Call Cuomo’s Bluff
Mayor de Blasio hinted Monday that he might back Gov. Cuomo’s congestion-pricing scheme if it included certain exceptions. Yet no amount of tweaking can save a plan that would rob the city yet again.
Cuomo wants to charge motorists for driving below 60th Street in Manhattan, possibly as much as $11 for cars and $25 for trucks — raising $1 billion a year for the cash-strapped, problem-prone MTA.
Without that dough, he threatens, fares will have to rise as much as 30 percent, skyrocketing the cost of a subway ride from $2.75 to more than $3.50.
Yet, ludicrously, he warns that he himself won’t support the fee unless the Legislature also gives him complete control of the MTA. Boost my power, in other words, or I’ll sock you with painful fare hikes — instead of painful congestion-pricing charges. What kind of ultimatum is that? Amazingly, he doubled down this Friday with his latest budget proposals: His plan would put all congestion-pricing revenues in a “lockbox” controlled by a new panel (one he surely expects to control), not the MTA board.
Lawmakers should call his bluff: Deny him his power grab and his congestion fee.
Yes, that leaves fare (and toll) hikes still coming — but the fact is that, even with congestion pricing, they’re inevitable without reforms to repair the MTA’s finances.
Answering the agency’s woes must begin with serious internal reform, which is an entirely different affair from simply elevating Cuomo to MTA king. If it still needs cash, the money should come from the state’s (and maybe the city’s) general revenues — not from new taxes or fees.
New Yorkers would be right to take to the streets with pitchforks in response to Cuomo’s blackmail. On top of fares and tolls, they already pay numerous taxes (on sales, payrolls, petroleum, real estate, even taxi rides) that go straight to the MTA.
City taxpayers have particular grounds to be livid: They already cough up 70 percent of the taxes and subsidies that go to the agency, the Citizens Budget Commission found. And Cuomo’s plan includes no guarantee that new congestionpricing revenue will go to services they use.
Yes, the subways need cash for vital repairs and upgrades. But the $17 billion MTA budget still holds plenty of fat. Recall that it spends seven
times as much as other cities for new track, The New York Times found. And sweetheart labor deals, which account for 60 percent of MTAcosts, are a key reason for its financial woes.
Cuomo took office in 2011 but has yet to tackle any of those abuses. For most of that period, his most notable move was to push the agency to get the Second Avenue line running in time for him to stage a New Year’s photo op.
He’s only started talking up MTA reform since the subway crisis exploded two years back.
Which is why his demand for total control of the agency is laughable. Everyone knows he has
effective control now. He recently used that power to delay fare hikes and cancel plans for a 15-month suspension of L-train service.
Giving him full control would not only secure the MTA as his personal fiefdom but reduce what transparency now exists.
No, straphangers and taxpayers have suffered long enough. Cuomo needs to use the power he already has to fix the MTAbefore he brazenly asks for both more control and more money.