Home Page > Editorial and Op-Ed
One Month To Go, Much Left To Do
Fri, 22 May 2009 14:01:00
Congratulations to the Legislature for coming up with a short-term solution to the MTA’s problems just two months after being thrown up against the wall by commuter panic that demanded a long-term fix. As for all the other important business that could have been accomplished during that long, wasted period of stonewalling and procrastinating—perhaps the Assembly and State Senate will get to it. Maybe.
Or they could start getting serious about how government should function. Calls to reform Albany often focus on structural changes, like the concentration of power in the hands of the few or the lack of anything resembling open debate. But the Legislature’s very real problem, of more closely resembling a group of cramming college seniors than a deliberative body, is just as much a cause for concern. In this era of one-party dominance, there should be a way for the government to start acting wisely, and not just rushing to deadline.
Start by sorting out what will be done on mayoral control of New York City schools. The law is scheduled to expire June 30, with the system supposed to incorporate whatever Albany decides to do, whether tweaks or complete overhaul, by the beginning of the new school year in September. Responsible government would have been to reach a final deal in March or even earlier, to give teachers, principals, parents and students time to adjust. Given how many people and dollars are involved, providing more time to adjust, not less, would have been a more reasonable way to go.
Instead, New Yorkers still wait for the real work to begin. Sure, there have been hearings and there have been reports (though whether any of them are official remains, apparently, a topic of some debate). There have been quiet suggestions from some corners about the changes which should be made. But not only will the real work of negotiations be done in private, it will be done when the twin deadlines of the law’s sunset and the end of session begin to loom very large.
In the meantime, wheels will spin as people try to guess the mood of the leadership and tread with extreme caution on everything else, lest they upset the slow gestation of the final deal.
The same will likely go for gay marriage, just as it has for so many years for the property tax cap and campaign finance reform. The local government morass that eats public dollars at an astounding rate will almost certainly go unaddressed. And as for the issues that sparked emergencies this session—the clearly obscene lack of regulations governing the state pension system, the judicial selection process which roiled Jonathan Lippman’s nomination, and the lack of a comprehensive, proactive solution for the MTA—those will fade to the background again too, not to be touched again until the next crisis moment.
For too many Junes, legislators have headed home from Albany with far too little to show for their time there, far too many important problems about which they say “Not yet.” Not this year.
Enough with the inaction. Enough with the excuses. Each week that remains should be one in which something gets done. Legislators need to set a new tone for state government going forward into what may well prove the more difficult economic year ahead. No one should accept a process that once again careens toward last-minute, closed-door horse-trading in the last few days of session, topped off by late-night votes cast under the cloak of obscurity. Hard as it may be for the leaders and rank-and-file to break bad habits, New Yorkers deserve more. A government which manufactures crises out of inaction serves no one well.
Or they could start getting serious about how government should function. Calls to reform Albany often focus on structural changes, like the concentration of power in the hands of the few or the lack of anything resembling open debate. But the Legislature’s very real problem, of more closely resembling a group of cramming college seniors than a deliberative body, is just as much a cause for concern. In this era of one-party dominance, there should be a way for the government to start acting wisely, and not just rushing to deadline.
Start by sorting out what will be done on mayoral control of New York City schools. The law is scheduled to expire June 30, with the system supposed to incorporate whatever Albany decides to do, whether tweaks or complete overhaul, by the beginning of the new school year in September. Responsible government would have been to reach a final deal in March or even earlier, to give teachers, principals, parents and students time to adjust. Given how many people and dollars are involved, providing more time to adjust, not less, would have been a more reasonable way to go.
Instead, New Yorkers still wait for the real work to begin. Sure, there have been hearings and there have been reports (though whether any of them are official remains, apparently, a topic of some debate). There have been quiet suggestions from some corners about the changes which should be made. But not only will the real work of negotiations be done in private, it will be done when the twin deadlines of the law’s sunset and the end of session begin to loom very large.
In the meantime, wheels will spin as people try to guess the mood of the leadership and tread with extreme caution on everything else, lest they upset the slow gestation of the final deal.
The same will likely go for gay marriage, just as it has for so many years for the property tax cap and campaign finance reform. The local government morass that eats public dollars at an astounding rate will almost certainly go unaddressed. And as for the issues that sparked emergencies this session—the clearly obscene lack of regulations governing the state pension system, the judicial selection process which roiled Jonathan Lippman’s nomination, and the lack of a comprehensive, proactive solution for the MTA—those will fade to the background again too, not to be touched again until the next crisis moment.
For too many Junes, legislators have headed home from Albany with far too little to show for their time there, far too many important problems about which they say “Not yet.” Not this year.
Enough with the inaction. Enough with the excuses. Each week that remains should be one in which something gets done. Legislators need to set a new tone for state government going forward into what may well prove the more difficult economic year ahead. No one should accept a process that once again careens toward last-minute, closed-door horse-trading in the last few days of session, topped off by late-night votes cast under the cloak of obscurity. Hard as it may be for the leaders and rank-and-file to break bad habits, New Yorkers deserve more. A government which manufactures crises out of inaction serves no one well.
