Recent Streetsblog NYC posts about Sheldon Silver

Silver, Assembly Dems Reject Better NYC Bus Service

By Ben Fried | Mar 24, 2010 | 29 Comments

Sheldon Silver’s office just announced the outlines of the Assembly’s budget resolution. On a day when transit riders saw subway and bus cuts start to loom a whole lot closer, the speaker and his conference have piled on. Here’s the final line item under "Metropolitan Transportation Authority" in the summary of the Assembly’s budget [PDF]: […]

City Takes Small Step Toward Traffic Justice as Silver Continues to Obstruct

By Brad Aaron | Nov 16, 2009 | 1 Comment

City district attorneys and NYPD have reached an agreement that could speed the process of collecting blood evidence from drunk driving suspects who refuse to take breath tests. Leandra Rosado, 11, was killed last month when a car driven by Carmen Huertas crashed on the Henry Hudson Parkway. The Times reported on Friday that the […]

Assembly Passes One-House Safe Driving Bill

By Ben Fried | Jun 25, 2009 | 4 Comments

While the New York State Senate scrambles to salvage some dignity from the current legislative session, the Assembly has busied itself with a flurry of one-house lawmaking. Last week, for instance, the chamber passed a safe driving bill aimed primarily at teen drivers, sponsored by transportation committee chair David Gantt. It includes some good stuff, […]

If Texting-While-Driving Ban Fails, Blame Albany’s “Democracy of One”

By Ben Fried | Jun 1, 2009 | 10 Comments

Sheldon Silver. Photo: Daily News. Last week Streetsblog followed up on the stalled progress of a statewide texting-while-driving ban, a bill that appears to be going nowhere even though almost everyone on the Assembly transportation committee supports it, according to Brooklyn representative Felix Ortiz. When we contacted Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver’s office, a spokesperson told […]

Malcolm Smith: New York Transportation Policy “Not About the Merits”

By Brad Aaron | Apr 28, 2009 | 4 Comments

Video: Elizabeth Benjamin/The Daily Politics. We were half-kidding last week when we said state legislators were open to taxing anything from pet food to shoelaces as long as they could say they had saved the MTA, and as long as drivers could continue to cross East and Harlem River bridges at no cost. Turns out […]

Senate Dems Release Another MTA Funding Plan Without Tolls

By Ben Fried | Apr 20, 2009 | 23 Comments

Senate Majority Leader Malcolm Smith has come out with another MTA funding proposal, which again gives commuters who drive across East and Harlem River bridges a free pass. The $1.76 billion it would generate annually for the MTA falls more than $300 million short of the projected revenue from the original Ravitch plan ($2.1 billion). […]

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