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Chairman Prendergast to Retire...


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Not to mention Cuomo is likely thinking ahead to a 2020 Presidential Campaign AND likely feeling he has the ability to if necessary LEGALLY go after the President-Elect's business empire if he thinks Trump has gone too far as President.

 

To me, Cuomo may prove to be the big winner of this Presidential Election and love or hate him, he is to me the one Governor who might actually try to keep Trump in check LEGALLY if Trump and/or the GOP go too far. 

That's if Preet Bharara  doesn't take Prince Andrew and the Donald down, lol.

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Sounds like Cuomo right hand man and loyalist Larry Schwartz, who narrowly escaped indictment and jumped ship from the administration to save face in the event of prosecution. One of the focuses, as Trainmaster5 noted, of Bharara's investigation. The guy who was so corrupt he attacked and helped shut the governor's own commission on corruption. What a treat for the MTA. We're going to miss Prendergast.

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That's if Preet Bharara  doesn't take Prince Andrew and the Donald down, lol.

 

The Donald, at this rate, will take himself down. Unless he acts, congessional republicans are lining up to tank the economy again. Obama's recovery was..meh. It was mostly superficial, and now, when wage growth is starting to take hold, and middle class standard of living is finally about to improve as the rich pay higher taxes, congressional republicans are ready to raise the deficit to fund crony capitalist companies as government contracts and cut their rich friends tax breaks while increasing the costs of both borrowing and living which will send the country into another recession if unchecked. Trump is the only one who can stop this, which would involve him acting against his own self interest, which is something he has never done. So I'm not holding my breath.

 

As for "Prince Andrew" no real candidate from New York has mass appeal to win a regional election because of how the rest of the country looks at a "city candidate" regardless of whether his loyalties lie upstate or downstate. The only reason Hillary did so well in her primaries was she was really from the south (Arkansas), and got a good number of democratic votes (percentage wise) on that front in states that were predominantly republican.

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a real estate person would be an absolute disaster. SAFETY AND SERVICE are the #1 and #2 priorities in any transportation system. A real estate person is always looking for opportunities for profit, and monetizing every possible space.

 

Monetizing does not mean profitability, nor does it mean effective cost management. All it means is spending resources trying to bring in more revenue. If successful, it does not mean the person knows HOW to deploy revenue, except in other revenue generating initiatives.

 

If the person doesn't understand SAFETY AND SERVICE, they can never deploy resources correctly or intelligently since things that bring in money in real estate like "improved signage" "better lighting" etc. don't actually bring in revenue in a transit system. Additionally, a real estate person will be much more likely to waste resources on things that don't promote better transportation in the region creating a budget crunch on an agency that is already intentionally run at a loss as a public benefit to enable economic activity in the region.

 

Ravitch was in a different era where the issue was the complete and utter lack of government funding for the TA. That's not the issue now. They don't need a bulldog to fight for more funding, while that'd be nice. They need someone who can lead the MTA in a new direction and promote greater accountability by contractors to stick to budget, as well as push for system expansion, defend existing employee protections and benefits (which are good for the system overall...you want a workforce that is paid well as it tends to be more competent), and has the discerning eye to lay out a roadmap for the TA that incorporates aspects of technology where feasible but without blindly putting technology everywhere, much of which will be useless.

 

That requires operating knowledge, or the willingness to listen to those who have it.

This has to be the best comment of this entire thread...

 

With all this in mind, it seems, from the outside looking in, that once again Ms. Hakim is the best person for the job. Whether Cuomo goes that way is a whole other affair...

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  • 3 weeks later...

I'm gonna defer to the active NYCT folks on his tenure as (MTA) chairman. I personally liked David Gunn because he would stop and converse with the RTO people he encountered daily around the Grand Central shuttle platform and the tower along the passageway. That's a big difference compared to how some of the people on the LIRR felt about Mr Prendergast when he was President of the railroad. Supposedly someone took a #2 on his desk to show him what some of the RR folks thought about him. As someone pointed out in an earlier post no matter how the chairman does he/she gets the blame while the Governor of New York gets the credit. It's a fact of life. Carry on.

I've heard stories about Prendergast's "popularity" at LIRR, but that there takes the cake LOL.  I think Ravitch was the right man for the time, but he would not have been a good fit under normal circumstances.  What we really could use is another David Gunn; he was one of the best, if not the best in terms of what he did for the system.  I've never encountered anyone who didn't have a lot of respect for him.

 

Unfortunately, the fact that Mario Jr. is hinting at 'real estate' means we're probably going to get stuck with a hack who's answer to improving service deficiencies will probably be something idiotic, like putting in art displays or piping music through the station intercoms.  We could very well get stuck with another Walder, another Hemmerdinger, another Kalikow... or worse.

Honestly, f**k Cuomo.  I hope his corrupt ass goes to prison.

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