Richard Ravitich’s clock is now ticking. By December 5, Ravitch and his newly-appointed 12-member Committee on MTA Finances will have a ten-year plan on the desks of Gov. David Patterson and the New York State legislature, and the fate of the MTA will be tied to that report.
Patterson on Tuesday unveiled the rest of Ravitch’s committee, and the governor filled it with transportation experts and officials and finance and electricity executives. The committee will now begin its unenviable task of finding tens of billions of dollars for the MTA to meet both its capital budget and its operations budget.
City Room breaks down the well-qualified committee:
- Laura L. Anglin, the state budget director since January.
- Kevin M. Burke, chairman and chief executive of Consolidated Edison.
- Robert B. Catell, chairman of National Grid U.S., a unit of the Keyspan Corporation.
- Douglas Durst, the prominent real estate developer who runs the Durst Organization.
- Peter C. Goldmark, who directs the climate and air program at the Environmental Defense Fund. He was formerly state budget director, executive director of the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey, president of the Rockefeller Foundation, and chairman and chief executive of The International Herald Tribune, part of The New York Times Company.
- Denis M. Hughes, president of the New York State A.F.L.-C.I.O. since 1999.
- Mysore L. Nagaraja, a transportation project consultant who was formerly president of the M.T.A. Capital Construction Company and senior vice president and chief engineer at New York City Transit.
- Mark Page, the city’s budget director since 2002.
- Kim Paparello Vaccari, head of the transportation group at Banc of America Securities.
- Steven M. Polan, a partner at the law firm of Manatt, Phelps & Phillips and a former general counsel to the M.T.A.
- The Rev. Joseph McShane, the president of Fordham University since 2003.
- Elliot G. Sander, executive director and chief executive officer of the M.T.A. since 2007.
I’m a bit intrigued by the appointment of Mysore Nagaraja to the committee considering the circumstances surrounding his departure, but he does have the most intimate knowledge of the MTA capital plan right now. Veronique Hakim is simply the interim head of MTA Capital Construction right now and is not really experienced enough in that role to join this group.
Meanwhile, public officials said all the right things in unveiling this commission. “New York’s leaders have too often underestimated the critical importance of mass transit to the economic wellbeing of the region and the quality of life of our citizens,” Paterson said. “The congestion pricing debate highlighted the need for sustainable funding for the MTA. This Commission will help ensure that the MTA has the resources it needs to expand and maintain a mass transit system that can increase regional prosperity while also curbing sprawl, reducing traffic congestion and improving the environment.”
While the commission is bound to recommend some form of congestion pricing providing a dedicated revenue stream for the MTA and public transit, the commission may bring about some much-need organizational change at the MTA. Ravitch and his commission will investigate “initiatives to maximize MTA efficiencies,” and I have to believe that the commission may look into some of the fiscal problems inherent in the MTA’s operations.
As I’ve said before, Ravitch is facing a tough task, but we need him to fulfill the promise he brings to the job. He’s going to have to ask tough questions of the MTA and demand tough compromises from the agency as well as from the state and its citizens. The economic future of the MTA and our region will depend on it.
4 comments
I doubt putting this collection of bigwigs in one room will provide any fundamentally new approaches to MTA funding. All of them are too comfortable to make anyone else (except for those actually using MTA services) uncomfortable.
I think any meaningful solutions will have to involve one or more of the following:
1) Change the state-wide balance of transportation funding in favor of public transit. I don’t know the budget details, but something tells me New York City taxes fund backroads on the border with Canada disproportionally more than an upstate county reduces its environmental impact by funding the NYC subway. To have a chance of reaching any reasonable greenhouse gas reduction goals, private transit in NYS needs to essentially start to subsidize public transit – a statewide congestion pricing plan, if you will.
2) End MTA budget mismanagement and reduce bureaucracy and red tape. I don’t know if this simply means a shakeup within the MTA or privatization of all (or part) of its transit lines. Giving the subway to the city, where it belongs (whether as a private company or city-controlled authority) would be a boon for everybody.
3) Simply earmark more funding for the MTA by cutting something else, like highway funding (related to #1). New York is a big state, and we need a bullet train system in place of interstate expansions, anyway.
4) Get more money from Washington. We deserve it. But December is too early a deadline because things are still going to be winding down after the elections.
This is something I need to get up to speed on, but as transit advocates we should be brazenly lobbying every member of this commission with our dream plans for the subways. This is a huge opportunity.
I’d also note that the presence of Durst on the list is a good sign. From what I understand in addition to being a huge developer, Durst is also a big fan of mass transit. He’s one of the good guys when it comes to transit planning.
Maybe I’m just missing some background information, but is there some reason the RPA isn’t represented on the commission?
[…] this week, we took a brief look at the Ravitch Commission. The 12 members tasked with saving the MTA are all highly-regarded transit and finance experts who […]