Trust Me, You Don’t Want A Bunch Of Angry Staten Islanders

Because who knows what they might do if worse comes to worst:

Staten Islanders will have to swallow a $13 cash toll on the Verrazano-Narrows Bridge, while drivers in the rest of the city will keep their free ride on the East and Harlem River crossings, if legislative inertia continues to propel the MTA to enact its “Doomsday” budget.

The MTA board approved a 25 to 30 percent fare and toll hike this week, with the Verrazano and other MTA bridges set to go up in July, unless the state Legislature can devise alternate revenue streams to plug a $1.2 billion budget gap. Talks involving a bailout that would entail a payroll tax and tolling the currently free bridges have stalled in the state Senate.

. . .

Meanwhile, toll booths at all four Staten Island bridges already collect more than 6 percent of the nation’s tolls, according to Dr. Jonathan Peters, a finance professor and transportation expert at the College of Staten Island, who has done extensive research on the subject. Toll collection from passenger cars alone coming from only Staten Island ZIP codes accounts for about $65 million in revenue per year at the Verrazano, Peters said.

And without movement from Albany to balance that inequity, Islanders will continue to bear a growing toll burden, despite extremely limited transit options to travel off the Island without a car.

(Then again, Shelly says not to worry . . .)

Leading Economic Indicator: Delinking Financial Centers From The Concept Of “Freedom”

You know things are bad with our bailed-out economy when the proposed new financial center of the world no longer feels “free”:

The Port Authority is taking the “Freedom” out of the Freedom Tower.

Although the 1,776-foot tower hasn’t been fully built, funded or leased — and won’t be occupied until 2014 — the agency decreed Thursday it will no longer be called the Freedom Tower. It will simply be known as 1 World Trade Center.

“As we market the building, we will ensure that it is presented in the best possible way — and 1 World Trade Center is the address that we’re using,” said PA Chairman Anthony Coscia.

“It’s the one that is easiest for people to identify with — and frankly, we’ve gotten a very interested and warm reception to it.”

The name change for the 102-story, $3.1 billion skyscraper, unveiled after a PA board meeting, drew a sharp rebuke from former Gov. George Pataki, whose April 24, 2003, speech gave the building its brand.

“The Freedom Tower is not simply another piece of real estate and not just a name for marketing purposes,” Pataki said.

“In design and name, it is symbolic of our commitment to rise above the attacks of Sept. 11. Where 1 and 2 World Trade Center once stood, there will be a memorial with two voids to honor the heroes we lost — and, in my view, those addresses should never be used again.”

With Consequences Even More Dire Than The Last

So now the MTA pulls the school library card — massive cuts! fare hikes! — until the state finally relents:

Under the plan approved Wednesday, the base subway and bus fare rises to $2.50 from $2, with the change taking effect May 31. A monthly MetroCard would cost $103, up from $81. Riders on the Metro-North Railroad and the Long Island Rail Road would see increases of at least 20 to 30 percent, beginning June 1. The fare on Long Island Bus, which serves Nassau County, would rise to $3.50 from $2.

The increases would mean that a person using a bonus pay-per-ride MetroCard solely to commute to and from work during the week would spend an additional $224 a year. A Long Island commuter who travels from Hicksville to Penn Station would pay $267 for a monthly ticket, up from $211, for a total additional cost of $672 a year.

Then there’s this:

CBS 2 took a closer look at the cost of one woman’s commute from New Rochelle to Manhattan. She works at 57th Street and 11th Avenue.

Healthcare executive Terry Cavanaugh changed gears with her commute nine years ago. She started driving to work on Manhattan’s west side after the train-shuttle-subway combination got to be too much.

She added up all the costs –– gas, tolls on the Henry Hudson bridge, and parking — and decided the extra expense was worth it.

“The beauty of this is I’m on my own schedule. If you’re 5 minutes late for the train, too bad, you missed it,” she says.

Today, the cost differential between driving and taking the train is pretty significant, but it’s about to narrow significantly. Currently a monthly pass from New Rochelle to Grand Central Terminal is $169. But that will go up $40 a month under this fare hike plan.

When you add up the current cost of gas, parking in Manhattan, and tolls versus a monthly train pass, parking at the New Rochelle station, and a monthly Metrocard for the subway, driving is $151 more expensive per month.

But after the fare and toll hikes, the car versus train cost difference narrows considerably to $102.

On The Bright Side, Maybe This Means Reservations At Per Se Will Be Easier To Come By

Then again, most of Manhattan may shutter before that happens:

Congress’ planned 90 percent tax on bonuses paid by bailed-out companies will snatch $12 billion at the very least from employees of firms that are based in New York City or have big operations here, experts said.

And that would have a dire effect on the city’s economy, impacting everyone from top luxury retailers to taxi drivers to tax collectors.

The crushing tax passed in the House yesterday would affect workers who make over a quarter-million dollars a year at companies that took more than $5 billion in rescue funds from the taxpayers.

Several executive-compensation experts said that under those standards, at least half of all of the windfalls granted by bailed-out firms would be affected.

“And that’s a conservative estimate,” said Chuck Collins, a compensation expert at the Institute for Policy Studies.

For example, he said, at least 50 percent of the $2.6 billion that Goldman Sachs gave its employees in bonuses would likely be hit with the tax.

Thought For The Day

And keep in mind when reading this that the city budget for the next four or five years* is supposed to hover between $60 and $70 billion:

The state Financial Control Board, which studies the city budget to prevent another 1970s-style brush with bankruptcy, said New York must plug a $23.8 billion hole.

That’s more than twice the size of the budget gap Mayor Bloomberg projected less than two months ago.

*Check it (.pdf)