"Late last year, the Times published an article, by Brian M. Rosenthal, that took a hard look at East Side Access. It revealed a world of graft and waste. There was, for example, the accountant who couldn’t understand how nine hundred people were on a project that had jobs for only seven hundred. The two hundred no-show positions were eliminated, but, according to a senior project manager, they had been costing a thousand dollars a day each for an unknown number of years. Another example, not itself news: work rules stipulate that twenty-five people must be present to run a tunnel-boring machine that in other cities is run by eight or nine workers. The bidding on major jobs is barely competitive—two or three construction companies may offer bids, in an industry where eight is standard. The favored construction companies and unions are usually big contributors to political campaigns, including Governor Cuomo’s. Consulting firms charge exorbitant fees, which the M.T.A. does not question. Subway construction in New York costs six times what it costs in Paris."

And you ask why Manhattan will always be the City of God to BART-MTC, SPUR, Bechtel-PB-Tutor, Amalgamated and all the various and sundry effete architects.