Tuesday’s Headlines: Pessimism and Optimism Edition
The big story yesterday was the 15-cent fare hike that came out of the monthly MTA committee day. But there was some other news.
12:03 AM EDT on May 23, 2023
The big story yesterday was the 15-cent fare hike that came out of the monthly MTA committee day.
All the outlets — NYDN, NY Post, NY Times, amNY, Gothamist — dutifully covered that the base fare will rise to $2.90 by Labor Day — and that straphangers are livid.
But none of the media outlets added a key bit of context: The MTA, which before budget season was predicting a fiscal cliff (as in, “about to go off the …”) is now projecting a budget surplus by 2026, thanks to all that casino revenue that hasn’t materialized yet.
Our own Dave Colon pointed it all out in an epic Twitter thread:
In other news from one of the slowest Mondays on record:
- Like Streetsblog, other outlets covered the news that Attorney General Letitia James would not charge the officers who ran down and killed Ronald Smith on Eastern Parkway on a rainy April night last year. (NYDN, CBS NY)
- Now here’s an idea: Body-worn cameras for much-abused traffic enforcement officers. (NYDN)
- Please help the family of a Queens seventh grader who was hit by an MTA bus driver. (amNY)
- Turns out that the awesome sunset we got all excited about yesterday was due to Canadian wildfires. So global climate change sucks, but at least we’re going down with a beautiful view:
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