Gov. Spitzer Transition Team Transpo Committee Named

It includes some leading members of the congestion charging brainstrust and some big MTA reformers. Via Chuck Bennett at AMNY:

Co-chairs

  • Elliot Sander, director of NYU Rudin Center for Transportation, VP at MTA contractor DMJM Harris and former city Dept. of Transporation commisioner. (Rumored to an MTA chairman candidate)
  • Mary Ann Crotty, former transportation advisor for Mario Cuomo.

Members

  • Janette Sadik-Kahn, VP at Parsons Brinckerhoff (Big MTA contractor leading the Partnership for NYC’s congestion pricing study)
  • Gene Russianoff, Straphangers Campaign (the MTA’s best critic)
  • Jon Orcutt, president of the Tri State Transportation Campaign (another tough MTA critic and big thinker on regional transport issues)
  • Ernest Tollerson, VP at Partnership for NYC (Working on the Partnership’s congestion pricing study)
  • Mitch Palley, MTA board member from Suffolk (often the lone dissenting voice with votig power on the board and big supporter of the third rail project for the LIRR)
  • Susan Kupferman, president MTA Bridges and Tunnels (Rumored candidate for MTA executive director)
  • Robert Yaro, president of Regional Plan Association

Other Members

  • James Conigliaro, Machinists
  • Sam Williams, UAW 9A
  • Garry Labarbera, president Teamsters Local 282
  • Jack Aherne, International Union of Operating Engineers
  • Chris Ward, managing director of the General Contractors Association (Ports, shipping and environment expert)
  • Sonia Toledo, managing director Merrill Lynch
  • Jamie Mercado, partner at Simpson, Thacher & Bartlett
  • Edward Malloy, president of Buildings and Construction Trades Council
  • Eva Lerner Lamb, presidents of Palisades Consulting
  • Doreen Frasca, president of Frasca & Associates
  • John Egan, president of Renaissance Corp.
  • Binta Brown, Associate at Cravath, Swaine & Moore
  • Samara Barend, director of STV Inc. (Engineering firm that did the Cross Harbor Freight Tunnel study)

ALSO ON STREETSBLOG

MTA Cheered and Jeered, But Mostly Jeered

By Brad Aaron |
Reactions were mixed to yesterday’s MTA fare hike approval. That is to say — with the exception of the New York Post — there was enough criticism to go around as to generally avoid repetition. The Daily News, which has pounded the transit agency with its "Halt the Hike" series ("Even as the MTA is […]

Russianoff and Schneiderman Map the MTA’s Road to ‘Ruin’

By Brad Aaron |
In today’s Daily News, Gene Russianoff of the Straphangers Campaign and State Senator Eric Schneiderman examine how the MTA ended up the most debt-ridden transit system in the United States, and urge state leaders to chart a new course. The governor must prevent next year’s state budget from being a carbon copy of the budgets […]

Pricing is Alive. JFK Rail Link and SMART Fund May be Dead.

By Aaron Naparstek |
Annie Karni reports in today’s New York Sun that the outlines of a congestion pricing bill may be hammered out in Albany before Memorial Day, though not exactly as Mayor Bloomberg initially proposed. Karni writes that MTA executive director Lee Sander would prefer to see the $3.75 billion earmarked for a direct rail link from […]

Meet Cuomo’s Point Man on the MTA: Jim Malatras

By Noah Kazis |
The Cuomo Administration’s transportation policy is still taking shape, but here’s a name to watch: Jim Malatras. As Cuomo’s new deputy secretary for policy management, Malatras will be a top advisor on all major transportation decisions, including how transit riders fare in the upcoming budget. “The Cuomo administration’s point man on MTA policy issues is […]

Traffic Congestion Mitigation Commission Opens for Business

By Aaron Naparstek |
Westchester Assembly member Richard Brodsky on Mayor Bloomberg’s congestion pricing proposal: "My problem is that I don’t understand what you’ve proposed." "This is going to be interesting," Straphangers Campaign Senior Staff Attorney Gene Russianoff said as he waited for the start of yesterday’s inaugural Traffic Congestion Mitigation Commission meeting. "Usually with these things, the fix […]

Gene Russianoff on the MTA’s $17.5 Billion Hole

By Ben Fried |
Gene Russianoff, senior attorney for the Straphangers Campaign, talks to Streetsblog about the future of transit funding without congestion pricing. Direct quotes are in quotation marks. Streetsblog: Without pricing, how will the MTA get funded? Russianoff: They currently have a proposed $29.5B capital plan. The vast majority is for stuff that absolutely has to be […]