Posted on 12/03/2008 10:46:01 PM PST by neverdem
Gov. David A. Paterson said for the first time on Wednesday that he supported a financial rescue plan for the Metropolitan Transportation Authority that includes charging tolls on bridges over the East and Harlem Rivers. The plan, he said, would substantially reduce the size of a fare increase the authority had sought.
The governor also spoke favorably about a recommendation in the plan for a tax on company payrolls in the region. The measures are aimed at helping the authority overcome a projected $1.2 billion deficit next year and a gaping multibillion-dollar hole in its long-term capital budget.
The governor said he was still reviewing the plan, but was “quite pleased with what I see so far.” “As an alternative to a fare hike,” he said, “I think it’s very viable.”
The plan, developed by a commission appointed by Mr. Paterson and headed by Richard Ravitch, a former authority chairman, is expected to be made public on Thursday, though many details have already come to light. If it is enacted, the plan will allow the authority to eliminate a severe round of service cuts it had proposed for next year.
The governor said at a news conference in Manhattan, “The message we keep trying to deliver is that we are in a very difficult fiscal time, and so it’s either going to be fare hikes or it’s going to be tolls and a combination of payroll taxes, but it’s the only way.”
“Those who are upset about this, what I would urge them to consider is, it’s the inaction in the past that’s led to this overwhelming deficit,” he said. “This is a very difficult endeavor, but we are trying to show leadership.”
The governor’s support is crucial for the plan to make its way through Albany, where it will...
(Excerpt) Read more at nytimes.com ...
As much as I like New York, I am sorely tempted to leave if the opportunity to do comparable-quality work elsewhere presents itself. The taxes are just obscene.
What do you do and where are you thinking about going?
Serious question
I need out too.
I’m still in law school, but I just accepted a job at one of the top corporate law firms in the city. Because reputation is so important in the legal field, it would be impossible to find a comparable job in any city I’d be interested in moving to (a low-COL city in a low-tax state). But I’m not sure how long I want to remain a lawyer, and I’m hoping eventually to move to something in business or finance. Given the direction the city is headed, I’ll certainly look beyond NYC.
This confirms my suspicion that the only reason people don’t leave NY is because they can’t afford the tolls to get out of town. ;-)
I know it’s a cliche....but don’t forget that life is short.
I spent a lot of years fighting for something only to finally lose it and find out I was way better off without it.
At the very moment that commercial real state vacancy rates are skyrocketing and corporate payrolls are plummeting in NYC, the brain trust that runs NYC wants to implement a payroll tax.
The finance, media and international trade sectors will never return to NYC if NYC adopts a payroll tax... deDisneyfication can commence.
Ah, alright
I was thinking along the lines of carpentry or construction or something like that.
But if I ever do get involved in business, NYC probably isn't the place to do it.
Not sure—that has to be a tough thing to find work in right now. But the nice thing about it is it should be very easy to move once the housing market picks up again (on the other hand, NYC’s unions can make it very lucrative here).
The MTA -The Kingston Trio
SPOKEN: These are the times that try men’s souls. In the course of our
nation’s history the people of Boston have rallied bravely whenever the rights of
men have been threatened. Today, a new crisis has arisen. The Metropolitan
Transit Authority, better known as the MTA, is attempting to levy a burdensome tax
on the population in the form of a subway fare increase. Citizens, hear me out.
This could happen to you!!
Well, let me tell you of the story of a man named Charlie
On a tragic and fateful day
He put ten cents in his pocket, kissed his wife and family
Went to ride on the MTA
Well did he ever return, no he never returned
And his fate is still unlearned (what a pity)
He may ride forever ‘neath the streets of Boston
He’s the man who never returned
Charlie handed in his dime at the Kendall Square station
And he changed for Jamaica Plain
When he got there, the conductor told him “one more nickel”
Charlie couldn’t get off of that train.
But did he ever return, no he never returned
And his fate is still unlearned (poor old Charlie)
He may ride forever ‘neath the streets of Boston
He’s the man who never returned
Now all night long Charlie rides through the station
Crying “what will become of me?”
“How can I afford to see my sister in Chelsea?”
“Or my cousin in Roxbury?”
But did he ever return, no he never returned
And his fate is still unlearned (shame and scandal)
He may ride forever ‘neath the streets of Boston
He’s the man who never returned
Charlie’s wife goes down to the Scollay Square station
Every day at quarter past two
And through the open window she hands Charlie a sandwich
As the train comes rumblin’ through.
Well did he ever return, no he never returned
And his fate is still unlearned (he may ride forever)
He may ride forever ‘neath the streets of Boston
He’s the man who never returned (pick it, Davey)
SPOKEN
Now you citizens of Boston dontcha think it’s a scandal
How the people have to pay and pay
Fight the fare increase, vote for *George* O’Brian!!
Get poor Charlie off the MTA!!
Or else he’ll never return, no he’ll never return
And his fate is still unlearned (just like always)
He may ride forever ‘neath the streets of Boston
He’s the man who never returned
He’s the man who never returned
He’s the man who never returned
New York could learn a thing or two from Boston, perhaps..
Right now I’m just hoping the Home Depot calls me back.
I suspect the City of New York and the MTA were really counting on that "congestion pricing" plan to get implemented last year, and now that source of revenue ain't happening.
“At the very moment that commercial real state vacancy rates are skyrocketing and corporate payrolls are plummeting in NYC, the brain trust that runs NYC wants to implement a payroll tax.
The finance, media and international trade sectors will never return to NYC if NYC adopts a payroll tax... deDisneyfication can commence.”
Looks like all that additional revenue is gonna buy for New York City is a one-way ticket to Dinkinsville....
- John
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