This episode is from the WNYC archives. It may contain language which is no longer politically or socially appropriate.

Mayor O'Dwyer speaks about the Board of Estimate's decision regarding the five-cent fair increase.

He reviews the happenings of the two-day hearing regarding the 10-cent fair and notes that every word of the hearings was aired on WNYC.
The results of the hearings were:
1. The real burden of the increased fare would fall mostly on those least able to pay it.
2. Demonstrated that real estate is not paying the percentage of costs of city government that advocates of the increased fare lead the public to believe.
3. Showed that the increased fare would not provide any facilities that can not be provided under the five-cent fare.
4. Disproved the claim that a 10-cent fare would solve the financial problems of the city.
5. Proved that real estate this year is paying 27% less of the relative cost of municipal government than it did 25 years ago.
6. Showed that real estate contributes $21 million less to the cost of municipal government than it did in 1935.
7. Showed that the cost of government since 1935 has increased by $165 million, a burden being carried by the public
8. Showed that the organized real estate owners of the city, a small fraction of the population, seek to shift the added cost of government to the low-wage earners.
9. Showed that all office buildings and multiple-unit residences are practically 100% occupied and that today real estate is in a sound condition.

O'Dwyer goes on to examine how a fair hike would impact the average fair-earner and his family. He emphasizes the high cost this would be to most working people and is convinced that the income-producing properties of the city are the real beneficiaries of public transportation. He will not oppose a public referendum, however, the Board has voted that an increase in fare is not in the best interest of the people of the city at this time.

Audio courtesy of the NYC Municipal Archives WNYC Collection

WNYC archives id: 72748
Municipal archives id: LT2507