I'm going to write, as soon as I have some breathing room, a few pieces on the use of media by candidates in the changed, atomized environment of the evolving media landscape. Long story short, The New York Times and the other metropolitan dailies are less important to messaging and voter persuasion than they were four or eight years ago. Campaigns that rely on traditional media to reach the high-engagement, high-information voters that decide primaries are well-advised to prepare for a rocky road.

In that spirit, I'm glad to see this, a letter to the editor published in the Astoria Times by Steve Behar, who's running to succeed Tony Avella on the City Council.

The Metropolitan Transportation Authority has proposed two additional transit fare hikes on top of the fare hike enacted earlier this year. Gas is over $4 per gallon and we all agree it is in our best interest for our environment, economy and national security to use more public transportation.

It does not make sense to call for the increased use of mass transit and increase the cost and lessen the service of our current mass transit system. But elected officials, including Mayor Michael Bloomberg and Gov. David Paterson, continue to hide behind the MTA and allow it to hoist fare hikes onto the shoulders of Queens' hard-working middle class.

Any additional fare hike is unacceptable. For far too long, opaque authorities have operated in the state without public oversight. We do not elect MTA officials to their positions and, when the MTA raises fares and the public protests, it provides cover for our elected officials.

Patterson has asked the MTA to look its books. Bloomberg has stated, "That's just bad management." State Comptroller Thomas DiNapoli is looking at the MTA's books and will release the results of his investigation by September. As our elected officials criticize the MTA administration, the same high-paid officials remain in their posts. Even MTA board member Andrew Saul urged lawmakers to re-examine legislation that would restructure the MTA and streamline its operations.

For once, it is time to take a long-term view. The city and state need to focus on getting more people to use mass transit. Driving less means a cleaner environment, a more stable economy less dependent on foreign oil and a stronger nation no longer dependent on oil from unfriendly nations.

We need more local bus service to make it easier to commute to and from work. Since most trains travel straight through most of Queens, we need more Long Island Rail Road service. We need more express buses, including the use of "rapid transit buses" to make a Queens-Manhattan commute without a car easier for residents not near an LIRR station. We need more energy conservation, substitution of carbon-based fuels and advances in technology to create biofuels and cheaper and more efficient solar and wind powered energy.

We had our first energy crisis in the 1970s. Why have we not learned our lesson yet? We need lower-cost mass transit, not more expensive mass transit. Without leadership and vision from an MTA that answers to the public, this will never happen.

The first step must be a moratorium on all proposed MTA fare increases. Second, the MTA must be audited and restructured in a way to streamline its operations and make its officials accountable to the people it serves. Third, city and state officials must make a real effort to increase mass transit and make it an easy and inexpensive option for the hard-working people of the five boroughs.

Steve's a good guy, heavily politically active, and a friend of mine, but he's also doing something that every candidate should be doing: using new and untraditional media to get his message out.

WFP's most excellent Dan Levitan emails over a release announcing a joint effort by the Working Families Party and Straphangers to fight the proposed fare hike for the subway. There's even a web site, HaltTheHike.org.

Working Families Party, Straphangers Campaign Launch Online Effort to Win Funding for Mass Transit, Prevent Fare Hikes

New York – Fighting to “keep mass transit affordable for working people,” the Straphangers Campaign and the Working Families Party announced today the re-launch of www.haltthehike.org, an online campaign to prevent MTA fare hikes by winning adequate public aid for mass transit from the city and state.

Over 7,000 New Yorkers have already used the website to send Governor Paterson and Mayor Bloomberg a clear message: “With the economy down and the cost of living up, New Yorkers can’t afford a fare hike two years in a row. To keep public transportation affordable and reliable we need more city and state aid for mass transit.”

“Over the last 30 years, public transportation in New York has seen an incredible revival,” said Gene Russianoff, staff attorney for the Straphangers Campaign. “With gas prices up and MTA ridership booming, now is not the time for city and the state to abandon transit riders and the MTA. Public transportation can meet the needs of a growing city, but not without adequate public investment.”

“Public transportation is the lifeblood of our city,” said Working Families Party Executive Director Dan Cantor. “With the cost of living skyrocketing in New York, working people can’t afford fare hikes two years in a row. But simple math says without proper aid from the state and city, transit riders will end up picking up the tab.”

The two groups plan to continue the campaign to win funding for public transportation and prevent MTA fare hikes throughout the fall and into next year’s legislative session in Albany.

“The fight to keep the subway affordable is never ending, but it’s a fight we need to win,” added Dan Cantor.

Transit riders already pay more than their fair share of keeping the MTA running. In 2006, riders paid 55% of the costs of running the subways and buses. Metro-North riders paid 58% and LIRR riders paid 47%.

Riders elsewhere pay much less, funding an average 37% of the costs for the biggest 50 transit systems nationwide. Riders in Philadelphia, Boston, and Los Angeles pay 37%, 29%, and 23% respectively of the costs for their transit systems.

They have a real point: New Yorkers pay more for our mass transit than anyone else in the country. A fare hike falls disproportionately on lower- and middle-class riders who have no alternate means of getting from A to B. Sure, the economy is in the toilet, the budget not doing all that well, but there are better ways to finance the essential infrastructure of the agglomeration than by going, as usual, to the people most dependent on using it.

Location

Mayor Bloomberg won't allow 311 operators internet access because he's afraid they'd shop at work.

The 311 non-emergency government information system is a program Mayor Bloomberg loves to brag about, touting it as among his greatest accomplishments during the 05 campaign.

311 operators' mission is to help citizens navigate the often confusing government agency maze. Theoretically, 311 could duplicate much of what the Public Advocate's office is charged with doing as the people's ombudsman. But that's theory. In reality, 311 is not much more useful than 411 directory assistance operators, with 311 often referring callers back to the agency whose non-responsiveness or unavailability, if the problem arises after the agency is closed, prompted the 311 call to begin with. One reason for the department's relative uselessness, is their lack of internet access.

It blows my mid, that in 2007, 14 years after the web became a mainstream information resource, that New York City won't allow people whose primary responsibility is to provide information, internet access.

I first became aware of 311 operators not having internet access in August 2005, nearly 2 years ago.  read more »

If you wanted to buy some land to develop for your own profit, would you expect taxpayers to pay the entire bill for you? Well, if you are a law school buddy of Pataki, that is exactly the sweet deal you could get while Pataki was Governor...and the exact deal Bruce Ratner seems to have gotten with you and me footing the bill.

This comes via Develop Don't Destroy Brooklyn.

According to the March 9th 2007 Daily News New York City is spending $100 million to buy the property on or near the 22-acre Atlantic Yards site for developer Forest City Ratner.

Of the $205 million proposed to support the project in the Mayor's preliminary budget, $100 million is slated for land acquisition costs and $105 million for roads, utilities and other infrastructure needs, according to EDC officials.

The state is chipping in an additional $100 million.

David Yassky was pretty angry upon hearing this:

"There's no justification to spend public money like this," said Councilman David Yassky (D-Brooklyn Heights). "Government money should be spent on transportation infrastructure, schools and traffic calming - not subsidies for a private company.  read more »