Wednesday, February 20, 2008

We Already Know The State Of The MTA

Oh goodie, Elliot Sander is going to give a speech on how great the MTA is and all the ambitious projects it is working on. If you'd like to boo him during this press event, he'll be at Cooper Union on March 3rd at 10:30am. I'm thinking of sending in my RSVP just to get a good laugh in the morning.

From Newsday:


"This is the 40th anniversary of the MTA, so it seemed like an appropriate time to look back and look forward," agency spokesman Jeremy Soffin said. "The speech will assess the current state of the MTA, but it will also provide a vision for the next 40 years."

The speech is scheduled for 10:30 a.m. in Cooper Union's Great Hall, 7 E. 7th St. [...]

Soffin said the speech will address "our accomplishments and challenges, the importance of the capital program and the challenge of funding our capital needs."

I wonder if he'll recognize how many more 'challenges' there are than 'accomplishments.' Things like the rain, fare increases, nasty smells and poor service are just the beginning of what the MTA needs to address. Of course a speech will not solve any of these problems and probably will not be mentioned either. What Sander needs to do is fundamentally transform the system so that it serves New Yorkers....but it'll be a cold day in hell before that happens.

If only we could transplant D.C.'s subway system to here.....sigh.

P.S. Maybe we can start by making minorities feel more comfortable when riding the subway...*cough* *cough* NYPD.