Mayor De Blasio Refutes Report That He's Delaying New Water Tunnel
NEW YORK (CBSNewYork) -- Mayor Bill de Blasio on Tuesday knocked down a published report claiming that he is delaying work on the city's third water tunnel.
Segments of the tunnel would supply 5 million people in Brooklyn and Queens.
A New York Times report said the mayor has postponed work on the tunnel, which was supposed to be finished by 2021, so as not to see water and sewer rates keep rising as they did at a rate of 8 percent a year under Mayor Michael Bloomberg.
But in a highly unusual move, the mayor blamed his own people for making it appear he was putting off the funding for completing the essential tunnel, WCBS 880's Rich Lamb reported.
"I have the deepest respect for our colleagues at the Department of Environmental Protection," de Blasio said. "But between them and some of the folks at City Hall, this just was not explained properly."
The mayor emphasized that he did not blame the journalist behind the report. Then he pivoted, noting that the tunnel's completion date had actually been pushed forward.
"I can now give you some news, which is in the executive budget coming up in a few weeks, we will accelerate that schedule by one year," he said.
That would set the tunnel's projected completion date at 2020.
Segments of the tunnel would supply 5 million people in Brooklyn and Queens.
A New York Times report said the mayor has postponed work on the tunnel, which was supposed to be finished by 2021, so as not to see water and sewer rates keep rising as they did at a rate of 8 percent a year under Mayor Michael Bloomberg.
But in a highly unusual move, the mayor blamed his own people for making it appear he was putting off the funding for completing the essential tunnel, WCBS 880's Rich Lamb reported.
"I have the deepest respect for our colleagues at the Department of Environmental Protection," de Blasio said. "But between them and some of the folks at City Hall, this just was not explained properly."
The mayor emphasized that he did not blame the journalist behind the report. Then he pivoted, noting that the tunnel's completion date had actually been pushed forward.
"I can now give you some news, which is in the executive budget coming up in a few weeks, we will accelerate that schedule by one year," he said.
That would set the tunnel's projected completion date at 2020.