NYSDOT Public Forum: Beating the Drums for Funds

TOO MUCH SUNSHINE?

Maybe we've taken the Sunshine Law a little too much to heart. Perhaps there are meetings of various agencies of government that it's pointless for someone outside of government to attend. The New York State Department of Transportation (NYSDOT) public forum held Wednesday, March 5 at the College of Staten Island was that kind of assembly.

The topical, uh, springboard for the forum--which included a roundtable discussion among a panel of government officials, transportation professionals, and civic leaders--was a presentation entitled "Multimodal Investment Needs & Goals for the Future" in print and Power Point formats.

Basically, the presentation is a pitch for additional transportation funding from the Feds. The goals are to accommodate significant projected local population growth, and to respond more aggressively to seriously deteriorated infrastructure and inadequate public transit services statewide.

PA? MTA?––NOT!

The presentation, delivered by NYSDOT commissioner Astrid C. Glynn and New York Metropolitan Transportation Council Executive Director Joel Ettinger, included the rather startling announcement that the presentation did not include consideration of the services, facilities or operations of either the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey, or the Metropolitan Transportation Authority (MTA).

Huh? Why invite the public, when the transportation services we use most are outside the bounds of consideration and, thus, discussion?

Following the presentation there was a completely unfocused and inconclusive roundtable which kept returning to the possible impacts, pro and con, of Congestion Pricing; and the public health disaster that is the Cross Bronx Expressway. If not for the commentary of Jonathan Peters, College of Staten Island Associate Professor of Finance--probably the most informed spokesperson for progressive transportation policy in the borough--the forum could as easily have been held in Far Rockaway or Spuyten Duyvil.

ABSTRACTIONS PREFERRED

And when it came time for the public to speak at this public forum, we were instructed not to address specific projects or policy matters but to speak only in the sort of broad, abstract terms--think 'multi-modal,' 'regional' and 'statewide'--NYSDOT used in its presentation. I spoke of the need for a truly functional Staten Island transportation system--adding that such a system can come about only if we stop thinking of Staten Island mass transit as a commuter service.

One panelist checked her watch. Another barely stifled a yawn. I know there's a lesson here, somewhere . . .

Comments

[Ace]

Could we have asked each panel member to tell us what form of conveyance they used to get them to the presentation?

[Dan Icolari]

Good suggestion, Ace. I'll keep it in mind for future confabs of this type.
Several panelists did recount their journeys via bus, ferry and train; but I'm sure most arrived by car.

One solution might be to compel government agencies to use mass transit while on official business--except for certifiable emergencies. If that mandate were introduced and enforced starting tomorrow, ridership would skyrocket, frequency would improve markedly, and car use would plummet, except in those neighborhoods least well served by buses and/or trains.

(I wonder if one can make the case that increased ridership would also lower the subsidy cost-per-rider; any thoughts on that?)

Like you, I gather, I'm more than a little fed up with bureaucrats driving their Priuses to conferences where everybody agrees on the importance of mass transit, then drives back home or back to the office.