It seems that
The Brooklyn Paper looks at the idea of a Subway to Staten Island with contempt ("
Fiddler's Folly: Let's Tunnel to SI!," by Gersh Kuntzman, 2007-11-10):
Here’s an idea whose time has come — again: How about a subway to Staten Island?
This back-to-the-future bombshell was dropped by Councilman Lew Fidler (D–Canarsie) last week as one of the points in his “Nine-CARAT STONE Plan” (the awkward acronym stands for “Clean our Air, Reduce All Traffic, Support Transportation Operations in New York’s Environs”).
The tunnel, which would allow for an extension of the subway system to Staten Island from the critical 59th Street station just north of Bay Ridge, was first proposed back in the 1920s — and workers even started digging it — but the project was abandoned due to opposition of Staten Islanders and disputes between then-Mayor Hylan and the then-independent subway operators.
...
Fidler called the Nine CARAT STONE Plan his “alternative to congestion pricing,” which he believes does not share the burden fairly. All told, Fidler’s follies would cost well more than $10 billion, he estimated, but the payroll tax would generate $1-2 billion.
An editorial from Nov. 30th in the Staten Island Advance ("
Pretty Subways?"):
The first phase of the new subway line, which will cover about 30 blocks on the Upper East Side, will cost about $4 billion -- and that's at today's prices. The final cost is likely to be much higher. Even at the current 4-billion pricetag, that first phase will cost about $50,000 a foot to construct.
Perhaps we're not as sympathetic as we should be about the plight of hard-pressed Upper East Side residents, but from where we sit, there are much better things the Metropolitan Transportation Authority could spend its money on.
Mass transit on Staten Island, for one.
...
Staten Islanders would happily take a North Shore passenger rail line, even if it wasn't underground and even if it didn't have pretty stations.
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