Transit Advocates Say Nay To Paterson's Plan

Paterson may be happy that the new 1% payroll hike (and that's it) plan might have enough support to pass, but that doesn't make transit advocates happy in the least. The Ravitch Commission recommendations have been thrown by the wayside in Albany, and political expediency is the name of the game now. Unfortunately, so too does a real solution for the woes of the M.T.A.

From PolitickerNY:

ALBANY—Even if it is palatable enough to pass both houses of the legislature, the plan to bail out the M.T.A. that David Paterson formally unveiled this weekend is not getting a warm welcome from the alliance of labor leaders and transit advocates that pushed firmly for the Ravitch plan. They write, with charming understatement, that the plan "may not" adequately address the system's capital needs.

"The current worsening of the MTA's finances combined with the difficulty of passing new sources of revenue in election years, like next year, adds up to a very real threat," say Kevin Corbett and Bob Yaro, the co-chairs of the Empire State Transportation Alliance, in a letter sent to Paterson and legislative leaders Friday. "As members of the business, civic and labor community, we call on the state's leadership to act on a final package that responsibly and adequately provides a long term source of funding for the transit system's rebuilding needs. Now is the window of opportunity. The future health of the transit network and the region itself depend on the state meeting these long term needs."

The problem though, is that state senators' idea of long-term is election day of next year. They could care less whether or not the health of the M.T.A. improves, so long as their constituents re-elect them (and their contributors are made happy, which is part of the whole "re-elect" thing) again and again. Meanwhile, New Yorkers will have to deal with an increasingly expensive and less comprehensive mass transit system.

Gang Of Three Back Together Again To Scuttle MTA Bailout Bill

It is crunch time in Albany for the budget and in regard to mass transit in New York City, that is very serious business. The M.T.A. has already approved massive fare increases and tremendous service cuts if they do not get capital from the Legislature. The Assembly is ready to help, but the State Senate is unfortunately a partisan battleground. With the divide between Dems and Repubs so slim, who else would get in the way of legislation to help straphangers than the infamous Gang of Three (Kruger, Espada and Diaz). Screwing their party over for individual gain is nothing new but these men represent the very New Yorkers that depend on mass transit.

As the Gotham Gazette points out, it hardly makes any sense:

Most of Krueger’s constituents do have a car but do not use it for a daily drive to Manhattan’s central business district. Of the 32 percent of his constituents who commute to that part of Manhttan, about 84 percent take mass transit.

In Diaz’s Bronx district more than five times as many people take mass transit to the business district as drive. Two thirds of his constituents do not even own a car. In Espada’s adjacent Bronx district, more than 70 percent of residents do not have a car and less than 4 percent drive to the central business district as compared with 29 percent who take mass transit.

“Taxi drivers have to pay, too, and they will have to increase their fares. Who is gonna pay for that? The people,” Diaz told Gotham Gazette. Or at least all those residents of the South Bronx who take cabs to work every day.

I know that gentrification has been an issue in the city for a while now, but it hasn't reached the South Bronx. Up there the 4/5/6, the 2 and the B/D trains along with myriad bus routes are what moves people around, not Yellow Cabs that start at $2.50 just to get in the door. What this action means for Malcolm Smith is that it will be up to Republicans to make the deal go through. If Golden, Lanza and Padavan are responsible for the bill's passage, they can tout "hero" status for their re-election campaigns while leaving Malcolm Smith looking like a Leader who can't get his herd in order.

If Smith were smart, he should be working very quietly to rid Manhattan and the Bronx of their 'Gang problem.' That way we can add three more solid, progressive Democrats to the caucus two months before the November election.