Governor declares state of emergency for NYC transit system
Source: Washington Post
NEW YORK Gov. Andrew Cuomo said Thursday that he has declared a state of emergency over New York Citys troubled public transit system and has asked its new leader to complete a series of urgent reviews of the agencys management and aging infrastructure.
The Democratic governor said the state of emergency declaration will help cut red tape and speed up improvements.
The citys subways and commuter trains have been plagued by rising delays and unreliable service. Dozens of people were injured when a subway derailed Tuesday.
Cuomo, speaking at a conference for the MTA Genius Transit Challenge, which is seeking innovative solutions for the citys transit woes, said hes asked Metropolitan Transportation Authority Chairman Joe Lhota to come up with a reorganization plan in 30 days and an equipment review in 60 days. He also wants a 90-day review of transit power failures.
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Read more: https://www.washingtonpost.com/national/governor-declares-state-of-emergency-in-nyc-transit-system/2017/06/29/dd0f2028-5cda-11e7-aa69-3964a7d55207_story.html?utm_term=.a0746415c991
hrmjustin
(71,265 posts)He put in WiFi in the stations and now people use it to tweet out how bad the subways are.
geek tragedy
(68,868 posts)but didn't have money to fix the ancient train signals.
hrmjustin
(71,265 posts)There was some talk of extending it to NJ.
geek tragedy
(68,868 posts)Then again, I'm not convinced Hudson Yards was necessary. I'm sure real estate developers will make a killing tho.
hrmjustin
(71,265 posts)geek tragedy
(68,868 posts)Glad we chose the area by the museum instead.
hrmjustin
(71,265 posts)Appalling!
geek tragedy
(68,868 posts)hrmjustin
(71,265 posts)Historic NY
(37,449 posts)I'm in Orange and I tapped for MTA taxes all over the place, in fact they double the 1yr registrations for historic vehicles. The whole thing could fall apart for all I care. NY needs to stop picking on people that don't use it. The MTA is killing the entire state, they need to raise their tolls to support the users.
0.375% effective June 2005
Metropolitan commuter transportation mobility tax
https://www.tax.ny.gov/bus/mctmt/
Telecommunications Taxes and Surcharges
This surcharge recovers telephone company expenses associated with mandated New York State temporary metropolitan transportation business tax surcharge (Section 184-A Tax), and applies to customers located in the New York metro area only.
very time you sit in a taxi.
The majority of every bridge & tunnel you travel operated by the MTA goes towards their general fund.
Every car registration and license in ALL of NEW YORK STATE
Every car rental in ALL of NEW YORK STATE
Payrolls in Nassau, Dutchess, Orange, Westchester counties
choie
(4,102 posts)But I don't drive - it's called "the Commons"
Historic NY
(37,449 posts)is no way even similar, its desgined for and by NYC for it patron and citizens...
geek tragedy
(68,868 posts)of taxes to the state budget. The rest of the state pretty much mooches off us.
http://www.rockinst.org/pdf/nys_government/2011-12-Giving_and_Getting.pdf
***********
Summary Findings
New York City and the Downstate Suburbs "give" far more to Albany in taxes and other revenues than they "get" in state-funded expenditures.
***************************
Whining about people in the city getting state government services is a rather unseemly habit of upstaters who aren't acquainted with where NY state's bread gets buttered.
Historic NY
(37,449 posts)if NY City is tracking who uses the facilities they will find most pay as they go...
The monthly commuters who work in the city also pay city taxes and get fucked with commuter taxes as well.... for the rest of the citizens who haven't got a clue where a train station is they get screwed by ny city also.
Orange Co. employees also pay a tax to NY...
When you ask what is wrong with NY its this..
If NY City can't pay its own freight then, why is Albany, Rochester, Buffalo, and other NY City's not sharing the wealth.
There are lots of counties in NY and you wonder why they fucking hate the Gov and NY city elite...try this for a start.
People like the moron from Buffalo are going to win.
If you don't live in NY then hopefully you will fund NY City's expenses.
geek tragedy
(68,868 posts)its fair share of taxes. Including MTA taxes and fees.
Orange County is a net moocher off of NYC.
Our tax dollars fund highways and bridges and schools and health care for your county.
Historic NY
(37,449 posts)when selected counties pay more than your argument is pointless..............buffalo or Niagara are paying for your folly.
Argue all you will, but you just proved the point of the upstate downstate divide. How much does it cost you to go to NY City?
geek tragedy
(68,868 posts)you all are still getting back more than you pay, while we get less.
We don't use your highways, or your bridges, or your classrooms, your hospitals, but we pay for them.
Read the link I provided.
Here it is again in case you missed it.
http://www.rockinst.org/pdf/nys_government/2011-12-Giving_and_Getting.pdf
Upstaters are the takers, not the makers, in this relationship.
Your resentful belly-aching is not only borderline rightwing in philosophy (resenting any tax from which you do not directly benefit) it's also factually false.
P.S. You're welcome for the tax revenue.
Historic NY
(37,449 posts)MTA is not the DOT
Even the Mayor is balking
http://nypost.com/2017/06/29/de-blasio-balks-at-cuomos-request-for-more-mta-spending/
geek tragedy
(68,868 posts)in Orange County?
Historic NY
(37,449 posts)politicat
(9,808 posts)They built in the south metro first, because the south metro is mostly flat and the north metro is climbing into the mountains. I go to the south metro *rarely* and almost never use the built light rail. But it still benefits me, because keeping 30% of commuters getting on the train every morning means my air is breathable, when I have to go into the urban core, I can get there in a reasonable amount of time, and we have a relatively efficient BRT until they can figure out the rail situation. (It's part elevation -- about 1000 feet of rise with a couple of gnarly hills that are going to require either tunnels or cogging or leveling the hills. But it's mostly that the Transit district screwed up on their math.) For which everyone in my metropolitan area is paying a 1% sales tax on almost everything we buy. Talk about regressive taxes? 1% on everything retail except groceries by the food stamps definition gets pretty painful at $10 an hour. (Our total sales tax is almost 9%, which is about the same as yours, and we have higher car rental, hotel and other luxury sales/use taxes.) And yet, Denver Metro is one of the most thriving metros in the country.
You are complaining about $0.25 per day on a rental car. 12 cents on a $30 cab ride. Another quarter to 75 cents for most vehicle registration, which is an annual or two year fee, per the NYDOT. $4.55 per paycheck, assuming median per capita income for Nassau, NY, and bi-weekly pay. ($118 per year on $31K per year.) Oh, and you forgot the part about employees of small businesses with payroll under $312K per year being exempt (also federal employees, school district employees, credit union employees, and public library employees) and payrolls under $437K getting a discount. Which includes most small business owners and most self-employed people, and if they're making $312,501 per year, they're paying $343 per year in that tax.
We're Democrats - when we earn more, we pay more because we're repaying the investment made in us and funding that investment in the rest of the community and the next generation. Anti-taxers should please see Grover Norquist about a guitar and the public roads used to try to buy it.
If your state dispensed with all of those taxes right now, and the car population exploded to compensate for the lack of public transit, your tax savings would not cover a single visit to an emergency room for the resulting asthma attacks, or the 3-5 year life shortening that COPD causes.
Historic NY
(37,449 posts)but Orange County NY cabs have not a thing to do with NY city...we barely have what passes for a Transit System in this county. Dial A bus was dumped and NY city is complaining because they can't get around. Of course you use Nassau County its doesn't even compare to Orange, you now the backwater sticks. Its so bad here the social Services uses taxi's to transport people, we wish we have some sort of mass transport. If You live in the cocoon of NY City and come north for fresh air or to relive getting trashed at Woodstock. You have not got a clue how much most residents despise you.
Cuomo is losing ground its only a matter of time before another Paladino appears on the scene, many section of NY fly the confederate flag and worship Trumps feces.
We have a faux Democratic majority in Albany thanks to morons from NY City that align themselves with Republicans. It the only state I know of where Democrats outnumber Republicans but They give them control.
So if you ask whats wrong, with Ny the next Gubernatorial election is going to be a blowout. With a Constitutional Convention on the ballot the Cons & Reps are already gearing up.
politicat
(9,808 posts)But Nassau and Orange are both within the fallout range for air pollution. More so, in fact, because your prevailing winds are southeast to northwest, being pushed by the GCSO. If NYC goes back to the bad old dirty ways before the Clean Air Act (which would happen without a public transit system in the city and close suburbs) you're looking at severe smog that you didn't make. That will kill your children and you.
As for taxis -- actually, a lot of public social service organizations use them now. It's partially for the dignity of the client (who do deserve dignity) and it doesn't cost significantly more than giving out bus vouchers, especially in places with crappy weather. It works on the same concept of Housing First for all social services -- if you get a homeless addict into an apartment, they're more likely to comply with treatment and get the healthcare and training they need than if you try to make them get clean and get a job before you get them out of the shelter. It's more cost effective to pay for a taxi a couple times a month than to pay for a bout of pneumonia or a job loss when there's no bus or another kid because the contraception ran out and the wallet condom broke.
Don't like the way your party is run? Gather up five friends and hit up the next county democratic meeting. Looks like it's not very active (or maybe just dark because most do go dark in summer). If it's not active, make it so. Channel your inner ironstache and take on the faux-populist tide. Low info voters are turning vicious on Dems because they're the closer target - Dems make themselves more available and try to talk to everyone; Rs don't, so they get idealized. But the Dems are us. If we're not doing party support, we own some of the blame. We've got mini Tammany Halls all over the country, and the only way we're going to break them is to do the work. (Here, too. It's head-deskingly frustrating and if I have to listen to another 85 year old who has never even touched a computer talk about all of these uppity young things with garish hair who spend all their time on their phones, while the 20-40 something uppity young things are doing all of the electronic comms, GOTV organizing, 90% of the fundraising and management, I am going to very nicely tell an old lady to shut the fuck up. Sorry. Got ranty there. I do get it.)
I'm also going to direct you towards a local transit and development self-empowerment advocacy organization: http://www.StrongTowns.org You're not alone. There are hundreds of cities and counties across the country that are badly serving the people who live there. There are ways to counter it. A small town should have a jitney -- a small van/minibus that either circulates or is on call or both. Jitneys are really easy to set up and very cost effective, especially with the now very low cost of radio dispatch and cell service. Jitneys link up residential areas with retail areas and transit hubs that transfer to larger hubs. A town of 15,000 can make one work on about $60K a year, which is really cheap for public transit. But it takes city council buying in, and StrongTowns has tested and proven ways of getting councils to pay attention, or replacing them if they won't. And the StrongTowns ethic is all about fiscal responsibility balanced with sensible service. I don't always agree (I'm still ambivalent on their Flint water plan, for example) but their ideas work. Start here: https://www.strongtowns.org/journal/2016/6/22/greatest-hits-stroad-nation
But it's all local. Everything we do starts at the ground level. If we're not defending the place we live from the ones who want to burn it down because they don't see any other options, we're just going to have put out the fire when they set it. And that's much harder than taking away their matches in the first place.
It's not the taxes that are the problem -- it's the failure to provide the service.
geek tragedy
(68,868 posts)djg21
(1,803 posts)Historic NY
(37,449 posts)or are they all special kinds of snowflakes.
geek tragedy
(68,868 posts)Historic NY
(37,449 posts)vi5
(13,305 posts)Maybe if we told him that kids from charter schools used the subways he'd actually have cared about it sooner.
Yay, team D!!
Historic NY
(37,449 posts)he's a photo opt Gov. At 42% popularity he is in the danger zone....the gunners are gunning against him and they have a good chance.
vi5
(13,305 posts)...don't decide for us that it's his time or that he is our great, centrist hope.
He is the embodiment of party misdirection.
Nitram
(22,671 posts)would surely block any such move.