Protest Assails Díaz for Opposing Bridge Tolls

March 12, 2009, 5:32 pm
By Mathew R. Warren
The New York Times City Room
http://cityroom.blogs.nytimes.com/2009/03/12/protest-assails-diaz-for-opposing-bridge-tolls/?pagemode=print

About 30 protesters turned up outside the office of State Senator Rubén Díaz Sr. to protest his opposition to East River bridge tolls.

In front of State Senator Rubén Díaz Sr.’s storefront office on East 172nd Street in the Bronx, some 30 people turned out Thursday afternoon to protest his refusal to support tolls on the East River bridges — a core element of a proposed financial rescue plan for the Metropolitan Transportation Authority.

They held up signs that read: “Toll Bridges to Save Mass Transit” and “Transit Equity for all Communities.” And they chanted: “Díaz: Don’t betray our trust, our people ride the bus,” and “It’s not fair to raise our fare.”

“I’m a true believer that the senator is going to do what’s right for his constituents,” said Anna Vincenty, 60, assistant director of Nos Quedamos, a Bronx community group that helped organize the protest. “It’s only a $2 toll, which is the same thing that we pay on the train or on a bus.”

(Other groups in the protest included Youth Ministries for Peace and Justice; Sustainable South Bronx; and The Point C.D.C., a community development corporation.)

The coalition of groups said that 67 percent of households in Mr. Díaz’s district have no access to cars and are dependent on mass transit, and that 140,000 of his constituents use mass transit each day.

Ms. Vincenty, who lives in Throgs Neck, said that even though she owns a car, she supports the toll because of how it would affect many of her neighbors, especially seniors.

“The people that are going to suffer the brunt of this will be our seniors,” said Ms. Vincenty.
Carl VanPutten, 76, a retired taxicab driver from the South Bronx, said that he takes the Bx4 bus, one of the lines threatened by the authority’s fiscal crisis, to get to his health-maintenance organization for check-ups and other medical appointments. He said he could take the subway but there are no elevators, making it difficult for him.

“Climbing the stairs to the subway which is above it is a problem because they don’t have elevators,” said Mr. VanPutten. “I take the bus, I get off right in front of it. I can go in and come back out.”

Mr. VanPutten added: “There’s a thousand of us, all seniors. I’m also a constituent of the senator. I have supported him, voted for him. I’m a native New Yorker who’s voted for over 50 years and I don’t miss any of the voting.”

Marta Rodriguez, 33, a Hunts Point resident said she and her two children depended on the Bx6 bus line.

“The 6 line is the only line that goes into Hunts Point and the service cut in that seems ridiculous to me,” said Ms. Rodriguez. “I know that most of us, especially in Hunts Point, where 23 percent of the people are unemployed right now, can not afford another fair hike.”

Ms. Rodriguez added, “I ask our representative: Please, please consider your people and not the people that drive cars because we’re the ones that need the buses, we’re the ones that need the trains and we’re the ones who vote for you when you need our vote.”

Inside the senator’s office, a staff member spoke to the protesters about Mr. Díaz’s position.
“A sufficient number of people in this community take taxis across the east river bridges and it will impact this community,” said Luis Perez, the staff member. “These cab drivers are not going to absorb that cost, that’s going to be passed on to the people who take the cab.”

Mr. Perez said Mr. Díaz would prefer to reinstate a commuter tax on suburban payrolls, rather than bridge tolls.

“People who work in New York City and make a living in New York City, why not make them pay for the services?” Mr. Perez asked. “Why should they go home then, upstate out of the city and get the benefit from the city and not pay for that.”

Mr. Perez added: “The biggest problem we have with the tolls is that the M.T.A. is refusing to open up its books. We don’t know how much money is in there. If the M.T.A. opened up its books I guarantee you we wouldn’t be having this discussion today.”

Regarding cuts to bus service that could hurt seniors Mr. Perez said: “If they were to do that, they’re going to have to at a minimum provide elevators or something for seniors to get up there. So we’re aware of that problem.”