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Who will succeed Liu as Council Transportation Committee head?

by Benjamin Kabak

For the last eight years, Comptroller John Liu had served in the City Council as a bumbling fool the head of the Transportation Committee. Tasked with city oversight of the MTA, the Transportation Committee could, in the right hands, be a vehicle for positive change, and as Cap’n Transit explored in depth yesterday, transit advocates should rally around a pro-transit candidate. The Cap’n ran down the list of potential contenders and noted that friend-of-cars James Vacca (D. Bronx) — a leading supporter of that five-minute parking grace period bill — seems to be the leading favorite for the seat. Vacca comes from a car-heavy district and has shown little love for mass transit. The Cap’n notes that Dan Garodnick is also interested in the spot and would be a better, transit-friendly choice.

This morning, Bob Kapstatter reported that the “powers that be” are pushing for Vacca to assume the head of the transportation committee. An appointment would give Vacca a launching point for a higher office while boosting the power of the Bronx delegations. That is not, however, a good reason to give away an important chair at a vital time in the city’s transit history. Time is of the essence, and the best way to avoid a Vacca-inspired committee is by telling Christine Quinn to appoint someone else.

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15 comments

Benjamin Kabak January 5, 2010 - 10:36 am

For those interested, I sent the following letter to Quinn via her website. Feel free to copy and paste:

Dear Ms. Quinn,

According to reports, you are considering appointing James Vacca as head of the City Council’s Transportation Committee. As a transit advocate, frequent subway rider and concerned citizen, I urge you to choose someone else. Mr. Vacca comes from a car-heavy area and has shown no understanding of the role a healthy mass transit plays in the city. At a time when the MTA is in need of political and financial support, Mr. Vacca is, simply put, the wrong man for the job.

I urge you instead to consider Dan Garodnick for the job. Mr. Garodnick represents a constituency of heavy transit users and would be a just advocate for mass transit in the city.

The subway system is the economic driver of New York City, and we need someone in charge of the Transportation Committee who understands transit policy in New York City. Please do the right thing and appoint a true representative to the Transportation Committee.

Thank you,

Benjamin Kabak
Second Ave. Sagas
http://bkabak.wpengine.com

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AK January 5, 2010 - 1:08 pm

Was drafting a letter when I saw this! Thanks a million, Ben.

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AK January 5, 2010 - 1:10 pm

One substantive change– I’d write “Speaker Quinn,” as people have a way of being testy/sensitive about titles (see, e.g. SENATOR Barbara Boxer).

🙂

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Scott E January 5, 2010 - 1:31 pm

A valiant effort, but I don’t know how useful it will be. I clicked on the link to Speaker Quinn’s site, and on the right-hand side, was drawn to the window to some of her Facebook notes and publicity:

Christine C. Quinn Sign our letter to the MTA!
New York City Council – Tell the MTA to NOT Cut Our Services

and

Speaker Christine Quinn Testifys before the MTA
http://www.youtube.com

She doesn’t get it, and the rant on her YouTube video shows it. I can’t think of anybody other than Richard Ravitch who I’d like to see in this position, but I doubt the state’s Lieutenant Governor would take it.

As a side question: I imagine that only city residents are eligible to offer input. Those of us who live in the suburbs are irrelevant – right?

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Scott E January 5, 2010 - 1:34 pm

Sorry for the long message- there’s no more HTML preview on Second Ave Sagas. That first link should be to here,not the Facebook redirect posted above. Also, I forgot to note that “Testifys” is her spelling, not mine.

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Benjamin Kabak January 5, 2010 - 1:52 pm

I’m not sure why the HTML preview vanished, and I haven’t been able to reactivated it. I’ll keep working for a solution. I didn’t realize people noticed it was gone!

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Scott E January 5, 2010 - 5:57 pm

Well, it was a bit buggy, but helpful. And I see it’s back!

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AK January 5, 2010 - 1:44 pm

Irrelevant in a narrow, political sense? Probably. But I still encourage you to write to Quinn, since the Transportation Committee clearly has a great effect on life outside the 5 boroughs.

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herenthere January 5, 2010 - 2:58 pm

I wrote the following:
Dear Speaker Quinn,
Mass transit and livable streets in NYC go hand-in-hand. News that you are interested in selecting car-friendly James Vacca over transit-friendly Dan Garodnick to head the Transportation Committee is not only a bad choice for the future of responsible economic growth of our city, but also for the affordability and safety of the city’s residents. PlaNYC calls for increasing traffic and pedestrian safety, and increasing mass transit and making our streets safer is a co-requisite. Appointing Mr. Vacca would be a mistake and as one of nearly five million daily transit riders and bikers, I urge you to strongly consider Mr. Garodnick instead to head the Transportation Committee.
Sincerely,
xx
http://ecstatice.blogspot.com

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rhywun January 5, 2010 - 6:49 pm

An appointment would give Vacca a launching point for a higher office while boosting the power of the Bronx delegations.

How cynical to suggest that politicians jockey for media attention as a launching pad for higher office!

And how entirely accurate.

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Alon Levy January 5, 2010 - 10:38 pm

Vacca supported congestion pricing. Garodnick looked for excuses to oppose it.

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AK January 6, 2010 - 8:49 am

I don’t think so. Garodnick’s testimony can be found here:

http://www.garodnick.com/file......9807234610

He’s playing politics a bit with the Manhattan resident portion of his remarks, but he clearly supported congestion pricing and wanted to make sure that the funds went directly for transit improvements.

To drive home my point, here is the 2008 City Council breakdown on congestion pricing:

http://www.onnyturf.com/blogs/.....t_id=17703

Garodnick (and Vacca) voted for it.

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Alon Levy January 6, 2010 - 4:42 pm

It sounds like Garodnick wasn’t that pro-CP – he was pro-hitting the suburbs, but so were many CP opponents like Anthony Weiner. I don’t think that a five-minute grace period should be the metric by which you judge transportation officials.

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Cap'n Transit January 5, 2010 - 10:50 pm

Thanks for the link, Ben! And thank you all for your letters. But please, don’t make it be just Vacca vs. Garodnick, because then it turns into Bronx vs. Manhattan. Make it clear that you’d prefer Oliver Koppell or Larry Seabrook over Vacca. They both voted for the “grace period” bill and Koppell co-sponsored it, but as far as I can tell neither of them made big statements to the media about how they were “standing up for the little guy.”

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Report: Vacca chosen to head Council transportation committee :: Second Ave. Sagas | A New York City Subway Blog January 8, 2010 - 3:50 pm

[…] committee, Vacca’s appointment is a disappointment. As I wrote earlier this week, Vacca is a car-friendly representative who has shown no love for transit. After eight years of John Liu’s know-nothing blustering, it looks for now as though […]

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