BOROUGH
PRESIDENT MARTY MARKOWITZ, UNION LEADERS, TRANSPORTATION
ADVOCATES & ELECTED OFFICIALS PROTEST MTA FARE HIKE & SERVICE
CUTS
Photographs by Kathryn Kirk
|
| In
photo from left to right: Roger Toussaint, President of TWU,
Local 100, Assemblymember Adele Cohen, Borough President Markowitz,
Neysa Pranger, Campaign Coordinator of Straphangers Campaign,
Peter Killen, Executive Director of Bay Ridge Consumer Federation
and Assemblymember Joan Millman join members of TWU, Local 100
on the steps of Borough Hall to protest the MTA’s proposed
fare hikes and service cuts |
On Wednesday, November 10, Borough President Marty
Markowitz, Roger Toussaint, President of Transport Workers Union
(TWU), Local 100, elected officials including Assemblymembers
Joan Millman, Adele Cohen, James Brennan and Joseph Lentol along
with Peter Killen, Executive Director of Bay Ridge Consumer Federation
and other transportation advocates from the Straphangers Campaign
and Tri-state Transportation Campaign protested the MTA’s
proposed fare hikes and service cuts and called on the MTA to
stop putting the burden on straphangers to solve its budget problems.
“The
MTA has to take responsibility for its financial history, and
share the sacrifice with transit riders,” said Brooklyn
Borough President Marty Markowitz. “Why should we accept
cuts to subway and bus service for millions of New Yorkers when
the MTA won’t consider any significant cuts to its own bureaucracy?
At times like this, Brooklynites and New Yorkers don’t need
token gestures like closing fewer token booths —we need
accountability from the MTA and the governor, and we need a vision
for the future that puts fare hikes and service cuts where they
belong — last on the list of options for solving budget
problems.”
Although
the MTA has scaled back their original doomsday plan, the proposed
fare hikes, bus service cuts and token booth closures are still
unfair to the riding public. The MTA needs to identify a long-term
solution for their fiscal problems and they must work with the
state and federal government to find a way to balance their budget
without relying on the fare box. Rob Perris, District Manager
of Community Board 2 and Ben Akselrod, District Manager of Community
Board 15 also attended the press conference.
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