There are countless reasons why I feel fortunate to live Upstate. The “Summer of Hell” New York City commuters are facing is now among them.

The deterioration of the city’s mass transit system has resulted in daily subway delays, overcrowded stations, riders trapped on trains, and ongoing chaotic events. The situation is adversely affecting the quality of life for millions of New Yorkers on a regular basis.

Yet as problems continue to plague riders, and commuters demand action from the Metropolitan Transportation Authority (MTA), Gov. Andrew Cuomo has diverted responsibility and resources away from the problem at hand.

Another questionable project without many answers 

 The MTA’s seven bridges and two tunnels are being fitted with decorative lighting displays, capable of offering choreographed light shows. And the yet-to-be disclosed cost of the project isn’t cheap. In what has become standard operating procedure for the governor, there is no clarity on the exact price (estimates range from $200 million to $350 million), or precisely what agency (or agencies) will fund the project.

Despite the lack of specifics, a few things are crystal clear. At the end of the day, taxpayers will be picking up the tab. And as the city’s mass transit system continues to crumble, a $200 million lightshow is hardly the best use of state resources.

 The governor’s devotion to this lighting project screams government waste and turns a blind eye to his obligation to the residents and visitors to our great state. People who ride the subway system need to get to work, doctors’ appointments, and their children to school and daycare. Fancy bridge lights won’t get people to their destinations on time.

Complete absence of accountability

 In the midst of the crisis, the governor has completely sidestepped responsibility. His office went so far as to blame New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio, saying that the city “owns the subway and is solely responsible for funding its capital plan.” In fact, it’s the MTA, an entity effectively under the governor’s control, which runs New York’s expansive transportation system.

 Accountability has never been a hallmark of this governor’s administration. The budget process remains shrouded in secrecy and is conducted almost entirely behind closed doors. The governor’s own aides were arrested for corrupting state economic-development programs, yet transparency in those programs is still sorely lacking. Construction to build the new $4 billion Tappan Zee Bridge began in 2013, but there is still no public spending plan on how all the costs will be covered.

The nearly 6 million New Yorkers who ride the subway every weekday are getting a firsthand look at how Albany handles a crisis. They surely are not impressed. As transit issues mount, it’s long past time to tackle the issue head-on, devise solutions in an open manner, and put the public on top of the priority list.          

Brian M. Kolb (R,I,C–Canandaigua), a former small-business owner, is the New York Assembly Minority Leader and represents the 131st Assembly District, which encompasses all of Ontario County and parts of Seneca County. Contact him at kolbb@nyassembly.gov

The U.S. Senate on July 25 voted down a partial repeal of Obamacare, then an attempt at a “skinny repeal” failed in the early hours of July 28.

Even though the American people voted into office many politicians who promised a full and complete repeal, many of those same lawmakers, perhaps for political reasons, are too afraid of what real repeal would mean.

Only a full repeal will restore freedoms that the Affordable Care Act snatched from the American people.

Government health care is about force. Americans are forced under the thumb of thousands of pages of regulations, compelled to pay taxes and penalties, forced into narrow networks, and required to share their private and personal medical information with numerous entities. An Obamacare repeal wouldn’t come with more problems, as many claim, but instead would pave the way back to freedom — back to real and affordable solutions.

Among those solutions, are:

1. Catastrophic coverage

2. Self-pay / third party-free payment

3. Health-care sharing

4. Charity

First, a full repeal of Obamacare would give way to the return of catastrophic coverage, which is what insurance is meant to be: affordable financial protection against insurable conditions, not payment for routine and minor care.

Second, “cash-pay,” “self-pay” or “third party-free” practices allow patients and doctors to be free from the costly and intrusive shackles of insurance, regulations and government programs. The Citizens’ Council for Health Freedom (CCHF) aims to restore health freedom, for both patients and doctors, through the innovative initiative “The Wedge of Health Freedom” (www.JointheWedge.com). Today, more than 200 medical practices in 44 states around the country have joined The Wedge, which is using third-party-free direct payment to transform the entire health-care system back to freedom and restore simplicity, affordability, and confidentiality.

Third, with repeal, some patients would be free to make health-care decisions without interference in a supportive community through health-care sharing ministries, the four largest of which are: Christian Healthcare Ministries, Liberty HealthShare, Medi-Share, and Samaritan Ministries.

CCHF issued a report in January 2010 on health-care sharing before the passage of the Affordable Care Act (ACA). Because health-care sharing members are exempt from ACA mandates, the membership of these groups has climbed steadily each year. Health-care sharing can be a wonderful way to avoid enrolling in costly and intrusive Obamacare coverage. And the stories of those impacted by health-care sharing are uplifting — much different than the horror stories of government health care.

And fourth, being free from government health care would allow doctors to engage in charity again, as they were free to do years ago when health care was truly about care rather than coverage.           

Twila Brase, RN, is president and co-founder of CCHF (www.cchfreedom.org), which says it is a nonprofit, patient-centered, national health-freedom organization based in St. Paul, Minnesota that exists to protect health-care choices, individualized patient care, and medical and genetic privacy rights. This opinion piece is drawn from a news release that CCHF issued on July 31.