Close to fifty members of Long Island Jobs With Justice, New York Communities for Change and the Transport Workers Union Local 252 took over a Nassau County legislative hearing on the 2012 county budget earlier this week. Fed up with the lack of public hearings on the proposed privatization of LI Bus by County Executive Edward Mangano, LI Bus supporters stood up with bandanas covering their mouths and signs that read, among other things, “Another LI Bus Rider Silenced” and “Privatization Kills LI Bus.”
During the action, LI Jobs With Justice’s Anita Halasz and New York Communities for Change’s Enid Allison refused to leave the speaking podium until members of the public could speak on the proposed 73% cut in County funding in the 2012 budget to LI Bus. Speakers, including Lisa Tyson from the Long Island Progressive Coalition, Tara Klein from Vision Long Island and Tri-State’s Long Island Coordinator, Ryan Lynch, expressed support for the action and urged County Legislators to hold a formal public hearing on the privatization of LI Bus immediately, while also questioning the feasibility of operating a bus system the size of Nassau County’s on as little as $2.5 million a year without massive service cuts and fare increases.
Unfortunately for riders, without a contract between the County and its preferred operator, Veolia Transportation, and no public hearings on the horizon, they are being left in the dark by Veolia and County Executive Mangano as to whether this will occur although the prospect has become increasingly likely based on statements by Veolia and possible future CEO of LI Bus Michael Setzer.
At the hearing, Legislator John Ciotti (R-Elmont) once again reiterated his position that he would not support the privatization of LI Bus if fare hikes or service cuts were on the table. Ciotti is a key member of the legislature’s Rules Committee, which approves county contracts.
Even though Veolia is set to take over the system in less than two and a half months, the fear expressed by advocates, and echoed by many Legislators, was that a public hearing would be held at the last possible moment when the only alternatives would be accepting a privatized system or having no bus service at all.
This fear has not been limited to County Legislators — or Democrats, for that matter. In a recent op-ed in Mineola Patch, New York State Senator Jack Martins (R-Mineola) urged Governor Andrew Cuomo to find a “Plan B” for riders if the privatization proposal is voted down or falls through. Martins also wrote that “We need to know that service will continue without fare increases or service cuts. For those on fixed incomes or struggling financially, who have no other access to mass transit, this is vital.”
Nassau County executive Ed Mangano DOES NOT CARE about the residents of Nassau County. Mr Mangano Cut some of your relatives and friends who are making A EXTREMLY HIGH SALARY and take that money to maintain the MTA and Long island bus
I want tell mr mangano and veolia,I am working in MTALIB,more then 18 years,I you are privatizing You have to pay all our expenses.like mortgages,college tutions,this all things otherwise we are geting homeless,and jobless,bank going to take homes please think about this matters.before taking actions.
[…] Bus: Advocates and workers demand that Nassau County Executive Ed Mangano hold a public hearing on the proposed privatization of the Long Island Bus. […]
i am interested in organizing long island to improve mass transit. i have some good ideas on how to do this, for example, by comparing footage so people understand how a metro area of similar size is so much more efficient in places i have lived, such as Braunschweig, Budapest, and Stockholm.
also, of note, in this time of financial strife and cutbacks, FYI.. the 5th precinct in nassau county is using undercover cars that ticket. These new vehicles are SUVs.. Give me a break! Why use an SUV when a SMART car can do the same job. Add that to your rhetoric.
Its about time we privatize buses and disband the union thugs. We should do the same for schools, sanitation, state parks and police. We need to do this on a local level. On the national level we need to elect Ron Paul and eliminate the Federal Reserve, all foreign military bases, the EPA, OSHA, DOE, TSA, Medicaid, Medicare, Social Security Ponzi Schemes, Obamacare and other wasteful spending.
I am a LI Bus rider who goes to Jamaica to connect to a subway to my job in Manhattan. THe rumor is that service past the Nassau border will end after Dec. 31st. If this happens, I will do everything in my power to get any opponent to Mangano elected in the next election. He cares nothing about the most needy residents of Nassau county.