Rockland County Files Suit Against MTA Tax
The raging battle over the MTA Mobility Tax aka MTA Payroll Tax continues to heat up. When I last wrote about it on Wednesday, Republican Rockland County Legislator Edwin Day of New City suggested that his county should join the fight against the tax.
Fast forward to this past Friday where Rockland County officially filed their own suit against the MTA. However that was not the only news on this front as Republican Westchester County Legislator John Testa has urged the county to join the suit filed by Nassau County. Ken Valenti of LoHud (Lower Hudson Valley) has more:
The suburbs’ legal battle against the Metropolitan Transportation Authority payroll tax continued to grow Friday as Rockland County filed a lawsuit to end it and a Westchester legislator proposed joining a suit filed by Nassau County.
Nassau filed its suit in late July and already has been joined by Putnam County and three Orange County towns.
“We’ve had enough here,” Westchester Legislator John Testa, R-Peekskill, said at the Cortlandt train station Friday morning, standing with Putnam County Legislature Chairman Vincent Tamagna, R-Philipstown.
Noting that Westchester has been named the highest-taxed county in the United States, Testa said, “these additional taxes (are) just too much for our residents to take. Enough is enough.”
Testa said the payroll tax of 34 cents per $100 of payroll will cost businesses, local governments, hospitals and nonprofit agencies in Westchester County $104 million this year. That includes $1.1 million paid by county government itself.
Westchester County Executive Rob Astorino, a Republican, lauded Testa’s effort in a statement calling it “a good first step for Westchester.”
Click here for the complete report.
This fight is brewing to arguably be the biggest one of the year for the much maligned transit agency. They now have multiple counties including Putnam, Nassau, & Orange suing them over the legality of this tax. Now they could possibly be adding Rockland & heavy hitting Westchester to the mix. This has the potential to get really bad for the MTA if the courts find the tax to be unconstitutional.
xoxo Transit Blogger
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Service Diversions 08-14-10
I just updated the “Service Diversions” page by removing all of the scheduled work that wrapped up by 11:59 PM last night. The weekend diversions which I posted a few hours ago have now moved to the top followed by the subsequent work during the week.
I suggest you print out a copy of the page to carry with you or use any mobile device to access the phone-friendly version of Transit Blogger. Try to stay cool & as always, have safe travels!
xoxo Transit Blogger
You might enjoy reading these related entries:- Service Diversions 08-20-10
- Service Diversions 08-13-10
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Service Diversions 08-13-10
I have just updated the “Service Diversions” page with the latest weekend diversions. The remaining diversions scheduled to end by 11:59 PM tonight are still listed. The next update will be at 12:01 AM Saturday when those diversions are officially over.
I suggest you print out a copy of the page to carry with you or use any mobile device to access the phone-friendly version of Transit Blogger. Try to stay cool & as always, have safe travels!
xoxo Transit Blogger
You might enjoy reading these related entries:- Service Diversions 08-20-10
- Service Diversions 10-29-10
- Service Diversions 08-14-10
- Service Diversions 08-21-10
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TWU Protests Outside Of MTA Chairman’s Condo
Once again the battle lines between the MTA & Transport Workers Union Local 100 (TWU Local 100) has heated up. This go around once again features TWU members protesting MTA CEO & Board Chairman Jay H. Walder outside of his condo on Central Park West & 96th Street. Jen Chung of Gothamist has more:
Last month, it was reported that MTA Chairman Jay Walder had purchased a $1.6 million condo at Central Park West and 96th Street. The three-bedroom abode is near five subways (the B/C and 1/2/3), not to mention a number of buses, which makes it easy for Transit Workers Union members to protest! TWU Local 100 president John Samuelson told the Daily News that Walder’s pricey home, high salary and vacation home in France “demonstrates he’s a rich elitist completely out of touch with New York City transit workers and riders.”
Click here for the complete report.
Once again I have to question the wisdom of TWU Local 100 President John Sameulsen in regards to focusing such a major portion of his attack/defense on Jay’s salary. As I noted in May, he is engaging in a clear battle of populism that he just can’t win.
I also noted in that same entry how comparing the salary of his members to Jay’s is comparing apples to oranges. Truth be told, Jay’s salary is quite low on the wage front compared to similar CEO positions whether in the public or private sector considering his responsibilities. When you compare his salary to all CEO’s, the gap widens even more.
This is not the argument that TWU leadership & its members should be engaging in. Instead of picketing outside his condo, why not do so outside the residents of the elected officials throughout the region who have shortchanged the MTA for decades. The problems they face go a long way back & have zero to do with Jay.
The time to stop engaging in wasteful protests is now & focus on the real issues & culprits at hand. While I have not agreed with all of his decisions, I do know that he is not the “Public Enemy #1” that the TWU is trying to make him out to be.
xoxo Transit Blogger
You might enjoy reading these related entries:- TWU President Attacks MTA CEO’s Salary
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Gridlock Sam: Wrong Bridges Are Tolled
Over the last couple of years, talk of tolling East River bridges has come up numerous times to help create new funding for the MTA. The usual battle lines are drawn with those in favor spouting off the benefits & reasons why they should be & the detractors saying that it is not fair to put the burden on them.
Proponents of the tolls being added have routinely used the idiotic reasoning that people who use the bridges to drive in & out of Manhattan do so at a luxury since they clearly have so much disposable income available. I of course have called out that reasoning time & time again as it is based on opinion & no legitimate fact. I have received the typical comments of this study & that study but save it, as anyone can make a study say what you want it to say.
In today’s New York Daily News, Gridlock Sam penned an editorial explaining why the wrong bridges are currently tolled & how the East River Bridges need to be:
Here we go again: The MTA is raising tolls for all the wrong people. Drivers from communities outside Manhattan like Bayside, Queens; Throgs Neck, the Bronx; Bay Ridge, Brooklyn, and Stapleton, S.I., will be asked to shell out another dollar to pay for a transit system they do not use and that doesn’t serve them very well.
For example, tolls will jump appreciably at the Throgs Neck Bridge – which connects Queens to the Bronx. Ever try to get from Little Neck, Queens, to Throgs Neck by bus? With the $223 million collected in tolls on the Throgs Neck Bridge each year and the bulk of that revenue going to mass transit, one would think we would have efficient Disney World-style monorails whisking people back and forth every few minutes. But, according to the Metropolitan Transportation Authority website, that trip by mass transit would require four buses, more than an hour of travel and a fare of $4.50.
On the other hand, drivers in Brooklyn Heights heading to Manhattan during the peak of rush hour pay nothing to cross the Manhattan or Brooklyn bridges, despite an alphabet soup of nearby subway lines including the A, B, C, D, F, M, N, Q, R, 2, 3, 4 and 5.
However, it’s not all good news for Brooklyn Heights residents, either. Already suffering through unbearable traffic, their wounds will be salted when the new toll sends thousands more drivers to clog Clinton, Henry, Adams and Tillary Sts. as they struggle to reach the approaches to the (free) bridges.
Another way to look at it is that the four free East River bridges into Manhattan generate $0 in revenue, although there are roughly 20 subway lines parallel to them. The six MTA bridges that serve transit-poor areas (the Verrazano, Whitestone, Throgs Neck, RFK, Marine Parkway and Cross Bay) generate more than $1 billion a year and are served by one lonely subway line, the A train’s Rockaway spur, which runs parallel to the Cross Bay Bridge.
What does this tell us? That we have tolls in all the wrong places. Yes, historically one set of bridges was built by the Triborough Bridge and Tunnel Authority (now renamed MTA Bridges and Tunnels) with tolls and the others, which are older, by the city itself. But those East River bridges, now free, were all built with tolls. The tolls were removed by Mayor William Gaynor in the early 1900s. “I see no more reason for tollgates on the bridges than for tollgates on Fifth Ave. or Broadway,” he ominously said.
Click here for the complete editorial.
While I don’t completely agree with tolling the East River crossings, I understand Sam’s reasoning. If people who support the tolls being added presented their case as he did, they could potentially win more support & understanding. Instead some continue to chime in with the idiocy I referenced above & as expected get nowhere. It will be interesting to see if supporters change their tunes when the next pitch for tolling the East River crossings comes up.
xoxo Transit Blogger
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