'Swipe Us In' With Half-Price MetroCards, Advocates Tell Mayor

NEW YORK, NY — It's time for Mayor Bill de Blasio to walk the walk on fighting poverty, advocates and lawmakers say. A crowd of more than 70 people, including City Council members and district attorneys, pressed the Democratic mayor to support a program offering half-price MetroCards to poor New Yorkers, saying it's only consistent with his goal of making New York a fairer city.

"The turnstile should be the gateway, not a barrier, to economic opportunity," said Nancy Rankin, the vice president for policy, research and advocacy at the Community Service Society. "Mr. Mayor, don't stand in the way — swipe us in."

The Council is pushing hard for $212 million in city subsidies for the "Fair Fares" program. Speaker Corey Johnson called it a "major cornerstone" of the body's 2019 budget plan unveiled Tuesday.

The program could cut about $726 a year in transit costs for roughly 800,000 New Yorkers living below the federal poverty line who are often forced to choose between getting to work, school or doctor appointments and buying food or paying rent, officials and advocates said.

Cynthia Kozikowski, a single mother of four from the Bronx, said she sometimes has to borrow money or use part of grocery or utility budget to pay subway fare. She's even been stopped by police for having her kids duck under a turnstile or hop on a bus without paying, she said.

"This perpetual cycle always leaves me short at the end of the month, and it's like I'm robbing Peter to pay Paul," Kozikowski said.

The program has broad support from labor unions, three district attorneys, 44 Council members, religious leaders and advocacy groups such as Riders Alliance and the Community Service Society, who launched a joint campaign to fund Fair Fares in 2016.

De Blasio has so far resisted the push, arguing his proposed tax hike for rich New Yorkers is the best way to pay for MetroCard subsidies while boosting Metropolitan Transportation Authority funding. The so-called "millionaire's tax" would require approval from the state Legislature.

The budget will be especially tight this year as the state is making the city tighten its belt, the mayor said Tuesday. Gov. Andrew Cuomo's state budget passed this month forced the city to fund half the MTA's $836 million Subway Action Plan to stabilize the train system.

But advocates said the policy should be a priority for de Blasio, who has made reducing inequality a hallmark of his tenure. Cities such as San Francisco, Seattle and Toronto have similar programs, they said.

"Fair Fares is one of the most effective anti-poverty measures that the city can take on its own without having to go to Albany to beg for approval," Rankin said.

Asked for City Hall's response to the advocates' barbs and whether de Blasio would consider funding Fair Fares directly, mayoral spokeswoman Freddi Goldstein referred to her Tuesday statement on the plan.

"The Mayor proposed a plan for Fair Fares that would send the bill to the wealthiest New Yorkers, rather than forcing another state responsibility onto straphangers whose taxes pay for the city’s general fund," she said. "Times are increasingly tight, and the $418 million dollars we just spent to fix the state-run subways, which the Council supported, will only make this year’s budget process all the more lean."

(Lead image: A person holds a sign at a rally for the "Fair Fares" program outside City Hall on Wednesday morning. Photo by Noah Manskar/Patch)