Mangano Launches "NICE" Bus Service
On Thursday, Nassau County Executive Ed Mangano announced a contract agreement with Veolia Transportation to manage and operate Long Island Bus under a new name – Nassau Inter-County Express (NICE) – starting Jan. 1, 2012. The contract maintains current fares and the Able-Ride service area. The contract, which saves taxpayers more than $32 million annually, was submitted this week to the Nassau County Legislature for review and approval. The legislature is expected to hold a public hearing on the contract prior to voting on the agreement.
“Nassau’s public-private partnership with Veolia symbolizes a new, smarter and more efficient way of providing services in Nassau County. No longer will the choices be limited to demanding more subsidies from taxpayers or slashing service. Today marks a new era of reliable service for riders, job opportunities for employees and reduced costs for local taxpayers,” Mangano said.
The contract outlines a fully transparent, business-minded process with public oversight for development of an annual budget based on available funds and service demands. According to Mangano, this approach was specifically designed to avoid the upheaval and unpredictability that occurred just this past spring when the MTA held public hearings to eliminate more than half of the Long Island Bus routes, strand disabled riders, lay off hundreds of workers and increase by $26 million the burden which residents must pay through property taxes. Nassau’s NICE Bus plan:
- Saves taxpayers $32.4 million annually when compared to the MTA’s demand. The annual taxpayer direct subsidy will decrease from $9 million to $2.62 million, saving local taxpayers $6.38 million in addition to not having to pay the MTA $26 million a year.
- Maintains current fares. Fares cannot be raised unless approved by a 100 percent Nassau County Resident Transit Committee rather than the MTA Board with only one Nassau County representative.
- Preserves the Able-Ride service area for 2012 and 2013, rather than implement the MTA’s proposed cuts.
- Restores the MTA’s proposed route cuts.
- Increases transparency and oversight through the establishment of a Transit Committee, comprised of public transit professionals accountable to Nassau County, to provide quarterly and annual reviews of the private management and operation of the transit system.
- Insures customer satisfaction through an annual customer scorecard that measures time performance, service reliability, trips that are missed and bus cleanliness.
- Consolidates duplicative work and inefficiencies.
DA Rice Speaks Out About Crime Lab
In February, Gov. Andrew Cuomo appointed State Inspector General Ellen Biben to lead an investigation into potential impropriety at the Nassau County crime lab.
This week, District Attorney Kathleen Rice released a statement regarding the inspector general's investigation. Rice said:
“Last December, I first learned of serious problems at the Nassau County Police Department’s crime lab. In February, after a review of the circumstances, I requested the closure of the lab to ensure the integrity of evidence my office relies upon to prosecute accused defendants. I called for an independent investigation into the lab, and Governor Cuomo appointed New York State Inspector General Ellen Biben to lead that probe. Inspector General Biben’s independent, painstaking investigation was both comprehensive and appropriately swift. This report highlights the need for an independent civilian-run crime lab, state accreditation agency reform, and offers a welcome blueprint for returning the necessary credibility to our county’s testing of forensic evidence.
“The inspector general’s report today details troubling failures in the lab and with the regulatory system that allowed these problems to persist for years with no notice to my office or the public. In the wake of the lab’s closure, I requested extensive retesting to ensure the integrity of convictions which relied upon evidence tested in the lab, and that process remains ongoing.
“I thank the inspector general for her comprehensive investigation and insightful recommendations. To ensure my office remains informed about the accreditation process, I have appointed my Chief Assistant District Attorney as liaison to the New York State Forensic Science Commission. I stand ready to work with Mangano and the Office of the Medical Examiner as we move forward toward a new, state of the art, independent, civilian-run crime lab.”
Smoking Ban to Begin on LIRR Platforms
Lighting up a cigarette while waiting for the train to arrive will no longer be allowed on Long Island Rail Road platforms beginning Sunday.
New York State's new smoking ban will go into effect on Nov. 13 for the Long Island Rail Road and Metro-North Railroad. The current rules prohibit smoking on any train and in any indoor area within a terminal or station, but the new state law extends the prohibition to the outdoor railroad platforms, ticketing and boarding areas, according to a notice on the Metropolitan Transportation Authority's website.
What happens after you bankrupt me and those like me who have earned their own way, have saved and work hard? What happens when you drive us all out? Guess you'll be eating cat food then. And maybe even learning to pay your own way. Wouldn't that be so quaint and old fashioned! It's your social programs that has our nation in the mess it's in, and I'm glad at least one party has the guts to tell you to pay your own bills.
It's my money, that's what gives me the right. You want something? You pay for it! Don't you have any shame, groveling for handouts? Begging from the successful ones to support you? It's pathetic and disgusting. Your parents could have done a better job teaching you some pride.
"...If you're not white, able-bodied, male, and heterosexual, your chances of getting hired for something that will keep you alive (even at minimum wage) are less than 5%...." No excuse, dude. It's your choice: Cry and beg me to support you at "75% of the poverty level" or go out and become a productive citizen. Big bad White guys keeping you down? I don't buy that. I'm not White and I'm very successful. Never asked anyone for a dime. Nobody kept me down. Get some pride and some usefulness. Aren't you ashamed to come to me and beg that I support you? You're a disgrace.
Mr. Rosen, there are a good number of folks with the same physical limitations as you who choose a more productive road, and aren't limited to the "75% of poverty rate" that you demand those "able-bodied Whites" to earn and hand over to you. Your entitlement attitude is a bigger crutch than your handicap. Open your eyes. Stop begging for some entitlement that is bankrupting this nation and develop a skill or talent and you'll break out of your chains of government slavery. It's only your attitude that makes you a little slave boy with a demanding, boring and very outdated mantra.
I haven't received a single check from the government, save for tax refunds, in over 3 years. You can make as many assumptions as you want, but I only stated the maximum I ever received, and that was a one-shot deal when I would have otherwise died. Furthermore, you have no way of knowing what barriers to employment the disabled face unless you yourself ARE disabled. I'd like to see you try to get a job when you're neurologically incapable of reading someone's facial expressions, catching vocal subtleties, or putting up with fluorescent lighting for 8 hours at a time without wearing sunglasses. Many employers will discriminate without openly stating that they are, by claiming that accommodations which don't actually require them to do anything but say "okay" are "unreasonable".
"once you posted," if your not white,able-bodied,male and hetero,you chances of getting hired are less than 5%" you lost my sympathy. that remark is complete bull. i know lots of people who arent in that category and they work-in some kind of capacity. there are plenty of people -like gerald- who got into a situation thru no fault of their own. he was an electrician-he put something into the system. you "work" for a nonprofit that would be probably be defunct if it wasnt for govt funding. getting back to the bus takeover-which is the main point of this article- suburbia runs on private cars and (formerly cheap)gas. LI bus riders CHOSE to live in an area where mass transit is substandard, if it all available. if i didnt drive and have access to a car, i would not have moved to nassau county. be glad that they arent totally shutting things down after 1/1. there will be some NICE busses running after 1/1- they just may not go to your neck of the woods. whats the old expression," dont bite the hand(s) that feed you.".
Okay Tough Guy. We're done here. But let me add, you're going to have to beat up a lot of people before you find any who agree with your entitlement laced racist rant. Maybe in your heart, you really know we're right. No man really wants to be a slave, begging those more successful than they for meager sustenance.
"No man really wants to be a slave, begging those more successful than they for meager sustenance" BECAUSE THOSE WHO ARE SUCCESSFULL SHOULD BE WISE ENOUGH TO SEE THAT OTHERS NEED HELP THAT ALLOWS THEM TO KEEP THEIR PRIDE. The real problem is that in America acheiving welth is too easy, and that many who have it do not realize that with it comes social responsibility. The "don't take my money for handouts" attitude is stereotypical of those who have small wealth and a smaller conscience. laocoon you are so transparent it is pathetic.
So "achieving wealth in America is too easy". Hmmm. Have you accomplished that feat yet? And where is it written about their "social responsibility"? The wealthy are only obligated to pay taxes and their employees, and their creditors. Everything else is kinda voluntary. And what are the "social responsibilities" of the poor and middle class? Do YOU detrrmine that too?
THE PAYROLL TAX is over! Samething for the LIRR.
even if the NICE buses provided service equivalent to those in Queens, I doubt that there would be 100,000 fewer cars on the road. Id say 3000-5000 is more likely. What good is it if the buses dont take you within a block or two of your destination? Look at the distance between sunrise hwy and merrick road; in most parts of nassau its easily a mile,probably more. What is really needed- but the $$ isnt there- would be a light rail system connecting the north shore to the south shore.
http://www.newsday.com/long-island/nassau/public-hearing-on-nassau-bus-plan-canceled-1.3321581
The hearing will be held at 1 p.m. in the legislative chambers of the Theodore Roosevelt Executive and Legislative Building on Franklin Avenue in Mineola. The county previously had set the public hearing for Dec. 12. Speakers will have the opportunity to weigh in on Nassau's plan to hire Veolia Transportation, of Lombard, Ill., to operate the county bus system, which will be renamed the Nassau Inter-County Express Bus, or NICE. The system, now known as Long Island Bus and operated by the Metropolitan Transportation Authority, serves 100,000 weekday riders. Veolia is scheduled to take over the system on Jan. 1 pending approval by the county legislature and the Nassau Interim Finance Authority. The legislature's Rules Committee is expected to consider the contract Monday. The full legislature is slated to vote on the proposed contract Dec. 19. http://www.newsday.com/long-island/nassau-bus-system-hearing-moved-to-dec-5-1.3346989
On Wednesday, Mangano is talking to the MTA about extending their service, while other bidders are now lowering their original bid price to get the contract. Mangano & the Nassau County Legislature are the true Keystone Kops of politics. http://www.newsday.com/long-island/nassau/source-nassau-revisits-li-bus-deal-1.3374474