Cuomo wants to 'blow up' the MTA after L train debacle

[Union Tpke 2,428]

 

[MysteriousBtrain 1,509]

2 minutes ago, Union Tpke said:

 

But is there any proof that the cost will not increase? Besides MTA officials?

Edited January 18 by MysteriousBtrain
Not just officials, documents as well

[Gotham Bus Co. 502]

On 1/10/2019 at 12:04 AM, Deucey said:

Which is why, at the risk of pulling a Wallyhorse,  should be democratized to where the board should be made up of local politicians to it's service area - that way accountability isn't 3 hours away on the Thruway.

 

My restructured MTA Board would have 15 members. Of those, 13 would be elected officials (including the 6 City officials who currently do nothing) and two would directly represent the Mayor and Governor:

 

NY State Transportation Commissioner (Chair)

Suffolk County Executive

Nassau County Executive

Westchester County Executive

Putnam County Executive

Dutchess County Executive

Rockland County Executive

Orange County Executive

NYC Transportation Commissioner

NYC Public Advocate

Brooklyn Borough President

Bronx Borough President

Manhattan Borough President

Queens Borough President

Staten Island Borough President

[Union Tpke 2,428]

5 hours ago, Gotham Bus Co. said:

 

My restructured MTA Board would have 15 members. Of those, 13 would be elected officials (including the 6 City officials who currently do nothing) and two would directly represent the Mayor and Governor:

 

NY State Transportation Commissioner (Chair)

Suffolk County Executive

Nassau County Executive

Westchester County Executive

Putnam County Executive

Dutchess County Executive

Rockland County Executive

Orange County Executive

NYC Transportation Commissioner

NYC Public Advocate

Brooklyn Borough President

Bronx Borough President

Manhattan Borough President

Queens Borough President

Staten Island Borough President

The officials would never show up to meetings, as there are "more important things to do."

[Around the Horn 3,823]

Any re-organization of the board should include an employee representative...

[note that I said employee and not TWU; there should be IMO a high ranking operator on the board directly representing the concerns of "line of duty" employees]

[bobtehpanda 4,792]

10 minutes ago, Union Tpke said:

The officials would never show up to meetings, as there are "more important things to do."

Works well enough for Sound Transit in Seattle.

Turns out that manipulating billions of dollars in funding can be very important if you get to direct where the fire hose goes.

[bobtehpanda 4,792]

6 hours ago, Gotham Bus Co. said:

 

My restructured MTA Board would have 15 members. Of those, 13 would be elected officials (including the 6 City officials who currently do nothing) and two would directly represent the Mayor and Governor:

 

NY State Transportation Commissioner (Chair)

Suffolk County Executive

Nassau County Executive

Westchester County Executive

Putnam County Executive

Dutchess County Executive

Rockland County Executive

Orange County Executive

NYC Transportation Commissioner

NYC Public Advocate

Brooklyn Borough President

Bronx Borough President

Manhattan Borough President

Queens Borough President

Staten Island Borough President

The only problem I have with this setup is that Putnam, Dutchess, Rockland, and Orange wind up severely overrepresented, given that the other counties all have 1M people give or take, and the city has 7 representatives for 9M people. Putnam only has 99,000 people, for Christ's sake.

Putnam/Dutchess/Rockland/Orange currently share one appointee on the board. Not sure what would be a better way, other than making them form a subcommitee with one vote on the full board.

[Wallyhorse 257]

On 1/21/2019 at 5:40 PM, Around the Horn said:

Any re-organization of the board should include an employee representative...

[note that I said employee and not TWU; there should be IMO a high ranking operator on the board directly representing the concerns of "line of duty" employees]

Employee Representatives are to me an absolute must.  As much as we may not like what they say sometimes, they can provide the reality the rest of us need to hear and listen to.