Unions: Help MTA
Push D.C. Dems to get $3.9B aid for virus-hit agency
ALBANY — A coalition of New York’s transit and labor unions is calling on top Democrats in Washington to ensure transit funding is included in the next coronavirus stimulus package.
Top officials with seven unions want Sen. Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) and House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) to fight for additional relief funding as the MTA struggles to maintain service amid steep declines in ridership and revenue amid the COVID-19 crisis.
“To protect the MTA now in its hour of need is to prioritize the needs of New Yorkers hit hardest by the pandemic,” the labor leaders wrote in a letter sent to the pair on Friday.
The groups, including the Transport Workers Union, Building Trades, the New York State AFL-CIO and others, are requesting $3.9 billion for the MTA to help avoid a transit disaster as Schumer and Pelosi negotiate the next coronavirus relief package with Senate Republicans.
The Republicans, who control the Senate, unveiled their stimulus bill last week. It did not include any additional transit funds.
“It’s no surprise to us that it often falls on our union brothers and sisters to keep the city going in times of crisis, whether it’s caring for the sick, keeping grocery stores stocked and open, or operating trains and buses,” the union leaders wrote. “That’s why we’ve banded together in solidarity— we know that our recovery is intertwined.”
Back in late March, Congress passed the CARES Act, which provided $25 billion to transit agencies across the country to help to help cover COVID-related costs.
But MTA Chairman Patrick Foye said last week that the $4 billion allotted to the MTA has already run out and projected a $16 billion budget deficit in the next couple of years. He said another $3.9 billion would help carry the transit agency, which has seen ridership fall and tax revenue dry up, to the end of 2020.
“The MTA is facing a once in a 100-year fiscal tsunami, which has left our infrastructure untouched but destroyed and demolished 40% of our revenues,” Foye said during an appearance on CNBC’s “Squawk on the Street.” “This is a national crisis, it requires a national solution.”
Angelo Roefaro, a spokesman for Schumer, said the senator was instrumental to getting money for the agency in the last stimulus package and is again doing all he can to push back on Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.).
“Senator Schumer moved mountains to overcome Mitch McConnell’s opposition and anti-New York bias during the last stimulus—bringing more than $100 billion to New York, from the MTA, to state and local aid, to schools and families—and he’s fighting to do it again this round,” Roefaro said.
The union letter comes days after Gov. Cuomo also ominously warned MTA fares and tolls could increase should Washington lawmakers fail to approve transit funds.
A Brooklyn City Council candidate says his tooth was chipped when an unknown assailant walloped him in the face in what he calls an unprovoked hate attack.
No words were exchanged between the attacker and Boris Noble, 35 — whom police suspect was targeted because he wore a yarmulke. Cops say they’re investigating the incident as a hate crime.
Police released a surveillance picture of the suspect on Friday.
Noble (inset) said he was walking down E. 12th St. near Avenue J in Midwood around 11:50 p.m. July 16 when the suspect crept up from behind.
The man “just hit me with a bat or some kind of baton or something ... he ran up and hit me out of nowhere,” said Noble.