Better Transit for All New Yorkers

THE CITY WEEKLY DESK
(New York Times) 524 words
Published: July 24, 2005

Five years ago, state voters rejected a transportation bond issue mainly because upstate residents thought it was skewed to help New York City. State politicians now appear ready to do a better job of selling the needs of downstate transit by stressing the parallel needs of upstate transit. They will ask voters to approve a $2.9 billion bond package in November that would balance $1.45 billion for the New York City area with another $1.45 billion for the rest of the state.

It could be argued that a bond issue favoring the metropolitan rail and subway system would yield important benefits to New Yorkers elsewhere in the state, including its northernmost reaches. The city, after all, funnels considerable revenue into state coffers, and the Metropolitan Transportation Authority moves the workers needed to keep the city's economic engine humming.

But that argument does not sit well upstate. So to bolster support outside the city, the state's transportation department has put out a five-year capital plan that includes money for a host of upstate projects -- bike paths and pedestrian walkways, bridge repairs, and the roads and highways that serve as upstate's vital arteries. Not all of this can be accomplished, even with $1.45 billion, but the bonds would certainly help.

At the same time, money from the bond issue would shore up the authority's capital plan with $900 million for the Second Avenue subway and another $900 million for the link between the Long Island Rail Road and Grand Central Terminal.

The one rub is that the plan would spend an additional $100 million on further study of what would be a very expensive rail link between Lower Manhattan and Kennedy International Airport. That study may well confirm what most people suspect: that downtowners should instead be able to take the PATH train swiftly and directly to Newark Liberty International Airport.

But none of this work will be done unless voters approve the bond issue in November. There is always concern that upstate voters will take one look at the request, even though it is way down on the ballot, and just vote no. To avoid that slippage, Gov. George E. Pataki and powerful upstate Republicans must campaign openly for this bond issue, not pretend, as they sometimes do, that it is not there.

This should be an easy decision for voters in the New York metropolitan area. The defeat of the bond issue five years ago contributed greatly to the authority's recent financial problems. And other proposals floating around that would use federal money to underwrite the authority's borrowing needs have the feel of a high-interest credit card that makes you pay for 10 sofas on top of the one you actually bought.

By contrast, the bond issue -- which has the support of Comptroller Alan Hevesi, the state's fiscal watchdog -- represents a prudent, straightforward and transparent strategy that should help move the authority to more solid financial ground.

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