Home Asides Paterson has a secret plan to fund the MTA

Paterson has a secret plan to fund the MTA

by Benjamin Kabak

Embattled New York State Governor David Paterson has a plan for the MTA. What it is though is anyone’s guess. Paterson, speaking yesterday in Albany, shared some cryptic words with reporters. Right now, the governor has let slip nary a word about his plans, but he has been telling people some “enhancements” for the Senate.

“It hasn’t been a problem with the leaders in terms of providing plans, but I think the problem right now has been acquiring the votes for those plans and that has moved us more into a political process, which really offends me. Because this is a very serious situation,” Paterson said. “I will be talking with leaders about some new ideas that I have later today and tomorrow so hopefully I can end this topic, by the beginning of next week, I hope. But it all depends on the ability of legislators to come together.”

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5 comments

Josh K April 30, 2009 - 1:09 pm

A secret plan to fund the MTA? How about just appropriating realistic levels of funding from the state and city general funds, like they should have been doing for the past 50 years?

Or how about just wiping out the debt to bondholders? If the MTA weren’t paying out so much in interest, it would be a lot more financially sound.

Or even just doing what the Ravitch Commission suggested. Or congestion pricing. Anyone of these things would have gotten the MTA out of the hole it is in now.

Most likely Patterson has some hair brained scheme that is based on faulty math, that is un-passable, as well as just being down right annoying to ALL parties involved. Can we just skip ahead to the 2010 gubernatorial elections and get Cuomo in already? I’m no fan of the duopoly system of politics in Albany, but at least Cuomo is sane.

P.S. on an semi-unrelated note, one of the auto-generated google ads on this page is for “Support Joe Bruno”/ http://www.justiceforbruno.com . I don’t think Bruno ever lifted a finger to help the MTA unless he could wrangle some copious amounts of pork for his district out of it. Hilarious irony in so many ways.

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Fairness April 30, 2009 - 1:28 pm

I have zero faith in Paterson being able to do anything significant on any matter that faces this state. He has proven to be just as horrible a governor as GWB was a president.

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herenthere April 30, 2009 - 4:24 pm

Uh-oh…he’s sleeping with the senate…

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Ariel April 30, 2009 - 6:11 pm

This reminds me of when Paterson kept his U.S. Senate selection a secret just to attract media attention. We all know how annoying that got, and this is along the same lines.

If you have a secret plan to purse in the back room, why announce it? We really need a new governor.

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Gov. Paterson’s not-so-impressive plan unveiled :: Second Ave. Sagas | A New York City Subway Blog May 1, 2009 - 1:24 am

[…] Paterson has a secret plan for the MTA. After debuting this fact on Wednesday, Paterson spent all day on Thursday talking […]

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