By MICHAEL SCHENKLER

I don’t ride buses. But on my list of present City outrages is the failure of City Hall to get the private bus lines in Queens back on the road.

As you should be aware, we are entering the third month of a strike by drivers, mechanics and cleaners against three Queens private bus lines: Jamaica, Queens Transit and Triboro Coach. These three companies are granted the exclusive franchise to operate specified routes in the borough and are granted huge subsidies to provide bus service to residents.

Ninety two million dollars, at last report, is the cost to the City to underwrite the three companies’ operations.

Wow!

Getting information about the subsidy, the cost of operating City buses, and the terms of the franchise/contracts has not been easy.

We don’t believe anyone is trying to conceal the information, we just believe the information is so convoluted and confusing that the guys in charge of regulating the bus companies have inherited a nightmare. The Comptroller’s Office has been cooperative with us but at times has expressed frustration in figuring out the whole thing. They are digging out cost figures, but apparently it’s not as simple as one plus one equaling two.

We’re committed to researching the subject — we feel someone has to.

And in our research, we did what we thought the logical thing and asked the City Department of Transportation for copies of the contracts with the bus companies.

Well, we were told, there are contracts for each company; then there are contracts for each route. But finally – after a day of or two of back and forth – it was determined that there is a “master contract” for each company. And so we requested it.

The document giving the three Queens bus companies the right to operate their franchises in the City arrived at our office by messenger. Wrapped in two very, very large envelopes and fasted together in almost a dozen sections, hundreds of small print filled pages comprise the operating agreements.

We didn’t know where to begin — we still don’t. But our staff shall plod on.

Our ability to quickly find what penalty exists for failure to provide service is no better than the folks who work for the City. You see, we’ve been informed that these documents predate present DOT staff and that no one was around back when these contracts were first drafted.

Not surprisingly, when renewed or updated, they apparently just added onto the mammoth document. Want a new route? Draft another document and attach it to the huge pack of paper.

Now remember, the hundreds of pages we are attacking make up the master contracts and do not contain the individual route franchise agreements.

We’re not sure if our terms are correct or if we understand much except that the lawyers sure must have cost a lot.

Those City lawyers sure worked very hard generating all those pages. But did they protect the City and bus riders?

On a page marked 43 of what appears to be the body of the main contract, headed Article XVI “Termination and Cancellation,” Section 16.2 reads: “The Company shall not be deemed nor declared to be in default under any conditions, provisions, requirements or limitations of this contract in any case in which the performance of any such condition, provision requirement or limitation is prevented by reason of strikes, injunctions or other causes beyond the control of the Company, provided that the Company shall not have instigated such strike, or shall not have been responsible for suits or injunctions or other causes of delay.”

Perhaps, the solution is as simple as reading the appropriate section of the contract — only maybe, nobody can find it.

We asked the DOT press office to let us know how many times copies of the contract have been requested since the labor dispute began back in January.

“Your request is the first,” was the response.

Perhaps the solution will require a clean sweep: throw out the contracts; throw out the bus companies; throw out the union.

But first, throw out the lawyers.

Hey Mayor Mike, all the other boroughs have bus service, why don’t you get involved and help the folks in Queens who have been taken for a ride.

Shame On The Queens GOP
And The Dems Are Not Any Better

Okay, politics is about power. But in this country, it is also about participating in the greatest democracy in the world. We have a system that offers voters a choice.

We have matured into a two party system with a number of vital third parties. But no matter what, you know that the Republicans will challenge the Democrats and the Dems will return the favor. Having opposition keeps everything honest.

There are no free rides here. The United States stands proudly as one of the few great democratic nations where the person in office is always challenged at election time.

Not so in Queens.

The Republican Party which last year lost two of their three City Council seats has become less and less competitive.

This year with 31 legislative seats up in Queens, the Republicans have only managed to field candidates in a little more than half the seats — 17. There is no Republican challenger for Greg Meeks’ Congressional seat. Three State Senate Seats go without GOP candidates. And shamefully, in the Assembly – the smallest of districts where races are the easiest and least costly to run – the Queens Republican Party has only found candidates for seven of the 18 seats.

Now, the Dems own this County. But they are either lazy or cut deals. There are only two Republicans seats up while 29 of the 31 are owned by the Dems. So you think the Dems would want to take the two missing links.

No! State Senators Frank Padavan and Serf Maltese (who also happens to be Republican County Chair) do not face Democratic challenges this year. Do we smell a rat?

Is Serf getting a free ride in exchange for something?

Are the Dems just too lazy to make Frank and Serf work for their seats?

Or is it all just one big comfy cozy family of incumbents?

The chart below presents the names of the candidates who filed petitions for each seat. The Board of Elections has not yet ruled on the validity of these petitions. There will be challenges.

If the Democratic County Organization holds true to form, you can bet there will be extreme scrutiny of any challenge to an incumbent office holder.

As you review the list below, remember that the Dems win in Queens. It’s nice to have third party candidates and they further our exercise in Democracy, but eliminate the two incumbent Republican Senators and the Democrat will win all the rest of the contests in November. So it is the Democratic Primary that will really decide the other 29 seats.

And right now there are only 10 seats with Democratic Primaries. And you can be pretty sure when County (the Dem organization) and the Courts get done, there will be lots fewer.

The sad story about our democracy is that the people aren’t getting a chance to decide.

With 31 open seats, there will be fewer than 10 contests. In fact, we can absolutely name the winner (the incumbent) in all but five of the 31 seats.  And we have a pretty good guess at those.

The only five worth watching: the 13th Senate which has no incumbent and a three-way Democratic Primary; the 16th Senate as incumbent Toby Stavisky is challenged in the Democratic Primary by former Assemblywoman and Councilwoman Julia Harrison; in the 22nd Assembly district, a five-way Democratic Primary for a newly drawn (Asian) seat representing Downtown Flushing; the 31st Assembly district, which pits newly elected Assemblywoman Michele Titus against six Democratic challengers; and in the newly drawn Latino 39th Assembly District there is a four-way Democratic Primary.

Sorry political junkies, with 31 seats, there are only five games in town.

WHO FILED PETITIONS?
D = Democratic Party
R = Republican Party
C = Conservative Party
I = Independence Party
L = Liberal Party
W = Working Families Party
G = Green Party
RTL=Right To Life
* = incumbent