“What does Monserrate want the MTA to tell him? It’s really quite simple. The East River bridges get tolled; the MTA collects the revenue — as it current does from its own Bridge & Tunnel division; the money goes into the budget; and out comes a better-funded transit agency. Is he really asking for a specific count of how the MTA plans to spend all of the few hundred million dollars it stands to earn if the East River bridges are tolled? Or is he just being dense and/or obstructionist?”

Okay an update to the Hassel-Thompson issue and to address this; What they are really trying to say and I’m totally surprised you aren’t mentioning is that these guys want to know about the MTA’s toll structure. NOT about how the money will be used within the MTA. They want to know if the toll will be $2 on paper now and thn $5 or even $7 or whatever later. Because the bill in front of the senate stated that there would be a toll but no amount was officially stated. The senators want a bill that would set a fare instead of signing a bill that sounded great and then explain to their constituents why they signed a bill that then tolled the bridges some crazy amount. I agree with the Times that no action is FAR WORSE than waiting on a bill with actual figures to work with. But anyway please make the entire case known.

There are so many other things Smith seems to be unaware of — for instance, the fact that debt service is the major problem. I believe that Smith was in the legislature when it approved the very debts that are now causing the problem.

Beyond that, the MTA itself was created by the legislature. Smith wasn’t in the Senate when that happened, but surely he knows this. Therefore, the legislature ultimately owns the problem.

In twelve days, though, transit in New York City will never be the same, and those changes will not be for the better if the Senate continues to dilly-dally in Albany.

That’s a bit over-dramatic. The actual deadline is not in twelve days, and even if it were, there is nothing the MTA is proposing that could not be reversed if and when conditions change.

Living and working for the state here in Albany (I grew up in Croton-on-Hudson, home to the MTA’s massive Harmon Yards) one gets to see this same lack of leadership by Malcolm Smith on a daily basis. If the Democrats were serious about staying in power in the State Senate, they’d have a vote of no confidence in Smith NOW, get it over with and pick a new leader they can all rally around. If he can’t rally his forces and keep his party in lockstep like the Republicans did for decades, then they aren’t going to hold their position very long.