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The City Council proposed funding half-priced MetroCards for low-income transit riders in its budget recommendations. Photo: Madeleine Thompson
COUNCIL PUSHES $50M FARE SUBSIDY PILOT TRANSPORTATION de Blasio says responsibility for funding should fall on state, not city BY MICHAEL GAROFALO
A months-long campaign to include over $200 million in the city’s 2018 budget to fund halfpriced MetroCards for low-income New Yorkers appears to have fallen short, prompting “fair fares” advocates to refocus their short-term efforts on a more modest transit subsidy proposal. City council members called for a $50 million pilot program to fund half-priced MetroCards for low-income residents in their response to the Mayor Bill de Blasio’s preliminary budget. The pilot program is a pared down version of an earlier $212 million plan that would have covered each of the roughly 800,000 New Yorkers living at or below the poverty level, which was staunchly opposed by Mayor Bill de Blasio. De Blasio has consistently
maintained that he supports the concept of a fare subsidy, but believes the burden of funding such a program should fall on the state and Gov. Andrew Cuomo, who controls MTA board appointments, rather than the city. The lower cost of the city council’s pilot plan did little to soften the stance of de Blasio, who is scheduled to submit his executive budget to the council by April 26. “The pilot program, like the original proposal, is a noble one, but the mayor has been very clear: the MTA is the responsibility of the state and they should consider funding the program,” de Blasio spokeswoman Freddi Goldstein said in a statement, adding that the city already contributes $60 million annually in subsidized fares for elderly, disabled, and student riders. The MTA board voted to raise fares for weekly and monthly MetroCards in January, but kept the base transit fare of $2.75 in place. The push to secure subsidized fares for lowincome New Yorkers gained considerable support in recent
months from city lawmakers including Public Advocate Letitia James, Manhattan Borough President Gale Brewer, and a number of city council members, including Ben Kallos, Margaret Chin, Mark Levine, and Ydanis Rodriguez, who chairs the council’s transportation committee. The pilot plan touted by Rodriguez would fund half-priced MetroCards over the next fiscal year for an as-yet-unspecified subset of New Yorkers living below the federal poverty level, which is approximately $24,000 for a family of four. The City Council suggested that the $50 million program could fund subsidized fares for more than 70,000 low-income CUNY students, but said it could alternatively target other populations, such as the homeless, veterans, or welfare recipients. The plan calls for funding to increase to $100 million in fiscal year 2019, and then increase again in fiscal year 2020 to subsidize fares for the full 800,000 New Yorkers covered in the original proposal.
separate NYPD officer with a prior history of complaints. A number of city agencies collect data regarding complaints and lawsuits alleging police misconduct, but there is limited interagency coordination in organizing the information and ensuring all applicable parties can analyze it. The proposed legislation would mandate uniform access to the full scope of available information for all concerned agencies. “It should not be so difficult or cumbersome for agencies keeping an eye on police misconduct to have the full universe of information that is relevant,” Garodnick said at the hearing. “The police department has had an early intervention system for years, but we want to build on that by giving these other oversight agencies the ability to share and access information easily,” Garodnick said in a later interview. “The hope is that it will assist in early identification of those few officers who are prone to misconduct and ensure action before somebody gets hurt and before the city has to pay considerable sums in legal claims.” In fiscal year 2016, the city paid out $279.7 million in settlements and judgements of legal claims against the NYPD, the highest total ever. Though payouts have increased every year since 2013, the number of claims filed against the NYPD decreased in fiscal years 2015 and 2016, reflecting the fact that cases often take years to reach a settlement or judgement. For example, in early April, the city agreed to pay $4 million to settle the wrongful arrest suit filed by Thabo Sefolosha, a professional basketball player, in response to his 2015 arrest outside a Chelsea nightclub, during which he suffered a broken fibula and other injuries. The NYPD did
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not admit to any wrongdoing as part of the settlement. The bill would not impact current NYPD policy that governs the handling of officers accused of misconduct, but Garodnick believes that increased information sharing between agencies would contribute to better outcomes. “It’s not a guarantee, but it certainly puts an additional level of accountability in place, which will help,” he said. Robert Gangi, who heads the nonprofit Police Reform Organizing Project and is running for mayor on a police reform platform, said that he supports bills like Garodnick’s, but is skeptical that legislation alone can succeed in reining in police misconduct. “There should be a very strong response from the mayor and commissioner when officers have engaged in reckless, irresponsible or brutal conduct,” Gangi said, adding that the officers involved in the Graham and Garner cases should have been fired immediately. “We are aggressively critical of the police department’s record in disciplining itself,” Gangi said. “The police department protects its own officers. We lay the blame for abusive and discriminatory conduct by police officers directly on the doorstep of the city’s leadership, particularly on [Mayor] Bill De Blasio and [NYPD Commissioner] James O’Neill.” The Civilian Complaint Review Board investigates complaints of police misconduct and makes disciplinary recommendations to the police department based on its findings. About 60 percent of NYPD officers have had at least one complaint filed against them, according to CCRB data. Just 10 percent of officers, however, have ever received a complaint alleging misconduct that was later substantiated by the CCRB. The NYPD did not respond to a request for comment on the legislation. Reporter Michael Garofalo can be reached at reporter@strausnews.com