Republican City Council Candidate for the open 43rd City Council District seat Liam McCabe (Bay Ridge, Dyker Heights, Bath Beach Bensonhurst) today lauded Gov. Andrew Cuomo and MTA Chair Joe Lhota for running with his idea to allow corporate naming rights to subway stations in exchange for those companies enhancing maintenance, security and aesthetics.
Cuomo and Lhota floated the idea yesterday as part of their roughly $800 million rescue plan to patch up the aging subway system including repairs to signals and trains.
“The squeaky wheel gets the grease,” says McCabe, “and I am going to keep on squeaking until New Yorkers get the transit system and other services we deserve.”
McCabe first suggested an adopt-a-subway-station plan back in May, and then last week, after a series of continuing subway breakdowns, McCabe gave a more detailed plan giving businesses signage and free advertising space in stations in exchange for financial support for line and station maintenance.
“After seeing the commuting disasters of the last few weeks, I have been working hard to draft a comprehensive plan for the Adopt-a-Subway Program that makes it easy for businesses to help solve one of our city’s most frustrating problems in a way that benefits them, their employees, and their customers,” said McCabe.
McCabe’s plan calls for a two-tiered sponsorship package that allows small businesses to partner with each other to co-sponsor stations.
“Brooklyn is full of small and micro-business who want to make an impact in the community but do not have big business budgets,” says McCabe. “The Adopt-a-Subway Program welcomes small and micro businesses to join, and gives them a chance to get their names in front of millions of people they couldn’t reach otherwise.”
In addition to co-sponsorship opportunities, the Adopt-a-Subway Plan offers promotional opportunities for businesses.
“By sponsoring a specific station, businesses can target their audiences and offer local deals to customers who ride the train through an app that allows riders to check for local deals based on subway station location, said McCabe.
Currently, there is already one Brooklyn subway station that has corporate naming rights – Atlantic Avenue-Barclays Center. The name change occurred in 2009 as part of a $4 million sponsorship deal with developer Forest City Ratner (FCR), who built the Barclays Center, and is developing what was once called Atlantic Yards, but is now being rebranded as Pacific Park.
Under the deal FCR agreed to pay the MTA $200,000 a year for the next 20 years for the naming rights. While it did not include any agreements to maintain or enhance the station, FCR did, as part of their developing the 22-acre site, make new subway entrances and enhancements to the current Atlantic Avenue subway station.
