Yesterday’s MTA fare-hike vote shall be reversed, if Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver has his way.
“I will do everything in my power to ensure that today’s vote by the MTA does not stand,” vowed Silver.
Well, here’s the first step.
Silver weeks ago endorsed a modified version of Richard Ravitch’s plan to shore up the MTA’s financing by tolling East and Harlem River crossings and instituting a payroll tax.
Now, if he chooses, he can pass it.
Yes, that would put many of his members on the spot.
But it would also lay the onus squarely on Senate Majority Leader Malcolm Smith and his band of rebellious Democrats. Right now, they refuse to consider tolls — and Smith can’t make them.
And Gov.-In-Name-Only David Paterson is no factor at all. (Right now, he’s too busy carrying water for his father’s Long Island law firm.)
Talk about a power vacuum.
But Silver has the stature and smarts to fill it. If he really wants to.
Remember — the MTA is short the $30 billion it needs for its critical five-year maintenance and expansion program.
It needs the rescue fashioned by Ravitch, a former MTA chairman, and endorsed in principle by Silver.
But does he really mean “to do everything in [his] power to ensure that today’s vote by the MTA does not stand”?
Well, he’s got the power.
Time for him to use it.
Move your bill, Mr. Speaker.
Dodge the $2.50 subway fare.