http://www.reconnectingamerica.org/

Unfortunately it was. The first real indication of what was going on was the revised MTA capital plan issued as part of the congestion pricing debate earlier this year.

That was a year too late.

There should have been a new project freeze and other exteme measures the day he took office. Actually, most of the crime was commited before then, but it goes without saying that those in charge earlier were derelict.

In any event, and I don’t say this lightly, Sander should be fired for not telling the truth about the MTA’s finances right when he walked in the door. Instead he promised all kinds of improved services now, and vast new transit improvments 50 year from now. It was fantasyland, and just fed the cynicism.

It was probably because the man who hired him didn’t want to confront the fiscal realities, but that’s no excuse. We’ve had two more years of digging the hole.

Also, coming from the construction industry that has feasted on the MTA, he needed to tell it the MTA was going to have to pay less, and find a way to make it stick. He hasn’t.

Perhaps that’s what needs to change. What is the effect of the ten year review process on the Second Avenue Subway?

A recession in private construction is exactly the right time to build infrastructure, but we are bankrupt. It’s a disgrace.

Doesn’t make sense. It takes several years (at least) to plan and get approval for new rail and transit projects. The recession will last maybe one and a half years at most (the length of the longest recession since the end of World War II).

Interestingly, former Treasury Secretary Robert Rubin called for more spending on infrastructure to counter the recession – but he emphasized that it should be spending on projects already approved (overwhelmingly highway projects), so the money could be spent quickly enough to affect the recession.

We are talking about a longer term change in direction from highways to transit, bicycles, and pedestrians. Our main arguments should be 1) that it is necessary to deal with global warming and limits on energy supply, and 2) that it creates more livable, more convenient neighborhoods.

He’s on the hook for at least $12-$15 billion in federal money, not traded for anything else. The deadline is next October, 2009, the first budget with a Democratic President and Congress — and with the dollar crashing and interest rates soaring as no one is willing to buy our debt anymore.

If he gets it, I might vote for him.

By the way, I want that in real dollars. If we inflate our way our of the debt collapse, with inflation running at 10%+ per year, I want an adjustment.

The coming collapse in our transportation system has nothing to do with falling fares, diminished federal and state tax support, $24 billion in debt, the 2000 pension enhancement, and massive over-runs in the capital plan.

It’s the federal government’s fault.