Someone should be in charge of the MTA, be it the mayor, the governor, or some other elected official. Right now, nobody is responsible. THAT is the problem.
5
Somehow I get the sneaking suspicion that Chirlane McCray (the mayor's wife) would have a leading role in running the subways, and it would be as successful as ThriveNYC. Maybe it's time to go back to the pre-MTA days and have it run by one private entity, though reasonably regulated. Government has not shown any ability to run the subways efficiently.
6
The answer is no. The eight years of Governor Cuomo’s incompetent MTA is not a good reason to hand the subways over to another incompetent politician. The New York City public housing debacle is powerful evidence of Mayor De Blasio’s poor management and leadership skills. The problem with the New York subways lies with all of us who are New York voters. We keep electing mayors and governors that are constantly in political reactive mode, and never look beyond currents polls to solve long term problems.
5
NYCHA. DOE. POLICE/FIRE. 2 out of 3 are a disaster. Now the city wants to add the MTA?! And we think the subway/bus system is in bad shape now. Johnson must be kidding. Please, you're kidding... Ok, this is politics... you're not kidding.
4
@marrtyy
Maybe it will take the cumulative failure of all of this to finally make New Yorkers wake up and realize that we need a different way of doing things. Corruption, cronyism, nepotism, arrogance, entitled employees, bureaucratic bloat and mismanagement...something’s got to give.
7
The transit system needs professional and not political management. They need clear objectives to improve the system and reduce the costs of both operations and capital. The Mayor is just as incompetent as the Governor, not to mention all money from the system needs to stay focused on the system, unlike the past. This will never happen.
8
And the last time the city ran the subways it worked out so well.
3
and the last time the state had more control than the city over NYC's subways and trains, that worked out so well too?
ever hear of the Know Nothing party?
3
That would be a tie then, wouldn't it? IOW, history has discredited both, so an alternative is called for.
Perhaps a new entity, with independent taxing powers (and everything should be possible: Income, sales, real estate, etc.), elected by city residents with no collegial (gubernatorial or mayoral or City Council or borough) representation?
It would be responsive to the very people it taxed and none other. It would be able to provide the service that the voters want (and I do believe, based on California precedents, noncitizens could be enfranchised for purposes of electing a nonlegislative [taxing only, no laws] service-providing entity.
It could NEVER happen, because neither (any) governor nor mayor would give up the right blame on the other when something bad happened on the subway nor to bask in limelight when something good happened to the subway. Each runs for office and manages the health of the city in the fervent and cynical hope that the other will fail worse or at least succeed less than he.
How about it? Direct democracy for transit!
If congestion pricing is the answer, where are the logical protections for those like myself,disabled and on a very limited fixed income, who need the services of specialist Physicians whose expertise isn't always available in the suburbs?
As for the notion that the City Council could act on its own, the legal implications of such interference in Interstate Commerce are obvious. Think of this in a more way, City and State leaders, or you will wind up in Federal court. There, you may very well lose! The devil is always in the details.
3
@D. Gallagher
Congestion pricing authorized by City Council might be prohibited by state laws. I don't know.
But, I don't know see how this form of tolling could be considered interference in interstate commerce. It is no different than the tolls on the Hudson River crossings and it applies to everyone, regardless of their state of residence. A driver from Westchester and a driver from Bergen County would be treated equally.
3
It's called democracy. The people who use the system should have a say in the system, period. Not some pharaoh in the American Thebes.
3
Sure, let the mayor run - and be responsible for the subways. This will deny him the ability to point to Albany and blame someone else.
But the real onus then falls on the residents of NYC to actually hold whomever the mayor is accountable for any failures. This means people will actually have to turn out and vote - turnout is ridiculously low now - and to stop voting just on party (i.e., no matter how bad, corrupt, venal, foolish, etc., must vote for a de Blasio because he's a Democrat) - and I don't know if the local electorate has the intestinal fortitude to do that.
8
Complete the transformation already. Rename the MTA to the MGA; The Metropolitan Gaming Arcade. The odds are decidedly against the people who use it.
3
So many comments along the lines of: DeBlasio running the subways? No way! I'd like to ask the commenters if they're so happy with the way Cuomo is running, or not running, the system. Such as diverting MTA money to upstate ski resorts. Such as pushing the completion of the three-station 2nd Ave. line so he can brag about getting it done, while ignoring the signal problems that plague the rest of the system. Hard to believe this mayor could do a worse job than this governor.
7
The infrastructure of NYC is the heartbeat, arteries and veins of the city. If the mayor - and here, I'm not singling out de Blasio - was responsible for mass transit, she would be more accountable than any hodgepodge city/state agency could ever be. Mismanagement of the system would always be front and center of mayoral politics and the voters would be the main arbiters. To dismiss the proposal only because of the activities/non-activities of the current mayor is shortsighted. There should be healthy debate on the merits of the proposal rather than a referendum on de Blasio's administration.
6
Imagine if Mike Bloomberg were still mayor and given control of the MTA....I miss him!
7
@cate
Sorry it fell apart under Mayor Mike...the subways don't effect the 1%, so it was never on his radar
3
@David Mayor Mike took the subway down to City Hall daily, and the subways most certainly affect the 1%. Many wealthy people take, or used to take, the subway because it was a more efficient mode of transport, and it affects their workforce when people can't commute properly.
It also didn't fall apart under him - this has been brewing since Governor Pataki, when investments were cut, and debt started to grow as the Capital Program was bonded out.
7
@David I personally saw MB riding the 2/3 down to city hall twice! He was in my car each time. He's shorter in person than on tv.
2
DeBlasio run the MTA?
That would be great to add to the duties he has ignored or botched as mayor
No thanks
7
New York's mayor has pro en that he cannot run anything well, it to mention the political favors attached to all he does. You're going to let him run this too? Are we nuts?
3
Is this man joking? Cuomo just exposed the fraud by going around the mta. De Blasio is quite literally the swamp. Every single public project De Blasio manages either has unaccounted money or hasty at best results. De Blasio will give the mta Union a blank check. While Cuomo waited too long to question the mta he saved us potentially hundreds of millions of dollars by the pushback. Is this new guy off his rocker? Btw NYT write about the $900 million of thrive money that we can’t track progress for. It was a mental health initivute so poorly managed we can’t track progress. Decent ideas extremely shoddy management and followthrough that’s De Blasio.
2
This article provides no analysis of Johnson’s policy proposal. It only outlines the current managerial structure. It’s as if the author did not read Johnson’s 100 page report. The Times is becoming USA Today.
9
@Rick Anderson Becoming, and USA Today? More like already is and the National Inquirer.
PLEASE, no more city-controlled 'entities.' The city isn't competent enough to control either the money or the daily operational activities of the buses and subways. And NYC doesn't need more bureaucracy eating tax dollars and doing nothing.
4
If the city runs the subways like they run NYCHA, I’ll walk.
7
Mr Byford has good ideas, but he is hamstrung by the politics. I fear that he will resign out of frustration within the next 6 months. I hope I'm wrong
5
Mayoral control of the transit system? Think Bill de Blasio in charge? Trifecta of indifference, incompetence and inertia that plagues DOE and NYCHA will migrate to the transit system and make things worse rather than better.
MTA succeeded the NYCTA which succeeded The Board of Transportation of the CNY. Unless things have changed there is a lease agreement dated 1953 that transferred the system to the newly created NYCTA so in fact the City still owns the system. The MTA is here to coordinate regional transportation but in reality it provides financing to subsidize buses and subways that run 24/7. It also serves as a protection against politicians giving away the store in labor negotiations as a result of crippling strikes that occurred during Lindsay's administration. There needs to be an adult in the room to protect the lifeblood of the City from the likes of demagogic politicians like de Blasio and Johnson who would rather stand on the sidelines and complain than roll up their sleeves and do some heavy lifting.
8
The state has even more paltry safety systems than the feds, the city would even be more so. On time? How about alive.
1
So...anyone old enough to remember the "New York City Transit Authority"-- NYCTA?? I see some reference to it. I'm thinking 1965-66 (?). I'll bet there are still some trains rolling today with the old logo. We've been there before. Would love to hear why that failed, and was taken over by the state -- the MTA-- and why it will be so much better now.
8
Unions and labor agreements and the pensions take up a ridiculously huge portion of the MTA budget. Put the subways in a new entity and restructure the labor agreements.
10
Not the current Mayor!
He is always running late and so will the trains.
7
The “Johnson Report” has more than half a dozen photos of Mr. Johnson; demonstrating it was created as nothing less than a campaign ad for his mayoral ambition. In addition what was the cost of this report and it should be paid for by the Johnson campaign.
Mayoral control of the MTA will result in a similar debacle that mayoral control of NYCHA has provided the City. The only mayor that had any managerial ability was Mike Bloomberg. He talents were a result of being a very successful business man and not a product of our dysfunctional political system as evidenced by our current mayor and Mr. Johnson, both of whom never had to be concerned with a real “bottom line”.
8
Like many of you reading, I depend on our transit system to function so that I may get to work, shop, etc.. I don't really care who has control as long as it works. The politicians in Albany are delusional in their failure to recognize the importance of this city as a(or maybe THE) financial juggernaut for the State of New York. The governor has himself stated that 33 percent of all state tax revenue is generated by Wall Street. I would not be surprised if the rest of the city was responsible for another 7-10. It's no secret that NYC gives a lot more than it gets back. The alleged adults have to get it together and do what's right for the city, hence: The State. There should also be a more transparent dissemination of pertinent information, such as how much of our fares going to salaries, maintenance and improvement, and last but not least: the portion of each fair going to pay off bond holders.
6
I don't know why New York and New Jersey seem to have so much corruption no matter which party is in power, and it's a despairing prospect to think that any entity in those states who appointed by state or local elected officials can ever get past all the corruption.
Sure that sounds like prejudice but where's the evidence that Andy Byford could ever push through his plans to modernize the subway system? Chris Christie seemed crooked, so does Andrew Cuomo, so do most of their predecessors. Perhaps Bill de Blasio is un-corrupt but what about all the corrupt folks in the NY state legislature? Hollywood has its share of slimebags but there is plenty of push-back. NYC has a powerful voice in the form of the NY Times, but still, the corruption seems endemic.
Please, would someone who's lived in NY or NJ all their life please help me understand why there should be any reason for optimism, and why do those two states seem to be such cesspools of corruption? Is it the finance industry? The labor unions? Certain demographics that are not polite to mention? Or what?
Sorry if this offends. I hope I'm way off base. When I lived in NYC I loved the friendliness of the people, but could never get anything done (furniture delivered, shipments picked up) without paying an extorted "tip" and too many services (like garbage pickup) were, shall we say, "fraught".
7
Tonight on my way home during the evening rush, I was treated to two separate and distinct "Showtimes!" One was a gentlemen banging on a large empty tub of joint compound, and later three young men doing acrobatics from the handrail. The mayor already has the authority to curtail these antics, and either cannot, or chooses not, to do so. Until the city demonstrates its ability to control aspects of the system within its purview, I'd prefer the system remain under the control of the state. The blood runs cold when thinking of the number of incompetent Brooklyn Democratic party hacks, to whom he owes fealty, DeBlasio would have put in place at "Big Apple Transit" had he been able to do so.
20
What? "Do-Nothing DeBlasio" run the subways? Where's he gonna run them from? Iowa? What a joke (and a bad one at that)!
6
The MTA does NOT need more money. They need accountability and fiscal responsibility. Why do we put up with inflexible and inefficient union work rules that cost the MTA billions of dollars per year? The MTA employs 25 people for tunnel-boring machine work that Spain does with nine. The times did an excellent expose on all the waste and why the 2nd ave subway and east side access are so expensive. Did they forget about all the incredible research they did a few years ago? I feel like they should republish that same article again because we really can't afford to keep throwing more money at the MTA and hope they improve.
26
@Peter
I once saw 7 MTA workers working on a turnstile.
Unless of course there were interns helping them...kind of doubt it.
2
Will you please stop with blaming the unions, you have fallen for a republican talking point. The workers do what they are told to do by management. No union contract has ever brought a company to it’s knees, rather unions have often taken concessions to help provide relief to problems caused by management. Unions do not decide how money is spent.
The fact is the NY transit system is being poorly run by management. Who killed the much needed tunnel to New Jersey the unions or was it the fat former governor of New Jersey that was overwhelmingly loved by the voters until the end of his last term.
It’s easy to bash the little guy and forgive the idiots running the show isn’t it?
By the way, why do you think you’re working for a living wage a working 40 hours a week instead of 80? People actually died to make that the standard, yes, literally died.
I always felt as if de Blasio was light on the operational re-thinking side of things for NYC and only paying attention to social ills that are his pet projects, and he's failing at that.
His office’s statement I think was a complete cop out of the operational nuts and bolts type of thinking that the speaker brought forward today, along with the team who contributed to the report. It is very clear de Blasio is and has been over his head on innovative ideas for improving city operations. Bloomberg ran laps around him in this area, and now Johnson is getting a head start too.
Even if this plan isn’t perfect in all ways, it’s leaps and bounds beyond what de Blasio and his team has ever produced in the city operations rethinking arena.
10
Experience in SF and Toronto, two rare examples of cities who still own their mass transit (instead of regional agencies), suggests municipal control is a bad idea as it will make chronic underfunding even worse. (Toronto is the least funded, and most expensive transit in terms of monthly pass cost, in North America).
1
Not so.
A monthly undiscounted $1PRESTO card is $146.25 in Canadian dollars, which can be bought in bulk (aka "exchange rate") for 74 U.S. cents, so a hair over $108, a fair bit less than NYC, and virtually the same as Chicago ($105) and LA ($100 for the most basic, service-area-restricted pass [which given LA sprawl is quite a constraint]).
The TTC has flaws enough, but overpriced monthly passes are not one of them.
The moneybags for the subway system is the Metropolitan Transportation Authority which is controlled by the Governors. The question is why then Governor Christie got one billion for a bridge repair that was not even part of the tri state interconnected system when the subways got nothing. Does Christie have something on Cuomo or were promises made that we don't know about. Or did Chris just sit on Andrew and refuse get up unless Cuomo yelled uncle. If I were Cuomo I would give up, too.
3
The MTA operates in New York State only, basically. Except for the Metro North’s Port Jervis Line, which uses NJ Transit trains and runs partially through New Jersey, there is no involvement of New Jersey in MTA operations. You are probably thinking of the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey.
4
Yes, absolutely the Mayor should run the subways. He lives with them on a daily basis. He may not ride them but his immediate constituents do.
The same goes for the airports, especially LaGuardia. As a former New Yorker who visits frequently I was always amazed how derelict they (Cuomo) let that place get.
Lately its much improved but what took so long.
2
Of course MTA should be locally controlled by the region it serves. See how Transport for London.
2
I only take the subway when I have to. Every weekend I take the Q train to 14th st or Canal st. All I’ve seen were multiple homeless living in the train cars and on the platform. I have been ruthlessly panhandled twice. No police presence at 86th st stop at all. I watched a get woman harassed in my car by homeless\psychopath guy, I was the only guy in the car. What do I do, protect the lady and possibly get hurt? The mayor allows this!
17
Why no link to the actual report? It can be found here:
http://council.nyc.gov/wp-content/uploads/2019/03/LetsGo_Transit_Report.pdf
3
Our current mayor has given ample evidence of incompetence in running everything else, so it stands to reason that he should be given another piece of patronage.
15
"in a power grab by Gov. Nelson A. Rockefeller"
Give him credit, before he died in the saddle, he was one heckuva power pro. He even outmaneuvered Robert Moses.
5
@JND
Yeah, Rockefeller deserves a lot of credit - for nothing!
Go up to Albany and take a stroll through the sterile Empire State Plaza, I project of hubris only exceeded by Brasilia, to see what Nelson wrought. He did it by bulldozing over ethnic, working class enclaves, primarily Italian, in downtown Albany.
Moses did a lot of good in his early years that were then completely nullified by his putting the car over mass transit.
Nelson Rockefeller was an elitist, entitled snob who had everything handed to him on a silver platter by his Robber Baron grandfather and his milksop of a father. The damage wrought by the Rockefeller to America and the world far outweighs their subsequent beneficences to all of us 'little people'. Go up and visit their faux not-for-profit Kykuit to see how the ultra-rich are 'giving' to us while still maintaining control over their 'donations'.
4
Way overdue
Upstate ny is corrupt and doesn’t care about the city
2
The state should welcome nyc Taking over the bankrupt and crumbling transit system.
1
Out of the frying pan, into the fire.
6
The issue is mayoral control. The problem is that New York City government is just not very good at running anything on a large scale, whether it is Nycha, the school system, policing the subway system, etc. etc. Nor has anyone in city government given a explanation for the hundreds of millions of dollars allocated to the NYC Thrive mental health system. Another bad idea by a mayoral wannabe from Boston.
14
A key point is missing in this article. Yes, the MTA was created mostly so that the bridges and tunnel fares could support the subway system financially. Bridges and Tunnels tolls are a financial windfall to any authority that controls them ....this is all documented in Robert Caro's wonderful book The Power Broker. So the question is: "where have all the monies gone?" Whey haven't the bridge and tunnel fees supported the subways? Bridges and tunnels are cheap to maintain versus the revenue they generate. What has happened? And without the revenues from the bridges and tunnels how will the subway system make up the shortfall?
13
With all due respect to Speaker Johnson, why would the Mayor (especially this mayor) be effective at running the system without an overhaul of the structure or a better source of funding? Does NYC's experience with public housing give anyone comfort in this regard?
25
@Bill
Save the "due respect." Where's the $40 billion going to come from?
4
@Bill
"Tear it all down, I am your savior!"
Remind you of any other notable political figures in recent history?
@Bill Mayor Johnson will do a very good job running New York City transit since, unlike our current mayor (and governor, and MTA board members) he actually uses it.
In all honesty, I don't feel it will make a difference who is running the MTA being the city or state. As long as the agency functions the way it does now, it won't make a difference. I feel that first we have to fix the way the MTA functions before we decide what level of government should run it. Maybe making those who are executives on the MTA elected officials might help because it might just make them more accountable to the people as opposed to appointed officials who only have to please the politicians that placed them in power only.
2
While this is tempting, among other things people blame the Mayor for the state of the subways when the Mayor doesn't control it (Cuomo saying the city owns the subway system is technically true, but it is like a parent telling a kid that they own the car the parent's gave him, his name is on it, but he can't drive it because the parents get money from him to gas the car up and pay for insurance and register it, but they don't actually do those things).
The real problem with Mayoral control is that in the past the city time and again has run into problems and didn't fund the subway properly. The city took over the subway in 1942 from the private operators (BMT and IRT), and after that the subway declined even further as the city didn't spend money on new lines or on fixing up the existing ones , diverting money to other things. Diblasio himself did this, from what I understand he underfunded the subway by 500 million to pay for pet projects of his own, so what would stop him from doing that if he had control of the subways and the funding from the TBTA and congestion pricing? Not saying the Mayor shouldn't control it per se, just saying mayoral control isn't a panacea either.
8
A few months ago a few inches of snow shut down the city. Knowing this who in their right mind would give The Mayor the keys to our transit system. Nowadays even the threat of snow causes the Mayor to close schools and hunker down. Would the mayor shut down our transit system when a bad forecast is predicted?
14
@Steven McCain To be fair, I think snow shutdowns are a damned if you do, damned if you don't situation for any public executive. Even if they act as appropriate for the forecast at hand, they're blamed if the weather suddenly takes a turn for the worse or the better.
Therefore, they need to engage in a form of decision-making known as "mini-max" ... minimizing maximum regret. Which will they regret more ... closing down when it turns out that it wasn't necessary, or not being closed if the weather takes a turn for the worse? Most voters will remember the city being unprepared for a snowstorm far longer than they'll remember an unneeded day off.
NYC has shown a glaring inability to run the Housing Authority. I have seen no reason to believe that the transit system would not suffer the same level of neglect. Of course, the current state of the subways and buses can be blamed on Governors Pataki and Cuomo, both of whom robbed the system of resources and placed it in debt with massive bid payments. The answer should be an elected board that is held in office or booted out based on results.
8
No. The present mayor has a hard time running the city. The Governor and The Mayor have been feuding for years. If the Governor had no skin in the game where would that leave the straphangers?
7
This is such common sense it defies logic that the current setup has persisted for so long.
1
@L: Common sense? Common sense is a fable - meaning different things to everyone who thinks s/he has it.
Common sense? That's the thing that tells us that the world cannot possibly be spinning at 1,000 MPH. Yet it is...
https://emcphd.wordpress.com
The subway has a ton of problems and none of them would be solved by home rule. But at least it would be accountable to it's citizens and not be some kind of mechanism of punishment/reward for upstate to control.
It's literally taxation without representation. The subway is a mess but it's our mess. There's no reason the state should control it other than some random political games in the past.
2
Absolutely not. Utilities and railroads run by elected politicians are invariably run into the ground, with inadequate capital investment.
'
The natural gas distribution system in Philadelphia was run by the Mayor and Council. Invariably, they spent nothing on long term maintenance, and were loathe to aggressively collect unpaid bills from customers. In some parts of the city, more gas either leaked from the system, or went to non paying accounts, than was paid for. It was a disaster.
11
@RM. Thanks for that input from way up north! As a resident of NYC, I much prefer that I know who the person is who is ultimately responsible for my public transit, and to be able to toss them aside in the next election if they are mucking it up. Mayoral control over the city's public transit will work just like mayoral control over the school system: the mayor appoints whoever runs the school system, but ultimately, the mayor is responsible. Much better than this so-called authority (MTA) , which is as secretive and unaccountable as the Pentagon or that other three letter thing in Langley, VA.
2
it's already being run into the ground, but run by politicians 150 miles away and those who have no interest in a city transit system hundreds of miles from their constituents.
1
The current arrangement is deplorable, but given Blaz's track record of accomplishing so little with the billions he's burned on various failures, how could this possibly be an improvement??
14
@UWSer deBlasio's biggest money sink was the Renewal schools program, but to be fair, many have wasted billions of dollars on education reform and had nothing to show for it. Transit is much easier to fix if you just throw money at it because transit is about machines, not people.
2
@UWSer I don't get why so many here automatically think that Mayor of NYC = De Blasio. That's true now and until 2020, and then someone else will be His or Her Honor. I am all for this plan! Why? Because if NYC public transit is controlled by the Mayor and the City Council, then I know who to vote out in the next election if they screw it up. With the current MTA structure, do you even know who the Cuomo-appointed CEO or the chairperson of the board of directors is, never mind how to get rid of them?
2
@Casey Penk A big part of the MTA problems is about people. The “revolving door” between MTA staff and “established” consultants is a “food chain” that advances private interests, amplifies agency insularity, and suppresses the innovation, competition, and cost-efficiency the MTA Board has been demanding since last summer.
https://www.nytimes.com/2017/12/28/nyregion/new-york-subway-construction-costs.html?_r=1 This December 28, 2017, article in The New York Times, “The Most expensive Mile of Subway Track on Earth: How excessive staffing, little competition, generous contracts and archaic rules dramatically inflate capital costs for transit in New York” focused on this cornerstone of the wasteful, ineffective culture the MTA Board has been trying to change: the "revolving door." As someone who has been tracking a particular capital procurement project at LIRR since 2013, prior to President Eng's and Chairman Joe Lhota's tenures there was lack of attention to staff failures. These failures included, for example, staff's lack of concern about spending too much or otherwise wasting public resources, staff's willingness to hide information from and mislead the public and public officials in the service of a preferred outcome or even an illegal action, staffs lack of competence in achieving functional outcomes from capital procurement projects, etc., etc.
3
YES the City should take control of the MTA! It's currently exhausting and fruitless to try and take any entity to task for the shortcomings of the system. Focus all authority and blame in one place. Funding for the buses and subway out not to be annexed for other state projects, the same way highway money shouldn't be borrowed for subway repair.
To continue on my daydream; finish that barely-started stub of a subway line from 4th Ave in Bay Ridge to Staten Island, and put a pedestrian & bike path on the Verazzano!
1
@RickNYC The City would not take control of the MTA, only the subways and buses.
1
Mta should be a public office.
He couldn't run public housing and just gave it to the federal government, why would anyone think he could run subways?
14
Does Mr. Johnson truly take the subway? Or is his commute like former Mayor Bloomberg who was photographed on the subway between chauffeured rides from his apartment and then to City Hall.
2
@NYCSANDI Bloomberg was chauffeured to the subway which he then rode to city hall.
New York's Mayor doesn't run the City. Should he?
5
As someone who has voted Democrat my entire adult life, the idea that the catastrophe that is Mr. de Blasio's and Ms. Ocasio-Cortez's brand of toxic, dysfunctional progressivism being put in charge of NYC's subway system sends shivers down my spine. For those out there who think that Mr. de Blasio and Ms. Ocasio-Cortez will lead the Democratic Party back to the majority: please...please stop smoking that stuff. And for those who care about the future of the Democratic Party can we please...please not be stupid? The future of our country is at stake. As of today, Donald Trump has a better than 50% chance of being reelected. We need to be the party of stability, moderation, sanity. More FDR less AOC.
13
@L. Levy
Where does that >50% number come from? His disapproval rating in the polls has been consistently greater than 50%, as has the percentage of voters who say they will not vote for him. That doesn’t mean it can’t be a close election, but if he loses some of his voters in Wisconsin etc. he’s gone unless he’s picked up support from those who voted Democratic in 2016.
2
@EdNY
Hey Ed, that's an opinion based on my lifelong interest as a political junkie. His overall approval rating is in the mid 40's but historically that doesn't mean anything because he is being compared to something generic. What counts is the polling in October of the election year, and given that the United States is a historically conservative country and only turns to progressives during times of crisis; if things are as they are now, I believe he will be reelected. The economy on the surface is stable, although I believe if you look beneath the surface you will see we are in a lot of trouble. But sadly most Americans don't look beneath the surface. The 2020 election could be easily lost to Trump. The Democrats need to be strategic, smart, savvy and most of all sane. Obama ran to the left of Clinton and won. I am not saying a candidate to the left can't win; but they can't be scary. I believe de Blasio and AOC are scary. Why do I believe that? Because I am sympathetic to the things they believe in and they scare me.
4
@L. Levy
I disagree about one point: the country (its populace) is not historically conservative. The aggregate vote for President, Senators and Representatives has been Democratic for many years. It's the anti-democratic electoral college, two-senators-to-each-state and gerrymandering that have produced conservative wins. I say that does not represent the country, merely the way officials are elected.
The City pays way more in taxes than it gets back. We deserve to control our own fate and run the subway as we see fit. Let de Blaiso sink or swim with his own vision of subway improvement, because Cuomo has proved utterly inept at the same.
3
During Guiliani's first term he was able to syphon away $450m from the MTA. There should be rules in place that radical moves such as these are forbidden.
10
Definitely yes. I'm under no illusion that giving the city control of the subway would solve our transit problems, but at least we'd know where the buck stops. The MTA, like other state authorities, was ostensibly created to de-politicize a public service. Instead, it's a become a bloated, corrupt bureaucracy that politicians used for cover. Fifty years is long enough.
4
It would be difficult to imagine anything which would make New York City subways more dysfunctional -- but the prospect of putting Mr. de Blasio in charge of them shows that "difficult" does not have to mean "impossible"!
5
@No Comment. Assuming it would actually happen, it would be the next Mayor and City Council anyway. Plus, the more
local the politicians are who are responsible for public transit, the easier it is for us to push, pull or prod them to do the right thing, and, if that fails, vote them out of office in a hurry! The current situation is that our public transit is run (when it does) by the MTA, a body that is highly opaque as to its inner workings, lacks accountability, is dominated by non-City interests, and run by remote control from the Governor's mansion. Over 50 years of mucking about with our subways and taking our tax dollars is enough!
9
Dear lord no if that mayor is de Blasio!
Joking aside, it is a good idea for the city to take control. They will also need to break up the MTA so the city can control everything going to and from its borders. Reorganize everything.
That being said, I would not give the mayor direct control. The resulting agency would need to be run by someone with the right expertise and it should not be a political position.
18
I have mixed opinions on this. I do find it infuriating that city residents need to ask permission from Albany to do things — i.e. the subway ... not to mention traffic cameras around schools. I also admit have yet to read Mr. Johnson’s report.
However, back when the City controlled the subways, NYers voted for mayors who promised not to raise fares. (Duh ... why would they?) But that’s poor management.
Who is to say that wouldn’t happen again?
6
Peculiar to the rest of the world, but home sweet home in NYC.
The peculiarity of this New York City phenom was the work of Al Smith and Robert Moses. It's the Metropolitan Transportation Authority and along with the Port Authority and the Triborough Authority there were many many peculiarities we suffer from to this day that are so tangled up within bylaws it becomes unique, not peculiar to New York City and New York State.
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@Guy Walker. Not to mention how undemocratic these "authorities " are; they are government-like in their powers, borrow and spend money in our name, yet are almost completely opaque to the public, and utterly unaccountable to the voters.
5
Short answer: YES! It makes a lot of sense that municipal public transit is the responsibility of the City's Mayor and the Council, not some far-away Governor. The deterioration of New York's subway system since its takeover by the State tells us what we need to know. There is just too much distance and shielding from responsibility as long as the key decision makers, the Governor and the State legislature, sit pretty in Albany. Especially as upstate law makers make sure to get their pound of flesh for each mass transit budget allocation, no matter how desperate the situation of NYC public transit is.
One major condition: As the responsibility for and control over the subway reverts to the City, so must control over the funding sources that Rockefeller also grabbed in 1968 come back here! 50 long years of neglect, underfunding and patronage-based mismanagement by the State got us into this mess. If the City would control it again, at least we could more easily vote the bums out if they don't get the job done.
34
When was the last time the MTA was audited?
The waste the second ave. Subway tunnel generated was astounding ( info from contractors who worked on the project,)
How many other projects went over budget or funds wasted because of mismanagement, pressure to bring a project to completion before it’s time , just to appease the taxpayer that their money is being well spent
Time for an audit to see where their expenditures really go
19
@Ralph Chellel. A public audit would be great to have! Unfortunately, highly unlikely, as long as the MTA's CEO and the Chairperson of the MTA's board of directors are directly appointed by the Governor. He is not a fan of transparency as far as I can tell.
3
This plan is actually very impressive. Besides the plans for controlling NYCT, it's is a comprehensive vision for what the NYC streetscape should look like. Most of that can be done unilaterally by the city for a relatively small cost.
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@Ian D.
"This time will be different!"
Can anybody name a city-run agency that ISN'T a case study in bureaucratic bloat and dysfunction?
2