Cuomo's attempt to change the MTA CEO appointment process fails

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jis

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NY MTA has just gotten a reprieve from becoming a part of the Governor's fiefdom. An attempt was made to change the governing setup to look more like that of NJT, which is a shining example of how not to govern anything, and of course known to breed more corruption and incompetence than provide better service.

Cuomo's proposal would have removed the Senate as the approver of the Governor's nomination from the appointment process, thus giving the Governor a free hand without any checks to appoint whoever.

https://www.rtands.com/passenger/n-y-gov-cuomo-will-not-be-able-to-sink-his-teeth-into-the-mta/
 
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NY MTA has just gotten a reprieve from becoming a part of the Governor's fiefdom. An attempt was made to change the governing setup to look more like that of NJT, which is a shining example of how not to govern anything, and of course known to breed more corruption and incompetence than provide better service.

Cuomo's proposal would have removed the Senate as the approver of the Governor's nomination from the appointment process, thus giving the Governor a free hand without any checks to appoint whoever.

https://www.rtands.com/passenger/n-y-gov-cuomo-will-not-be-able-to-sink-his-teeth-into-the-mta/
The article states that he wanted to separate the CEO, and Chairman position, back to the way it was, a while back. It said the legislature had previously combined the two jobs, in an effort to take political considerations out of MTA decision's. I have no idea of how that can ever be, regardless of whether the positions are combined, or not...🤔🤷‍♂️
 
I think the problem that was solved to some extent back then was reduction in the chances of a deadlock in decision making when the occupants of the two positions decided that both were going to play the my way or the highway game and basically blocked everything for a while.

This article actually is poorly written and seems to not mention the part where he wants to remove the legislature from the appointment process. I think that is a bigger issue than whether there is one or two positions for Cuomo to stick his people into. My friends in New York City seem to be happy with the current outcome since they do not appear to trust the Governor much as far as the affairs of MTA are concerned. Of course I personally have no dog in this race.
 
My friends in New York City seem to be happy with the current outcome since they do not appear to trust the Governor much as far as the affairs of MTA are concerned.

Do you know what the issues are that cause the distrust? I mean, aside from the usual sort of power struggles that people at that level seem to indulge in. I can't imagine that a governor of his party would be anti-transit in general, but does he have some sort of vision about the MTA that is less than ideal for the folks in NYC?
 
Do you know what the issues are that cause the distrust? I mean, aside from the usual sort of power struggles that people at that level seem to indulge in. I can't imagine that a governor of his party would be anti-transit in general, but does he have some sort of vision about the MTA that is less than ideal for the folks in NYC?
I have not kept track of the details ever since I moved away from the tri-state area, and only hear about stuff occasionally when someone mentions it in some other context. I have stopped following the local discussions like on transit blog sites, since there is too much nonsesnse that one has to sort through for getting to something solid. So no, I don't know the details.

From my recollection from the past further validated occasionally by some recent ramblings I hear about, the general sense I get is that it is disagreements on details of what should or should not be done, and continuance of the endless bickering about funding mix between the subways, buses and commuter rail, with a bit of the upstate-downstate schism thrown in. I am not sure political party orientations has much to do with it. My impression is it has more to do with local vs. remote control.

Of course if NYC had not run its finances down into the ground during the Lindsey years this self created problem would not have happened. Also if they had not insisted beyond a point of reasonableness on the singe dime fare, the Subways would not have crashed and burned either. So, while a different generation, NYC folks have no one but themselves to blame in some sense.
 
Do you know what the issues are that cause the distrust? I mean, aside from the usual sort of power struggles that people at that level seem to indulge in. I can't imagine that a governor of his party would be anti-transit in general, but does he have some sort of vision about the MTA that is less than ideal for the folks in NYC?
Cuomo has raided the MTA fund for unrelated state budget purposes practically every year -- or attempted to. Some of his attempts were stopped by the state legislature. Cuomo is also a car nut (self-admitted) and threw money at the Tappan Zee bridge while claiming there was no money for the rail line over it. But the raids on the supposed-to-be-dedicated MTA funds are the main reason nobody trusts him on rail issues.
 
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