The Man in the MTA's Money Room

A daily mix of stories about cities, city life, and our always evolving neighborhoods and skylines. [Curbed]( friday, april 30 getting around [The Man in the MTA’s Money Room]( Armored cars, pocketless uniforms, coin-sucking vacuums: Al Putre, who counts $1.5 billion a year, lets us inside. Photo: DeSean McClinton-Holland “I got a couple of billion dollars rolling around through here,” Al Putre says, gesturing downward toward the floors below. We are sitting in the conference room next to his office, which is on one of the upper levels of a blocky, nearly unmarked building in southwest Queens. (He has asked me not to reveal where it is more precisely — “Call it a secret location. They like that” — although you can probably figure it out with Google.) On your way there, you pass mostly businesses that sell steel pipe and cinder blocks from behind barbed wire, plus the odd strip club. Every nickel’s worth of cash that comes into the MTA, and every MetroCard that goes out, passes through this building and thus under Putre’s eye. Although the agency’s income is down a lot owing to the pandemic, the amount of cash that passes through most years, give or take, is about $1.5 billion. [Continue reading »]( Never miss a story from Curbed: [Subscribe now.]( [Learn more about RevenueStripe...]( The Latest [Oh Look, de Blasio and Cuomo Are Fighting Over Reopening Again The mayor is promising to lift restrictions the governor set.]( By Caroline Spivack [We Unearthed the 41 Best Rent Deals in NYC Right Now The Upper West Side has a bunch of unusual apartments this week, including a one-bedroom with an especially lovely bay window.]( By Jenny Xie [L.A. Built a Tiny-House Village for the Homeless. Some Aren’t So Sure About It. The city’s good intentions come with restrictions and, possibly, an ulterior motive.]( [Learn more about RevenueStripe...]( [Read More From Curbed]( It happened this week — let’s talk about it. Introducing [My Week in New York](: a new newsletter from the editors. [Sign up]( to get the next edition this Saturday, featuring senior restaurant critic Adam Platt. [GET THE NEWSLETTER]( [logo]( [facebook logo]( [instagram logo]( [twitter logo]( [unsubscribe](param=curbed) | [privacy notice]( | [update preferences]( This email was sent to {EMAIL}. Was this email forwarded to you? [Sign up now]( to get this newsletter in your inbox. [View this email in your browser.]( You received this email because you have a subscription to New York. Reach the right online audience with us For advertising information on e-mail newsletters please contact AdOps@nymag.com Vox Media, LLC 1201 Connecticut Ave. NW, 11th Floor Washington, DC 20036 Copyright © 2021, All rights reserved