Don’t ever say that some of the female members of Brooklyn’s city council delegation are soft: they aren’t. There was a raucous public hearing last Wednesday evening at the Brooklyn Museum (near Grand Army Plaza), that was aimed at getting the general view on the Metropolitan Transportation Authority’s proposed service cuts in the next fiscal year; at this event, NYC council members Darlene Mealy and Tish James -both from Brooklyn- made outstanding oral presentations which captivated the loud crowd of attendees. Throughout the procedures scores of teenagers outnumbered the elderly, in openly expressing their disenchantment with the proposed cuts by the MTA’s board members. Eventually four arrests were made amongst the spirited -but at times rowdy- youngsters; as police officers had to be called in to help maintain order.  read more »

Do you notice how few politicians have the cajones to raise taxes on people who make half a million or more a year (keep in mind, that means half a million dollars a year INCOME, not net worth), but they will all, with a great show of reluctance, let people who depend on NYC's subways and buses get screwed over every single time?

Our city DEPENDS on good transit more than it depends on anything except maybe effective garbage collection. Yet fare hikes and service cuts are the politically easy thing to do if times get tough. Even though the MTA has proven itself completely unreliable right down to fraudulently keeping two sets of books, they are allowed to continue to function without adequate oversight or punishment for their shady practices.  read more »

While politicians mouth sound-bites about the "middle-class" Governor Paterson & Mayor Bloomberg are putting the bite on all of us. Their alter ego, the Metropolitan Transportation Authority (MTA), is preparing for fare increases and service cutbacks.

No community is not affected and every one is trying to save his or her favorite bus line or subway stop from oblivion. Review the current MTA proposal . Consider coming to the public hearings the first of which is Wednesday night.

MTA Hearing This Wednesday Wed Jan 14 6 pm-9 pm Hilton NY, Trianon Ballroom (Third floor)1335 Ave of the Americas (between 53-54 Streets), Manhattan Subways: E,V to 5 Av/53 St, or B,D,F,V to to 47-50th St/Rockefeller Ctr. Buses: M5, M6, M7 Registration to speak: open till 9 pm at hearing. Limit 3 minutes per speaker.
You can register to speak in advance, or comment in writing: contact Douglas Sussman, Director of MTA Community Affairs, 347 Madison Ave, NY, NY 10017, 212-878-7483.

Other hearings are scheduled click here.

One of the more self-defeating parts of this charade -- thank you David Paterson, Michael Bloomberg -- is the opportunity for each adversely affected community to fight to prevent it's favorite service from getting the axe.  read more »

Even when Eliot Spitzer wins, he still loses -- or rather, we lose.

Sure, he saved the $2.00 fare -- for now. But who cares? Only one out of every seven riders actually pays that -- and most of them are tourists (the rest are the poor, and I'll get to that problem below). Almost all of the rest of us either buy "multitrip" card (those "six-for-five" $10 cards) or buy weekly or monthly cards. And guess what? Those fares are going up!

When the monthly card was introduced, it was $63; now it's going to $81 -- a 28% increase while the "base rate" hasn't risen at all.

What's worse, many people have practically begged the MTA to hold off on fare increases until the next budget is passed, figuring they could put the heat on to get more state funding. Now that the MTA is going ahead, there's little chance of accomplishing that goal.

In short, Governor Spitzer played a quick song for the cameras, but failed  read more »

Interesting morning, isn't it. The trains are all flooded. The tracks between Lawrence and Court in Brooklyn lost power due to flooding. My co-worker was stuck getting from Governor's Island. Sewage was backing up in my apartment (despite my building's $300,000 sump pumps, but at least the pumps kept the backup from becoming the fountaining river it used to be). The research facility I work at in Manhattan is flooded in the basement (I don't have access to the animal facility, so I can't check it, but it is in the basement!) and the elevators are out. And Brooklyn, technically speaking, had a tornado.  read more »