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Huge Coalition Lines Up Behind Ravitch’s MTA Rescue Plan
The Daily News published an op-ed today that highlights the broad coalition of labor unions, business interests, good government groups, transportation advocates and neighborhood activists who want Albany to adopt the Ravitch Commission's MTA rescue plan.
March 20, 2009
Poll Watch: Paterson Getting No Respect for MTA Rescue Efforts
If you're the sort of person who just can't resist unscientific internet polls (and I am), there are a couple of good ones about the current state of MTA rescue talks. In NY1's who-to-blame poll, ineffectual Senate Majority Leader Malcolm Smith was getting off scot-free as of about 4:30 this afternoon:
March 19, 2009
Fare Hike Four Looking Out for Number One
If you're tracking the progress of MTA rescue talks, Jimmy Vielkind's Albany dispatches at the Politicker are a must-read. I had to highlight this exchange he had yesterday with Fare Hike Four member Pedro Espada, Jr., which pretty much sums up the current predicament:
March 18, 2009
Caption Contest: Re-name This Foursome
Hat tip to Liz Benjamin at the Daily Politics for this snapshot of four state senators who’ve helped concoct a stopgap, toll-less MTA funding plan that does nothing to address the imminent decline of New York’s transit system. Lest they be accused of completely shortchanging the future, they say maintenance and expansion can be taken … Continued
March 17, 2009
Transit Riders to Diaz: Not In Our Name
Constituents picketed outside the office of Ruben Diaz, Sr. yesterday to urge the Bronx state senator to get behind the MTA rescue plan, which includes new tolls on East and Harlem River bridges. Though some 140,000 people in his district use transit every day, and are facing serious service cuts along with steep fare hikes, Diaz is adamantly opposed to the tolls, which would affect a relative handful of drivers.
March 13, 2009
Gene Russianoff on What’s Next for MTA Rescue
The headlines this morning were sobering for everyone who depends on New York City's transit system. Half-baked alternatives to the Ravitch plan are popping up left and right as bridge toll opponents dig in their heels, despite the whopping service cuts and fare hikes that loom for their constituents. With Senate Majority Leader Malcolm Smith bringing talks to a standstill, Streetsblog asked Gene Russianoff, senior lawyer for the Straphangers Campaign and veteran of many a fight over MTA financing, about what comes next.
March 11, 2009
Support the MTA Rescue: Be Your Own Lobbyist
As debate on the MTA rescue plan is reduced to stall tactics and race-baiting, the Campaign for New York's Future is organizing a Lobby Day citizen bus trip to Albany, set for next Wednesday, March 18.
March 11, 2009
Shelly’s Toll Plan: Promise Beyond the Headlines
It’s too early to know if Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver’s answer to the Ravitch Commission MTA bailout plan, which includes $2 tolls on East and Harlem River bridges, will make it through the state legislature. But, despite raising less money and reducing traffic much less than congestion pricing or peak-hour tolling would, the plan is a big advance and would provide a number of benefits beyond raising funds for transit. Streetsblog will look at the implications of the bridge tolls in more detail, but based on public comments and the Ravitch Commission report, here's a quick summary of what's in the offing if the plan passes.
March 2, 2009
Jim Brennan: It’s Okay to Fund Transit With Fees on Driving
A reader forwards this email from Assembly member Jim Brennan's office, apparently sent in response to the "Keep New York Moving" petition in support of an MTA rescue plan:
February 25, 2009
