Why is NYC MIA on the MTA Board?

The 20th floor board room of MTA's lower Manhattan headquarters is, to borrow from the Broadway musical "Hamilton", "the room where it happens." It's where the agency's board meets to make decisions about items big and small — whether to tweak train timetables, when to overhaul subway stations, how to spend billions of dollars. Every county in MTA territory, no matter how small, gets board representation. The mayor of the City of New York recommends four board members.

Except right now. The city effectively has only one active voting member: Polly Trottenberg, the city's transportation commissioner. Mayor Bill de Blasio nominated three others in early June, but they haven't been confirmed by the state Senate. That means New York has only 25 percent of the firepower it statutorily should have. 

"The power dynamic is really inequitable right now," said Veronica Vanterpool, one of the nominees-in-waiting.

She said the board is facing several New York City-centric decisions over the next few months, including how to move forward on projects like the next phase of the Second Avenue Subway. "And there isn't adequate New York City voting representation to help support those."

The other two nominees are City Council member Ydanis Rodriguez, the chair of the council's transportation committee, and David Jones, the president and chief executive of the nonprofit Community Service Society. 

Wednesday's meeting underscored Vanterpool's point. Almost all the board members appeared ready to sign off on a $430 million lease of the agency's former Madison Avenue headquarters to a developer. Only Trottenberg, the city's sole representative, balked. She cited "issues" with the deal and asked for more time.

"A question we need to work through," she said, is "about whether the MTA can just transfer its tax-exempt status to a private company for a 99-year period." 

At stake, she later explained, was potentially a billion dollars in tax revenue for the city over the life of the 99-year-lease.

Ultimately, the motion was tabled for another month.

The absence of the three board members is ironic because the city agreed to contribute an unprecedented $2.5 billion to the MTA's $26 billion, five-year capital plan, in return for "a stronger voice" in the agency's governance. 

A spokeswoman for Gov. Andrew Cuomo, Beth DeFalco, said the executive already passed along the names to the state Senate for confirmation. Calls and an email to Senate Majority Leader John Flanagan have not been returned.

Technically, two board members appointed by former Mayor Mike Bloomberg can still attend meetings and vote on the city's behalf, even though their terms have expired. But they rarely show up.    

"The city put forward three exceedingly qualified people to serve on the MTA's board, and we stand by all of them," said Wiley Norvell, a spokesman for Mayor de Blasio. "Given the enormity of the decisions being made that will impact our transit for decades to come, the people of New York City deserve their full representation. These able and dedicated nominees deserve a vote."