Ravitch plan on life support as Dilan calls it ‘dead’

A few hours ago, Jimmy Vielkind reported no progress from Albany on the potential MTA bailout plan. The news, however, grew worse an hour ago when Sen. Martin Dilan (D-Brooklyn), the head of the transportation committee, declared the Ravitch plan to implement bridge tolls and a payroll tax dead.

This dismaying development comes to us via amNew York’s Urbanite blog. Writes Heather Haddon:

The plan to prevent a fare hike through a payroll tax and tolls on free bridges is over in Albany, observers say. “It’s dead,” said Sen. Martin Dilan (D-Brooklyn), the transportation committee chair.

Dilan said five Senate Democrats who wouldn’t support bridge tolls essentially killed the plan, which was recommended by the Ravitch Commission, and supported by Gov. Paterson and the majority of the Assembly.

Also Wednesday, the MTA backtracked on its March 25 deadline for the commission proposals to be approved in Albany, saying if a bill clears within “a week or so” of that date, it could reverse its decision on the planned 23 percent fare hike, said spokesman Kevin Ortiz.

“There was never a hard deadline,” Ortiz said. “But the longer we have to wait, the harder it becomes to reverse the decision.”

Despite this proclamation from Dilan, transit advocates were not yet ready to write off Richard Ravitch’s thorough but politically ambitious recommendations. “The last rights haven’t been said, but it’s pretty close,” Straphangers Campaign head Gene Russianoff said to Haddon.

While Sheldon Silver, assembly speaker, has enough support in his chamber to implement a $2 toll plan with the payroll tax, Malcolm Smith’s senate is a far more independent legislative bodies. Senators whose constituents rely on mass transit aren’t supporting the toll plan, and the MTA’s Doomsday budget — 23 percent fare hikes and drastic service cuts — is inching one step closer to reality.