ALBANY, New York — The saga of former Gov. Andrew Cuomo’s bridge-lighting boondoggle is finally drawing to a close — and from a financial perspective, the end is shaping up to be dim.
Cuomo, who’s now running for New York City mayor, first signaled in 2016 that he would spend hundreds of millions of dollars to decorate the city’s bridges in flashing lights as a way to boost tourism. A year later, subway delays plagued the city in what came to be known as the “Summer of Hell,” prompting critics to question the wisdom of forcing the financially stressed Metropolitan Transportation Authority to spend an estimated $250 million on a decorative lighting project.
Cuomo, though, did not give up on his “Harbor of Lights” vision. All told, the state and the New York Power Authority spent at least $108 million on bringing it to life — all to no avail.
Now, years later, the power authority is finally auctioning off the lights after POLITICO inquired about their fate.
