First Look: Transit Money Getting Shuffled Around in Cuomo’s Budget
Governor Cuomo is coming out with his draft budget today, and some sort of transit funding raid is expected to be included in the package. The press release from his budget office includes these details about MTA funding:
February 1, 2011
Cuomo Will Retain Jay Walder and Chris Ward
Erik Engquist at Crain's has the good news. Governor Cuomo will keep two widely respected managers at the helm of the MTA and the Port Authority:
January 24, 2011
Advocates and Unions to Cuomo: Put a Stop to Transit Raids
A broad coalition of good government groups, transit and environmental advocates, and unions sent a letter to Andrew Cuomo on Friday [PDF] urging the incoming governor to protect straphangers by ensuring that transit revenues are spent on transit.
December 20, 2010
Road Pricing Still the Big Missing Piece in MTA Funding Puzzle
It's been 20 months since the state legislature passed an MTA funding package with a conspicuous missing piece. In early 2009, the transit agency was reeling from the recession, and straphangers were about to get walloped by deep service cuts and a 23 percent fare hike. Albany responded by enacting just a partial fix: a regional payroll tax and a smattering of new fees on taxis and car rentals. Tolls on the East and Harlem River bridges were supposed to be part of the deal -- getting car commuters who benefit from the congestion-busting effect of transit to contribute their fair share. But the State Senate insisted on preserving the free ride for motorists.
December 6, 2010
Good Gov Groups, Transit Advocates Call on Cuomo to Stop MTA Raids
Albany's repeated plundering of the MTA's dedicated funds has robbed transit riders of more than $140 million in the past year alone. With a $9 billion budget gap looming, straphangers could end up paying again very soon. An impossible fix, you ask? I know the subject is Albany and we've all been conditioned to think that change is hopeless, but as it happens, all it takes is one person, the governor of New York, to say enough is enough.
November 23, 2010
Cuomo on MTA Raids: Transit Funds Are “Fungible”
WNYC's Andrea Bernstein reports on the most troubling sign yet that Governor-elect Andrew Cuomo is not willing to stop Albany's practice of raiding dedicated transit funds to plug gaps in the state budget. From a press conference yesterday:
November 18, 2010
Vacca and Advocates to Albany: No More Transit Raids
Transit advocates and City Council transportation committee chair Jimmy Vacca are sounding the alarm about potential transit funding raids before the year is out. A $315 million hole has opened up in the state budget, and unless elected officials change the way they balance the state's books, straphangers could end up paying for Albany's fiscal mess -- again.
November 8, 2010
Last Night’s Gov Debate: Cuomo Piles on in MTA Bash-a-Thon
Try this little experiment. Click over to the video of last night's seven-candidate gubernatorial debate. Start at the 55:30 mark, then close your eyes and listen to seven solid minutes of MTA bashing. Which of those candidates is the presumptive governor-in-waiting with a 35-point lead in the latest poll and, presumably, some political leeway to tell voters the truth about what's happening to their transit system?
October 19, 2010
Lynn Nunes Gets Stage All to Himself at District 10 Transpo Q&A
It turns out that Shirley Huntley was the no-show at Wednesday night's State Senate District 10 transportation debate, letting challenger Lynn Nunes turn in a solo performance. Nunes is young -- 25 -- but he's commanding attention in this race after coming within four votes of unseating the recently deceased Thomas White in the City Council's 28th District last year, despite a near total lack of institutional backing.
September 3, 2010
