On Dec. 16, 2008, Brooklyn Chamber of Commerce President & CEO Carl Hum testified before the committees of Transportation and Finance of the New York City Council about the recommendations of the Commission on Metropolitan Transportation Authority (MTA) Financing (known as the Ravitch Commission), formed by Governor David Paterson and chaired by former MTA chief Richard Ravitch, to close the MTA's budget gap over a ten year period. Following is his testimony:
Good morning Chairman Liu, Chairman Weprin, members of the Transportation and Finance Committees. My name is Carl Hum. I am the President and CEO of the Brooklyn Chamber of Commerce, an organization dedicated to supporting and advocating for our 1,500 Members, and promoting a healthy and robust business environment.
Thank you for this opportunity to comment on the recommendations made by the Ravitch Commission. The Chamber appreciates the hard work performed by the Commission. Ensuring the public transportation network’s health and sustainability is a vital business priority for the Chamber as approximately 90% of our Members’ employees rely upon public transportation to get to work.
The Chamber is also pleased the Commission recommended improving bus service throughout the region. Among the areas that Chamber Members identified a need for improved bus service because subway access is limited are: Borough Park, Brownsville, Bushwick, East New York, Greenpoint, Red Hook, Crown Heights, Dyker Heights, Bay Ridge, Marine Park, Cypress Hills, Brighton Beach, Midwood, Bensonhurst and Mill Basin.
The Chamber also supports the Commission’s recommendations to strengthen the MTA’s governance, and increase transparency and accountability. Through these initiatives, we hope additional cost savings could be realized and used to offset debt service obligations.
Again, the Chamber is thankful that the important dialogue about the financing of our public transportation has begun, but we feel Brooklyn and small businesses, in particular, are being asked to unfairly shoulder the burden.
East and Harlem River Bridge Tolls. The imposition of cashless tolling on the East and Harlem River Bridges will disproportionately affect Brooklyn, its businesses, its residents and our Members.
This pricing strategy may encourage the casual motorist to use public transportation rather than paying the cost to cross the bridge. However, for some, such a choice does not exist. It is difficult to deliver glass window panes from Williamsburg to new housing in upper Manhattan or trays of freshly-baked bagels from Flatlands/Fairfield to a business conference in Midtown using public transportation.
Over half of our Members use cars or trucks to deliver their goods and services. For these Members and other Brooklyn businesses, public transportation is not an option – they must use the bridges. This strategy would only add another financial burden to the already-high costs of doing business in New York City.
While the Chamber would prefer not to see any tolling of the bridges, the Chamber strongly recommends exceptions be made for business purposes.
Regional Mobility Tax. In a recent report by the Public Policy Institute of New York State, our state ranks almost dead last – 49 out of 50 states – for business-friendly tax climate. And according to last year’s report by the Citizens’ Budget Commission, local taxes make New York City a particularly high-tax liability locality, more than twice as high as in Westchester County. The Regional Mobility Tax is just another tax to burnish the image of our region as inhospitable to businesses.
The Commission recommends that the regional mobility tax be imposed on all businesses regardless of nature or size, and makes no exception for self-employed individuals. This tax would be particularly difficult for small businesses and the burgeoning base of the self-employed who are already bearing the brunt of a tight fiscal market. For Brooklyn’s many self-employed individuals, the regional mobility tax would amount to an increase to their income tax.
We urge the Commission to look at alternative means to raise the important funds to stabilize and sustain our public transportation system. Some of these could include imposing registration surcharges on energy-inefficient vehicles and re-instituting the commuter tax.
The Chamber appreciates the opportunity to comment on this important issue and looks forward to participating in this important discussion.