Parentadvocates.org has followed the violation of the Freedom of Information Laws in the case of the MTA in New York City, and here are the articles we published:

NY Metropolitan Transit Authority Continues On It's Path of Keeping NYC Unsafe, User Unfriendly

New York City Metropolitan Transit Authority: Why is Service So Bad, and Where's the Money?

In our opinion, the New York State and New York City governments and Courts are protecting the MTA, the Commissioners of Transportation at the city and state levels, and everyone else in on the corruption currently strangling the state. There is an immediate need to hold all politicians in NY State accountable for withholding important fiscal spending information from the taxpaying public, and finally end the funneling of public funds into private pockets. The Appellate Division First Department decision posted in the article above saying that the MTA books should be kept secret and away from public eyes is an example, and we praise Mr. Rex Smith, Editor of the Times Union, for his editorial re-printed here as "fair use":

Exemptions cloud doing what's right
Rex Smith, TIMES UNION Editorial, Saturday, March 18, 2006

LINK

On these two pages of the newspaper we abandon the neutral approach to the news that is our obligation elsewhere. Those of us who write on these pages tell you what we think, rather than reflecting the varying points of view that typically surround what's reported on other pages of the paper.

So here's what I think about the New York State Department of Transportation, and its refusal to release documents relating to last summer's near-collapse of the Dunn Memorial Bridge ramp. It's shameful arrogance by bureaucrats who are ignoring the intent of the state Freedom of Information Law so they can cover up information taxpayers are entitled to see.

Can I be any more clear?

This is the last day of Sunshine Week, in which newspapers around the country have spotlighted the importance of laws that keep government open and accountable. It's not entirely coincidental, I must admit, that this week the Times Union asked a judge to order DOT to turn over documents about the ramp -- and pay the legal bills that will confront us as a result of our determination to make the state obey its Freedom of Information Law.

We know there are memos in DOT files that explain what engineers found some years ago when they inspected the rocker bearings that later shifted under that bridge ramp. We don't know exactly what the memos say. That's important, because it could answer the question of whether higher-ups ignored a danger that had been noticed by the experts in the field -- a danger that emerged to public view only when sections of the roadway, towering eight stories above the ground, slipped apart by two feet last summer, narrowly averting collapse.

Shortly after the roadway fell, Times Union transportation writer Cathy Woodruff filed a FOIL request to review the inspection records. DOT eventually let her look at some files, but only after removing a few crucial documents.

DOT officials say those secret documents fall into one of the categories that are exempt from mandatory disclosure under FOIL: intra-agency communications that are advisory or contain opinions. DOT's view, as nearly as I can understand it, is that the measurements and assessments of engineers represent their opinions, rather than facts. It's a rather odd stance, in my mind, because the junctures of steel and concrete on a bridge seem about as rooted in fact as anything I can imagine.

Probably there are some opinions in DOT file cabinets. Certainly there are documents written by somebody like, oh, acting Transportation Commissioner Thomas J. Madison Jr., and his predecessors and advisers. Perhaps their opinion was that the danger engineers saw in the rocker bearings would be just too expensive to fix. Maybe they wrote memos to each other saying, "I advise you to leave this sort of expensive fix to the next administration, because it's my opinion that we don't want to leave Governor Pataki with a reputation as a big spender and thereby hurt his presidential campaign."

I made that last part up, you know. But if they felt that way, and if they put it in a memo, probably the law would allow them to keep it secret. It wouldn't be right to conceal it, mind you, but the law, sadly, would allow it.

Does the law allow Madison and his pals to conceal the engineers' reports? If it does, the FOIL law we celebrate this week, which for 32 years has given New Yorkers a view into how their state government does business, needs a fix-up by the state Legislature.

Too bad, isn't it, that this comes down to a question of law, rather than what's right? Because the right thing for the state to do is to open the files on the Dunn Memorial Bridge ramp. We're forced to rely on the law, with its exemptions, because the state refuses to do what's right and release the documents in the first place.

And for those who appreciate irony, consider the stance of Commissioner Madison, the document concealer, alongside these words of James Madison, the brilliant "Father of the Constitution" and a framer of the Bill of Rights: "A popular Government without popular information or the means of acquiring it, is but a Prologue to a Farce or a Tragedy or perhaps both. Knowledge will forever govern ignorance, and a people who mean to be their own Governors, must arm themselves with the power knowledge gives."

Rex Smith is editor of the Times Union.

New York State Department of Transportation

As posted on this website earlier, in New york City the Mayor and Chancellor have not given the public any accurate information on where the $16 billion is going (consider that 620 people work at Education Headquarters, Tweed, and what they all do with about $56 million of the public's money is still a mystery:

More Than 620 People Work in One Building For New York City's Department of Education and "Earn" Millions

There are City-wide Cut-backs for Education, But Raises for Mayor Bloomberg's Pals and Deputy Mayors

Salaries of All New York City Employees are Public Information, and the Total Paid Out is $29 Billion, With a "B"

The spending of public money needs to be looked at carefully, and a Taxpayer Bill of Rights has been proposed:

Another voice / Taxpayer Bill of Rights
A real fiscal reform has been introduced in Albany
By MATTHEW MAGUIRE, The Buffalo News, 3/17/2006

LINK

Both Buffalo and Erie County are enduring long-term economic decline, and each must respond with a major fiscal structuring with one overriding goal: reducing government spending so it matches what taxpayers can actually afford.
Albany, which needs the same kind of fiscal discipline but is infamous for avoiding it, now is mulling an idea that could help New York's governments at all levels begin to control spending. And a Western New York legislator, Democratic Assemblyman Robin Schimminger, is leading the charge.

Schimminger this week joined Republican Sen. Ray Meier of Oneida County in supporting a constitutional amendment to limit Albany's annual spending increases to an affordable level - so that taxes can also be more affordable.

The amendment would limit budget growth to inflation plus population increases in the preceding year. This would ease the pressure Albany faces, year after year, to spend more than ever on health care, education and other programs. This pressure prompts Albany to increase spending at twice the rate of inflation or more, year after year. And it explains why our taxes are the nation's highest.

Western New York knows as well as any part of the state why this matters: No part of the state has seen more people and jobs driven to other states by high spending and taxes.

Between 1990 and 2005, the Buffalo Niagara region lost jobs, even as the nation sustained a robust growth rate of 22 percent. The losses were especially severe in the manufacturing sector, once the foundation of the region's economy.

To reverse these losses, New York must be more competitive for businesses and jobs, and lower taxes would help produce that result. The Meier-Schimminger proposal would not only help cut state taxes, it would also ease the burden of property taxes by prohibiting Albany from shifting to localities the costs of Medicaid and other programs.

Other states have approved similar checks on spending. The idea, usually called a Taxpayer Bill of Rights, guards against big spending increases during boom years. That's even more important in New York than in most states, because Albany relies inordinately on volatile tax revenues from Wall Street. This year, state officials say the highest-earning 1 percent of New Yorkers will provide 36 percent of income-tax revenue. If Wall Street slows down next year, Albany's cash flow could drop by billions of dollars.

A constitutional spending limit would eliminate boom-and-bust cycles in Albany's finances. It would reduce pressure for tax increases and more fiscal gimmicks. Before long, it would even allow dramatic tax cuts - spurring new business growth and jobs.

If this limit were in place now, it would still allow $2 billion or more in new spending on key needs. That's real money, even in high-spending New York.

We've heard plenty of talk about "fiscal reform" in Albany. Schimminger has advanced the reform we truly need.

Matthew Maguire, director of communications for the Business Council of New York State, is moderator of www.upstateblog.net.

Lawmakers propose constitutional amendment to limit budget growth