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Opinion

Fix the Budget


No one ever said you needed to start a multi-billion dollar company or get an MBA to set the city's finances straight.

With Gotham Gazette's help, you can increase spending for education or reinstate the commuter tax from the comfort of your own laptop.

Last month, Mayor Michael Bloomberg proposed a $58.8 billion budget that could slash $1 billion from city spending, increase the sales tax by .25 percent (not to mention broaden it to include clothing, hair cuts and more) and seriously lean on Albany and Washington to pitch in billions of additional funding.

So that's his plan. But what would you do?

Bloomberg overturned the city's term limit so he could have a chance to lead the city through this ever-more dreary recession. With our new budget game, BALANCE, you can bypass the City Council entirely and fix our fiscal woes on your own.

Would you increase spending and raise taxes? How about the personal income tax or tolling the East River crossings? Which departmental cuts do you think are the most severe and should be reversed?

Take the reins, but make sure you end balanced or with a surplus. We're not Washington -- we can't run a deficit.

Once you're done, send us the results and we'll report back on how Gotham Gazette readers would balance the fiscal year 2010 budget.

Keep your home page set here, and we'll continue to update you on how the city's real fiscal plan unfolds between now and when our budget must be approved in June.

Play BALANCE now.

Free Buses, Cheaper Subways -- and a Solution to New York's Traffic


Free Buses, Cheaper Subways -- and a Solution to New York's Traffic
Photo (cc) Pete Biggs

Last spring, when Mayor Michael Bloomberg proposed an $8 "congestion fee" to drive into parts of Manhattan, the plan fell victim to several intrinsic weaknesses. Geographical inequity, for one: Manhattan residents and New Jersey drivers would have ponied up a lot less than car commuters from Brooklyn, Queens and Long Island. Lack of ambition, for another: The promised 6 percent drop in midtown gridlock seemed a meager reward for ending free use of city streets and bridges.

But the basic idea is a good one, as experience in London, Stockholm and Milan has shown. Can "congestion pricing done right," as new State Sen. Daniel Squadron has called for, fix the Bloomberg plan's flaws? With a smarter plan, can we make a serious dent in traffic tie-ups that by some estimates cost the city $13 billion a year, while creating so many winners that the plan survives the legislative gauntlet?

What This Plan Would Do

Here's one possibility:

  • Replace the mayor's flat $8 toll to drive into Manhattan south of 60th Street with a sliding scale of charges. All cars and trucks trips driving across 60th Street from the north or entering midtown or lower Manhattan via a bridge or tunnel would pay a fee, but it would vary, from $10 during weekday peak hours down to $2 at night and much of the weekend. The charge would be at least twice as effective in unsnarling traffic as the mayor's $8 flat fee yet would average less -- around $6.
  • Since all vehicles contribute to congestion, all vehicles pay: no "offsets" for other tolls paid by drivers from New Jersey, no matter how much they paid to cross the Hudson, and no exemptions for "black cars" driven into Manhattan to pick up or drop off their largely well-off clientele. For medallion cabs, which circulate a great deal within the "cordon" without crossing it, a surcharge on fares gives an equivalent effect.
  • Dedicate the revenues from the congestion toll and taxi surcharge to eliminate bus fares (which will speed boarding), make trips within the city on Long Island Rail Road and Metro-North commuter trains free (which will help ease subway crowding), and cut subway fares.

This plan originated with Ted Kheel, the lawyer and civic activist who, for the past two years, has sponsored a research program to realize his hope of making car travel more efficient and mass transit more affordable by integrating the two systems. Kheel's foundation, Nurture New York's Nature, has funded development of a computer model -- the "Balanced Transportation Analyzer" -- that predicts how the new tolls and fare incentives will alter commuter behavior and calculates the resulting changes in travel speeds and agency revenues.

The analyzer is firmly grounded in empirical evidence. For example, to calculate how many auto commuters would shift their trip from the 6 a.m. to 9 a.m. morning peak, when the $10 toll would apply, to the 5a.m. to 6 a.m. hour, when the toll would drop to $4, the analyzer draws on data about drivers' actual time-shifting after the Port Authority instituted time-variable pricing in 2001. The same approach lets us estimate that a variable subway fare topped off at $1.50 during the 8 a.m. to 9 a.m. and 5 p.m. to 6 p.m. rush hours and tapering down before and after would cut subway ridership during those two rush hours while increasing it at less crowded times.

The analyzer is now making the rounds of the regional transportation agencies. No less an authority than "Gridlock" Sam Schwartz, the former chief traffic engineer for New York City and the dean of his profession, has pronounced the model "comprehensive, logical and the best I've seen."

Run this new congestion-pricing plan through the analyzer, and the numbers are striking. Charge a 24/7 congestion price varying from $2 to $10 and increase taxi fares by a third, and the resulting revenue could allow the Metropolitan Transportation Authority to halve the average subway fare and make all other transit inside the city, including buses and commuter trains, free. The combined carrot and stick will increase the number of people traveling into the heart of the city while reducing the number of cars. This would improve daytime traffic speeds by an average of 20 percent in Manhattan south of 60th Street and provide sizeable improvements on the approaches from the boroughs and New Jersey.

To be sure, our plan won't cure the inherited MTA deficit. Other proposals have been advanced to do that, such as the one proposed by the Ravitch Commission last fall. A "Kheel-Komanoff" plan, however, could be powerfully merged with a deficit-plugging plan, enhancing it in crucial ways. Indeed, the Ravitch plan, which may be adopted in some form this spring, is fully compatible with our model. The small -- and controversial -- portion of that plan that calls for geographically biased bridge tolls would be replaced by the Kheel-Komanoff universal toll and taxi fee. (Note to residents east of the East River: Under the Ravitch plan, which calls for bridge tolls, alone, you would account for 60 percent of all fees collected. That falls to 36 percent under Kheel-Komanoff, which spreads the burden among more drivers.)

The merged plan could keep the payroll tax Ravitch recommends as well as his calls for greater efficiency and transparency at the MTA. If additional monies are needed to fund the authority's capital budget, these could be drawn from the congestion-pricing pot by deferring some of the drop in subway fares. The provision for free buses should be inviolate, however, because many poorer New Yorkers rely on buses and they are a mainstay in communities underserved by subways.

Our plan benefits everyone, including drivers, who will pay more but get a faster and more reliable commute in return. The biggest beneficiaries may be bus riders. The free fare will not only stretch their paychecks but also speed their trips, since no one will have to stop and swipe a Metrocard to get on board. New Yorkers would see overall time savings running into billions of dollars, not to mention fewer car crashes, healthier air and an improved quality of life.

Mayor Bloomberg, Governor Paterson, MTA Chairman Sander, fellow New Yorkers: That traffic plan you've been waiting for? It's right here.

Charles Komanoff, an independent policy analyst, is president emeritus of Transportation Alternatives and a founding trustee of the Tri -State Transportation Campaign.

The Department of Education's Power Grip


While legislation giving the mayor control of the city schools had laudable goals, over the past seven years, Mayor Michael Bloomberg and Chancellor Joel Klein have demonstrated an alarmingly expansive interpretation of their own powers. Under mayoral control, government transparency has been a scarce commodity, and the Department of Education has operated like a tightly controlled bunker that excludes parents and lawmakers from most meaningful participation.

New York City's children and parents suffer the consequences of this unfettered mayoral control. Thousands of police personnel patrol city schools with little oversight or accountability. In March 2007, police personnel handcuffed and arrested 13-year-old Chelsea Fraser in front of her Dyker Heights classmates. Her crime? Writing the word "okay" on her desk. In January 2008, Denis Rivera, a 5-year-old kindergarten student was handcuffed for throwing a temper tantrum in his kindergarten class.

Principals are not immune from falling victim to the consequences of unfettered mayoral control. East Side Community High School Principal Mark Federman was arrested for pleading with police to not parade a handcuffed honor roll student in front of her classmates.

Despite these abuses, the mayor and the department refuse to create rules governing police behavior in the schools, citing mayoral control as the reason. Children and parents are left to wonder who's in charge of school discipline: the principal or the police?

Bullying based on sexuality, ethnicity and religion continues to be a major problem. According to the Department of Education's own survey, 76 percent of middle and high school students reported seeing students "threaten or bully other students at school." The City Council passed the Dignity in All Schools Act in 2004 to address this, yet the mayor has refused to fully enforce the law, claiming that the City Council has no authority over the Department of Education. Our children pay the price for this. Osama al-Najjar, a student at Tottenville High School in Staten Island, plunged into a deep depression and tried to commit suicide because he was incessantly called Osama bin Laden. Harpal Singh Vacher, a Sikh freshman at Newtown High School in Elmhurst, was attacked, wrestled to the ground and had his hair cut off by another student.

The New York Civil Liberties Union, where I am advocacy director, recently documented these failures in a report on civil rights and civil liberties under mayoral control. We drew lessons from our experiences in the schools to suggest ways to improve the school governance system and protect the safety, well-being and constitutional rights of students.

The NYCLU does not take a position on whether to renew mayoral control. We do not take a position on whether the mayor should be able to appoint a majority of Panel for Educational Policy members or whether the mayor should have sole authority to appoint the chancellor. But we hope that, in the debate over the renewal of mayoral control, state lawmakers concentrate on how our school governance system operates: Does it invite abuse of power? Does it embrace democratic principles? Is it the best system to educate, prepare and protect our youth?

Opening the System

Whether it approves extending mayoral control or not, the Legislature must ensure that our schools do not continue to operate through unchecked executive authority, excessive secrecy, and blocks to public participation and oversight. By taking steps to ensure greater transparency and accountability, the Legislature can satisfy both those who support and reject mayoral control.

First, the department cannot continue to operate as its own autonomous agency. It must be clearly defined as a city agency subject to the authority of the City Council, comptroller, public advocate, city charter and city laws, which ensure transparency and oversight.

Second, there must be an empowered board of education. Regardless of whether the mayor appoints the chancellor and a majority of members to the Panel for Educational Policy, which replaced the board, students, parents and educators would all benefit from a strong panel. The law already requires that the panel approve education policies. Now it must be strengthened to require that the chancellor submit all new citywide policies and practices that affect student achievement for the board's approval.

The authority to appoint members should be distributed among all citywide elected officials and the City Council. And in order to avoid undue influence on members and encourage thoughtful debate, panel members should serve fixed terms and elect their own chair.

Third, the parental voice in policymaking must be strengthened. The Community Education Councils and citywide councils must have responsibilities and authority that ensure parental involvement in the setting of education policies. The community and citywide councils' authority should be expanded to include approval of district school safety plans, the opening and closing of schools, and other district-specific policies.

Fourth, school safety practices must be brought in line with education policy. The police department plays a unique and expansive role in the city's schools. As the number of police personnel in the schools has increased to a whopping 5,200 agents, the ability of educators to oversee school safety and student discipline has decreased. The number of school safety agents and police officers has increased by 44 percent since 2002, making the police department's school safety division the fifth largest police force in the country. Houston, with a population of 2.2 million residents, has fewer police officers on the streets than the number of New York City police personnel patrolling New York City's million schoolchildren. Yet educators, who have experience maintaining a nurturing learning environment, have little oversight over police employees in schools. The New York state and city education departments must have clear authority to oversee all school safety practices, including police department activities.

Fifth, the public must be engaged in the decision making process. All Chancellor's Regulations -- which promulgate a wide range of policies, from admissions standards to the process for selecting parent council members -- must be subject to a public comment period. The police department does not finalize regulations without a public comment period, and neither should the Department of Education. The board or Panel on Educational Policy also must open its policymaking and adjudication process to the public, and ensure that parents are welcomed to and informed about its meetings.

Sixth, we need transparency. The education department must end its practice of withholding from the public raw data on student performance, including student safety issues, and must meet its legal obligation to give the public access to records. For example, the department has failed to provide the public with raw data on who is getting arrested in our schools, why children are leaving school without graduating, and who is getting suspended and for what. Without access to such information, the public cannot determine whether the city's educational environment is truly improving. To allow for an independent assessment of the department's data, the Independent Budget Office must have authority to report on the education department's performance, as it does on other city agencies.

Seventh, the legislature must create an Office of Inspector General to conduct independent audits and investigations into Department of Education practices. The inspector general should investigate systemic problems that affect the educational environment. For example, the inspector general should look into whether the dramatic increase in the number of police personnel in the schools has had a negative impact on the educational environment.

Finally, the legislature must allow the law to sunset again in seven years. The debate over the best school governance structure for our children has led to passionate discussions among policymakers and the public and a renewed interest in city schools. Whichever system the legislature chooses, it must expire, allowing for a continuous public debate.

The current regime of mayoral control is incompatible with a transparent and accountable educational environment. The legislature must address the lack of checks and balances and close legislative loopholes that have allowed a secretive and unaccountable Department of Education to flourish.

Udi Ofer is advocacy director of the New York Civil Liberties Union and author of the report.




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