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June 29, 2009

Monday Blogwrap

3667670409_dcba8fc930.jpg
Paradise in Bushwick. Photo by Several seconds from the Brownstoner Flickr Pool.
It's Official: Fares Rise to $2.25 [Urbanite]
Sign the Petition: Keep McCarren Pool's Name! [Greenpointers]
Businesses Near Myrtle Collapse Hurting [The Local - Fort-Greene]
Tom Martinez, Witness: "We Want Our Liberty Back" [OTBKB]
Atlantic Yards Tottering [No Land Grab]




Posted by A_Love at 4:30 PM | Comments (25)
Categories: Blogwrap

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Comments

The MTA has now officially raised New Yorkers fairs to line Bruce Ratner's pockets. All involved need to be held accountable.

Posted by: werner at June 29, 2009 12:52 AM

My friend and I also took photos of that rainbow Saturday evening. That rainbow stilled the hearts of cynical New Yorkers.

Posted by: infinitejester at June 29, 2009 4:32 PM

1. It's fares.

2. Bruce Ratner has nothing to do with the MTA being a billion dollars in debt.

3. The subway is quite inexpensive even at $2.25 a ride. It's cheaper than it was 25 years ago (when adjusted for inflation).

Posted by: 11217 at June 29, 2009 4:34 PM

I heard Barclay's bought the naming rights to NYC rainbows. Is that true?

Posted by: DitmasSnark at June 29, 2009 4:36 PM

4. I find $89 for unlimited travel around NYC to be a bargain, in fact. Most people I know outside of NYC pay $400-$500 a month for EACH CAR for the payment itself, insurance and gasoline.

Posted by: 11217 at June 29, 2009 4:39 PM

> I find $89 for unlimited travel around NYC to be a bargain, in fact.

I'll have to agree with you there, 11217. In fact I would happily pay more if that money went to fixing up the stations.

Posted by: DitmasSnark at June 29, 2009 4:48 PM

Ditto.

Posted by: 11217 at June 29, 2009 4:49 PM

Somewhere Over The Projects?

*rob*

Posted by: PitbullNYC at June 29, 2009 4:49 PM

89 isn't bad - very true. I think people are just fed up with the frequency of the fare hikes the past few years paired with declining service.


I don't think there is any question that the MTA is a mismanaged organization that needs to be reeled in ASAP. How many years have they been trying to build that 2nd ave subway now? 120?

Posted by: dirty_hipster at June 29, 2009 4:50 PM

Good one Rob. Ha.

Posted by: 11217 at June 29, 2009 4:52 PM

Agreed with Ditmas. I dont take the train that often, a couples a year? But when they cut service and increase fares, uhh, it doesnt jive too well.

Posted by: guikazoid at June 29, 2009 4:54 PM

I agree - I think what we pay is probably in line with inflation for mass transit
the problem I have is that about 5-7 years ago the MTA was touting how much of a surplus they had on their books so they went and improved some of the stations etc etc - but then 2-3 years later are in the media saying they are DEEEP DEEP in debt
they obviously have reallly bad bookeepers over there and or mta execs with deep pockets

Posted by: gemini10 at June 29, 2009 4:54 PM

Can anyone looking at the deal they cut with Ratner still question how incompetent they are? That said, the subway is still a bargain but also, don't forget, for most of us salaries have stagnated so each fare hike is a bigger and bigger bite. For a lot of people working low paying jobs or minimum wage jobs, even 25 cents hurts. And as they get cheaper with the discounts, it gets worse.

Posted by: bxgrl at June 29, 2009 5:05 PM

started out as a straight ray of light, but even light defies physics to avoid the PJs

Posted by: goldie at June 29, 2009 5:45 PM

"...the problem I have is that about 5-7 years ago the MTA was touting how much of a surplus they had on their books so they went and improved some of the stations etc etc - but then 2-3 years later are in the media saying they are DEEEP DEEP in debt"

Don't forget, a nice portion of the mortgage recording tax gets paid to the MTA. Less deals, less mortgages being recorded, less revenue for MTA.

Posted by: jessibaby at June 29, 2009 5:48 PM

rewrite: fewer...fewer..less.

Posted by: jessibaby at June 29, 2009 5:51 PM

Sorry about my misspelling 11217.

So as I understand it, because you think the subway is cheap then it's alright for the MTA to mususe public dollars?

Sell the land to the highest bidder, and I will stop complaining, and if the MTA sells that land for the right price then their tax revenue will go up to. There are absolutely no excuses here.

Posted by: werner at June 29, 2009 5:54 PM

ps, I left another misspelling in that last one for you to correct too.

Posted by: werner at June 29, 2009 5:55 PM

Subway and bus fares are a bargain because they're very heavily subsidized by tax payers and especially by bridge and tunnel tolls. One can argue that toll-paying drivers benefit from affordable mass transit because otherwise the roads would be even more congested, but the $89 monthly metrocard isn't because the MTA is such a paragon of management. It's because they own a series of cash cows crossing the East River and the Narrows.

Posted by: Sparafucile at June 29, 2009 5:55 PM

Never said the MTA hasn't misused dollars...I'm sure they have and I'm sure they continue to do so.

But to say that the fares were raised to "line Bruce Ratner's pockets" is sheer nonsense.

Posted by: 11217 at June 29, 2009 6:03 PM

Brownstoner:

Actually, the caption should read "Paradise in Williamsburg" or, to be more exact, "Paradise in Lindsay Park."

Lindsay Park Apartments, pictured above and located in Williamsburg at Broadway and Lorimer Street, was one of the big Mitchell-Lama developments built for the middle-class in the early 1960s. As a boy, I knew people who lived there.

Their apartment had three bedrooms, two bathrooms, a terrace overlooking the Manhattan skyline and -- get this! -- a swimming pool! (There were three in the "project.") The rooms were big and included a dining alcove large enough for a family to sit at a formal table, a kitchen with a window and a little breakfast nook, and two bedrooms roomy enough for four kids. (Today's condos are small in comparison -- and cheaply made. Lindsay Park had real plaster walls, not wallboard!) This was a place built to try to keep in the city people who might otherwise move to the suburbs. And the price? Something like $20 per room per month!

As seen on a recent drive-through, the trees have grown tall, the grounds look to be in reasonable shape, and the population is an interesting mix of Latinos and Asians.

Unglamorous, yes. Uncool, yes. But one of those places where working people lived and helped stabilize Williamsburg until it was discovered by "hipsters." (And others who are buying condos down the block.)

Nostalgic on Park Avenue

Posted by: NOP at June 29, 2009 6:12 PM

Subway fares are a relative bargain...what's sickening is the idiotic way this state is run. What sense does it make to fund the MTA from the mortgage tax? This state is in tough times and we have a broken state government, an accidental governor, bloated organizations like the MTA, per capita health care costs that dwarf other states. We need some talented people to run for office and reform the process.

Posted by: jawbreaker at June 30, 2009 7:59 AM

Wow, NOP that's really cool. I always thought those were projects... although I agree, they do seem to be pretty nice. So are they still Mitchell Llama?

Posted by: Heather at June 30, 2009 9:53 AM

Heather: I think so, although as Williamsburg "improves" I'm sure there'll be pressure for Lindsay Park to go fair market, as so many Mitchell Lamas have done in Manhattan after their 25-year tax abatement wears off. NOP

Posted by: NOP at June 30, 2009 11:14 AM

itest

Posted by: Return of The What at June 30, 2009 6:11 PM

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