Gov. Paterson folded up like a worn- out accordion yesterday, withdraw ing his support for a properly bal anced MTA budget in favor of a jerry-rigged spending plan that puts the system on a fast track back to the ’70s.
“Right now I’m interested in anything that will clear up the immediate problem, the one that’s coming at the end of the month,” Paterson said.
“The capital plan” — that is, the budget to pay for upkeep, repairs and improvements — “is not the real issue right now,” he added.
But of course it is.
Paterson & Co. are cobbling together fare, toll, tax and fee increases meant to stave off larger fare hikes and service cuts due later this month.
HOLDOUT POLS ON BOARD WITH MTA DEAL
But their plan makes scant provision for the future. Indeed, it follows precisely the logic that led to the system’s demise in the ’70s: Put off needed funding today, and worry about it tomorrow.
Only “tomorrow” never comes.
Paterson once backed a plan by transit expert Richard Ravitch, which did contain funding for capital needs. (It even had a $400 million cash reserve that could have been used to offset a new $621 million hole in this year’s MTA budget.)
But Senate Majority Leader Malcolm Smith couldn’t win enough support for it. So now, his chamber seems to have agreed to raise taxes and fees to cover a months’ old $1.2 billion MTA hole, but apparently is ignoring both the new $621 million gap and the need for capital funds.
And Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver seems headed that way too, reversing his earlier stand.
At least Mayor Bloomberg sees the problem: “Stop-gap measures that kick the big problems down the road must be rejected,” he said yesterday.
Moreover, he said, “[T]he issues will be no simpler a few months from now than they are today.”
Alas, the problem is in Albany, and Bloomberg is not.
Shortchanging mass transit is a sure way to economic ruin. New Yorkers know that, even if their leaders do not.