WEINER UNVEILS EIGHT POINT PLAN TO SAVE OUR SUBWAYS

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AS MAYOR:

WILL TAKE BACK CONTROL OF THE MTA

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RELEASES NEW DATA:

SUBWAY CRIME, ACCIDENTS, INJURIES AND FIRES ALL ON THE RISE

New York City - Armed with new data showing that track fires, accidents, injuries and subway crime are all on the rise, Rep. Anthony Weiner (D-Queens & Brooklyn) today unveiled his eight point plan to save our subways.

The centerpiece of the Weiner plan: take back control of the MTA for New York City.

WEINER'S EIGHT POINT PLAN TO SAVE OUR SUBWAYS:

Return Control of the MTA to New York City - 92% of MTA riders and 80% of MTA revenue is generated in New York City, but the MTA only spends 72% of its funding here. Currently, the Governor has control of the MTA Board, appointing 6 of 14 voting members to the Mayor's 4, while suburban communities also get 4. As mayor, Weiner will take control of the MTA board, expanding voting members from 14 to 15 members, with 8 mayoral appointees, 4 for the Governor and 3 for suburban counties.

Greater Transparency—Including All West Side Rail Yard Bid Material - According to published reports, the winning New York Jets bid amounted to approximately $250 million, or hundreds of millions below market value. That's hundreds of millions of dollars that could have gone to repair and maintain our subways. As Mayor, Weiner will demand greater transparency in MTA finances and transactions, including that the MTA throw out the Jets bid and start over again, with a fair, transparent and open process that promises to yield New York City the biggest return on its investment.

Bring Emergency Cell Phone Service to the Subways – Other world class city’s like Washington, Berlin, Moscow, Hong Kong and Paris already provide wireless service to transit riders, but New York has no such plan. Weiner would initiate a program to bring emergency 9-1-1 cell phone service to subway platforms at an estimated cost of $200,000 per platform and would leverage New York City buying power to push wireless companies to do the work at no cost to the public.

More Transit Cops on the Beat -- Since its peak in 2000 of more than 40,000 officers, the size of the NYPD has dropped to less than 35,000 – a 13% drop. As Mayor, Weiner would put more transit cops on the beat by returning the force to the 2000 level, and by fighting for funding for the federal Community Oriented Policing Services or C.O.P.S program, which has put 7,000 police on New York City streets. Weiner is the House sponsor of C.O.P.S.

Promote the Use of TransitChek - TransitChek encourages subway ridership by allowing straphangers to purchase fares through their employers, using pre-tax dollars. Currently, of the more than five million workers eligible for TransitChek, only 500,000 use it. As Mayor, Weiner will launch an outreach campaign to increase the number of participating companies and employees, and will boost incentives for straphangers to purchase TransitChek metrocards.

Demand that the MTA Adhere to Pay-As-You-Go Budgeting - Debt service is projected to make up 31% of the MTA's operating budget in 2007, with a total debt service expenditure of $1.7 billion. The MTA projects an operating budget gap of $1.3 billion in 2007. Rather than resort to fare increases, as Mayor, Weiner will push the MTA to make tough choices and adopt pay-as-you-go budgeting.

Restore City and State MTA Subsidies – Between 1982 and 2004, the state's share of the MTA's Capital Budget decreased from 20% to 0% of total revenue. Between 1987 and 2004, the City's share decreased from 16% to 3%. The result: transit riders, through fare increases, are now shouldering a larger share of the burden. As Mayor, Weiner will fight to restore the City and State contributions to the subsidies for the MTA Capital Programs.

Fight for Fair Share of Federal Transportation Funding - A primary source of funding for our subways are federal dollars, but those dollars are under assault. Republicans want to cut the national expenditure on transportation by billions of dollars, and they want to distribute the funding like pork-guaranteeing that every state gets a bigger piece of the pie, even those that don't have much in the way of transportation infrastructure. As Mayor, Weiner will fight for full federal transportation funding and for New York City to get its fair share.

"Service delays and subway fires are fast becoming part of the daily commute for too many city straphangers," said Rep. Weiner. "New York City provides the MTA with the vast majority of its revenue and ridership. So New York City should run the MTA. As Mayor, I'll take back control of our subways."

According to data compiled by the Weiner campaign, the rate of subway injuries are up 18.8% since March of 2003. The rate of accidents sustained by subway riders are up 18.3%. Fires are up 21.7% since 2002.

And crime is on the upswing too. Major felonies in the system have jumped 12.3% over the past two years, with robberies are up 8.4% since 2004.

Weiner is one of only two New York City members of the House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee.

Sources: The MTA 2005 Adopted Budget, the MTA Capital Budget, the MTA Transit Committee’s Monthly Meeting Agendas, the New York City Independent Budget Office, the Regional Plan Association, the New York Times, the Chicago Tribune, and the United States Department of Justice.