President Trump’s grift has come for Midtown Manhattan. While New Yorkers were celebrating the Knicks at Madison Square Garden, MAGA Republicans have been quietly plotting to steal the neighborhood around it — taking billions from New Yorkers and setting up Trump’s billionaire donor friends to develop the area to their liking.
Members of Congress snuck an amendment into the Surface Transportation Reauthorization Act, a must-pass federal infrastructure bill, that would allow the federally-run Amtrak to take control of any property within a half-mile radius of Penn Station — and the billions in tax revenue they provide to the city.
The Trump administration claims the change is to fund the president’s $8 billion Penn Station redevelopment, but the reality is it paves the way for Trump and his cronies to redirect funds away from the city and carve up land for his friends. The Empire State Building, Bryant Park, Hudson Yards, and Times Square — all of them could be swept up in the White House’s land grab and have their tax revenue diverted into federal coffers with nearly zero restrictions for how the money is spent.
How did we get here? Back in 2021, then-Gov. Cuomo gave a deal to one of his biggest donors: mega-developer Vornado and its CEO Steve Roth. Under what’s known as a “General Project Plan,” the state effectively took over and reserved nearly 20 million square feet in development rights around Penn exclusively for Vornado on the premise that their planned skyscrapers would fund the future renovation.
Fast forward five years, Penn Station continues to crumble and no new development ever happened. The development project has since been uncoupled from Penn’s future, but the deal has remained in place, keeping the neighborhood in limbo.
That brings us to the current scheme. Trump is now personally involved in “restoring” Penn Station, touting a massive renovation for the station with zero input from local or state officials. Nobody has said exactly who will pay for it, but MAGA Republicans are pushing to give Amtrak the ability to literally take properties at will, bulldoze buildings, and take our tax revenue.
Taking our taxes to bankroll a federal redevelopment the city never asked for is indefensible. The amendment includes virtually zero restrictions on what properties they could take, meaning Trump could effectively steal billions from New York’s financial anchor and spend it on whatever he wants.
The last thing New York needs is a mega-developer Trump donor teaming up with the federal government to steal Midtown. While the area surrounding Penn hasn’t always lived up to its full potential, there are ways to turn the neighborhood into the sprawling, 24/7 community that our city actually deserves.
Last year, I proposed a revamp of the current “General Project Plan” Cuomo created that would allow the state to immediately authorize new affordable housing, a state-of-the-art park, and revitalize the community while improving public safety and helping to solve the city’s housing crisis. Most importantly, the plan is flexible and can work with whatever future vision is decided for Penn.
As we saw last week, New York is better off when Trump isn’t involved. And as New Yorkers celebrate the Knicks’ return to glory in the heart of our city, we are reminded that Midtown’s future should be decided by New Yorkers, transparently and with the best interests of the people who actually live here in mind. We must do everything we can to prevent this poison pill from becoming law, and state lawmakers must get to work on delivering a future for Midtown that our city actually deserves.
Simone is a state assemblyman whose Midtown district includes Penn Station.