After studies show that New York City is the highest-taxed large city in the country, Sewell Chan asks what New Yorkers get for all that. Snow plows:
Posted: February 26th, 2007 | Filed under: Grrr!Six of the nine largest cities are in the Sunbelt, where the warmer weather means less money is needed for removing snow and repairing streets damaged by the freeze-thaw cycle.
Precious metals scavengers have delayed the computerized time-until-the-next-train thingamabobbers on the L train. How convenient:
Posted: February 26th, 2007 | Filed under: Grrr!Scavengers have ripped off copper cable from subway stations on the L line, hampering the high-tech system that broadcasts arrival and departure times, the Daily News has learned.
The contractor installing the electronic message boards reported the wiring was filched in “repeated acts of vandalism,” according to a Transit Authority report.
“A thief is a thief is a thief, no matter what the item is,” a TA official said. “If someone can make a buck, they will steal it and try to resell it.
“We’re working with our contractor to make sure they take all necessary precautions to prevent the theft and the resulting delays. We’re also making sure we take steps on our property to secure all of our assets.”
Transit officials say the thefts are partly to blame for delays in completing its ballyhooed Public Address/Customer Information Screen project.
7 train disruptions to reach L-like proportions:
Posted: February 23rd, 2007 | Filed under: Architecture & Infrastructure, Grrr!, Queens, Things That Make You Go "Oy"The Metropolitan Transportation Authority plans to knock out weekend service on the no. 7 line this weekend for the third straight time, as well as the next four weekends, three more in November, and seven more in early 2008. The reason: to complete switch and signal upgrades on one of the oldest lines in the system.
After these track improvements are completed, the MTA is planning to bring computer-operated trains to the no. 7 line, which will require the agency to cut service again for at least 50 weekends over the next five years, according to transit sources. The award date for that project has been set for January 2008.
The computerized signal system, currently used to control only the L line, allows trains to run faster and closer together, thereby increasing service, the MTA says. Some transportation planners are raising eyebrows about bringing the expensive system to the no. 7 line when it is still in a test phase on the L line. The final estimated cost for the L line system is $278 million, which is $68 million over budget.
About 250,000 straphangers are estimated to ride the no. 7 line on an average weekend. Many are complaining that even with shuttle buses replacing subway service, travel times have quadrupled.
Upon being questioned about the city’s higher-than-average tax rates, Hizzoner maintained that we get what we pay for:
New Yorkers pay more taxes because they get more services, Mayor Bloomberg said yesterday as he defended the city’s sky-high tax rates.
“I would love to reduce taxes more,” he said. “But, unfortunately, given the level of services that the public wants, we just have to have money to pay for things. And I don’t know anybody that’s urging us to reduce the services.”
. . .
Bloomberg explained that it costs a lot of money to make a city of 8.1 million people work.
“My first priority is to make sure that we have the money to pay our 300,000 employees and to help those that are less fortunate than the rest of us, to help educate and protect and expand and enhance cultural institutions, [to] build for the future so we get tourists here,” he said.
More services . . . like millions of free condoms every month!
Posted: February 23rd, 2007 | Filed under: Grrr!Posted: February 22nd, 2007 | Filed under: Grrr!New York City has long had a notorious reputation for high taxes, but an official analysis released yesterday shows just how much the city stands out in this regard: State and local taxes swallow $9.02 out of every $100 in household and business income, putting New York’s tax burden far above those of the eight other American cities with populations over one million.
. . .
The average state and local tax burden for the other eight cities in the analysis was $6.16 of every $100 in gross taxable resources. Philadelphia ($7.16) came in a distant second to New York, and Los Angeles ($6.88) came in third, according to the report.
