Only 58% ...

Daily Point

Just how much time do MTA workers need?

It’s been eight months since workers within the Metropolitan Transportation Authority became one of the first groups eligible to be vaccinated against COVID-19.

And yet, just 58% of MTA workers systemwide have reported that they’re vaccinated. Within the Long Island Rail Road, that number stood at 57%. And just 55% of New York City Transit workers have said they’ve received their shots, according to data released by the MTA during Monday’s board committee meetings.

MTA officials said they believe the true vaccination total might be as much as 20% higher, since some workers haven’t reported whether or not they’ve received their shots.

That may be so. But somehow, employees in the Construction & Development division, where there’s an 89% vaccination rate, have done a better job with such reporting.

The notion that the data might be better than reported wasn’t good enough for board members during the MTA’s safety and Long Island Rail Road meetings Monday.

"I am very concerned," board member Neal Zuckerman said.

Fellow board member Robert Linn pointed to the fact that school in New York City started Monday, bringing thousands of children who cannot be vaccinated into the subway system.

"It’s just not acceptable that we’re exposing those kids to workers who are not vaccinated," Linn said.

And MTA chairman and chief executive Janno Lieber seemed to recognize the need for improvement.

"We are going to continue to make progress," Lieber said. "But … we have to get there fast."

LIRR union representative Vincent Tessitore, Jr. pushed back on the concerns, noting that the MTA’s vaccination-or-test requirement won’t go into effect until next month.

"There are plenty of our workers in the field that do not want to be vaccinated. We have to just say that that’s the case," Tessitore said. "We have to be careful. We’re receiving plenty of feedback that they would leave the job if it came to that and that’s concerning to me."

"Give the membership enough time to at least see how this process works before we make them do something and regret it after," Tessitore added.

LIRR vice president of corporate safety Lori Ebbighausen also took a cautionary approach.

"I think it’s a very emotional time for people. It’s a very personal decision. Each individual is on a journey," she said during the LIRR committee meeting. "This is something that’s going to take time."

LIRR President Phil Eng took a different approach, telling The Point after the meetings that the emphasis had to be on both vaccination and masks, which are required on public transit.

"We are following the advice of health experts, who have been clear: Vaccinations save lives," Eng said. "That’s why we’ve been making vaccines available to our employees and mandating masks to protect themselves, their colleagues and our customers."

— Randi F. Marshall @RandiMarshall

Talking Point

No checks? Check again.…

The decision on whether the Nassau County Legislature was going to start the approval process for County Executive Laura Curran’s plan to send $375 checks to most residents seems to have changed hourly since late last week, but by late Monday afternoon the topic was being added to the agendas for the Finance and Rules committees.

The agendas that came out Thursday left the issue off, but Monday was a wild day for the legislature, with the Republicans proposing a $100 million annual cut in fees, such as eliminating the $50 public-safety surcharge on red-light tickets and reducing the $350 mortgage recording tax to $50.

Those were added to Monday’s agendas as well, with Presiding Officer Rich Nicolello saying the county’s unexpectedly high sales-tax revenue will pay for it. The fee cuts and the $375 checks, assuming they pass in committee Monday, should be considered by the full legislature on Sept. 27.

Curran’s plan is to use $100 million in federal COVID-19 money to send out the checks to every household earning less than $168,900 and all those earning under $500,000 who endured financial loss due to COVID.

Hardly anyone doubts that it will pass eventually, and county Republicans know stopping the checks, and perhaps even holding them up, is politically risky. But they don’t want to give Curran such a clear win as she nears an Election Day battle with Bruce Blakeman, which polls say she is leading handily. The Republicans also have questions about federal regulations surrounding the money, which Nicolello pointed to in a news conference Monday, raising the argument that the program is not legal and the money could be clawed back from residents.

Curran has already altered her original proposal to try to conform to federal guidelines, and the fact that the $375 will be subject to state and federal income taxes has also raised concerns.

The complication with Blakeman is that how he does with voters could also affect the races for district attorney and comptroller, where many in the GOP think they have a better shot than in the county executive race. Blakeman’s drawing power could also affect races for legislative seats, where the GOP currently holds the majority. The worry is that legislators looking to help Blakeman by slowing the checks may hurt themselves with voters by doing so.

Blakeman has called the $375 "peanuts," and the GOP’s $100 million fee cut gives him a weapon with which to fight Curran.

Meanwhile, the delay since Curran proposed the checks in May has slowed the process. This raises the question of whether the checks will reach the voters by Election Day and whether, if they don’t, that helps the GOP that slowed the checks, or Curran, who failed to speed them.

And the GOP is hoping that enthusiasm for their $100 million-a-year cut in fees relegates Curran’s one-time $100 million giveback to second fiddle in the vote-swaying sweepstakes.

— Lane Filler @lanefiller

Pencil Point

Science fiction

For more cartoons, visit www.newsday.com/nationalcartoons

Quick Points

Relief, recall, redress, retire

• Thunderstorms dropped rain on some California wildfires over the weekend, bringing relief to crews fighting the flames — but also unleashed lightning that started several new blazes. Seldom has a sword been quite so double-edged.
• Supporters of jailed Jan. 6 insurrectionists are scheduled to hold a rally on Saturday called "Justice for J6." Funny, federal prosecutors are seeking the exact same thing.
• The Biden administration says that despite having pulled out of Afghanistan, it has the capacity to fight terrorism by conducting "over-the-horizon" strikes. Why does that sound so Wizard of Oz-ish?
• After a private meeting with Hungary’s right-wing, anti-immigration, autocratic Prime Minister Viktor Orban, Pope Francis spoke to tens of thousands of Hungarians and urged the nation to "extend its arms toward everyone." There was nothing subtle about that.
• Sen. Bernie Sanders criticized Sen. Joe Manchin’s lack of support for the Sanders-backed $3.5 trillion budget plan by saying that he and his allies have already compromised by reducing their original proposal of $6 trillion. Using Sanders’ logic, perhaps he should have pitched a $12 trillion blueprint, because then he could say that Manchin should back a revised $6 trillion plan.
• Former New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie says President Joe Biden’s federal worker vaccine mandate will "harden opposition" to getting the shot. Does he seriously think vaccine opponents are going to be even more opposed to the shot than they already are?
• Under severe pressure from Democrats to retire so Biden can choose his replacement, 83-year-old Supreme Court Justice Stephen Breyer says term limits for justices would "make life easier for me." So would retiring.
• As California Democratic Gov. Gavin Newsom fights a recall effort, he has tried to turn the campaign into a single mantra: Me or Donald Trump. Hey, it worked in 2020.

— Michael Dobie @mwdobie

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