(Newsday posted the following article by Glenn Thrush on its website on April 24.)
NEW YORK — Trying to derail a transit fare hike is about as easy as attempting to stop an express train in its tracks.
A growing number of advocates and politicians are urging the Metropolitan Transportation Authority to halt its rate hike in the wake of accusations the agency cooked its books – but nobody’s rushing to the courthouse to file a lawsuit.
“It’s unclear what can be done from a legal point of view, so I don’t think a lawsuit is too likely this time around,” said Gene Russianoff, staff attorney with the Straphangers Campaign, which unsuccessfully sued the city to stop a 25-cent hike eight years ago.
“I just don’t know if there’s a legal strategy that can be successful. I don’t want to give anybody false hope that the civil rights community can stop this in court.”
The city and state comptrollers set off a firestorm yesterday by reporting that the MTA exaggerated its deficit and bolstered its case for a fare hike by hiding more than a half billion dollars in its accounts.
Opponents aren’t ruling out legal challenges, but the emphasis will be on pressuring the MTA, its board and the man who appointed all of them, Gov. George Pataki.
“I think we have to make the case in the public arena,” said Richard Brodsky, a Hartsdale Democrat who chairs the State Assembly committee that oversees the MTA’s operations.
State Attorney General Eliot Spitzer, who was working the phones frantically yesterday discussing potential legal strategies with fellow Democrats, isn’t seriously considering taking legal action.
“We’re not closing the door on it, but we just don’t know if there’s any legal merit to suing,” said Spitzer spokesman Darren Dopp.
The reluctance is understandable, considering the failure of the 1995 effort. Russianoff, along with the Urban League, filed a federal suit to block a fare hike from $1.25 to $1.50, arguing that the increase discriminated against minority commuters who make up 60 percent of the system’s riders.
After a federal judge issued a preliminary injunction in their favor, an appellate court reversed the decision, saying the plaintiffs hadn’t proved the hike was implicitly racist. Russianoff dropped the suit and said pursuing a similar strategy now isn’t worth the time or the trouble.