attacksallies the United States has nur-tured since World War II and whocan seem more at home withAmerica’s adversaries. His Twit-ter posts, delivered without warn-ing or consultation, often make amockery of his administration’spolicies and subvert the messageshis emissaries are trying to de-liver abroad.

WASHINGTON — PresidentTrump was already revved upwhen he emerged from his limou-sine to visit NATO’s new head-quarters in Brussels last May. Hehad just met France’s recentlyelected president, Emmanuel Ma-cron, whom he greeted with awhite-knuckle handshake and acomplaint that Europeans do notpay their fair share of the alli-ance’s costs.

On the long walk through theNATO building’s cathedral-likeatrium, the president’s angergrew. He looked at the polishedfloors and shimmering glass wallswith a property developer’s eye.(“It’s all glass,” he said later. “Onebomb could take it out.”) By thetime he reached an outdoor plazawhere he was to speak to the otherNATO leaders, Mr. Trump wasfuming, according to two aideswho were with him that day.

He was there to dedicate thebuilding, but instead he took ashot at it.

“I never asked once what the

Insurgent President Is Changing, Unpredictably, U.S. Global Role

By MARK LANDLER


TRUMP’S WAY

On the World Stage

WEST PALM BEACH, Fla. —President Trump said Thursdaythat he believes Robert S. MuellerIII, the special counsel in the Rus-sia investigation, will treat himfairly, contradicting some mem-bers of his party who have wageda weekslong campaign to try todiscredit Mr. Mueller and the con-tinuing inquiry.

During an impromptu 30-min-ute interview with The New YorkTimes at his golf club in West PalmBeach, the president did not de-mand an end to the Russia investi-gations swirling around his ad-ministration, but insisted 16 timesthat there has been “no collusion”discovered by the inquiry.

“It makes the country look verybad, and it puts the country in avery bad position,” Mr. Trumpsaid of the investigation. “So thesooner it’s worked out, the betterit is for the country.”

Asked whether he would orderthe Justice Department to reopenthe investigation into Hillary Clin-ton’s emails, Mr. Trump appearedto remain focused on the Russiainvestigation.

“I have absolute right to dowhat I want to do with the JusticeDepartment,” he said, echoingclaims by his supporters that aspresident he has the power toopen or end an investigation. “Butfor purposes of hopefully thinkingI’m going to be treated fairly, I’vestayed uninvolved with this par-ticular matter.”

Hours after he accused the Chi-

President SaysInquiry MakesU.S. Look BadBy MICHAEL S. SCHMIDTand MICHAEL D. SHEAR


BEIRUT, Lebanon — They calleach other meddlers, warmon-gers, religious hypocrites, zealotsand sponsors of terrorism. NowIran and Saudi Arabia, the arch-rivals of the Middle East, are com-peting in a surprising new catego-ry: gender equality.

They appear to be vying overwho can be quicker to overhaultheir repressive rules for women.

Tehran’s police chief announcedthis week that the so-called moral-ity police who patrol the capitalwould no longer automatically de-tain and punish women seen with-out the proper hijab head-cover-ing in public, an offense com-

monly called “bad hijab.” Theywill be given counseling instead.

In Saudi Arabia, one of the mostrestrictive countries for women,the authorities this week allowedfemale contestants at an interna-tional chess tournament to playwithout the full-body garb knownas an abaya. That decision is thelatest in a string of liberalizingmoves by Crown Prince Moham-med bin Salman, the young Saudiruler, which includes letting wom-en drive.

Saudi Arabia and Iran are onopposite sides in many ways — intheir divergent branches of Islam,

Unlikely Iranian-Saudi Race:Easing Restrictions on Women

By ANNE BARNARD and THOMAS ERDBRINK


Less than 24 hours after Roy S. Mooreformally challenged his defeat, stateofficials certified the result. PAGE A11

NATIONAL A11-15

Alabama Election Is Official

George Weah, a former soccer star, waswell ahead in the presidential electionreturns, officials said, and will succeedEllen Johnson Sirleaf. PAGE A4

INTERNATIONAL A4-10

Liberia Says It Has New LeaderBook World, founded in 1976, is closingits 45 stores. “The internet is killingretail,” its owner said. “Bookstores arejust the first to go.” PAGE B1

BUSINESS DAY B1-6

Last Gasps for Book Chains

From Cardi B in Queens to Chris Bottiat the Blue Note in Manhattan, find ashow to ring in 2018. PAGE C2

A New Year’s Eve Event Guide

The Museum of Modern Art is high-lighting works by artists 45 and older,like this Joan Jonas sculpture. PAGE C17

WEEKEND ARTS C1-24

MoMA Looks Beyond YouthHoward Schnellenberger, who builtprograms at Miami, Louisville andFlorida Atlantic, continues to see hisefforts pay off this bowl season. PAGE B7

SPORTSFRIDAY B7-10

Polishing a Football Legacy

The state issued a guide on ballot dis-putes after the Bush-Gore race but nowfaces a similar problem. PAGE A12

Voting Mess in Virginia

The women in Egypt’s only roller derbyclub say the sport helps offer a sense ofempowerment. Cairo Journal. PAGE A8

In Egypt, the Roller Derby Life

Mindful of snipers and bombers, thepolice strengthened the plan for theTimes Square ball drop. PAGE A18

NEW YORK A18-21

On Guard in Times Square

David Brooks PAGE A23

EDITORIAL, OP-ED A22-23

Rose Marie became famous on the radioas a toddler and then received acclaimon “The Dick Van Dyke Show,” playingthe witty Sally Rogers. She was 94.

OBITUARIES B12

A ‘Dick Van Dyke Show’ Star

At least 12 people were killedwhen a fire fueled by gusty windstore through a century-old apart-ment building in the Bronx on afrigid Thursday night, New YorkCity officials said. It was the dead-liest fire in the city in more than aquarter-century.

In addition to the deaths, fourpeople were critically injured andtwo people sustained non-life-threatening injuries, Mayor Billde Blasio said at a news confer-ence late Thursday. The youngestamong the dead was 1 year old, theoldest over 50.

“Tonight in the Bronx we’ve

seen the worst fire tragedy in atleast a quarter of a century,” themayor said on Twitter late Thurs-day. “It is unspeakable, and fam-ilies have been torn apart.”

The first emergency call cameat 6:51 p.m. for a fire in a five-storyapartment building at 2363Prospect Avenue in the Belmontneighborhood, a spokesman forthe New York City Fire Depart-ment said. The department re-sponded in three minutes, themayor said, and firefighters wereable to rescue 12 people.

The fire began on the first floorbut quickly spread throughout thebuilding, as the wind fed oxygento the flames. The people who diedwere on various floors, the fire

commissioner, Daniel A. Nigro,said.

The blaze grew to five-alarmstatus, and more than 160 fire-fighters responded. By the timeMr. de Blasio spoke, around 10p.m., the flames had been broughtunder control.

The cause of the fire was not yetclear.

It was a bitterly cold night, withtemperatures in the teens, and thewind chill made it feel below zero.

Water leaking from fire hosesfroze in streaks on the concrete,and displaced residents walkedaround draped in American RedCross blankets. Three young girlswere whisked into a neighboringbuilding after climbing down a fireescape with no shoes or coats.

Officials said they were openingup the nearby Grace H. Dodge vo-cational high school as a receptioncenter for people who neededhousing and other services. Peo-ple looking for relatives who livedin the building were also told to goto the school, or to call 311.

Luz Hernandez said she first re-alized something was wrongwhen the smell of burning rubber

At Least 12 Die in Bronx Inferno, City’s Deadliest Fire in 27 Years

By MAGGIE ASTOR and ASHLEY SOUTHALL


More than 160 firefighters responded to a fatal fire in a five-story apartment building near the Bronx Zoo on a frigid Thursday night.DAVID DEE DELGADO FOR THE NEW YORK TIMES

Winds Feed Flamesat 5-Story Building

Late Edition

VOL. CLXVII . . . No. 57,826 + © 2017 The New York Times Company NEW YORK, FRIDAY, DECEMBER 29, 2017

Today, clouds breaking for somesunshine, very cold, high 24. To-night, partly cloudy, low 18. Tomor-row, snow, a coating to an inch, high27. Weather map is on Page A16.

$2.50

of subway track on earth the most expensive mile

Documents