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At a monthly Metropolitan Transit Authority (MTA) board meeting held earlier today, Manhattan Borough President Scott Stringer hand-delivered more than 16,500 petitions from parents and straphangers outraged by the MTA’s decision to slash funding for the Student MetroCard program.
The petitions are actually signed letters addressed to MTA Executive Director and Chief Executive Officer Jay Walder. Borough President Stringer said of the boxes of letters, “I’ve brought them here with me today - 230 pounds of signed petitions in total – so that every member of the MTA board has tangible evidence of the opposition that this ill-advised budget cut has garnered citywide. The MTA needs to immediately put an end to this cynical game where children and families are being used as pawns in a public budget negotiation.”
The stack of petitions chronicled the myriad of emotions felt by those who count on or support the program, and emphasized how urgent this matter truly is. One petition read, “Without student MetroCards, my children cannot continue their school.”
For years, the program has served as a lifeline for students who have relied on public transportation to get to and from school and after-school activities. For many parents, simply living in the city is a financially taxing matter, and the elimination of this integral MTA program has left them scrambling to garner funds for their childrens’ commute.
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