Quarter-pounders flex muscle

More than 500 unhappy business owners and nonprofit leaders attended a series of sessions, Dec. 1, with new Metropolitan Transportation Authority (MTA) chief Jay Walder as he toured the quarter-pounder counties of the Hudson Valley ”“Dutchess, Orange, Putnam and Rockland, so called because they share one-quarter of one vote on the 17-member MTA panel. The county representatives voted against the MTA”™s decision to tax the four counties in an effort to close the MTA”™s budget deficit.  In separate meetings at three different venues ””Holiday Inn in Fishkill, Anthony”™s Pier 9 in New Windsor and the Rockland Country Club in Sparkill ””Walder faced a disgruntled public and fielded questions. He explained the MTA”™s need to create the mobility tax and how it will ultimately help those who pay it. Greater Southern Dutchess Chamber of Commerce president Ann Meagher, who moderated the Fishkill event with Pattern for Progress president Jonathan Drapkin, agreed that since the four counties use less than five percent of the MTA”™s service in their communities, they will benefit the least.  The meetings were cordial ”“”“ with few catcalls ”“”“ but everyone let Walder know the discussion and the fight in the Legislature to repeal the tax isn”™t over.  Among those concerned about paying 34 cents of every $100 in payroll to fund the MTA”™s deficit:
(All photograph identifications are from left unless otherwise noted.)

 

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