MTA dreams crash in Albany
End of line for LIRR-Grand Central link?
March 25, 2005
Copyright © 2005, Newsday, Inc
As the fog of battle clears slightly in Albany, it appears likely that the Metropolitan Transportation Authority will get most of the money it needs to maintain the continent's largest network of subways, bus systems and commuter rail lines. For New Yorkers who remember the wretchedness of the 1960s and 1970s - when officials haplessly allowed the system to crumble - this news offers an immense relief.
But it's hardly a cause for celebration.
While Albany may spend around $15.4 billion over the next five years on core MTA maintenance work, what about all those expansion projects we've heard so much about? What about plans to bring the Long Island Rail Road into Grand Central? What about plans to build a subway line under Manhattan's Second Avenue? What about plans to lay a third track along the LIRR main line to make life easier for a growing corps of reverse commuters to Long Island?
Answer: Some of these projects will just get clobbered.
No one yet can say how it will all shake out. But earlier this week, a bipartisan legislative committee whacked by 70 percent the state money for new MTA construction. Transit advocates now hope to keep the new projects viable enough at least to qualify for federal funding.
Meaning: While these projects may not die, they could be slo-o-o-w, like a train that's inexplicably creeping along at 5 miles an hour when you're already 15 minutes late for work.
This is shaping up as a terrible disappointment.
The downstate region needs a transportation system as dynamic as its economy. Yet the subways - to cite just one example - haven't seen a genuine expansion since Fiorello LaGuardia was mayor. And when it comes to politics, the MTA is an orphan. Mayor Michael Bloomberg has failed to fight hard for riders. As for Gov. George Pataki and the State Legislature, they appear terrified of raising the necessary taxes for an expansion of the system - even though this would ultimately prove a brilliant economic move.
So, as the system continues to falter, especially in the aging subways, riders are seeing a relentless rise in fares just to keep trains running. MTA Chairman Peter Kalikow devised a plausible solution to the dilemma last year when he called for an increase in all the taxes that now feed into his agency. Albany couldn't scrap his idea fast enough.
For decades, failure to expand the MTA's network made sense. Officials were busy with an ambitious reconstruction program. But what's the excuse now? Lack of ingenuity isn't an acceptable answer. Yes, it's great that the MTA's core maintenance program will apparently continue unimpeded. It appears that the MTA will slog past another crisis intact. But just exactly who is thinking about the future? Anyone?
End of line for LIRR-Grand Central link?
March 25, 2005
Copyright © 2005, Newsday, Inc
As the fog of battle clears slightly in Albany, it appears likely that the Metropolitan Transportation Authority will get most of the money it needs to maintain the continent's largest network of subways, bus systems and commuter rail lines. For New Yorkers who remember the wretchedness of the 1960s and 1970s - when officials haplessly allowed the system to crumble - this news offers an immense relief.
But it's hardly a cause for celebration.
While Albany may spend around $15.4 billion over the next five years on core MTA maintenance work, what about all those expansion projects we've heard so much about? What about plans to bring the Long Island Rail Road into Grand Central? What about plans to build a subway line under Manhattan's Second Avenue? What about plans to lay a third track along the LIRR main line to make life easier for a growing corps of reverse commuters to Long Island?
Answer: Some of these projects will just get clobbered.
No one yet can say how it will all shake out. But earlier this week, a bipartisan legislative committee whacked by 70 percent the state money for new MTA construction. Transit advocates now hope to keep the new projects viable enough at least to qualify for federal funding.
Meaning: While these projects may not die, they could be slo-o-o-w, like a train that's inexplicably creeping along at 5 miles an hour when you're already 15 minutes late for work.
This is shaping up as a terrible disappointment.
The downstate region needs a transportation system as dynamic as its economy. Yet the subways - to cite just one example - haven't seen a genuine expansion since Fiorello LaGuardia was mayor. And when it comes to politics, the MTA is an orphan. Mayor Michael Bloomberg has failed to fight hard for riders. As for Gov. George Pataki and the State Legislature, they appear terrified of raising the necessary taxes for an expansion of the system - even though this would ultimately prove a brilliant economic move.
So, as the system continues to falter, especially in the aging subways, riders are seeing a relentless rise in fares just to keep trains running. MTA Chairman Peter Kalikow devised a plausible solution to the dilemma last year when he called for an increase in all the taxes that now feed into his agency. Albany couldn't scrap his idea fast enough.
For decades, failure to expand the MTA's network made sense. Officials were busy with an ambitious reconstruction program. But what's the excuse now? Lack of ingenuity isn't an acceptable answer. Yes, it's great that the MTA's core maintenance program will apparently continue unimpeded. It appears that the MTA will slog past another crisis intact. But just exactly who is thinking about the future? Anyone?