MTA Rescue Plan Elicits Muted Applause.

May 06, 2009 - 8:40am
by: Erik Engquist

Business and transit groups relieved at state’s agreement on a rescue package that limits fare increases to 10%, but concerned it’s only a short-term fix.

Local business and transit groups breathed a sigh of relief Wednesday as the state Legislature moved to approve a rescue plan for the Metropolitan Transportation Authority.

All are grateful that the 32 Senate Democrats finally reached consensus on a plan that will stave off service cuts and shrink a planned 23% fare increase to about 10%. But they recognize that it’s a short-term fix that probably won’t last more than two years, and maybe not even one.

“It’s important to recognize the victory. We have avoided what would have been the biggest fare hike in a generation and the most draconian service cuts in at least as long,” said Paul Steely White, executive director of Transportation Alternatives, an anti-car advocacy group. “In this economy, getting $2 billion in new money is no small feat.”

But he said the $400 million in annual capital funding provided by the plan is just a fraction of what is needed to keep the system in good repair and fund new projects.

“The capital plan is still largely unfunded,” said Mr. White. “We’re going to be back at this juncture again, maybe even before the year is out.”

The Legislature’s package of new taxes and fees provides funding for two years of what is expected to be a five-year, $25 billion MTA capital plan beginning in 2010. Lawmakers are now hoping that the economy recovers enough to provide the tax revenue needed for the balance of the capital plan.

“I’m not sure that the MTA is really fixed,” said Nicole Gelinas, a senior fellow at the Manhattan Institute. “It’s definitely a stopgap measure at best.”

Kathryn Wylde, president of the Partnership for New York City, a business group, said, “The fact that there is a funding plan to maintain the transportation system for the next two years is a good thing.” But she said the Legislature should have put tolls on the East River bridges, as the Ravitch Commission suggested last fall, or enacted congestion pricing, which state lawmakers rejected in April 2008. Either measure would have reduced traffic congestion and provided hundreds of millions of dollars for enhanced bus service.

Indeed, while the new plan raises money for the MTA from motorists through increased registration fees, it does nothing to discourage driving.

“There seems to be widespread belief now that drivers do have to pay their fair share, and that in this plan, they don’t do that,” Mr. White said. He added, “A 10% fare increase in another environment would be a big fight. The fact that we’re even calling this a victory speaks to the unique and dire circumstance we find ourselves in.”

LET THE REVOLUTION BEGIN!

Thanks for all you do!
Live your values. Love your country.
And, remember: TOGETHER, We can make a DIFFERENCE!

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Fair Share: Help Stop Cuts to Help Protect Our Elders.

March 20, 2009.

Dear Fellow Americans,

There's a woman living in upstate New York. She's 78 years old and has a few health problems. She relies on four prescriptions to manage her conditions. This woman could be your mother or grandmother, or mine. She's the average enrollee of the Elderly Pharmaceutical Insurance Coverage (EPIC) program, which provides 320,000 low- and middle-income seniors in New York with crucial prescription care. And she might not be able to get the prescription drugs she needs if Gov. Paterson's proposed budget cuts go through.

Please take action now to help stop these cuts and protect our seniors. Urge your legislators to oppose them: http://www.fairsharereform.com/seniors

Funding for the EPIC prescription program has already been cut by $400 million over the last four years. But now Gov. Paterson has gone too far, proposing cuts of another $50 million in his current budget plan.

We can prevent these cuts by adopting a fair-share approach to closing New York's budget deficit: Fair Share Tax Reform. It's not an exaggeration to say our seniors' health is on the line. And, ironically, Governor Paterson's suggested cuts may end up costing the state more in the long run.

Continued access to prescription drugs doesn't just improve seniors' health and quality of life. It can also mean seniors will not have to resort as frequently to expensive non-drug care like hospital stays and emergency room visits.

Write your legislator now to ask him or her to oppose cuts that put our seniors' lives in danger:

http://www.fairsharereform.com/seniors

Thank you, as always, for your support.

In solidarity,
George Gresham
President, 1199 SEIU United Healthcare Workers East

LET THE REVOLUTION BEGIN!

Thanks for all you do!
Live your values. Love your country.
And, remember: TOGETHER, We can make a DIFFERENCE!

FAIR USE NOTICE: This blog may contain copyrighted material. Such material is made available for educational purposes, to advance understanding of human rights, democracy, scientific, moral, ethical, and social justice issues, etc. This constitutes a ‘fair use’ of any such copyrighted material as provided for in Title 17 U.S.C. section 107 of the US Copyright Law. In accordance with Title 17 U.S.C. Section 107, the material on this site is distributed without profit to those who have expressed a prior interest in receiving the included information for research and educational purposes. If you wish to use copyrighted material from this site for purposes of your own that go beyond ‘fair use’, you must obtain permission from the copyright owner.

NYC NEWS: Paterson Rejects Senate MTA Rescue plan; Drummer Dies @ St. Pats Parade & more.

March 17, 2009 1:26 PM

NY governor says he will try to work with Republican senators to deal with transit agency’s deficit.

(AP) - Gov. David Paterson is rejecting a compromise offered by the Senate's Democratic majority to avoid steep increases in New York City transit fares.

Now the Democratic governor says he will reach out to Republican senators, who are desperate to show up the Democrats who took the majority just three months ago.

Mr. Paterson and the Senate Democrats are so far apart a week before a deadline to bail out the Metropolitan Transportation Authority that they claimed each other's math was wrong.

The Senate plan includes a tax of 25 cents per $100 of payroll, which is about 25 percent less than recommended by a state panel to deal with the MTA's deficit. It would also increase commuter fares 4 percent, down from a proposed 8 percent.

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Drummer dies at St. Pat's parade

March 17, 4:36 PM

A drummer from a New Jersey pipe and drum corps collapsed and died while marching in the St. Patrick's Day Parade today in Manhattan.

The band later completed its performance in his memory.

The Police Pipes and Drums of Bergen County had marched about 35 blocks up Fifth Avenue when Steve Dunne collapsed around noon near 75th Street, news reports said.

Officers in the band and members of the NYPD tried reviving Dunne, 59, to no avail.

Dunne, a retired city court officer and a founding member of the band, was pronounced dead at St. Luke’s Hospital at 12:36 p.m. of an apparent heart attack, authorities said.

"It’s a tragic loss," drum sergeant Jim McMorrow told the Bergen Record. "He would have wanted us to finish this."

The band then took a bus to the New York City Armory on Lexington between 26th and 27th streets, where it finished its performance, the newspaper reported.

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Judge rules NYC tobacco suit can proceed.
March 17, 2009 12:55 PM

Ruling allows city to continue litigation seeking $195 million in back taxes from tiny Long Island Indian reservation.

(AP) - A federal judge says New York City's lawsuit against cigarette stores on a tiny Indian reservation on eastern Long Island can proceed.

New York is suing eight smoke shops on the Poospatuck Indian Reservation, claiming they sell huge quantities of untaxed cigarettes to smugglers. The city wants $195 million in back taxes.

U.S. District Judge Carol Amon rejected arguments Monday that the smoke shops are sovereign entities exempt from state and city laws. She also said the reservation does not have federal recognition as Indian land.

Harry Wallace, the owner of a smoke shop and the chief of the Unkechaug Nation, called the judge's decision preliminary. He predicts the businesses will ultimately prevail.

The reservation is about 75 miles east of Manhattan.

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LET THE REVOLUTION BEGIN!

Thanks for all you do!
Live your values. Love your country.
And, remember: TOGETHER, We can make a DIFFERENCE!

FAIR USE NOTICE: This blog may contain copyrighted material. Such material is made available for educational purposes, to advance understanding of human rights, democracy, scientific, moral, ethical, and social justice issues, etc. This constitutes a ‘fair use’ of any such copyrighted material as provided for in Title 17 U.S.C. section 107 of the US Copyright Law. In accordance with Title 17 U.S.C. Section 107, the material on this site is distributed without profit to those who have expressed a prior interest in receiving the included information for research and educational purposes. If you wish to use copyrighted material from this site for purposes of your own that go beyond ‘fair use’, you must obtain permission from the copyright owner.