Gov. Paterson: Proceed With The Doomsday Scenario
As I noted in the entry below, the MTA Finance Committee voted to recommend enacting the “doomsday scenario” budget to the full board on Wednesday. While there is technically still time to come up with a plan, Gov. Paterson has thrown in the towel on something being done. Earlier this morning he urged the MTA to proceed with enacting their “doomsday scenario” budget since the Senate does not seem to be able to come up with a bailout plan. Glenn Blain of the New York Daily News has more in this report:
Gov. Paterson says the MTA should go ahead with its so-called doomsday budget because the Legislature can’t agree on a deal to save straphangers.
Paterson, in a Monday morning news conference, said Wednesday’s deadline has been “known by all parties” and that the MTA should not delay adopting its budget.
“Delaying action, to me, would just ring too true to what’s gone on in Albany too many times,” Paterson said.
The MTA’s finance committee is meeting Monday to approve the massive fare hikes and service cuts needed to plug a $1.2 billion budget gap.
Paterson held out hope that any fare hike or service cuts could be averted if lawmakers agree on a bailout deal sometime after the MTA’s full board meets Wednesday.
Click here for the complete report.
As I said, technically the Senate still has time to craft an acceptable plan to save the MTA & the millions of people who depend on it. However I understand why Gov. Paterson has thrown in the towel on any possible rescue plan. He makes an irrefutable point about the Senate knowing the deadline for quite some time. If they really wanted to get something done, they could have. This is still the case even with Majority Leader Malcolm Smith being clueless about the reality of the deadline.
What sad times we live in when the obvious importance of our mass transit infrastructure & system as a whole continues to be ignored by Albany even though it is arguably the region’s biggest economic engine.
xoxo Transit Blogger
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Comments
I read here http://wcbstv.com/cbs2crew/mta.fare.hikes.2.965364.html tat sheldon silver is going to push for a bailout even after the deadline. could a bailout be approved even after the deadline?
Call board member money hungry is not right. Board members do not get paid for working for MTA. They have their own business to make money. Majority of them are appointed by the governor and mayor. Please do research before you write something about it. MTA has no choice but a fare hike.
May I ask what are you talking about sbv? Where did I say anything about the MTA Board members being money hungry?
Abba,
It would be nice to see some sort of legitimate plan come to fruition after the fact. However with their track record, I would expect it to be in adequate & possibly too late. I would have to see what it is before knowing if the doomsday budget could be reversed.
To Transit Blogger:
T think sbv was reffering to the comment before mine,not to your article. Also I read somewhere that the service cuts will start in the fall ,not in June. Is this true?
Sorry.I was referring the comment from the very angry commuter.
For Transit Blogger, I agree with you. It’s hard to keep an old transit system running. I do not understand why the government can bail out the private sector and give up the public section that influence the ordinary people most. Shame on our government! People were angry about MTA because they do not understand how MTA operates. All budgets have to be voted and passed by the MTA board which was appointment by our government officials.
why don’t the papers print the salaries of the over 200$ folks, i am sure that we can find savings in the no show jobs, and why can’t the mta open their books for the public to see
I’m very angry at the MTA and Governor Paterson. He just lost my vote, not to mention, the vote of everyone who rides public transit in the NYC Metro Area. This is highway robbery and I’m angry.
Its time for the “Money Hungry MTA” to go. These board member are nothing more than a bunch of “money hungry hyenas.”