Current edition: Mobilizing the Region #495
April 4, 2005
Prospects for MTA Fix-It Budget Looking Up
As the New York State legislature passed its first on-time budget since 1984, hopes for critical work needed to maintain and improve downstate New York’s huge mass transit system rose.
Only Halftime for Stadium Fight
Despite a raft of headlines asserting that the Jets and Mayor Bloomberg have reached the "end zone" in their fight to build the unpopular West Side stadium, the MTA’s vote in favor of selling development rights to the team does not make the project a done deal.
NY Roads and Bridge Funding: Treading Water
The 14-county downstate region needs more than twice what Albany appears to have approved for road and bridge projects by 2010, according to a report by Bruce Schaller for the NYU Rudin Center.
A.2605, a law increasing the fine for drivers violating crosswalk laws by $50 and dedicating the revenue to a new pedestrian safety fund was passed by the NJ Senate on March 21.
Bicyling in NYC: City of Two Minds
NYC’s transportation policy is to encourage bicycle commuting, and the city has invested millions to help cyclists cross the East River and negotiate a few city avenues more safety.
Transportation Alternatives' Noah Budnick Badly Injured in Traffic
Much of the city in fact remains a potential death trap for cyclists. NYC cycling advocate and Transportation Alternatives staffer Noah Budnick was severely injured while commuting by bicycle in Brooklyn near the Manhattan Bridge on the evening of Tuesday, May 29.
The new Goethals Bridge environmental impact statement is underway, and has screened out several implausible project alternatives suggested during the public "scoping" process.
With active wetlands filling taking place for a parking structure for the Xanadu recreational and retail megaplex in New Jersey’s Meadowlands, the NJ Sierra Club, NJ Public Interest Research Group and the New Jersey Environmental Federation last week sued the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, saying the the Corps failed to consider a variety of issues in granting its permit for the action.
Traffic is a major concern of groups mobilizing a strong turnout at Albany hearings on Governor Pataki’s plan to build five new casinos in the Catskills.
Bee-Line Strike Enters 2nd Month
A federal mediator is trying to break the deadlock, in its fifth week as of this writing, between bus workers and Liberty Bus Lines, the company that runs Westchester’s local mass transit service.
On March 17, federal and state governments announced that NY State transportation commissioner Joseph Boardman would leave Albany to assume leadership of the Federal Railroad Administration.
Connecticut Transportation Funding Plan Still at Large
Connecticut lawmakers have until June to decide on Governor Rell’s $1.3 billion transportation proposal, which calls for a modest gas tax increase to 31 cents and other fee increases over the next eight years.
| Each week, the Tri-State Transportation Campaign publishes Mobilizing the Region, or MTR. MTR is a bulletin on New Jersey, New York and Connecticut transportation news and opinion from the perspective of advocacy for sustainable transportation. |
| MTR #495 printable format (PDF) file (requires Adobe Acrobat).
|
GO TO INDEX of past issues of MTR, since Fall 1994.ll M
Recent editions:
MTR 494-March 21, 2005
MTR 493-March 7, 2005
MTR 492-March 1, 2005
MTR 491-February 21, 2005
