Apr
24
Bloomberg rips Senate plan
ByIn a talk yesterday, Mayor Bloomberg slammed the Senate MTA funding plan for much the same reasons I did. The Mayor doesn’t appreciate how New York City is again being asked to foot the bill for upstate construction projects and feels that the Senate plan doesn’t adequately address the MTA’s long-term needs. “I’m a little bit bothered by a proposal that would put a taxi fare surcharge on here in the city to build roads upstate,” Bloomberg said. “New York City already sends more money to Albany than we get back, we are fundamentally the economic engine of the state and we subsidize it.”
While Senate Majority Leader Malcom Smith responded in turn, his statement avoided the truth of Bloomberg’s attack: “I’m actually offended that somebody like you would try to separate New York City from the rest of the state…[The] best thing for all of us to do, as opposed to throwing bombs while the public’s getting screwed, is to sit down like adults and work something out.” Someone should remind Smith that his Senate has hardly behaved like adults over the last few months as they’ve shot down the best plan for the MTA without even giving it a vote.
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I went to college way upstate near buffalo and many people up there don’t appreciate how much this region contributes to theirs. This whole thing now is causing my blood to boil but I really don’t care in the end as long as the MTA gets adequate funding.
“I went to college way upstate near buffalo and many people up there don’t appreciate how much this region contributes to theirs.”
It’s what happens when you have to endure years of:
“So you’re from New York – what borough?”
“Umm… I don’t live anywhere near the city.”
“Oh, OK… So, how about that Mayor Giuliani/Bloomberg”
…*facepalm*
(Which is not in any way to suggest that this is an ideal funding option – Upstate has a number of issues, and road repair isn’t anywhere near the top of that list)
I’m from Rochester and I went to college in Buffalo… believe me, New York is *two* states. The cultural divide is a vast gulf, and with the continuing decline of upstate and growth of downstate, growing wider all the time. They think NYC is comprised entirely of welfare recipients funded by themselves. Bloomberg is entirely right for once… but they don’t want to hear it.