by Jeremy Soffin, Director of Public Affairs, RPA
The debate over the Transportation Bond Act that will appear on the statewide ballot in New York has gotten mired in a number of related but tangential issues - the state's overall debt load, the public's mistrust of the MTA, the MTA's unexpected surplus and parochialism, to name a few. But on November 8, Proposal 2 will really ask one simple question: Are New Yorkers willing to make a small sacrifice to fund the maintenance and growth of a transportation network that supports the region's economy? I hope the answer is yes.
The Rebuild and Renew New York Transportation Bond Act of 2005 is critical to funding the state's five-year transportation needs, helping to provide congestion relief, safe roads and expanded public transportation service for all New Yorkers. The $2.9 billion Act is split evenly between MTA transit improvement and highway maintenance projects that touch every corner of the state, improving mobility while fueling economic growth, creating jobs and protecting the environment.
The MTA portion of the Bond Act provides $450 million for maintenance of the current system and $1 billion for expansion. The core funding will pay for new subway cars and buses, track repairs, tunnel lighting, a bus locator system and Staten Island Railway bridges. The past year has brought numerous examples of the system's fragility, from track fires to derailments, and the safety of all straphangers is at stake.
The portion of the Act devoted to expansion includes $900 million toward the first significant expansion of the transit system in more than 60 years. These funds will be split between East Side Access (which brings LIRR trains into Grand Central) and the first phase of the Second Avenue Subway, two projects that will greatly expand the capacity of the transit system and provide critical redundancy in case of natural or manmade disaster. For example, if there were an incident on the East Side today, the entire Lexington Ave. line would be shut down, crippling movement and the economy. East Side Access provides the same redundancy for Penn Station. Both of these projects have languished for decades, but that should not be an excuse to reject them. They are both critical to the growth of the region's economy and our safety, and their completion will be nearly guaranteed if the Bond Act passes. An additional $100 million is included to begin study of the proposed rail link from Lower Manhattan to JFK Airport.
All of these projects have helped the Bond Act boast an unprecedented list of bipartisan supporters that includes Gov. Pataki and Attorney General Eliot Spitzer, Mayor Bloomberg and challenger Fernando Ferrer, Senate Majority Leader Joseph Bruno and Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver, more than 20 members of Congress and City Comptroller William Thompson. Other supporters include the labor, business, civic and environmental communities, from the state AFL-CIO to the Partnership for New York City, from the New York Building Congress to the League of Conservation Voters.
With such strong support for transportation investment among the political establishment, you have to wonder why the Bond Act is necessary at all. If the powers that be in Albany believed that New Yorkers were ready to make sacrifices for better transportation, the Governor and Legislature would have found revenue sources to fully fund not only the current $21 billion MTA capital plan, but the entire $27 billion plan originally submitted by Chairman Peter Kalikow last year. As it stands, the stripped-down plan requires the Bond Act's passage just to make ends meet. More important than just filling this plan, though, is the signal that passage will send to Albany at a time when the transportation network requires an influx of cash and a new Governor waits on the horizon. If the Act is voted down, any of the issues mentioned at the top could be to blame; but if it passes, it will be a clear and resounding message to Albany that despite everything, New Yorkers care about transportation.
Unfortunately, those other issues force us to consider the possibility that the Act won't pass. What then? The $450 million for maintenance of the subway system is critical funding that would have to be found elsewhere. That could set up a choice between two unpleasant options. On the one hand, the MTA could fill the gap by issuing more of its own debt, putting further pressure on its operating budget and leading to even more fare hikes. On the other hand, the MTA could fill some of the gap by choosing not to fund other items already in its capital plan, such as the station rehabilitations that are so important to the city's many neighborhoods. In either case, an already decaying system will become more vulnerable and slide further toward the disrepair that plagued it in the 1970s. No one wants to go back there.
The $1 billion that the Bond Act sets aside for expansion is unlikely to be replaced if the Bond Act fails, causing the State to lose $4 billion in federal funds that were headed our way. $4 billion! More importantly, though, we'd lose the opportunity to expand a transit system that is no longer able to accommodate its current ridership and is certainly not prepared for the economic and population growth that the City envisions - on the Far West Side, in Lower Manhattan, East Harlem, 125th Street, Downtown Brooklyn, Greenpoint/Williamsburg, Flushing and so many other places.
Critics have argued that the State's system of borrowing money is in need of reform. They are absolutely correct. Issues of "back-door" borrowing must be addressed, but that is not what's being proposed here. Long-term borrowing for transportation infrastructure will always be appropriate, and the needs of our transportation system are too urgent and important to hold hostage to a reform effort that will be not be completed this season. The same is true for the objections about the MTA and the usual "what's in it for me" crowd.
We have much to gain from a healthy and growing transportation system and too much to lose if we fail to keep that system running at a world-class level. On November 8, New Yorkers have a chance to show how important transportation is in our daily lives. Vote yes for transportation. Vote yes on Prop 2.
The debate over the Transportation Bond Act that will appear on the statewide ballot in New York has gotten mired in a number of related but tangential issues - the state's overall debt load, the public's mistrust of the MTA, the MTA's unexpected surplus and parochialism, to name a few. But on November 8, Proposal 2 will really ask one simple question: Are New Yorkers willing to make a small sacrifice to fund the maintenance and growth of a transportation network that supports the region's economy? I hope the answer is yes.
The Rebuild and Renew New York Transportation Bond Act of 2005 is critical to funding the state's five-year transportation needs, helping to provide congestion relief, safe roads and expanded public transportation service for all New Yorkers. The $2.9 billion Act is split evenly between MTA transit improvement and highway maintenance projects that touch every corner of the state, improving mobility while fueling economic growth, creating jobs and protecting the environment.
The MTA portion of the Bond Act provides $450 million for maintenance of the current system and $1 billion for expansion. The core funding will pay for new subway cars and buses, track repairs, tunnel lighting, a bus locator system and Staten Island Railway bridges. The past year has brought numerous examples of the system's fragility, from track fires to derailments, and the safety of all straphangers is at stake.
The portion of the Act devoted to expansion includes $900 million toward the first significant expansion of the transit system in more than 60 years. These funds will be split between East Side Access (which brings LIRR trains into Grand Central) and the first phase of the Second Avenue Subway, two projects that will greatly expand the capacity of the transit system and provide critical redundancy in case of natural or manmade disaster. For example, if there were an incident on the East Side today, the entire Lexington Ave. line would be shut down, crippling movement and the economy. East Side Access provides the same redundancy for Penn Station. Both of these projects have languished for decades, but that should not be an excuse to reject them. They are both critical to the growth of the region's economy and our safety, and their completion will be nearly guaranteed if the Bond Act passes. An additional $100 million is included to begin study of the proposed rail link from Lower Manhattan to JFK Airport.
All of these projects have helped the Bond Act boast an unprecedented list of bipartisan supporters that includes Gov. Pataki and Attorney General Eliot Spitzer, Mayor Bloomberg and challenger Fernando Ferrer, Senate Majority Leader Joseph Bruno and Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver, more than 20 members of Congress and City Comptroller William Thompson. Other supporters include the labor, business, civic and environmental communities, from the state AFL-CIO to the Partnership for New York City, from the New York Building Congress to the League of Conservation Voters.
With such strong support for transportation investment among the political establishment, you have to wonder why the Bond Act is necessary at all. If the powers that be in Albany believed that New Yorkers were ready to make sacrifices for better transportation, the Governor and Legislature would have found revenue sources to fully fund not only the current $21 billion MTA capital plan, but the entire $27 billion plan originally submitted by Chairman Peter Kalikow last year. As it stands, the stripped-down plan requires the Bond Act's passage just to make ends meet. More important than just filling this plan, though, is the signal that passage will send to Albany at a time when the transportation network requires an influx of cash and a new Governor waits on the horizon. If the Act is voted down, any of the issues mentioned at the top could be to blame; but if it passes, it will be a clear and resounding message to Albany that despite everything, New Yorkers care about transportation.
Unfortunately, those other issues force us to consider the possibility that the Act won't pass. What then? The $450 million for maintenance of the subway system is critical funding that would have to be found elsewhere. That could set up a choice between two unpleasant options. On the one hand, the MTA could fill the gap by issuing more of its own debt, putting further pressure on its operating budget and leading to even more fare hikes. On the other hand, the MTA could fill some of the gap by choosing not to fund other items already in its capital plan, such as the station rehabilitations that are so important to the city's many neighborhoods. In either case, an already decaying system will become more vulnerable and slide further toward the disrepair that plagued it in the 1970s. No one wants to go back there.
The $1 billion that the Bond Act sets aside for expansion is unlikely to be replaced if the Bond Act fails, causing the State to lose $4 billion in federal funds that were headed our way. $4 billion! More importantly, though, we'd lose the opportunity to expand a transit system that is no longer able to accommodate its current ridership and is certainly not prepared for the economic and population growth that the City envisions - on the Far West Side, in Lower Manhattan, East Harlem, 125th Street, Downtown Brooklyn, Greenpoint/Williamsburg, Flushing and so many other places.
Critics have argued that the State's system of borrowing money is in need of reform. They are absolutely correct. Issues of "back-door" borrowing must be addressed, but that is not what's being proposed here. Long-term borrowing for transportation infrastructure will always be appropriate, and the needs of our transportation system are too urgent and important to hold hostage to a reform effort that will be not be completed this season. The same is true for the objections about the MTA and the usual "what's in it for me" crowd.
We have much to gain from a healthy and growing transportation system and too much to lose if we fail to keep that system running at a world-class level. On November 8, New Yorkers have a chance to show how important transportation is in our daily lives. Vote yes for transportation. Vote yes on Prop 2.
@RegionalPlan