[Travelandtourism] Bus fare hike for disabled in Suffolk fails

[Margo and Arrow]

You know, so often, legislators try to sneak things through and I am so 
glad, in this case, that the bill died as it should have, well, it shouldn't 
have been there in the first place without public comment.

margo and Arrow
----- Original Message ----- 
From: "cheryl echevarria" <cherylandmaxx at hotmail.com>
To: "travelandtourism" <travelandtourism at nfbnet.org>
Sent: Thursday, June 21, 2012 10:41 AM
Subject: [Travelandtourism] Bus fare hike for disabled in Suffolk fails


>
> Now things with travel and tourism also affects our local transportation 
> services.
> This recently happened here on Long Island last week.
> The Legislature tried to push through a bill to increase the price of the 
> Access - A - Ride Service, without having a hearing with  the people that 
> it would affect, us the disabled.
> I wasn't privy to this until a friend of mine, told me she was at a 
> meeting of the Legislature.
> Thank god that it didn't pass.
> I actually found out last night by my own Legislator Montano, who is 
> running for Senator this year as well, told me that it died on the floor, 
> and that he didn't approve of the tactics that were taken to do so.
> But here is the Newsday story from Yesterday.
> A plan to hike fares on Suffolk's handicap-accessible minibus service 
> stalled Tuesday, after some county legislators criticized the measure as 
> an effort to balance the budget "on the backs of the disabled."The 
> legislature failed to get the 10 votes needed on a resolution that would 
> have set hearings on the fare increase. The public works commissioner then 
> could enact the increase. With Presiding Officer William Lindsay 
> (D-Holbrook) absent, lawmakers were split 9-8 in favor."I'm not sure we 
> need this," said Legis. Jay Schneiderman (I-Montauk), the public works 
> committee chairman. "We don't want to balance the books on the backs of 
> the disabled."County Executive Steve Bellone, a Democrat, wants to raise 
> Suffolk County Accessible Transit fares from $3 to $4 per ride, saying it 
> could bring in more than $440,000 a year in additional revenue. In recent 
> years, the service has provided some 440,000 rides per year.SCAT fare 
> hikes were among Bellone's initial set of proposals to help close a
> projected $530 million deficit.Next week, Suffolk will lose about 260 
> employees who had only been funded for the first six months of 2012, and 
> may lay off more next year.But Ben Zwirn, Bellone's legislative liaison, 
> said the county can't close the gap with layoffs alone. "The problem is, 
> we cannot cut enough to balance this budget," he told lawmakers. "We need 
> to also have some additional revenue coming in."Deputy County Executive 
> Jon Schneider later said the administration won't abandon the effort. He 
> noted that minibus rides for the disabled have cost the same since 
> 1994."What were gas prices 18 years ago?" Schneider said. "It's not 
> unreasonable to say this service costs Suffolk County taxpayers 
> significantly more than it did 18 years ago, and may now merit a modest 
> fare hike."Tuesday's measure failed, in part, because Schneiderman and 
> Legis. Kara Hahn (D-Setauket), both of whom typically support Bellone, 
> voted no with the majority of Republicans. Schneiderman said he could
> "stomach" a 50-cent fare hike, while Hahn was unequivocal in her 
> opposition."This is not a population we need to be coming after," she 
> said. "This will be devastating to some of these people."Brian Rossi, a 
> blind Ridge resident, frequently uses the minibuses. He said Suffolk 
> should improve scheduling before instituting a fare hike."I don't think 
> they should raise it without improving service quality first," Rossi, 35, 
> said after the meeting.But Legis. Lou D'Amaro (D-North Babylon) said 
> Suffolk has long subsidized its minibus service -- at more than $35 a 
> ride -- so a $4 fare would still be "a bargain.""Even an increase up to a 
> dollar would strike a very fair balance," he said.
>
>
>
> Leading the Way in Independent Travel!
> Cheryl Echevarria, 
> Ownerhttp://www.echevarriatravel.com631-456-5394reservations@echevarriatravel.comhttp://www.echevarriatravel.wordpress.com
> PresidentTravel and Tourism DivisionNational Federation of the 
> Blind631-236-5138
>
>
> _______________________________________________
> Travelandtourism mailing list
> Travelandtourism at nfbnet.org
> http://nfbnet.org/mailman/listinfo/travelandtourism_nfbnet.org
> To unsubscribe, change your list options or get your account info for 
> Travelandtourism:
> http://nfbnet.org/mailman/options/travelandtourism_nfbnet.org/margo.downey%40verizon.net