As part of its “Blueprint America” program, PBS affiliate Thirteen/WNET New York will air a “New York Voices” segment about the MTA’s financial crisis and its impact on the major proposed and existing transit capital projects slated for completion over the next decade. The program will include an exclusive interview with Richard Ravitch, chairman of the Commission on MTA Financing, who released a plan in early December to mitigate the MTA’s budget shortfall.

The program is especially timely given an upcoming MTA Board meeting this Wednesday at 9:30 am, when the Board is expected to vote and approve its proposed doomsday budget. The budget lists scores of service cuts and reductions across the entire MTA service territory-subway, bus and commuter rail-that are cost cutting measures to be enacted to meet a legally required balanced budget by December 31, 2008. Of particular relevance in “New York Voices” is an examination of what the agency’s financial turmoil means for the completion of long awaited capital projects such as the Second Avenue Subway line.

This segment, which will undoubtedly reach audiences beyond NYC, highlights the importance of mass transit in NYC and its surrounding counties, underscoring the need to keep the project momentum going. “New York Voices” airs Tuesday, December 16th at 8:00 pm on Thirteen.