And with our 24 hour news cycle and sound-bite mentality this tension is here to stay. And since our attention span is so short our objections must be made in acronyms.
For example, in order to get better cell phone service the phone companies must build more cell towers - NIMBY!
With the revival of Hair on Broadway we all remember the song about LBJ taking the IRT and the youth of the USA on LSD. In the song it was cute and acronyms were fun for a while but now?
Facts are facts.
If we want to get our point across we must come up with a catchy abbreviation.
New York, like many States is in financial trouble. We have terrific shortfalls in many areas and there are really only 3 ways to make it better. (I am purposely leaving out the loss of funds due to corruption and bribes because ending those should be a no-brainer.)
1 - Cut spending and stop the appropriate services.
2 - Raise taxes to pay for continuation of the services upon which we have come to rely.
3 - Renege on some of the ill-conceived contracts the City and State made in the past and stop giving raises to municipal workers while others are being sent into the poor house.
(Please don't send me hate mail on point #3.)
Naturally we can come up with a fourth solution which would be a combination of the first three but who in our government has the political will to do so?
The only time we see a politician do the right thing these days is when they are not running for office any more. Perhaps we should limit all terms to 1!
The Long Island Railroad (appropriately AKA LIRR) is facing a serious budget shortfall. But traffic on the island is also horrendous. A small solution to eventually alleviate both problems would be the construction of a third rail between two towns and the addition of the East Side Tunnel linking the LIRR to Grand Central Station.
This idea has been stopped in it's tracks by Democratic State Senator Craig Johnson of Port Washington. You see Pt. Washington will not personally benefit by either of the two proposed fixes.
NFMBP! (Not From My Back Pocket)
And so in order to appease one town on Long Island and one small minded politician who does not believe in the spirit of the 'United' part of United States nearly 8,000,000 people will have to suffer.
Bravo Johnson!
I have a suggestion - Since the good Senator does not wish to be a part of the system privatize the Pt. Washington branch and ask the riders to pay the LIRR for access to the common tracks.
The facts are simple! We can no longer expect a free ride.
If we wish to continue the services we are used we must find a way to pay for them. And that means EVERYONE!
For a period of time we will all have to tighten our belts. EVERYONE! - Even the people IMBY.
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