Bloomberg's Stadium or New Subway
Cars, Buses and Better Stations?
Mayor Bloomberg’s obsession with developing a West
Side football stadium will deprive the MTA of assets
that could be used to underwrite the big capital improvement
program that the downstate region’s transit system
desperately needs.
MTA Countdown to Crisis
The process for imposing 2005 fare and toll increases
and major transit service cut-backs will follow the schedule
below. The MTA would need a $91 million infusion of additional
operating funds to avoid the service cuts, and $219 million
to call off the fare increases.
Program Rewards Transit-Friendly Homes
The nation’s largest lender, Fannie Mae, has partnered
with NJ Transit to encourage home ownership near mass
transit. The program is called "Smart Commute" and
enables buyers to qualify for larger mortgages with a
lower down payment.
L.I.E. Construction: End in Sight?
Long Island Expressway drivers got bad news when the
NY State DOT recently announced that construction of
the last section of HOV lanes, in Nassau County, would
not end until spring 2005. DOT blames the delay on unexpected
add-ons such as landscaping and a concrete/asphalt shortage.
The $880 million project to build HOV lanes along 42
miles of the LIE started in 1992.
NJTPA: Cross About Tunnel
The North Jersey Transportation Planning Authority’s
unease with New York City’s proposal to build a
cross-harbor rail freight tunnel has led it to study
other options. One analysis recently completed for NJTPA
looks at train ferries, which are different than rail-car
barges. NJTPA contracted for the analysis to supplement
its comments on the NYC Economic Development Corporation’s
cross-harbor tunnel draft environmental impact statement.
It Takes a Village, But Money Too
Since we last reported on the NJ transit village program
in March 2003, six villages have been added to the program:
Belmar, Bloomfield, Bound Brook, Collingswood, Cranford,
and Matawan. The other transit villages are Pleasantville,
Rutherford, South Orange, Morristown, and South Amboy.
So far, none have been added in 2004.
Brooklyn Fans Boo Traffic
Increased traffic is the number one concern of Prospect
Heights, Brooklyn residents worried about the proposed
Ratner development and Nets arena, according to a recent
Pratt Institute study.
Bush and Kerry on Transportation
By now, most know where the presidential candidates stand
on major issues like Iraq, the economy, and health care.
But what are their positions on rarely discussed topics
like transportation and smart growth? Finding presidential
platforms on these topics is not easy. As a recent Boston
Globe column stated, "The federal government spends
tens of billions of dollars on housing and transportation,
but voters would never knew that from the dearth of attention
these issues have received in the presidential campaign." In
response, MTR provides a brief overview of what the candidates’ transportation
policy records.
Feckless on Foreign Fuel
NY Times columnist Thomas Friedman recently characterized
American energy policy as "No Mullah Left Behind." He
argued that "if we had imposed a new gasoline tax
after 9/11, demand would have been dampened and gas today
would still be $2 a gallon. But instead of the extra
dollar going to Saudi Arabia — where it ends up with
mullahs who build madrasas that preach intolerance —
that dollar would have gone to our own Treasury to pay
down our own deficit and finance our own schools."
