Comments on: Spreading Falsehoods on Student Fares, Brodsky Takes Page From Giuliani

By: Ian Turner

Ian Turner — Sat, 20 Feb 2010 17:04:23 +0000

Clever-title, no, NYC does not for the most part benefit from being a part of NYS. We do get water, electricity, and food from upstate, and dispose of our garbage and prisoners there. Secession has been proposed many times but never seems to pick up the critical mass that would be required to go through.

By: clever-title

clever-title — Sat, 20 Feb 2010 16:31:13 +0000

Does NYC really benefit from being a part of NY state? It seems that the tax revenues go out but don’t come back. At some point, secession, or at least withholding tax remittances to the state, is in NYC residents’ interest.

By: drosejr

drosejr — Fri, 19 Feb 2010 18:55:12 +0000

Really surprised Rosenthal (my Assemblymember) signed onto this. She usually is much more thoughtful. Hopefully she will reverse herself after hearing from angry constituents like myself.

By: J. Mork

J. Mork — Fri, 19 Feb 2010 18:32:51 +0000

Maybe he was just rounding to the closest billion.

By: Larry Littlefield

Larry Littlefield — Fri, 19 Feb 2010 18:27:01 +0000

Unfortunately, I remember Russianoff making the argument that the “unaccountable MTA” has plenty of hidden money and doesn’t need revenues (in his case fares) for 15 years. Like the city and state aid that was cut, nothing that happens now will bring that past money back, and we’re sitting with the debt that took its place.

To treat Giuliani a little more fairly, New York State provides specific education aid for transportation, and New York City was getting almost none of it (still is). Instead, New York City was paying a subsidy to the MTA without state assistance.

After Giuliani forced the issue, the state agreed to contribute a share. But after that showdown, the usual fecklessness set in with the aid amout falling relative to inflation (while the fare, net of discounts, fell in nominal dollars and plunged relative to inflation). The state near cutoff is just the next step.

So the issue isn’t the MTA, it’s state funding for student transportation. The rest of the state gets it, New York City doesn’t, and the way that was covered up was borrowing.

By: Boris

Boris — Fri, 19 Feb 2010 18:14:35 +0000

Just sent another email to Brodsky he will never get to read. Back in the snail mail days, at least his office would’ve had to deal with more paper to throw out.

By: Mike Epstein

Mike Epstein — Fri, 19 Feb 2010 18:14:17 +0000

I think this post misses the point. It omits the fact that if the MTA doesn’t give students free fares, most of them will PAY fares. That’s where the $214 million comes from. It’s not about maintenance or how many trains they have to run or anything like that — at least to a very large extent. It’s about *revenue*.

By: Glenn

Glenn — Fri, 19 Feb 2010 17:35:46 +0000

When will the NYC delegation get its act together on refuting Brodsky point by point? He’s a grandstander and need to get a strong reaction from his peers in the Assembly.

Thanks to Gene Russianoff for calling him out on this too.

By: vnm

vnm — Fri, 19 Feb 2010 17:28:33 +0000

Thank you, Streetsblog, for calling Brodsky out on this. And I thank the Daily News for doing so as well.