MTA Lays It All On The Line To State Leaders
The MTA went to Albany yesterday to plead their case for a bailout. The message was pretty clear, either bail us out or the fares go up. Glenn Blain of the New York Daily News has more in this report:
MTA officials and transit advocates took the case for a financial bailout directly to state lawmakers on Tuesday.
Chairman Dale Hemmerdinger and a contingent of MTA board members warned legislative leaders that massive service cuts and fare hikes await riders without state action.
“Hopefully, the legislators are listening very carefully because it’s going to affect them because they get elected by those very same people,” he said.
They listened – but offered nothing but more words for now.
“I’m hoping that there is something that we can do to help them,” said state Sen. Martin Dilan, a Brooklyn Democrat and chairman of the Senate Transportation Committee. “I am going to be working toward that.”
Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver (D-Manhattan) called the Metropolitan Transportation Authority doomsday plan unacceptable and vowed to help but also offered no specifics.
Click here for the complete report.
The message echoed by the MTA does not come as a surprise to anyone considering the “doomsday scenario” mass transit users face if the state legislature sits on its heels & does nothing. What is truly sad in all of this is how the March 25th deadline is fast approaching & all our state leaders can muster up are words.
The MTA & its riding public does not need to read or hear words about leaders listening & understanding what the MTA is going through & needs. What we need is to see the state legislature take the bull by the horns & get something positive done one way or another. The time to act is now, not when it is too late. So for once, will our leaders stop the typical political grandstanding & get the job done? Only time will tell…..
xoxo Transit Blogger
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