On Mon, 14 Mar 2005 19:16:06 +0000 (UTC), General Kireiko Toll Hikes, Fare Hikes, War Hikes 2049Well, what started out as a kind gesture to help the less fortunate turned into a big joke. Namely a big money pit for city tax dollars. Eventually there will be... I wasn't saying they should be. I'm only saying that we start out our annual budgetary process with so many mandatory items that cutting it much more difficult than in some places. I agree to a degree about organized labor, but they're not the only problem. People in NYC have gotten used to a relatively high-level of government service, like quality of life inspectors, 24 hour hotlines, etc. And all this stuff costs money. The question is whether people are willing to give that up. EXACTLY! And part of the reason is because upstate and downstate hate each other so much that they keep sending back the same people so we can be in line for the annual boxing match that is our budget process. Another part of the problem is NYC is *SO UNLIKE* the rest of the state. Most states have at least 2-3 dominant cities, and while we have others like Buffalo, Syracuse, etc., their economies have badly lagged so they aren't the contributors they could be. That ends up perpetuating this NYC vs. the rest of the state battle.
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