No, Albany Still Hasn't Approved NYC's MTA Nominees
Eleven months ago, New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio named three people to fill the city's vacancies on the MTA board: David Jones of the Community Service Society; City Council member Ydanis Rodriguez, the chair of the council's transportation committee; and Veronica Vanterpool, the head of the Tri-State Transportation Campaign.
(Gov. Andrew Cuomo also named two nominees to the MTA. One was quickly confirmed; the other, Peter Ward, who is president of the New York Hotel & Motel Trades Council, is also in the yet-to-get-a-Senate-hearing category.)
Since June, all four of those names have been in limbo. They weren't confirmed before the end of last year's legislative session. In February, a spokeswoman for Cuomo's office told WNYC the governor had submitted the names to the Senate. Subsequent queries to Senate leadership about the status of the nominees were met with radio silence.
"There should be no vacancies on this board," said Veronica Vanterpool, one of the nominees. "This is a board that has huge decision making powers, a huge impact on the entire state of New York. It's important that every seat is filled, all the time."
The lack of action on the nominees means New York City only has 25 percent of the representation it's entitled to on the MTA board. That would be startling under any circumstances, but it's especially so now, given the recent battles between the governor and the mayor over the MTA's five-year capital program.
But now, with nine session days to go before the end of the current legislative season, there could be movement.
"All nominations are being sent together in one batch and we expect these will be considered at the end of session, as they traditionally are, by the Senate," said Cuomo spokeswoman Beth DeFalco.
DeFalco had previously told WNYC the governor's office had sent over the nominees, but that action apparently has yet to be taken. The Senate, however, has not exactly been chomping at the bit to schedule hearings. Repeated calls to Republican Senate leadership asking about the status of the nominees were not returned.
A spokeswoman for Mayor de Blasio said: "The Mayor has named three exceedingly qualified people to the board. Important decisions are being made at the MTA that will have ramifications for decades and the city needs its full representation.”
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