Another symptom of Paterson's (and Smith's) poor leadership is about to come out this Wednesday, when the deadline for the M.T.A.'s doomsday budget passes. The transit authority has been warning/threatening us for months that a fare increase and service cuts are inevitable if Albany does not bail them out. Now the hour is at hand and Paterson has come up woefully short. To make matters worse (or more real) he spoke today pretty much giving up on a deal to save straphangers from higher costs and poorer system.
From PolitickerNY:
ALBANY—David Paterson said the M.T.A. board should go ahead with raising fares at its Wednesday board meeting, implicitly admitting that state government will not enact a revenue package to mitigate fare hikes beforehand.
"I don't think that the agency should delay any action," Paterson just said at a Red Room press conference.[...]
A reporter asked Paterson if he felt he had failed.
"No, I think it's an aspect of government that we all have to recognize: these two gentlemen run conferences in the legislature that need consensus and the three houses have to agree," he said. "Ascribing any kind of blame to one sector of the triad is often a way that people try to explain it, but you've got to have consensus. That's the way our democracy works."
That is really cute, especially coming from a politician that prefers to work in the dark and keep things as anti-democratic as he can. Whatever Paterson waxes poetic about democracy, the people can do as well. When you register a 19% job approval rating, it shows exactly how you are doing in the eyes of those that will vote (you out) for you in next year's gubernatorial election. Residents of New York City demand and deserve good transit, and this Harlem native is failing to deliver.
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