State Legislature

New York State might be home to more transit riders than any other state, but when it comes to the transportation policies on the books, we don't look quite so green.

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.

In Albany this week, legislative leaders declined to take action to close the state's current $315 million budget deficit. That pushes the problem into 2011, when a new governor and likely a Republican State Senate will be in power. Whether dedicated MTA funds will still be used as a piggy bank, at the expense of transit riders, will be up to next year's leadership.

Governor Paterson has called a special session for the legislature next week, and it's full of big, tough bills. For example, both David Paterson and Andrew Cuomo are urging legislators to close a $315 million deficit, an action which could again steal dedicated funds from the MTA. Education funding is also on the docket.

As valuable as 20 mph speed limits would be, for some New Yorkers they'd be dead letter law. Take, for example, the scofflaw motorists whom a team of fourth graders caught speeding 50 mph down Atlantic Avenue last week. Safer streets will require not only a lower speed limit, but an effectively enforced speed limit.

If Andrew Cuomo has his way, the state legislature and Governor Paterson will close the state's $315 million shortfall before he takes office. The push from the governor-elect means that in the next two months, New York state's current leadership may again determine whether to close a budget gap by raiding MTA dedicated funds. Nearly $20 million for transit could be on the line.

Yesterday, City Council transportation committee chair Jimmy Vacca and leading transportation advocates sent a letter to New York state's current leadership urging them not to raid the MTA's dedicated funds to close an impending $315 million budget deficit.

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.