The Latest

Transport Finance: The State Legislature’s Next Game

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Based on the congestion pricing debate, it looks like Bruno and Silver are looking for someone to blame for the transportation-related consequences of the debts and pension enhancements they enacted from 1990 to 2006 in order to pander to interests, hand out benefits, and make themselves popular, all the expense of a future no one cared about. Having apparently turned down Bloomberg's political gift, a funding source that he would have taken the heat for, they seem to have decided on Eliot Spitzer, who is the one person now in office who was not involved. And if Spitzer decides to bury his head in the sand rather than making the pain felt in 2008, when the legislature is up for re-election and he is not, they will succeed.

Transport Finance: The State Legislature’s Next Game

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Based on the congestion pricing debate, it looks like Bruno and Silver are looking for someone to blame for the transportation-related consequences of the debts and pension enhancements they enacted from 1990 to 2006 in order to pander to interests, hand out benefits, and make themselves popular, all the expense of a future no one cared about. Having apparently turned down Bloomberg's political gift, a funding source that he would have taken the heat for, they seem to have decided on Eliot Spitzer, who is the one person now in office who was not involved. And if Spitzer decides to bury his head in the sand rather than making the pain felt in 2008, when the legislature is up for re-election and he is not, they will succeed.

Gutless?

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In the wake of his defeat on the issue of congestion pricing, Mayor Bloomberg called Senator Malcolm Smith and some pols gutless "I heard a lot of talk about the politics of congestion pricing … and all I kept thinking about was — some people have guts and lead from the front and some don't,"

I’d like to remind everyone that Bloomberg did not support congestion pricing in 2001 when he first ran for Mayor or in 2005 when he ran for re-election. He is now term-limited and can’t run for re-election.

Marty Markowitz is Wrong; Charles Barron Is No Revolutionary

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I could write scores of Marty Markowitz stories; but I won’t; at least not right now. It would be fun though; it really would be. For full disclosure, let me state upfront that for many years, I was one of quite a few in the Crown Heights/ Flatbush community, committed to taking Marty Markowitz out of his senate seat (20 SD). We failed.

Marty was in office for about 20 years or so, in a district where minorities made up about 80% of the residents-with more than half of them either born in the Caribbean, or of parents so born. Some called Marty a comedian, others snidely remarked that he was a clown; lore has it that one Easter Sunday, he even ran around the black community in a white Easter-bunny suit. Needless to say: many of the more militant-black types thought he was an embarrassment. Well; I am not sure that those comments can hold up any more folks; Marty has been and continues to be: a winner (politically speaking).

I’m Biking and Riding the Subway; How are They Traveling?

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Today the Democratic members of the New York State Assembly will take mass transit to Lower Manhattan and discuss how, in lieu of congestion pricing and without sacrificing the future through additional borrowing, they will fully fund the ongoing operating and capital needs of the transportation system (including the 2010 to 2014 MTA Capital Plan) and how, without unfairness or favoritism and with limited economic damage, they will ration those driving to congested parts of New York City to the level of traffic the road network can support. Or they will drive there, using their permits to park in restricted free on-street parking areas, and they will grandstand, be publicly disingenuous, continue to promise something for nothing and the expense of the future, and privately discuss deals to reward their supporters. In honor of Silver, Brodsky, Brennan et. al, or in fear of the future they will leave us with, I have decided to forego our transit system (with its uncertain future) and bicycle to work. Or at least part of the way to work, because I was unable to identify anyplace to safely park my bike in the vicinity of my office in deepest, darkest, priciest Midtown. The only place I found bicycles locked was to small trees, not a good idea. So I’ll ride six miles from Windsor Terrace to the Lower East Side, and take the subway from there.

I’m Biking and Riding the Subway; How are They Traveling?

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Today the Democratic members of the New York State Assembly will take mass transit to Lower Manhattan and discuss how, in lieu of congestion pricing and without sacrificing the future through additional borrowing, they will fully fund the ongoing operating and capital needs of the transportation system (including the 2010 to 2014 MTA Capital Plan) and how, without unfairness or favoritism and with limited economic damage, they will ration those driving to congested parts of New York City to the level of traffic the road network can support. Or they will drive there, using their permits to park in restricted free on-street parking areas, and they will grandstand, be publicly disingenuous, continue to promise something for nothing and the expense of the future, and privately discuss deals to reward their supporters. In honor of Silver, Brodsky, Brennan et. al, or in fear of the future they will leave us with, I have decided to forego our transit system (with its uncertain future) and bicycle to work. Or at least part of the way to work, because I was unable to identify anyplace to safely park my bike in the vicinity of my office in deepest, darkest, priciest Midtown. The only place I found bicycles locked was to small trees, not a good idea. So I’ll ride six miles from Windsor Terrace to the Lower East Side, and take the subway from there.

Corporate America: Gaining and Losing Public Trust

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At my brother’s suggestion, I took a look at some financial tables at www.crestmontresearch.com, including one showing bull and bear stock markets since 1900. Looking at the dates, and comparing them with what I remember of American history, it seems that the long term bull and bear markets identified by Crestmont correspond with the level of trust and confidence in corporate management as agents of the public good (and the often opposite level of confidence in government), not just with cycles of the economy. The economy affects how much profit business may earn, but Crestmont bases the onsets of long-term bull and bear markets on highs and lows in the price-earnings ratio, or how much investors are willing to pay for each dollar of earnings. This depends not only on the level of inflation and the return on competing assets, but also on public perceptions of what those earnings mean for the future, and whom they will benefit. Will they ultimately be paid to stockholders, or will most of them be diverted to top executives and interlocking directors? Are the profits coming at the expense of workers and customers, and thus likely to disappear in the long run as these seek better deals elsewhere, or are customers and employees happy, creating the potential for more productivity and better sales? Are the profits even real? To me, the table is the history of business gaining and then squandering the public trust. And for the past decade, business has been doing the latter, with a reaction building that has only just begun.

Corporate America: Gaining and Losing Public Trust

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At my brother’s suggestion, I took a look at some financial tables at www.crestmontresearch.com, including one showing bull and bear stock markets since 1900. Looking at the dates, and comparing them with what I remember of American history, it seems that the long term bull and bear markets identified by Crestmont correspond with the level of trust and confidence in corporate management as agents of the public good (and the often opposite level of confidence in government), not just with cycles of the economy. The economy affects how much profit business may earn, but Crestmont bases the onsets of long-term bull and bear markets on highs and lows in the price-earnings ratio, or how much investors are willing to pay for each dollar of earnings. This depends not only on the level of inflation and the return on competing assets, but also on public perceptions of what those earnings mean for the future, and whom they will benefit. Will they ultimately be paid to stockholders, or will most of them be diverted to top executives and interlocking directors? Are the profits coming at the expense of workers and customers, and thus likely to disappear in the long run as these seek better deals elsewhere, or are customers and employees happy, creating the potential for more productivity and better sales? Are the profits even real? To me, the table is the history of business gaining and then squandering the public trust. And for the past decade, business has been doing the latter, with a reaction building that has only just begun.

NYC Transit and Road Capacity: An Overview

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Compared with many of those posting on transit geek sites I have participated in, and the signal engineers at New York City Transit where I once worked, I’m not an expert in subway and road capacity. But compared with those who have been making an issue of it, well, in the country of the blind the one-eyed man is king, so I’ve elected to provide an overview of what I know in a post. Before getting technical, however, the most important thing about the capacity of the region’s rail transit service is this: there is more room on the tracks than the region will ever be able to use during most of the day; the only capacity problems are during the AM and PM weekday peak periods, and the only severe capacity problems are during the peak hour within those periods. Meanwhile, the streets of Manhattan and some parts of the outer boroughs are congested for much of the day, and in some cases increasingly congested as the day goes on. That is because during the AM rush hour, the capacity of the bridges and tunnels entering Manhattan, and their approaches, limits the number of vehicles on the streets, but as the day goes on more and more are present and trying to move. During peak hour most people are already taking transit, so congestion pricing is more likely to shift drivers to transit during the off peak period, when there is plenty of room to add more riders and, if needed, trains.