As the momentum for yesterday's student MetroCard protest built up, a heated debate developed on the facebook event page. Because it is the MTA which is proposing the elimination of student MetroCards, the protest was held in front of their headquarters on Madison avenue. But one commenter insisted repeatedly and vehemently that it should be held at City Hall. Another posted an angry, all-caps comment telling them to get their facts straight and insisted that the proposed student MetroCard cut isn’t the fault of City Hall.
The debate left facebook and joined us on the street. About halfway through the protest, one student stood up on a signpost and started yelling for us all to walk to City Hall. Other students yelled back, “it’s not City Hall’s fault!”
A few minutes later, a reporter came up to me and a group of friends and asked “who do you blame for this?” Someone said the MTA, and I agreed. Someone said Bloomberg, and I agreed. Someone said Patterson, and again I agreed.
Naturally it left me thinking: Who’s to blame?
A recent Daily News article gives the following perspectives:
According to Mayor Bloomberg, “The state has just got to understand, they have to come up with money to help [the MTA].”
Governor Patterson says, “We had to cut the budgets of all agencies and entities and still wind up ... short of our goal. New York is running out of money.”
And City Controller William Thompson “has joined transit advocates to repeatedly, and unsuccessfully, urge the city and state to pay the full cost of student MetroCards.”
It’s easy to see why the question of blame has arisen. So, Insideschools readers: in two years the students of our city may be paying $4.50 a day to go to public school. This is a disaster for our city and our schools. I’ve already heard my fellow students talking about having to drop out or go to their zoned schools if this policy is passed, threatening the already too-little progress our city has made on those issues. Not the mention the fact that there are no zoned high schools in most areas of the city.
I’m curious, who do you blame? And, more importantly, who can we turn to restore free student MetroCards?
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