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WFP Launches Campaign to Hold Bloomberg Accountable on Campaign Promise to Fix the MTA

by: DanLevitanWFP

Thu Feb 18, 2010 at 13:52:26 PM EST

Remember when Mayor Bloomberg made fixing the MTA one of his first big reelection promises?

Now that the MTA is literally more broken than ever, the Working Families Party is launching a grassroots campaign to hold the Mayor accountable to campaign pledge.

Here's action alert we sent to WFP supporters this morning:

Love New York? New York urgently needs your help.
Our city's transit system is in crisis. The cost of a monthly MetroCard could rise to over $100 next year. Service is being cut on dozens of bus and subway lines. Crucial upgrades are being neglected.
Mayor Michael Bloomberg ran for re-election last year on a promise to fix the MTA -- but since this crisis started, he's been missing in action.
We have to make sure the Mayor and other politicians get that slowly killing the MTA isn't an option. So today, we're launching an all-out grassroots campaign -- an emergency push to save the MTA, working with NYC students, our friends at NYPIRG's Straphangers campaign, and other groups who know how much our city needs transit.
Our goal is to get 50,000 signatures, comments and calls to Mayor Bloomberg by March 24, when the MTA is next expected to take action on service cuts and fare hikes.
If you've spoken out before, speak out again. If you haven't, now's the time to jump in. Tell Mike Bloomberg to Save the MTA right now by clicking here:
www.saveoursubway.org

DanLevitanWFP :: WFP Launches Campaign to Hold Bloomberg Accountable on Campaign Promise to Fix the MTA

Our demands are simple: MTA leaders should exhaust all other options before they raise fares or cut service. Students should be able to ride free, like they have for decades. And no cutting rides for the disabled folks who need them most.
There are plenty of ways Bloomberg can fix the MTA's problems. He can direct the MTA to use money it already has to cover its budget shortfall, instead of making riders pay. He can push Albany to pony up. But the first step is to make sure he's actually paying attention -- and that's what we have to do today and in the weeks to come.
New York's public transit system is one of the biggest, greenest, and most progressive systems in the world. It's an amazing strength of the city that so many working people can move around it so easily. As riders, we need to make sure the system keeps working. Please send a message to Bloomberg today -- and send this on to everyone you know:
www.saveoursubway.org

Tags: Bloomberg, MTA, WFP, (All Tags)

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WFP Launches Campaign to Hold Bloomberg Accountable on Campaign Promise to Fix the MTA | 5 comments

Great stuff (0.00 / 0)

can u include the legislature in this as well?

by: Roatti @ Thu Feb 18, 2010 at 19:10:07 PM UTC

by: you @ soon

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MTA can save plenty of money (4.00 / 1)

I have been chatting with some MTA workers (I can't give their names, since I never asked for them), and have learned some fascinating things. I'll mention two:

First, a lot of track work is done more than once. Apparently, the workers (or, more likely, contractors) don't do the job properly the first time, which means the MTA has to pay to have the work done over.

Second, the MTA has been hiring a lot of people for newly-created supervisory positions that don't seem to have any purpose. This is not new; about 20 years ago (give or take five years) the MTA was proposing a serious rate hike while spending hundreds of millions of dollars a year on unnecessary management and supervisory personnel.

If the MTA can't get work done right the first time, and can't do without huge numbers of unnecessary but high-paid people, then it's time to throw out the people at the top -- all of them. There's a lot of money being wasted, and we shouldn't be the ones to have to pay.

by: Dan Jacoby @ Thu Feb 18, 2010 at 19:41:58 PM UTC

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Look for another "record high" (0.00 / 0)

$1.2 million donation from Bloomberg to the Independence Party with the hope of crushing the WFP.

by: JohnS @ Thu Feb 18, 2010 at 19:42:09 PM UTC

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Split it up (0.00 / 0)

If Mike Bloomberg is truly interested in helping NYC residents manage their transportastion costs, the first thing he should focus on is wresting the NYC Department of Transportation away from the state-run MTA, making it a part of city government.

Let the suburbs worry about Metro-North and the LIRR. NYC will worry about their own bus and subway system.

Different revenue streams will get dollars where they belong. A smaller bureacracy would (hopefully) cut down on waste.

Fianlly, a city-run NYC Transit enables the Mayor and the City Council to appoint leaders committed to keeping NYC's public transportation affordable, reliable, and safe. The Mayor promised these things in the run-up to his third term. This would be an important step in solving the problems he vowed to correct.

Tax the Church.

by: furiousdee @ Thu Feb 18, 2010 at 20:02:07 PM UTC

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NYC's DOT isn't part of the MTA (4.00 / 1)

I think you mean NYCTA, the division of the MTA that runs the city's subways and buses.

The DOT fixes the streets ... when they get around to it, that is.

by: Dan Jacoby @ Thu Feb 18, 2010 at 22:29:36 PM UTC

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