Good afternoon , I’m Lisa Daglian, Executive Director of the Permanent Citizens Advisory Committee to the MTA (PCAC).
It’s been a long day that, in the end, all comes down to money and funding, so it’s appropriate we close out with Finance.
Reliable, sustainable and dedicated operating funding, combined with congestion pricing, is critical to keeping all the trends and improvements we’ve heard about today heading in the right direction. More than that, they’re key to keeping the region moving – literally and economically.
The proposals put forth by Governor Hochul are a great starting point, and we know that they’ll undergo any number of iterations and negotiated changes before the budget gets to the finish line. It’s encouraging that there is near universal agreement on the need to fund and support the MTA, and we’re extremely hopeful that we’ll see a positive outcome come April 1st.
We were in Albany last week and the week before to talk about the importance of the system to the riders that our elected leaders represent, and we’ll continue to talk advocate, agitate, beg, plead and urge everyone with a voice and a vote to do the right thing and fund the MTA now, and reliably and sustainably into the future. Our collective future depends on it.