How Will We Pay For TWU Raises?

You know, the ones precipitated by the DC37 contract? Through fare hikes, of course:

The acting head of the MTA said on Tuesday she can’t rule out a fare hike to pay for raises granted to bus and subway workers, which hiked their pay 11.3% over three years.

Irony alert: Bloomberg has the gall to grandstand about it.

Then there’s this tidbit, from the Post: “The MTA will have to raid $360 million from its federal stimulus dollars, the budget that funds mega-projects like the Second Avenue Subway, and from its reserves to fund fat raises for rank-and-file transit workers, angry officials said yesterday.”

Or even this, from the Times:

During contract talks, the agency dropped its demand for one-person train operation, instead of two, thinking that Transport Workers Union Local 100 would make health care concessions in return.

But an arbitration panel has found there had been “no evidence” of a quid pro quo — handing a victory to the workers, who had been seeking to limit their health care contributions.

Establishing one-person train operation has been a major goal of New York City Transit for more than a decade. Using one-person crews would save millions in labor costs, and the agency, which wanted to start the program on the No. 7 and L lines, has already invested in new compatible subway cars.

How DC37 Fucked Over Just About Everyone

So not only did DC37 get a generous raise in the midst of a recession — then ungratefully backed Bloomberg’s main competition, making the bribe — er, quid pro quo — effectively moot (and then “forcing” both the Mayor’s office and City Council to give their staffs similar raises) but now the transit workers want the same type of raise. This when the MTA is squawking about bad finances. Everyone — everyone — is to blame here:

Transit workers appear poised to win a generous contract with healthy 4% annual raises and lower health care contributions that could blow a huge hole in the MTA’s finances, sources tell the Daily News.

Despite recent fare hikes and the punishing recession, transit union officials argued that they deserve a 12% hike over three years, partly because city employees have received similar increases.

A three-man arbitration panel is expected to announce the terms of the new contract for bus and subway workers as early as Monday or Tuesday. The expected annual raises of about 4%, 4% and 3.5% would increase Metropolitan Transportation Authority costs by more than $400 million.

Again, think about all this when you see the next fifty or sixty Bloomberg commercials about how he is “independent” and makes the “tough choices” or whatever, because basically any one of the candidates currently running for mayor can suck up to the unions — we didn’t need to get rid of term limits for that.

Leading Economic Indicators: Packing ‘Em In Like It’s A College Dorm

Tishman Speyer’s Stuyvesant Town resembles dorm now that leasing agents make it easier to convert one-bedroom apartments into two-bedroom dwellings:

A young, chirpy brunette showed us a model one-bedroom apartment that had a pressurized wall built in the living room so it could comfortably work as a two-bedroom. The unit had recently undergone luxury upgrades such as granite countertops, new appliances, posh lighting fixtures, a renovated bathroom and brand-new air conditioners. Even with the wall, the living room and both bedrooms were considerably larger and nicer than any apartment we had seen through Craigslist. We would have both a trendy East Village address and be surrounded by trees, green lawns, street hockey and basketball courts. It was the perfect surrounding to sit and study or play Wiffle Ball. Stuy Town felt like the college campus that NYU could never deliver.

Eat Out (From The Trough Of) New York

What was once a perfectly good closed circuit feed of boring city council meetings somehow turned into a flashy taxpayer-supported media empire and now it’s all coming down . . . more Bloomberg legacy:

In fact, city investigators only tumbled to Scotland’s thefts after they launched an inquiry last year into complaints by employees at NYC-TV. The wide-ranging gripes included charges that Wierson and other top officials were often absent and appeared to be using city staff and resources for their own private projects.

The results of that inquiry were assembled in a memo that was presented to City Hall shortly before Scotland’s arrest. Since then, in addition to Wierson, at least four other high-ranking aides at the network have also quietly resigned. Asked last week if they’d been fired, a City Hall spokesperson declined comment.

The NYPD Tow Operation Division’s Version Of “Drugs On The Table”

The Post reports that top NYPD brass want to see clunkers in the tow pound:

NYPD tow-truck operators are hauling away cars at an alarming pace because of ramped-up pressure to meet a shocking four-car quota per shift — and those who fail face stiff penalties, sources told The Post.

“You have to get your number. That’s it. If you don’t get that number, you know that when you roll into the pound, the bosses will be all over you,” said a veteran driver.

Punishment can range from a loss of overtime to relegation to the graveyard shift to delayed approval of time-off requests.

That fear is leading drivers to tow cars they might otherwise let off, just to make sure they hit the mark.

“If it’s a judgment call, we’ll frequently go against the driver for that reason,” a source familiar with the mandate said. “It’s screw them or screw me. Either way, someone’s getting screwed.”

The source told of drivers’ being called in for “interviews” with managers and subsequently being moved off the desirable 5 a.m.-to-1 p.m. shift and placed instead on overnight hours because “they’re not bringing in enough cars.”