How can we help a 100 year old subway system without public investors?

CHRIS RIGGS: People should just take the trains. We need more trains. This is the best train in any country. I don't want to be leaving a train station at 3 am with no one in the train station, let alone a pregnant woman or kid. We need more trains and should bring trolleys back, too.

BROMOWITZ: We had trolleys that were dismantled because the water and oil companies got together to bring cars into the city and super profits for the oil companies. We have to build energy efficient transportation. NYC riders pay more than any other transit system in the country. The fare should be reduced. More taxes should be placed on cars. We could solve problems that way. There are hundreds of unqualified bureaucrats at the MTA, and should be fired just because of the statement about it taking five years to fix the A train. There is corruption beyond belief.

AUDREY: Govt. should be running a lot of things - most things. Transit could easily be privatized, and let them bid to provide that service. Bidding saves taxpayers millions of dollars. That could help to reduce the fare. Privatization means giving the consumer the best for their money. Privatization is always going to be better for us. If we kept our money in our own pocket and spent it on things we normally consume, we should pay for our needs. If someone wants a yacht, they'll pay the taxes on that yacht.

Next Question: It's been ten years since welfare reform took place in NYC. What do you say about this?

CHRIS BRODEUR: I went into the job training programs under cover last year as an investigative reporter. I walked in, asked for a job, they said they don't do that here. You can't give people 50 billion dollars and say spend it wisely! They had people sitting in a room doing nothing. They had rooms full of computers, wouldn't let us even get on them. We did nothing all day long! On voting: We have to give immigrants the right to vote or slash their taxes. Otherwise, this is no longer America.

TIO: Basic income guarantee is to replace the welfare and put it into a single thing that will give a basic income to people who can not get it. They will replace all the programs that check that you have a job and other programs that end up being a revolving circle. Basic income guarantee is the best way to help people rise above the poverty level without fearing losing income because they are working.

ANDY: I think the B.I.G. is a great idea. They shouldn't just look at welfare issues, they should look at affordable housing, bad education, and more. We have to address those, and the government doesn't have any committment to the people and their problems. We need to give people a voice in government.

CHRIS BRODEUR: Welfare doesn't work. You can't give people a paycheck to sit down. Giuliani put people in orange vests and made them pick up garbage to humiliate them. It was a PR stunt. Everything Giuliani did was a PR stunt.

BROMOWITZ: In the 60s, we talked about leisure time. We have a total imbalance in a stressed out society. We have to combine approaches to all these programs and develop a coherent solution.

REPEAL ROCKEFELLER DRUG LAWS?

BROMOWITZ: 200 black men were rounded up, because a police officer shot himself in the leg in a marijuana bust that went awry. We should legalize marijuana. Here we have a sitation where I would certainly repeal the rockefeller drug laws, because we have the largest prison pop in the world. Everything is going downhill. We have to get back the assets that were stolen.

ANDY HOROWITZ: It's unjust and it's wrong, and we shouldn't fund it anymore.

CHRIS BRODEUR: Guess where most people get their guns? Prohibition. The only reason teens have guns is because of the prohibition of guns. They are armed because of our governments stupid actions. We legalize pot, we save millions of dollars. The media doesn't want to talk about problems. Who in NY doesn't want to save billions of dollars? The media only wants you to know about Ferrer's poll numbers. See my free subway plan. The Staten Island Ferry is free. Village Voice is free. They used to cost money. Now they don't. Privatization is a lie. When you hear the word Privatization, think scam. It's a lie.

AUDREY: I'm not willing to believe because you are a corporation, you're evil. It's not across the board corporations are evil. As part of the financing of the war on drugs, as an ex-NY police officer - in most of my years on the job, I found it to be a waste of your taxpayer dollars. Police attention should be going to other crimes. I don't believe if drugs are legal, drugs will be all over the street. Cigarettes - Bloomberg increased the taxes, creating a black market and turf wars, and kids can get cigs easily on the street.

SETH: I want to educate our students about our laws. One day of the year we should teach our students what our laws are, the way we educate them once a year about AIDS. Make sure to smoke in their homes. If you're in jail for marijuana and you're next to someone who's killed someone, that is an embarrassment.

TIO: I think we should repeal the rockefeller laws and use the money towards education. We can teach them to not use drugs in school.

CHRIS RIGGS: I think we should seriously do everything possible to keep kids off drugs. If kids are on drugs, they will buy guns. You have to tell kids EVERY DAY to not do drugs, not just once a year. Every time someone goes to jail, someone's making money. We have 2.5 million people in prison, and half are in there because of drugs.
We have to get those people off of drugs! Not put them in jail, where they can get drugs anyway! We can't have kids on drugs. They're crazy already, without drugs. I smoke a joint now and then, but I don't inhale.