In the wake of the death of Dashane Santana, the 12-year-old girl killed by a minivan driver while she was crossing Delancey Street earlier this month, Lower East Side leaders are demanding safety improvements for the many pedestrians who cross this approach to the Williamsburg Bridge. Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver, Borough President Scott Stringer, State Senator Dan Squadron and City Council Member Margaret Chin have each called on DOT to take action to prevent one more life from being taken by Delancey Street traffic.

A report from DNAinfo this morning lays out just how hostile the design of Delancey is to pedestrians. To cross Delancey at Clinton Street, where Santana was killed, pedestrians must traverse ten lanes of moving traffic in just 22 seconds.

That’s far less crossing time than pedestrians have at some of the city’s most notoriously dangerous intersections, which DNAinfo went out and measured. Reports DNAinfo’s Julie Shapiro:

For example, pedestrians crossing the eight-lane Queens Boulevard at Union Turnpike have a full 30 seconds to make it to the other side.

People traversing the six-lane Adam Clayton Powell Jr. Boulevard at 145th Street have 40 seconds, nearly double the crossing time on Delancey Street.

Other busy intersections with longer crossing times than Delancey Street include West Street at Albany Street, where pedestrians have 31 seconds to cross eight lanes; Houston Street at Essex Street, where pedestrians have 30 seconds to cross eight lanes; 12th Avenue at 23rd Street, where pedestrians have 34 seconds to cross six lanes; Ocean Parkway at Church Avenue in Brooklyn, where pedestrians have 45 seconds to cross 10 lanes; and Atlantic and Flatbush avenues in Brooklyn, where pedestrians have 60 seconds to cross four lanes.

DNAinfo’s report also includes the above video, which includes an interview with one of Santana’s schoolmates.

The area’s elected officials are primarily calling for pedestrian crossing times to be extended, a move that would surely make it easier to cross. Shrinking Delancey down from ten lanes should also be on the table; no matter how long the light is, that’s a wide street to ever cross safely.

DOT will present its plan for improving Delancey Street next Wednesday.

One of the MTA’s most important revenue streams is seriously affected by the tax reforms. The payroll mobility tax will be cut by $250 million under the deal, though the MTA will be reimbursed for its losses.

The payroll tax, which generates around $1.5 billion in revenue for transit every year, has been a top target of Senate Republicans from the minute it was proposed in 2009. Under the deal, small businesses — likely those with annual payrolls less than $1.75 million, based on previous reports — will have their MTA tax reduced. The current payroll tax exemption for public schools will also be extended to private and parochial schools.

According to the Daily Politics blog, the reductions were one price of Senate Republican support for the tax package. It does not appear, based on press reports, that previously-discussed plans to reduce the payroll tax in suburban counties made it into the package.

According to the Straphangers Campaign’s Gene Russianoff, that $250 million cut may not affect the MTA at all. For public schools, the exemption currently works like this: They first pay the payroll tax and then file for a refund from the state’s general fund. The MTA gets the money up front despite the exemption. If the proposed reimbursements work like this, transit service will likely remain unharmed by the changes.

It’s also possible, however, that the reimbursement might prove insufficient. If the state doesn’t reimburse the full $250 million, transit riders could be in for another round of cuts and fare hikes. Even if the reimbursement takes another form, it could leave the agency vulnerable to cuts down the line. The payroll tax is a dedicated funding stream and has so far avoided being raided; the general fund reimbursement wouldn’t be nearly so secure. If the state were to actually cut $250 million from the MTA, said Russianoff, “It would be very bad, worse than what we sustained with the $100 million hit from the raid on their dedicated funds.” Those raids led to last year’s unprecedented service cuts and fare hike.

Also included in the plan is a new $1 billion infrastructure fund, being labeled the New York Works Infrastructure fund. The fund would be used to invest in roads, bridges, water systems, parks, and schools, but apparently not transit. The leadership agreed on passing legislation permitting “design-build” contracts for infrastructure work, which can allow for speedier and more accountable project delivery. The infrastructure fund would also “streamline” the permitting and regulatory processes and coordinate activities across agencies and authorities, according to the press release. Some details remained unclear: The press release says that the fund will total $1 billion, but seems to list $1 billion in public money, including $300 million from the Port Authority, and $1 billion from private sources, including union pension funds.

We’ll bring you more details as they emerge on what the fund will look like and how it will affect transit. With the support of the state’s three top leaders, however, it seems like the structure of the infrastructure fund and MTA tax cut are both relatively done deals.

Mr. Silver has declined to tell reporters or local officials where the accident took place, or when. (Mr. Silver was in Puerto Rico last week for a conference of New York’s Hispanic lawmakers, and it remains unclear whether the accident took place there or somewhere else.

But he was in no mood to discuss his accident. Asked outside the Democratic Party headquarters in Washington about how he bruised his face, he said only, “I fell off a bike.”

And when asked where the mishap occurred, he quickly ended the conversation. “What difference does it make?” he said, waving his hand as he walked away.

Very odd.

Speaker Sheldon Silver announcing the availability of free rental bikes in Lower Manhattan in 2009, the year after his Assembly spiked congestion pricing. Photo: Downtown Express

Capital New York’s political reporter extraordinaire, Azi Paybarah, breaks this remarkable story:

Half of Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver’s face is bruised and purple, and there are stitches over his left eyebrow and a scab across his nose and the back of one of his hands. Silver sustained the injuries while riding a bicycle when he hit a pothole and fell, according to a spokesman for the lower Manhattan Democrat.

“The speaker said to me he feels a lot better than he looks,” spokesman Michael Whyland said.

Despite the injuries, the 35-year-veteran legislator is keeping up with his normal schedule.

This might be a good time to ramp up the campaign to put a price on the East River bridges. The free ride creates a huge incentive for massive trucks and other vehicles to chew up the pavement on the streets of Silver’s Lower Manhattan district. Just sayin’.

Extra-wide Delancey Street is one of the most dangerous roads in New York. One pedestrian and one cyclist have already been killed on Delancey this year. Image: Google Street View.

Delancey Street is one of the most dangerous roads in the city. Between 2008 and 2010 alone, 134 pedestrians and cyclists were hit by drivers on Delancey, according to Transportation Alternatives, and two were killed on the street this year.

Last week, Streetsblog reported on a new design for the base of the Williamsburg Bridge which routed cyclists off Delancey and onto calmer side streets. The implication, it seemed, was that the Department of Transportation wasn’t planning to make Delancey safer for cyclists and pedestrians, just less trafficked by them.

Elected officials on the Lower East Side, however, aren’t standing for the deadly status quo. On Monday, State Senator Daniel Squadron convened the first meeting of a new working group meant to improve safety in the area.

“For too long, Delancey has been the scene of far too many tragedies,” said Squadron in a statement. “Our working group is a much-needed step toward ending the cycle of danger. I’m confident that, together, we can find the short-term and long-term solutions to ensure a safe Delancey Street for all types of users.”

Joining Squadron were City Council Member Margaret Chin and representatives from the offices of Congresswoman Nydia Velazquez, Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver, Borough President Scott Stringer, Community Board 3, the Lower East Side Business Improvement District, and Transportation Alternatives. Staff from the Department of Transportation and the NYPD, which would have to implement any safety plan, were also in attendance.

The group will meet monthly to create a set of short-term and long-term changes to improve safety for all users of Delancey. “All solutions are still on the table,” said Squadron spokesperson Amy Spitalnick. In an e-mail, she listed a few possible solutions already being considered: “turning restrictions, stop lines, lengthening medians and crossing times, and a real solution for bikes (understanding that they’ll end up on Delancey no matter what).”

We’ll be reporting on the working group’s recommendations as they develop, but for now, it’s encouraging to see this broad and powerful coalition of elected officials and community leaders commit to a safe Delancey Street. Their statements, collected in a press release, are below:

“I am confident that by working together city agencies, concerned elected officials, experts and community members will institute effective and creative ways to increase safety on the Delancey corridor,” said Council member Chin. “The number of fatalities this year alone demand action. It time to make Delancey safe for everyone who uses it.”

“By bringing the community together, we can develop solutions that improve traffic, pedestrian and cyclist safety in the Lower East Side,” said Congresswoman Velazquez.

“It is essential that we do everything possible to make sure we have the most effective safety measures in place to address the problems we have seen on Delancey Street,” said Speaker Silver. “I am encouraged that we now have key stakeholders at the table and I am hopeful that, with the full participation of the community, we can develop some solutions that will increase protections for pedestrians, cyclists and all other users of this important thoroughfare.”

“Last month’s tragic death of cyclist Jeffrey Axelrod was the latest painful reminder of the dangerous conditions that plague Delancey Street on the Lower East Side,” said Borough President Stringer. “For years I have called on the City to improve safety at this location, and this working group is a much needed a step in the right direction. I am committed to working with the NYC Department of Transportation, my colleagues in government, Community Board 3 and safety advocates to identify mitigations that will make Delancey Street safer for all users: pedestrians, cyclists and drivers.”

“While the last four years have been the safest in City history, we’re always working to make our streets even safer,” said NYC DOT Commissioner Janette Sadik-Khan. “We recently installed countdown signals along Delancey Street to help pedestrians cross and a safety redesign is now under way at the pedestrian and bike entrance to the Williamsburg Bridge. We continue to look for ways to build on the many enhancements we’ve made throughout the corridor and to working with elected leaders and other stakeholders to cut the number of traffic fatalities citywide in half by 2030.”

“Community Board 3 is very excited about working with the Delancey Street Working Group to make Delancey safer for everyone,” said David Crane, chair of the Community Board 3 Transportation Committee. “The Community Board has been grappling with this issue for years and has included it as a major problem in the current District Needs Statement. Senator Squadron has brought together agencies, advocates, and elected officials who are all very open to collaborating for the best resolution.”

“It’s about time everyone came together to finally put an end to the dangers on Delancey,” said Paul Steely White, Executive Director of Transportation Alternatives. “Delancey Street is one of the most hazardous streets in the city–this is an important first step in making Delancey safe for foot and bicycle traffic. We understand this is a complex corridor that needs to be carefully studied but there are quick solutions that could be implemented to start saving lives now while a more permanent fix is planned. We’re eager to discuss making these solutions a reality in this working group.”

“The LES BID is excited to participate in this important dialogue with our great partners in government regarding the Delancey Street corridor,” said Tim Laughlin, Director of Policy, Planning and Operations for the Lower East Side Business Improvement District. “We look forward to working with our elected officials to implement financially feasible safety improvements that will complement and enhance projects the BID is currently leading the way on, such as our plan to extend the Delancey pedestrian medians at both Essex and Orchard Streets.”

Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver said Albany isn't currently working on any plan to pay for the MTA's capital program, but that it should come up during budget season. Photo: Noah Kazis

The current MTA capital budget is very bad news for transit riders, who are being asked to shoulder $7 billion in debt all on their own. Where can the 8 million daily riders who count on the MTA turn for help?

Not Washington: The just-negotiated debt ceiling deal is likely to mean more cuts to transportation, which would probably translate into more cuts at the MTA.

Not Andrew Cuomo: The governor never even made time for a sit-down meeting with MTA chief Jay Walder, reports the New York Times, much less developed a plan for adequately funding transit. According to the Tri-State Transportation Campaign, Cuomo is focused on finding funds to pay for roads and bridges instead of tracks and trains.

Not Michael Bloomberg: The MTA’s budget calls for the city to chip in half a billion dollars from the new tax revenue that will be generated by the Second Avenue Subway. The mayor put the kibosh on that idea on his weekly radio show, according to Transportation Nation.

Not the State Senate: Senate Republicans remain focused on eliminating the payroll mobility tax, which brings in $1.5 billion a year for transit. In June, eight Democrats voted with them on a one-house bill to phase out the tax.

That leaves just the State Assembly, which could redeem its decision to kill congestion pricing in 2008 by leading the charge for transit now. After an event today marking the opening of a new entrance to the Fulton Street transit center, Streetsblog asked famously tight-lipped Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver whether there are any discussions about funding the rest of the MTA’s capital plan happening in his chamber.

“There are none going on right now, but I’m sure they’ll be part of the next budget conversation,” Silver said.

The lockbox already passed the State Senate, where it was sponsored by Brooklyn Republican Marty Golden, and the powerful Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver announced his support for the bill last night.

The bill should be on the Ways and Means Committee agenda this morning, said Lorrie Smith, the legislative director for lockbox sponsor James Brennan. “If Silver’s supporting it, then it should be on that agenda,” said Smith. The Ways and Means agenda has not been released yet, however. “We’re in kind of a holding pattern since late last evening,” Smith said.

There is still room on the calendar to pass the lockbox, said Smith, even as the time remaining in the session continues to tick away. If Assembly Republicans do decide to delay the bill with a fight over the payroll tax, as Silver’s office was worried about last night, however, that could complicate matters. “If that were to come about, it would be a problem,” admitted Smith.

“We have to hope that Senator Golden will ask them to let this go through,” said Smith. Streetsblog has a call in with Golden’s office to see if he’s communicated the importance of the lockbox legislation to his Republican colleagues in the Assembly.

Whyland said that the only thing standing in the way of the Assembly passing the measure could be time constraints, as tonight is supposed to be the last of the session. “The one thing that could jeopardize it would be attempts by suburban Republicans to attach amendments about the MTA payroll tax. That’s a non-starter,” said Whyland. While those attempts could be beaten back, he said, it would take extra time to do so. If a delay happens, the lockbox bill could be abandoned in order to make time for legislation that is a higher priority for the Democratic caucus, such as rent regulation.

The State Senate voted for the lockbox yesterday, so an Assembly vote would send it to the governor’s desk.

We’ll have more on this story as it develops.

"My Assembly colleagues and I fought hard to preserve student MetroCards, because we believe that students simply shouldn't have to pay to get to school every day," said Silver (D-Manhattan). "Many cash-strapped families do not have any room in their already-tight budgets to provide children with daily transit fare."

"Many children depend on city transit to get them to school, and the MTA Schoolfare Program offers them an affordable way to do so," said Farrell (D-Manhattan). "We cannot lose sight of the needs of our most vulnerable citizens during these tough times."

Of course the vulnerable and cash-strapped, with or without children, will end up paying for this deal one way or another, since Silver and Farrell did nothing but further compromise the MTA's own already-tight budget to cover Albany's student fare tab. To these guys, victory is making other transit riders eat the cost of student fares while they heap praise upon themselves for coming to the aid of poor kids and families.

This clip from yesterday's Assembly Transportation Committee meeting doesn't quite live up to the hype.

If you're puzzled as to why we're even showing this, allow me to set the scene: Two years ago, a bill enabling camera enforcement of New York City bus lanes died in this same committee under cloudy circumstances. In a hastily called vote, several sponsors ended up siding against the bill, and no one could really explain why. At least, no one would tell the press anything other than some variation on "the committee chair made me do it." When the Times asked the chair, David Gantt, why the bill failed, he said, "What do you think, I go around breaking people's arms?" Throughout, Speaker Sheldon Silver got to remain above the fray.

Since then, the State Senate has started recording its committee meetings and posting them online, but not the Assembly. If there was going to be a reprise of 2008, Streetsblog needed to capture it for posterity. So when a bus lane bill reached the Transportation Committee yesterday, our intrepid freelancer Alan Wechsler went to the meeting, camera in hand. This is what he saw: In four seconds, the bus camera bill was introduced, "debated," and reported to the next committee. Wristwatch checking ensues.

You can hear Gantt, seated at the far end of the table, ask for negative votes, then proclaim that the bill is reported. That's it. No grumbling about motorists' privacy. The bus cam bill advances to the Codes Committee. A very promising development for New York City bus riders, a win for transit advocates and local legislators, and a head-scratching installment in this Albany storyline.

Video footage shot by Alan Wechsler

Don't celebrate just yet, but legislation authorizing the use of camera enforcement to keep New York City bus lanes clear of traffic -- a.k.a. the bus cam bill -- just cleared the Assembly Transportation Committee.

Sheldon Silver and David Gantt.

With NYCDOT and the MTA relying on enforcement, not separated lanes, to keep traffic from interfering with transit service on their rapid bus corridors, cameras will be critical to success. After camera enforcement was enacted in London, average travel speeds in bus lanes improved 12.6 percent, according to NYCDOT. For now, the prospects for better bus service on the city's dedicated lanes are looking pretty good. (Successful passage of the bus cam bill could also free up NYPD resources to enforce other traffic violations, like failure-to-yield to pedestrians or bike lane blocking.)

We'll have more information on the committee vote later today.

Update: Our man in Albany, Alan Wechsler, files this bit of color from what appears to have been an utterly bland and uneventful committee hearing:

The bill received no discussion during the short meeting. After the meeting, Chairman David Gantt (D-Rochester) declined to comment about why the bill had been held up before.

City Council Speaker Christine Quinn and transportation committee chair Jimmy Vacca gave better service for New York City bus riders a boost yesterday, speaking in favor of bus lane enforcement legislation currently making its way through Albany. The legislation is a critical component in the city's plans to expand and enhance Select Bus Service, including the route on First and Second Avenues officially announced yesterday.

While the state legislature will ultimately decide the fate of the bus cam bill, before that can happen, the City Council has to pass a "home rule message" supporting the measure. At a meeting of the council's Democratic caucus yesterday, both Quinn and Vacca spoke in support of bus lane cameras.

"The discussion was very positive," said Vacca. "If we're asking people to get out of their cars, it's helpful, especially in Manhattan, to allow people to get into buses that move faster. This will help buses move faster."

The council may vote on the home rule request as soon as tomorrow. 

In Albany, the Senate Transportation Committee will vote on the bus cam bill today. A reliable source tells us that he expects the bill to pass the transportation committee and the full Senate soon. 

The Assembly, however, has always been the heavier lift for bus lane cameras. The same source tells us that transportation committee chair David Gantt remains opposed to camera enforcement and that Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver, who could advance the legislation at any time, has given no indication of which way he's leaning.

The bill currently has 47 sponsors, 19 of whom serve on the 26-person transportation committee. The main sponsor in the Assembly, Jonathan Bing, has filed a procedural motion that will guarantee a vote in committee if the City Council passes a home rule message. Without the approval of Silver and the Assembly leadership, however, that vote could still go nowhere, despite broad support on the committee. 

Camera enforcement will help bus lanes work as advertised for hundreds of thousands of riders. Image: NYCDOT

With only a few weeks left before the legislature goes home for the year, time is running out to get something done. There are two options: convince Sheldon Silver and the Assembly leadership to adopt bus cameras in their budget, or pursue a separate bill that will have to go through Rochester Democrat David Gantt, the chair of the Assembly transportation committee who shot down bus cams in 2008.

Bus cam supporters have recently made some progress on both fronts. The State Senate has agreed in principle to include the governor's version of the bus camera program in their budget, according to a source in the capitol following the negotiations. (At first, the Senate had proposed a watered-down version of the program.) That still leaves the Assembly, where leadership has yet to indicate any change in their position.

If bus cams don't make it into the Assembly budget, there appears to be extensive support for a standalone bill among rank-and-file Assembly members.

Bus cam legislation sponsored by Manhattan rep Jonathan Bing now has 47 sponsors. Several veteran members of New York City's delegation, including Manhattan Democratic Party chair Keith Wright, have signed on. A companion bill in the State Senate was recently introduced by Brooklyn rep and transportation committee chair Martin Malavé Dilan. While Dilan's committee has scheduled a vote on the bill for June 8, Gantt's committee in the Assembly has not scheduled a vote.

To complicate matters even more, Albany also needs to receive a "home rule message" from the New York City Council to move forward with a bus camera bill. The council will have to hold a vote quickly. The last transportation committee meeting in the Assembly takes place in less than two weeks, on June 7. There may not be another chance to advance the bus camera bill this year.

We have phone calls in with several city and state legislators to see where they stand on the bus cam bill. With the state Democratic convention in full swing today, it's been difficult to get people on the line, so stay tuned for updates later this week.

In the meantime, if you want to show your support for better bus service in New York City, you can join this Facebook group. (And call your representatives, of course.)

Shelly Silver let better bus service fall by the wayside in the Assembly's budget proposal.

"Right now, bus lanes are routinely violated by many vehicles, resulting in chronic delays for hundreds of thousands of bus riders," said Gene Russianoff, staff attorney for the Straphangers Campaign. "Using enforcement cameras in city bus lanes could turn that around, making bus service more reliable and helping to reduce congestion."

Two years ago, bus cams died in the Assembly transportation committee, chaired by Rochester representative David Gantt. This time around, they were stripped out in the Assembly's opaque budget process. One advocate in Albany told Streetsblog that rank-and-file Assembly members were unaware that the bus cam provisions had been slashed from the budget resolution as late as yesterday afternoon, hours before the resolution was unveiled and voted on.

Gantt has no veto power in the Assembly budget process, which the Speaker himself exerts enormous influence over. The budget resolution only had to clear a vote in the Assembly Ways and Means Committee, chaired by Upper Manhattan representative Denny Farrell, before the Speaker brought it to the full floor last night. "It's our view that Silver maintains pretty tight control over the budget process," said Laura Seago, a research associate at the Brennan Center for Justice and co-author of the 2009 report on Albany dysfunction, "Still Broken" [PDF].

Neither Silver nor Gantt's office has returned Streetsblog's requests for comment at this time.

Restoring the bus cam program in the final budget now hinges on negotiations between the Assembly, the State Senate, and the governor's office. Those talks, which happen behind closed doors, are expected to heat up sometime after the official budget deadline of April 1.

In the Senate, which included a watered down version of the governor's original bus camera proposal in its budget resolution, several representatives say they'll be pushing to restore the full bus cam language. Senator Eric Adams, whose Brooklyn district would be served by Select Bus Service slated for the Nostrand Avenue corridor, said he believes camera enforcement is a critical tool to keep buses moving. He expressed surprise that the Assembly had stripped bus cams from its budget and said he'd ask Senate negotiators to make them a high priority. "The resolution is just phase one," he said. "Now we're going to start drilling down on the issues that matter to us."

In a letter to Senate transportation committee chair Martin Malave Dilan, Krueger urged the adoption of a robust bus cam program, which she called "altogether imperative for this system to succeed."

On the Assembly side, Manhattan rep Jonathan Bing, who sponsored the bus cam legislation that Gantt shot down two years ago, said he's organizing a contingent of legislators to restore bus cameras. He urged Streetsblog readers "to contact their legislators to encourage the leadership to include this in the final budget.”

• The Assembly rejects the Executive proposal to authorize: Bus Lane Photo Devices
  

Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver and Ways and Means Committee Chair Herman "Denny" Farrell have rejected enforcement cameras that would make bus service faster and more reliable for New Yorkers.

The news from the Assembly does not represent the last word on bus cams, and there will be opportunities to restore bus lane enforcement in the final budget. But for now this budget proposal has sent a clear message: Bus riders and better transit service do not matter to the Assembly leadership. We'll have more on this story tomorrow.

Leandra Rosado, 11, was killed last month when a car driven by Carmen Huertas crashed on the Henry Hudson Parkway.

Depending on what course those discussions take, such changes could hinge on approval from Albany. As we reported previously, prosecutors are already pushing legislation that would remove the requirement that a doctor be present to supervise blood withdrawals. Inexplicably, state lawmakers -- and Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver in particular -- have a history of coddling drunk drivers, the latest example being the fight over "Leandra's Law," playing out at the capitol as of this writing.

While a truly comprehensive bill would aim to protect people of all ages whether or not they are in a car, one would think a measure to toughen penalties for DWI with children in the vehicle would fly to the governor's desk. Yet Silver has now attempted to water down two such measures. The original Leandra's Law would make it a felony to get behind the wheel with a BAC of .08 if passengers under the age of 16 are present. Assembly Dems want to raise the felony BAC level to .18, more than twice the legal limit for driving. Carmen Huertas, the driver in the October crash that killed Leandra Rosado, had a BAC of .132.

According to Monique Dixon, in 2005 Silver wavered in his support for a bill to make it a felony in New York State to kill someone while driving drunk. Dixon, whose 11-year-old son Vasean Alleyne was killed by a drunk driver who spent 38 days in jail, eventually won passage of a tougher "Vasean's Law" than Silver wanted.

Even the newly agreed upon protocol for collecting blood evidence leaves New York woefully behind. Prosecutors are working on a bill to remove the up-front warrant requirement in cases of death or serious injury where there is probable cause for DWI. Such procedure is common in other states, notes defense attorney Howard Weiner in the Times. Local laws, Weiner said, are "much more protective of drivers than those in other parts of the country."

On the merits, the texting "ban" is weaker than another bill, sponsored by Assemblyman Felix Ortiz, which the transportation committee never brought up for a vote. Under the Gantt bill, a driver could be fined, but not pulled over, for texting behind the wheel.

"While we certainly support the intent of the bill, we have questions about specific language which would seem to greatly restrict its actual application," said TA's Peter Goldwasser in an email. "In short, unless an individual is committing another, different violation in the first place, then he or she is not subject to receiving a summons for violating this new offense."

In 2007, there were nearly 10,500 crashes in New York where the contributing factor was driver inattention or distraction, Goldwasser noted. Shouldn't that be enough reason to make distracted driving a standalone violation?

On balance, this bill would be a step forward for street safety in New York, but with the State Senate in the midst of its epic breakdown, the odds of it becoming law -- during this session, at least -- are vanishingly small. (So far, there's not even a version of this bill in the Senate.) This will be something to keep an eye on in the next legislative session. The speaker, the transportation committee chair, and the whole Assembly are on record supporting this bill, so there's no reason it shouldn't pass again when the opportunity arises.

Sheldon Silver. Photo: Daily News.

When we contacted Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver's office, a spokesperson told us that it's up to the committee chair to move the bill forward. That would be Rochester Democrat David Gantt. But why should one person have such power when the overwhelming majority of his members disagree? And is Gantt really the guy making that call -- or is it Sheldon Silver?

To get a sense of the dynamics at work here, Streetsblog called Laura Seago, a researcher at NYU's Brennan Center for Justice and co-author of the aptly titled report on Albany dysfunction, "Still Broken" [PDF].

"I would be surprised if Sheldon Silver wasn't involved," Seago said of the texting ban. "This is something we see all the time, unfortunately, which is that the speaker controls everything that comes to the floor."

While Gantt makes a convenient target, and it's conceivable, in Seago's words, that he was "acting freelance" on this one, the fact remains that Silver could easily move the texting ban forward if he chose to do so.

In a legislature that functions democratically, the members of the transportation committee could also override the objections of their chair or the leader of their chamber. But that's not how things work in Albany.

"Most state legislatures make committees the place where legislation is robustly debated and made," said Seago. Next door in Connecticut, she notes, bills introduced in committee are required to have a hearing and a vote, but in New York, "we just don’t have that." Here, the leaders of each legislative chamber -- Sheldon Silver in the Assembly, Malcolm Smith in the State Senate -- maintain control over the committee process, and there’s no viable way for the rank-and-file to force a vote on a bill.

The Assembly, says Seago, is a "democracy of one."

If you're wondering why Sheldon Silver would choose to block a popular measure to reduce the public safety risk posed by distracted drivers, it may be instructive to look at the long battle to ban driving while talking on a cell phone. That fight lasted several years, and when the state legislature finally passed a bill, in 2001, it did not include any restrictions on hands-free cell phones -- to the delight of the telecom industry and its lobbyists in Albany, and despite studies showing that hands-free phone calls pose just as big a risk as those on handsets.

We were half-kidding last week when we said state legislators were open to taxing anything from pet food to shoelaces as long as they could say they had saved the MTA, and as long as drivers could continue to cross East and Harlem River bridges at no cost. Turns out it's no joke after all, according to Senate Majority Leader Malcolm Smith.

Following another futile secret meeting late yesterday with his Assembly counterpart Sheldon Silver and Governor David Paterson, Smith acknowledged that at this point any revenue source will do. The Politicker reports:

"It's not about merits," Smith said. "It's just about what gets us there with the votes that we need to get it passed. Because there are things in this plan that, somebody's not going to like something. At some point, you just have to sort of toughen up a little bit and make the tough decisions."

"It's not about merits" goes a long way toward explaining Smith's proposal to substitute bridge tolls with a taxi surcharge, a scheme that by one columnist's count has the support of Smith, Carl Kruger, and no one else. It could also serve to sum up Smith's idea of "reform" in Albany, at least as it applies to the MTA funding crisis. Consider his comments when The Fare Hike Four unveiled their cockamamie plan.

Liz Benjamin asked Smith whether the fact that the new plan clearly represents the thinking of the old Gang of Three was a sign of his own weakness. He said it was just part of the "paradigm shift."

"Quite frankly, I would hope my members are strong enough and will try to drive agendas," Smith said. "This is a Democratic conference, this is not a Malcolm conference."

"I encourage them: go ahead with the Gang of Three, do your thing."

As for toughening up, Smith could stand to heed his own advice. Ignoring the merits in an effort to appeal to the lowest common denominator isn't hard. Nor is it particularly virtuous to preach transparency and reform while hiding behind closed doors.

When it comes to MTA rescue, it's past time to make the tough decisions. Straphangers are still waiting to see if the new leader of the Senate has it in him.

Under the Democrats' proposal, which does not yet exist in bill form, the payroll tax would be 34 cents per $100 in the 12-county MTA service area, but it would be graduated so the outlying counties would pay less (exactly how much less was not immediately clear).

The payroll tax would generate the lion's share of revenue: $1.49 billion.

Another key feature: a $1 taxi drop-off fee (50 cents more than what was originally on the table).

Half of the $190 million this fee is expected to generate would be used to pay the $95 million debt service on a $1.2 billion capital plan for roads and bridges upstate and on Long Island -- a move designed to woo GOP lawmakers and suburban Democrats who have so far dug in their heels in opposition to the payroll tax.

Other highlights:

- A $25 motor vehicle registration fee - on top of the existing fee, which was increased in this year's budget. ($130 million).

- Boosting the auto rental surcharge from 6 to 11 percent. ($35 million).

- A 25 percent increase in the motor vehicle license fee. ($10.5 million).

The proposal also includes several measures related to MTA governance and financial disclosure. Smith has not yet lined up the 32 votes needed to pass a plan in the State Senate, but spokesman Austin Shafran expressed confidence that a majority can be wrangled, reports Politicker's Jimmy Vielkind.

In a statement, Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver left the door open -- fairly wide, I'd say -- to supporting the proposal:

I am willing to support any plan that provides a stable, long term funding stream for mass transit and apportions the burden equitably among everyone who has a stake in the MTA's future.

I have not had an opportunity to fully review the Senate's plan, but if it can accomplish both of those objectives and command the support of the majority of Senators then it is an alternative we're prepared to take very seriously.

Let's just focus on the revenue here. Smith's plan appears to fall short of Shelly's own by around $150 - $200 million per year, so something's got to give. Assuming the fare hike is held down to the range of eight percent, that means the Senate Dems are still prepared to sock New Yorkers with some combination of service cuts and slapdash investment in maintenance and expansion. Will that qualify as "a stable, long term funding stream" that "apportions the burden equitably"? With the MTA's financial picture growing bleaker by the day and the need for a robust plan all the more apparent, the only answer that makes sense is "No."