It is trouble over bridged waters!
Gov. Cuomo and Borough President Adams both accused the other of “grandstanding” and misleading the public over plans to blow up the old Kosciuszko Bridge on Friday, after the Beep held a press conference slamming the state leader for making the surprise announcement without telling locals and him first.
It all started when Cuomo dropped the bombshell that he’s going “blow up” the bridge on CBS2 Tuesday — although officials later walked back the bravado, clarifying that it will actually be an implosion, and it will just be the bridge’s approaches, as the center will be taken away via barge.
Adams then held his presser with local activists on Friday, complaining that they had only found out about the explosive plans from that interview, and claiming the demolition could pollute the area.
“The community at large and the local electeds should not find out from reading in the tabloids any new methods that are used that could potentially damage the climate cleanup that we have attempted to do in this community,” he said.
A rep for Cuomo responded by accusing the Beep of being all bluster about something he’d never been interested in before — claiming Adams had skipped five briefings on the project and turning down two tours of the site.
“Implosion is the safest and the most efficient plan so any theatrics or grandstanding from community leaders is not only unnecessary but entirely misleading,” said Jon Weinstein. “We are surprised that the borough president suddenly has an interest in this project.”
Adams’s office fired back claiming he had representatives at the meetings and that it was ridiculous for the governor to criticize his little press conference given his own recent history.
“It is shameful, yet predictable, for the Governor to claim that community concerns about environmental health and safety amount to ‘grandstanding,’ ” said Borough Hall spokesman Stefan Ringel. “It’s ironic that an office prone to theatrical displays like the month-long opening of the Second Avenue Subway would compare a mere press conference to their own preferred tactics.”
Ringel added that the state failed to mention its implosion plans in its 2008 environmental impact statement for the project, which seems to suggest the approaches will be dismantled via crane.
The state then offered up an obscure 2013 state Department of Transportation document giving responses to questions submitted during the contracting process, which says that explosives could be used to say sayonara to the span. That was question 160.
Adams is demanding state officials now meet with locals to discuss the demolition plan and answer their questions about it. Weinstein claimed that was the plan all along — but couldn’t give a date for the gathering.
Mayor DeBlasio, Cuomo’s usual nemesis and sparring partner, was busy being grilled by federal prosecutors over his fund-raising scandal on Friday.
