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'Conceived In The Dark': MTA Board Approves 'Historic' And Opaque $51 Billion Capital Plan
By
Stephen Nessen
Published Sep 26, 2019
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MTA / Flickr
By
Stephen Nessen
Published Sep 26, 2019
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On Wednesday the MTA Board unanimously approved the 2020-2024 $51.5 billion capital plan without answering the recurring existential question: what is the point of the MTA board if everything has already been finalized by the time it reaches the board for final approval?
“This plan was conceived in the dark, the transparency that this board has worked for for many years has gone dark,” board member Susan Metzger, who represents Metro-North riders said Wednesday. “The full board didn’t see the details until Thursday; that’s way too late to have discussion with management...Lack of detail is another way to avoid transparency.”
Speaking to reporters after the vote, MTA Chairman Pat Foye said the plan was “historic” and “transformative” and admitted the final details came together at the last minute, which was why the board received the material so late.
“I don’t believe it was hasty, the work on this capital plan has been going on for well over a year,” Foye said. But he admitted, “it came together late, the board should’ve had more time, I’m not going to defend that. However the result is the board unanimously voted for the plan because of its overwhelming advantages to the MTA and to the region. That I think speaks for itself.”
The state legislature, which passed congestion pricing this year, ensuring the MTA has a lock box of funding for this capital plan, also mandated the MTA undergo a forensic audit and a reorganization to ensure the vast amount of money pouring in is spent well. In a rare moment of agreement, Governor Andrew Cuomo and Mayor Bill de Blasio had agreed to work together on this last February.
The capital plan now factors in a $3 billion contribution from the city, up from $2.6 billion from the last plan, and $3 billion from the state.
But there are concerns that the reorganization and reform are already going badly.
“So much of this funding for this capital program was contingent on reform and contingent on a change in practice and I’m not seeing that,” board member Veronica Vanterpool, who’s appointed by de Blasio, said Wednesday. “I think we’re slapping this transformation label and reorientation label unfortunately on a lot of the same old practices.”
The mayor wrote a letter of support for the capital plan, but asked that the forensic audit, which is due by the end of the year, be accelerated (Chairman Foye said it already is). De Blasio also asked that city projects be prioritized, which seems easy enough since the majority of the plan is dedicated to subways and buses.
The plan must now be approved by the Capital Program Review Board. That’s an obscure 4-person panel appointed by the governor, with one member recommended by the mayor. That board also doesn’t have a history of transparency, and could still make tweaks to the final plan.
And the state legislature has to approve its funding portion, as does the city.
State Budget Director and MTA Board Member Bob Mujica warned that the plan, which still lacks specificity about the order of the projects and how exactly they will be carried out, may be too costly and could still be trimmed.
“These projects are expensive, I’m surprised at some of the costs of these things,” Mujica said at Wednesday's board meeting. “We don’t accept on face all of the estimates that are in this plan. And I think we will have to continue to scrutinize the cost of all of these projects as we move forward. And we need to make sure that we’re continuing to find ways to reduce costs within this plan. As with all plans there will be opportunities to amend the plan there will be changes that we will have to make over the course of time, as we’ve done in the past.”
As if to underscore the last point, before the meeting ended, the board voted on two amendments to the two previous capital plans. One was to add four more elevators to the last Capital Plan, another was for 54 cars for Long Island Railroad for East Side Access.
Board member Neal Zuckerman appeared to not know about the changes to the two previous capital plans he was voting on prior to the board meeting. He voted for them anyway.
Tagged
we the commuters
MTA
mta capital budget
mta board
Stephen Nessen
Stephen Nessen covers transportation. Since 2008 he has reported on everything from Occupy Wall Street, the rebuilding of the World Trade Center site, Hurricane Sandy, to Trump’s campaign for president. His transportation reporting has taken him everywhere from the MTA’s secret Rail Control Center to the gleaming subways of Seoul. Got a tip? Email [email protected].
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