|
OF BUDGET CUTS AND OLYMPIC BIDS
It’s been a little while since the last column. Life, and non-functioning
computers, have a way of messing with your plans. Now I’m just grateful to
have a working word processor again.
So it’s sucking to live in New York City. The Bronx is still up, but the
economy’s down – WAY down. On a personal level, it means that in all
likelihood I’m going to be in a new city after I graduate (even if graduation
day gets delayed with each passing month....). But for the city as a whole,
there’s no denying it – we are all facing massive budget cuts, tax
increases, belt-tightening, and fare increases.
No wonder Mayor Bloomberg’s popularity rating has taken a nosedive of late.
Still, I hear the whining about the MTA’s proposed fare increase and have to
wonder about it. Currently, it costs $1.50 per ride. It’s 17 bucks for a
seven-day pass and $63 for a 30-day. If the basic fare is kept the same, then
services will be cut deeply – up to 25% reduction on weekends, slightly less
on weekdays. Raise the price to two dollars and not only will services remain
– mostly–the same, but the monthly passes will only increase to about $70.
Now, 63 dollars isn’t exactly cheap, but I pay it unhesitatingly every month.
I like knowing that I can just swipe my card whenever I want and not worry that
I’m running out of cash. The idea of my subway card being like a laundry card
is nice, but if I don’t have any spare change and I’ve only got a dollar
left on the card....not so good. So I can live with it. And I can live with a
measly seven dollar increase.
And the $1.50 fare has been in effect for several years now. Frankly, when
Imoved here, I was shocked the basic fare was so low. In Ottawa, where I grew
up, bus fares are $2.25 generally, $3.50 for peak-hour express buses. Since
I’ve moved a light-rail system has been built and is now in service, so I
don’t know how that figures into the overall scheme, but I’m figuring that
the prices are about the same. Now granted, this is in Canadian dollars, but
still–$3.50 each way to go to work and back was not fun. The monthly passes
weren’t much better, topping off at $72.50 if I wanted a full-perk pass with
express fares included.
And sure, a 50 cent increase may seem steep, but so is waiting that extra half
an hour at 2 AM for the local train to show up, when you’re dead tired and
really, really, really want to go home and hope to god you won’t wake up the
next morning with a splitting headache such that the entire day is shot. Or
waiting on an ever-crowded, grumbling platform of irritated people for a
15-minutes-late express train that will already be filled to the brim when it
finally shows up.
Times are tough. We’ve got to account for it somehow. Yes, it would be great
if it was 1999 again, but the dotcom bubble burst and 401(k)s are collapsing.
The bars are getting more crowded on weekdays at 3 AM. People are working at
anything, absolutely anything, just to pay the rent. This is not a fun time at
all, but economies do bounce back. Eventually. It’ll just be a lot worse
before it gets any better.
*****
And in the middle of all this doom and gloom, there are the yahoos trying to
secure the 2012 Olympics for New York City.
And frankly, that just makes me laugh my ass off.
I haven’t read all the specifics of the grand plan, but I believe it entails
building a stadium on the West Side near the Javits Center on 34th and 11th
Avenue, along with Olympic Village housing in Queens. Say what? Where will the
money come from for this? Will it grow on trees? Too bad New York is such an
urban enclave where trees are at a premium. Besides, I did just talk about
budget cuts and tax increases....
The only people who seem to be sold on the NYC Olympics idea are Daniel
Doctoroff and his merry band of minions and the US Olympic Committee, which
inexplicably put forth New York City as their candidate for the 2012 bid. Then
again, San Francisco was the only serious bid, and their economy’s in even
worse shape. The Olympics are a dinosaur; the mere mention sends most people I
know into snickers and giggles. We think of steroid-filled athletes, doping
scandals, massive corporate campaigns. The last time the summer Olympics were in
the US was the mess that was Atlanta, remembered now only for the sea of Diet
Coke billboards, the Olympic Park bombing and the smear campaign against Richard
Jewell.
Never mind that the real culprit, Eric Rudolph, hasn’t been found yet. He
might be dead, or he might not be, just as elusive as Osama Bin Laden has proven
to be.
And this year’s Salt Lake City Winter Olympics wasn’t much better, with
figure skating judging scandals, more doping issues, and a general sense of
bloatedness. This is what will revitalize New York City? I don’t think so. Not
with Lower Manhattan still to be rebuilt, questions remaining on what to do with
the World Trade Center land, and oh yeah, that crappy economy.
Hopefully this idea will be kiboshed by someone, anyone. Let the International
Olympic Committee poohbahs pick some poor unfortunate European, Asian or African
city to host this spectacle. Although with their track record, the IOC will
probably pick Nigeria. Which is a good idea if you actually consider rioting and
killing to be an official Olympic sport.
And according to the bid’s official website, http://www.nyc2012.com, New
Yorkers favor hosting the Olympics “by a seven-to-one margin.” I’d like to
see where those numbers came from. Because I’m betting a far different story
is true.
Sarah Weinman
22 November 2002
|
