Albany Continues To Not Get It Or Even Care
The countdown, to a possible transit doomsday for millions is sitting at 8 days. With the date looming, State Senate leaders are expected to release their plan to help the MTA from having to enact their “doomsday scenario“. Lets take a look at the plan in this report from the New York Times’ Nicholas Cofessore and William Neuman:
A proposal to add tolls to bridges over the East and Harlem Rivers to help finance the beleaguered Metropolitan Transportation Authority appears to be dead in the State Senate, as the Democratic majority is preparing to offer on Tuesday a scaled-back, short-term alternative to bail out the authority, two people briefed on that plan said.
Long the third rail of interborough politics in New York City, the tolls were at the heart of a comprehensive plan drafted by Richard Ravitch, a former authority chairman, to stave off severe service cuts and fare increases for the city’s subways and buses.
But after weeks of debate and deliberation, several Democratic senators from Brooklyn, Queens and the Bronx remain adamantly opposed to the tolls. And with Democrats holding a bare 32-30 majority in the Senate, and Republicans refusing to provide any votes for the plan, the Senate majority leader, Malcolm A. Smith, has been forced to come up with an alternative plan that could win enough support to pass in his chamber, said one of the two people briefed on the plan. The two people insisted on anonymity because the proposal was not complete.
The Senate proposal, which was presented privately to Democratic Senators on Monday afternoon, includes a 4 percent fare increase, half of what Mr. Ravitch had proposed. It would also impose a tax of 25 cents on every $100 of payroll on employers within the 12 counties served by the authority. That is significantly less than the 34 cents that Mr. Ravitch had proposed.
“The immediate impact would be, all service cuts are restored, fare increases would be cut in half, and there would be no tolls,” said one of the two people briefed on the plan.
Senate staff members have not finished calculating how much revenue their plan would generate. However, it would be far less than Mr. Ravitch’s plan, requiring lawmakers to return to the issue again within months. But one of the two people who were briefed said that since the authority’s capital spending plan was already financed through the end of this year, Senate Democrats believed there was time to return later to find a more comprehensive solution.
Mr. Ravitch has insisted that any short-term or stopgap solution would only exacerbate the authority’s fiscal woes and create a bigger budget hole next year. In an interview last week, Mr. Ravitch said that the defeat of his plan would be “disastrous to the economy and the people of the M.T.A. region.” Mr. Ravitch declined to comment Monday night on the Senate’s counterproposal, saying he did not know the details.
The Ravitch plan was designed to spread the fiscal pain by requiring financial contributions from several groups. Businesses would pay a payroll tax. Riders would pay an 8 percent fare increase. And drivers would pay new bridge tolls.
The rationale was that all three groups should pay because they all benefited from the transit system, including drivers, who would find roads heavily congested without it. Mr. Ravitch hoped his plan would command wide support and head off critics who might complain that one group or another was being singled out.
Click here for the complete report.
Congratulations to our State Leaders for once again showing how inept they really are. While people might assume I am happy at something potentially being done, it could not be further from the truth. As I have said in the past, I am a believer in either getting the job done right or not at all. This proposal does nothing but push the “doomsday scenario” back for a period of time. This is not what is needed as the problems have to be addressed in the present, not the future.
Please do not think I looked forward to possibly paying near 10% more for my rides. However I rather have done that & just gotten it over with as compared to paying 4% now & possibly paying much more later if the real problems are not taken care of. This is just like going to the doctor & getting a shot. Some people squirm or want it done slowly. I am the exact opposite, I look right at the needle & watch it go in on the initial try. No, I am not into needles or partake in any activities with them, I just know it needs to get done so why prolong the process if it is not necessary.
I sincerely hope that Gov. Patterson & others lead the charge for a more legitimate plan as this just won’t cut it in the long haul. Permanent solutions are the only way to go regardless of how good the temporary ones might seem.
xoxo Transit Blogger
You might enjoy reading these related entries:- Senate Democrats’ MTA Bailout Plan Gets Slammed
- Democratic Leaders In Albany Support Ravitch Tax Plan
- Gov. Paterson’s “New Idea”
- Senate Democrats Reach Tentative Deal
- Senate Proposes Another Dud
State Senate Leaders Must Save The MTA
The news front was quiet this weekend in the world of transit considering the financial crisis going on. Sunday’s New York Daily News had a strong editorial about how State Senate leaders must save the MTA:
State Sen. Majority Leader Malcolm Smith and his Democratic colleagues stand fairly warned. Unless they change course, they will impose the most backbreaking fare hikes ever on subway, bus and commuter rail riders.
They also will trigger crippling mass transit reductions, including the closure of whole subway and bus lines.
They also will halt track and signal maintenance, not to mention major projects like the Second Ave. subway.
They also will force 1,100 transit layoffs.
That’s this year. Next year, if Smith’s lawmakers fail to approve a Metropolitan Transportation Authority rescue, they will kick the fare higher, make service reductions deeper and cost more transit workers’ jobs.
The MTA is in dire straits, thanks to the state’s long failure to provide adequate support and to the national economic meltdown. And the picture is worse than had been imagined.
Smith needs to take a cue from Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver, who has the vision and courage to back an MTA rescue. Silver sized up the numbers, as developed by a commission headed by former MTA chairman Richard Ravitch, and saw, correctly, that the pain of tolls and taxes is unavoidable.
Click here for the complete editorial.
The message conveyed in this piece is nothing new from what many of us have been saying. However the message is so important that it needs to be hammered home until Albany wakes up, starts to give a damn, or both, to the realty of this crisis. The lives of millions will change for the worst in 9 days unless Albany does the right thing. Will they?…….. I have my doubts but this is one time I hope I am completely wrong.
xoxo Transit Blogger
You might enjoy reading these related entries:- MTA Delighted With Gov. Patterson
- Sneak Peek At The Ravitch Commission Proposals
- Silver Comes Up With His Own Toll Proposal
- The Ball Is In Malcom’s Court
- Democratic Leaders In Albany Support Ravitch Tax Plan
Service Diversions 03-13
I have just updated the service diversions page with the latest scheduled diversions for this weekend & next week (and beyond in some cases). Don’t forget to check in for any changes to the page. I also suggest printing out a copy of the page to use while riding the system.
Also a friendly reminder to any of my readers who plan on using the Long Island Rail Road (LIRR) this weekend. The Valley Stream track work program (which is affecting 5 branches) will continue this weekend. So click here for complete details on how this may affect you.
Have a safe & wonderful weekend!
xoxo Transit Blogger
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MTA Board Paints A Grim Financial Picture
As I mentioned earlier, the MTA Board held a special meeting to discuss worst case scenarios in case a financial bailout of sorts does not materialize. It was safe for one to assume that the details which were to come from the meeting would be of a dire nature. If you did assume this, you were correct on all counts. The MTA Board painted a grim financial future which Sewell Chan of the New York Times has more on in this report:
With the State Senate balking on a financial rescue plan that would impose tolls on East River and Harlem River bridges to help close a mounting budget gap, officials at the Metropolitan Transportation Authority warned on Friday that if Albany does not act by March 25, they will have no choice but to order steep fare increases, impose “painful” service cuts and lay off at least 1,100 employees.
“The situation is dire,” the authority’s chairman, H. Dale Hemmerdinger, said at a meeting of the authority’s board. He described “25 to 35 percent increases in the cost of getting to work” and “serious and painful cuts in service.”
The Friday board meeting was in large part held to place pressure on Albany to act.
“The Legislature has not been able to reach an agreement on the Ravitch commission recommendation or any other solution on the M.T.A.’s fiscal crisis,” Mr. Hemmerdinger said. “It’s too soon to know what will happen, but with the March 25 board meeting rapidly approaching, it’s time for the board to refocus on the tough decisions that will have go be made to keep our budget balanced.”
Before the board began its deliberations, transit advocates testified for about 40 minutes, telling the board the situation was grave.
Click here for the complete report.
I can’t say I am surprised by any of the news coming out from this meeting. Regardless of the idiocy thought up by those like Malcolm Smith, the March 25th deadline is very real. The impact of the decisions made that day will have an affect on millions of tri-state area residents for years to come. This is a very serious time around these parts & our “so-called” leaders do not seem or care to grasp that. It is a shame that the ultimate screwjob will most likely come down to the people who are “so-called” leaders serve. However isn’t this what you have come to expect from within NY? As a life long New Yorker, I have.
xoxo Transit Blogger
You might enjoy reading these related entries:- MTA Lays It All On The Line To State Leaders
- MTA Budget Deficit Grows To $1.2 Billion
- State Democrats Question MTA’s Credibility
- Senate Democrats’ MTA Bailout Plan Gets Slammed
- Defending Elliot’s Raise
More Fare Hikes Looming In 2010?
In a little under 6 hours, the MTA Board will hold a special meeting. This meeting which was announced a few days ago through an e-mailed press release is set to tackle possible worst case scenarios for 2010 (& beyond) which include another fare hike. Glenn Blain & Pete Donohue of the New York Daily News have more in this report which will appear in today’s print edition:
Straphangers could get socked with another fare hike next year – an unprecedented third in a row – if the state Legislature doesn’t come to the rescue, transit sources revealed Thursday.
The Metropolitan Transportation Authority projects a $300 million budget gap in 2010 – even if it increases fares by as much as 30% in June and implements sweeping service cuts this spring.
The agency had hoped the Legislature would agree to a bailout, including putting tolls on the city’s now-free bridges, but no deal has been reached.
Without a pact, double-digit fare hikes and deep service cuts are almost certain this summer. The MTA is ready to set new fares on March 25. A monthly MetroCard, now $81, could rise to $103.
The MTA today will start looking at worse scenarios for 2010 and beyond, sources said.
Click here for the complete report.
I will do my best to blog about the meeting later today. So keep it here for the latest info & analysis.
xoxo Transit Blogger
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