When we first started studying Amtrak’s Gateway boondoggle in 2016, what caught our attention was the scheme to tear down several blocks of Midtown south of Penn Station, centered on Block 780, which is bounded by Seventh and Eighth Aves. between 30th and 31st Sts., as well as parcels on either side of both avenues. Back then the cost was estimated at $6 billion. Now the price tag is $18 billion (and there’s not a penny to pay for it).