Crowd’s Pleas Fall On Deaf MTA Ears

By Joseph Orovic

More than 200 people entered the Sheraton LaGuardia East feeling like the MTA doesn’t give a damn. They were given a letter from MTA Board Chairman Jay Walder as they walked in that didn’t help change their minds:
“We have provided our best thoughts on how to reduce our service, but we want to hear your suggestions for ways to accomplish the objective,” it read.

The public hearing offered much talking, but questionable listening abilities.

An empassioned Queens resident asks for answers from the board.

Eight of the authority’s 17-member board sat, largely inattentive, at Tuesday night’s public hearing as elected officials, citizens and children questioned, countered and pleaded against proposed cuts in service needed to close a $750 million budget gap.

The shortfall, caused by declining State tax revenue, has led the MTA to propose cuts to services ranging from the elimination of Access-a-Ride to canceling free rides for students, a program in place since the 1940s.

If enacted, the proposals would eliminate or limit service on 13 of the borough’s bus lines, end W and M train service, limit the G line, as well as increase overall commuter wait time.

Additionally, the MTA plans to eliminate the toll rebate given to residents of the Rockaways and Broad Channel – a plan which drew a large opposition crowd during the hearing.

“I understand the MTA is faced with a large budget gap. My office is also facing budget cuts, and service cuts are never an easy thing to implement,” said Borough President Helen Marshal. “But there has got to be a way to help plug the budget gap without cutting the services.”

Before board members even played audience to angered masses, protests and chants had materialized both inside and outside the hotel. A chorus of students and teens stood on 39th Avenue, demanding their MetroCards remain free.

The MTA’s proposal calls for a phasing-in of fares for students, with a partial-fare beginning September 2010, and full fares taking hold the following school year. All tolled, the cost could reach about $350 per student in the next school year, and almost $900 once they begin paying full price.

As the parade of angered riders and politicians approached the podium, what was initially an attentive-seeming audience grew weary of repetitive complaints, repeated venting and accusations of impropriety and mismanagement.

“When I heard, I thought to myself, ‘Here we go again,’” said Assemblyman Jose Peralta (D-Jackson Heights). “Year after year, there’s always talk about cuts. If it’s not cuts, it’s fare hikes.”

After getting a sincere “Enough is enough!” chant going, Peralta called out the Board on its seeming indifferent.

“I get it. You have to have this hearing,” he said. “Some of you aren’t even paying attention.”

Throughout the hearing, board members could be seen thumbing away at their cell phones, burying their faces in their palms or maintaining eye contact with anything but the speaker. At one point, Walder left the meeting for 10 minutes, in the middle of one rider’s testimony.

Councilman Peter Vallone Jr. (D-Astoria), whose district stands to lose the W and G line, demanded improvements, not cuts.

“You have the unmitigated gall to eliminate these lines,” he said.

The elimination of the line puts Manhattan-bound Astorians in a bind.

“This moves Astoria out of two or three neighborhoods further in terms of trips to Midtown,” said Gene Russianoff of the Straphangers Campaign.

Vallone also ripped into the board for recent raises to employees while cutting service to riders.

“I ran a business and I gave raises when I could, but when the money isn’t there you don’t do it,” he said.

Some used their testimony as an opportunity to offer solutions. Council Speaker Christine Quinn (D-Manhattan) asked the board sincerely consider a Federal program that would allow 10 percent of the State’s stimulus funds to go towards the MTA’s operating budget.

Assemblywoman Audrey Pheffer (D-Rockaway Beach) called for the complete elimination of the Cross Bay Bridge toll.

“It places an unfair burden on my community,” she said, appealing to Rockaway native Walder personally to look out for his former home.

Nearly all speakers decried the MTA’s decision to hold simultaneous hearings and thus splitting the full board. On Tuesday night, one was held in Queens and the other in Staten Island.

The next day, the Board would hold hearings in the Bronx and Brooklyn.

Reach Reporter Joseph Orovic at jorovic@queenstribune.com, or (718) 357-7400, Ext. 127.