"Which of these God-awful consequences do you want to be responsible for?"
That was the question Richard Ravitch asked a panel of Assembly members Wednesday who were holding a hearing on his commission's "how to save the subway" proposal.
One week after the Ravitch Commission released it's report advocating business taxes, fare hikes, and new tolls on the city's free bridges over the East and Harlem Rivers, the odds of all three of those things actually happening seem long indeed.
Especially the notion of putting tolls on the Brooklyn, Manhattan, Williamsburg, and Queensboro Bridges (along with those over the Harlem River connecting The Bronx to Manhattan.
Ravitch laid out the thinking of his commission's members in unanimously approved plan.
"We believe the least economically damaging tax increase is a payroll tax," Ravitch said, because it spreads the pain most evenly and because every company in the region benefits from the mass transit system.
Assembly members didn't object to that but they had a very different reaction to the bridge tolls..
Assemblyman Adriano Espaillat (D-Inwood) said, "three of these bridges are in my district and my constituents have told me what they think of this."
The bridge tolls would be used to support better express bus service in the outer boroughs.
"The automobile owner is in fact a real benifciary of the transit system," he said, adding tolling the bridges is a "reasonable thing to do."
Indeed Ravitch insisted all three items -- payroll tax, moderate fare hike, AND bridge tolls -- needed to be done together in order to "share the burden."
Wednesday’s hearing indicates that may be a heavier lift than Ravitch had in the 80s when he led the commission whose recommendations rebuilt the subway system.
At that time he was able to convince businesses that the taxes imposed on them would end up benefiting them through high property values.
This time he'll have to convince Albany. That is a tall order.
