Streetsblog New York City

Last week, some of the biggest unions in New York came out in favor of the Ravitch Commission's MTA rescue plan, including the bridge tolls that a handful of state senators refuse to support. So, what is the stance of the Working Families Party, which is closely aligned with labor? Founded in 1998, the WFP is a growing force in city and state politics. Its endorsement, and the ballot line that comes with it, has become a sought-after electoral commodity. In the current round of state budget talks, the party is widely credited for advancing higher taxes on wealthy New Yorkers, now viewed as all but inevitable.

A plan to save transit service and spare New Yorkers the burden of drastically higher fares would seem to match the Working Families Party agenda perfectly. The party has a public transportation plank, and has touted a halt the hike website in tandem with the Straphangers Campaign when higher fares loom. The car commuters who would pay bridge tolls earn far more, on average, than the transit riding majority. But on the question of the Ravitch Plan, the party has been mum in public.

"We haven’t taken a pro position on the Ravitch Plan itself," said WFP spokesman Dan Levitan. "We haven’t had the bandwidth to do a public campaign around this, since we've been fighting so hard on the general budget. We've been trying to defend the Silver/Paterson [transit funding] compromise in the Senate."

In the last election, three of the key players in the Senate hold-out were endorsed by the party: Majority Leader Malcolm Smith, Fare Hike Four member Hiram Monserrate (indicted on six counts today for assaulting his girlfriend), and Kevin Parker, a bridge toll opponent whose Brooklyn constituents face a slew of service cuts [PDF]. Will the Working Families Party ballot line still be available to these legislators if doomsday comes to pass?

The MTA's doomsday scenario came closer to fruition today, as agency board members took a step toward implementing planned fare hikes and service reductions while state lawmakers appeared mired in stalemate. Here are a few tidbits.

Newsday filed this report on the MTA Finance Committee meeting (as live-blogged by Second Avenue Sagas), where members voted to recommend revenue-saving measures to the full board, now set to make its decision on Wednesday:

MTA board chairman H. Dale Hemmerdinger urged the agency's finance committee to adopt the fare hikes and service cuts even though he called them "horrific."

"This represents as good a job as human beings can do to divide the pain as equally as we can," he said.

The vote took place as state lawmakers in Albany sought to reach a compromise on a bailout plan that would avoid the worst of the planned fare increases and service cuts.

At a news conference after the committee vote in Manhattan, Hemmerdinger was asked if he had any message for Albany. He said, "How about: 'Help!'"

In Albany, Governor Paterson engaged in what Liz Benjamin of The Daily Politics described as "a game of political chicken" when, flanked by a silent Malcolm Smith and Sheldon Silver, he urged the MTA to go ahead with higher fares and service cuts without waiting on assistance from the legislature.

"Delaying action, to me, would just ring too true to what's gone on in Albany too many times," Paterson said. "I'm not in favor of delaying any action that was scheduled."

In Fare Hike Four news, Senator Hiram Monserrate was indicted for allegedly stabbing his girlfriend with a drinking glass last December. If convicted, Monserrate faces seven years in prison -- and, says one City Room commenter of today's developments, "will probably guarantee his re-election."

If you're the sort of person who just can't resist unscientific internet polls (and I am), there are a couple of good ones about the current state of MTA rescue talks. In NY1's who-to-blame poll, ineffectual Senate Majority Leader Malcolm Smith was getting off scot-free as of about 4:30 this afternoon:

The governor, who went on the offensive today criticizing Smith's chamber, might find more favor among Daily News readers, judging by this poll that asks what people think of the Senate Dems' MTA proposal:

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There's MTA rescue news today from the State Senate, and none of it good. 

Queens Senator Hiram Monserrate, who had considered new tolls on East and Harlem River bridges acceptable as a "last resort," has flip-flopped. The Daily Politics reports that Monserrate now opposes new tolls, and faults the MTA for "failing to explain 'specifically' how toll revenue would be used to pay for service and capital improvements." From a statement released today:

"Solving financial problems on the backs of hard-working New Yorkers now struggling with their own financial problems is the least desirable course of action," the senator stated.

"Tolling of the East River bridges should be considered only after passage of the 'Millionaire's Tax' that will ensure the wealthiest residents of New York pay their fair share."

"For these reasons, support of the so-called 'Ravitch Plan' is not in the best interests of New Yorkers."

Monserrate presides over a district where 53 percent of presumably hard-working households do not own cars and rely on transit, while less than five percent drive or carpool into Lower Manhattan for work. Still it looks as if his own windshield perspective has clouded his judgment enough that he would abandon the only viable plan in existence for a proposal that is positively Weiner-esque in its implausibility.

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The headlines this morning were sobering for everyone who depends on New York City's transit system. Half-baked alternatives to the Ravitch plan are popping up left and right as bridge toll opponents dig in their heels, despite the whopping service cuts and fare hikes that loom for their constituents. With Senate Majority Leader Malcolm Smith bringing talks to a standstill, Streetsblog asked Gene Russianoff, senior lawyer for the Straphangers Campaign and veteran of many a fight over MTA financing, about what comes next.

Smith's latest gambit -- calling the MTA's March 25 deadline into question -- carries a lot of risk. "The deadline seems real to us," said Russianoff, noting that there may be some wiggle room, but not much. "The concern would be if the legislators say, 'We can wait a while.' That's a recipe for inaction."

There's been some speculation that the Ravitch proposals might get folded into the state budget, but that would face similar political hurdles to a stand-alone rescue package. All 30 Republican state senators are expected to vote against the budget, said Russianoff, meaning Democrats will have to vote as a single, 32-member bloc to gain passage.

If the Gang of Three and other Democratic obstructionists fail to realize that their constituents need a well-funded transit system much more than free bridges, there is a potential solution that might garner support from elements of both parties. "One thing with promise is to do the highway and bridge program at the same time as MTA financing," said Russianoff. "That gives Republican senators a reason to vote positively on the bill." The state's highway and bridge program faces its own funding shortfall, and like the MTA, it needs new revenue streams. Some of the bridge toll alternatives that pols are floating -- such as higher gas taxes and vehicle registration fees -- make more political sense as revenue for a road program, because, Russianoff says, "the highway people think it's theirs."

It’s too early to know if Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver’s answer to the Ravitch Commission MTA bailout plan, which includes $2 tolls on East and Harlem River bridges, will make it through the state legislature. But, despite raising less money and reducing traffic much less than congestion pricing or peak-hour tolling would, the plan is a big advance and would provide a number of benefits beyond raising funds for transit. Streetsblog will look at the implications of the bridge tolls in more detail, but based on public comments and the Ravitch Commission report, here's a quick summary of what's in the offing if the plan passes.

General details:

• New tolls on East and Harlem River Bridges equaling "a single ride subway fare," ($2 each way.*)
  
• Management, possibly ownership, of East and Harlem River Bridges transferred to MTA from NYC DOT
• Maintenance and operation of East and Harlem River Bridges transferred to MTA from NYC DOT
• Truck tolls pro-rated on "single subway ride fare" or based on other MTA major crossings:$10 to $20.25 for 18-wheelers
  

Revenue (estimates only, given unknown truck toll and cost of tolling system):

• $450 million to MTA operating and capital budget
• $50-$100 million savings to NYC DOT in annual bridge maintenance and capital costs 

Traffic Reduction:

• Major reductions in truck traffic on Manhattan Bridge, where trucks now constitute 25 percent of vehicle traffic
• Major reductions  in overall traffic on Canal Street due to reductions in truck traffic
• Modest traffic reductions in Long Island City, Downtown Brooklyn, Northern Manhattan, South Bronx

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While the looming MTA doomsday scenario is desperate enough that Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver has put forward a proposal to charge drivers roughly the same as transit riders to cross East and Harlem River bridges, Democrats over in the Senate are balking at the prospect of requiring drivers to give up their free rides. The Daily News reports on yesterday's Ravitch plan talks.

"If that is in there, there's no way I'm going to vote for it and you can take that to the bank," Sen. Ruben Diaz Sr. (D-Bronx) said after the afternoon meeting.

Streetsbloggers may remember Diaz as one of the legislators who opposed congestion pricing on the grounds that it may adversely affect the environment. His district faces a slew of subway and bus service reductions [PDF] without transit funding equal to that proposed under the Ravitch plan, but Diaz is as yet unwilling to stand up for the whopping 67 percent of households that don't even own a car.

Ditto Brooklyn's Carl Kruger, another congestion pricing opponent, who has called tolling "a non-starter" and "an insult to every outer-borough resident in New York City." Kruger should check his census data. Almost half of the households in his district alone are car-free, and those who own cars have an annual income that more than doubles those who don't. Yet it seems Kruger is willing to let the non-driving half of his constituency bear the brunt [PDF]. But what should we expect from the legislator who wanted to fine pedestrians for listening to iPods and talking on cell phones.

It's still unclear where Senate Majority Leader Malcolm Smith stands on bridge tolls. Smith's own Queens district, where some 34 percent of households don't own cars, also stands to lose bus and train service in lieu of increased MTA funding [PDF]. Like his counterpart Shelly Silver, Smith owes it to his constituents and all New Yorkers to come out strongly in favor of bridge tolls and gain majority support.

Liz Benjamin at the Daily Politics is reporting that Senate Majority Leader Joe Bruno will call a floor vote on congestion pricing today:

Senators on both sides of aisle have received the heads up that the majority is preparing to call a vote on congestion pricing, despite the fact that both Senate Majority Leader Joseph Bruno and Minority Leader Malcolm Smith have said they don't have sufficient votes to pass the measure.

This is a departure for Bruno, who has been trying to pin the blame for the delay on Bloomberg's pet project (not to mention its potential demise) on Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver, saying the Senate would not move forward until Silver's majority Democratic conference made a decision.

Keep those phone calls coming.

 

"Today is Monday. There is work to be done."

So said David Paterson, who was sworn in as New York's 55th governor just after 1:00 this afternoon. Two Mondays from now, the City Council and state Legislature will need to have adopted a congestion pricing plan if the city is to receive $354 million in federal transportation funds. Opinions on whether the governor will work to make that happen still vary wildly, even among those who've talked to people close to Paterson.

Here is the Daily News, from Friday:

Incoming Gov. David Paterson may have declined to take a stand on congestion pricing Thursday - but members of his inner circle have been lobbying for the proposal.

During his first press conference since Gov. Spitzer resigned in disgrace, Paterson said he needed to delve deeper into details of the plan to charge motorists $8 to drive south of 60th St.

"Although the mayor has not directly discussed congestion pricing with him, it would seem to be a good sign that people very close to the new governor are supportive," a City Hall source said.

Former Deputy Mayor Bill Lynch and former Paterson campaign manager Luther Smith have been pitching the toll scheme as a way to fund mass transit improvements in underserved minority communities.

Smith is president of Lynch's lobbying firm, Bill Lynch Associates, which has been doing pro-pricing outreach for Communities United for Transportation Equity.

Both Lynch and Smith are advising Paterson as he makes the transition to the state's highest office.

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