Dear Chairman Walder,
I am a resident of the 34th Senate District, represented by Senator Jeff Klein in the New York State Senate. I am writing because I join Senator Klein in his outrage at the current proposal under consideration by yourself and the MTA Board to close the MTA’s $400 million budget gap with service cuts that will include the elimination of the Bx14 bus route. The effects of the loss of this transportation service, in an area so isolated from any other form of mass transit, will be devastating to myself and my neighbors here in the Spencer Estates and Country Club communities of the northeast Bronx.
I understand that these difficult times will result in difficult decisions that we must all face but as an almost fully subsidized agency the MTA’s first responsibility is to the more than 11 million residents who rely on it for daily transportation. Service cuts should be a last resort, not the first. New Yorkers expect the MTA to clean up their house and restructure their finances just as we do in our own homes when money is tight.
Though your arrival at the MTA has been recent, we have confidence in your ability to locate the needed cost savings within the MTA to close this $400 million budget gap before cutting services to New Yorkers. Mr. Chairman, I implore you and the MTA Board Members to reconsider this proposal and, as Senator Klein has said, explore every other possible avenue of cost savings within the MTA before reducing the vital transportation services we depend on. For years this portion of the Bronx has gone underserved with regards to mass transit. A cut to our current services would have such a dire impact on the lives of the seniors, children and working class New Yorkers who are forced to rely on the Bx14 for access to their medical services, education, child care and employment.
Words cannot adequately convey the detrimental impact your decision can have on the communities and families in this area of the Bronx. THE MTA MUST LEARN TO DO MORE WITH LESS! Eliminating student metro cards and bus lines means closing your budget gap at the expense of New Yorkers. WE DEMAND THAT TAXPAYER DOLLARS BE SPENT MORE EFFECTIVELY AND EFFICIENTLY!
I join Senator Jeff Klein in calling on the MTA to find alternate cost savings within the system before considering service cuts that will have a devastating impact on our community!
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