Public transportation and the MTA are consistent sources of agitation for most New Yorkers. Because service is routinely seen as poor, the “fare hike” discussion has become an annual spectacle – an event mostly of pointless political grandstanding with taxpayers and commuters ultimately paying more for public transportation.
The worst part is that our elected officials do little more than belly-ache.
http://www.nydailynews.com/ny_local/2008/07/21/2008-07-21_riders_fume_as_mta_yet_again_wants_to_ra.html
“A panel appointed by Gov. Paterson late this year and headed by former MTA Chairman Richard Ravitch is to recommend funding solutions for the MTA. If the state and city governments act, there's the possibility that riders could get a reprieve. If not, more severe hikes and service cuts are possible.”
Unfortunately, when taxpayers cover debts like this, the mismanagement and bureaucratic ineffectiveness of the MTA bosses doesn’t become common knowledge. When taxpayers just pay .03% more when filing their taxes, incompetence gets hidden within the layers of issues most taxpayers are concerned with on a daily basis. But when riders pay more, they feel it directly, causing public outrage and potentially leading to accountability.
"The chickens are coming home to roost," Assemblyman Richard Brodsky (D-Westchester) said. "This is a problem so big it's going to force cooperation."
Brodsky is often the loudest waster of space in Albany, but “force cooperation?” Why not just tell the MTA, “Do whatever you want with my taxpayer’s money?” Who needs to cooperate? Him? The legislature? The City?
He had the same reaction during the Con Edison fiasco in North Western Queens.
http://www.zwire.com/site/news.cfm?newsid=19652520&BRD=2731&PAG=461&dept_id=574903&rfi=6
“At Thursday’s news conference, held at Thomas Noonan Playground in Sunnyside, Brodsky called the resulting settlement “a tremendous victory.””
“Tremendous Victory?” That settlement, like this roll-over to the MTA, demonstrates that our representatives in Albany think voters and taxpayers are dispensable.
Con Ed is guilty of negligence and incompetence, yet we sign a deal to give them a raise by throwing a few hundred bucks around to everyone.
The MTA runs itself into the ground and we’ll bail them out by forcing taxpayers to pay increased income tax rates and by allowing them to forgo repairs and upgrades to the system – like the MTA promised.
When will our elected officials start to say NO to incompetence? When will they force these agencies and companies hired by the public to live up to expectations? When will they make the bosses of these entities to pay for mistakes and negligence with the loss of their jobs?
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written by Lazy Conservative , July 31, 2008
With an expected $26 Billion Statewided budget shortfall coming in the next 3 years (as well as defecits projected for the CIty of New York as well), expect things to get a lot worse at the MTA.
I'd say "worse before it gets better", but there's not a soul out there wiling to say what "better" could be, with the MTA's generous pensions and free healthcare for life.
Great if you have it, but somebody has to pay for it.
