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MTA Could Soon Get First Ever Disabled Board Member
By
Jake Offenhartz
Published Feb 11, 2020
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By
Jake Offenhartz
Published Feb 11, 2020
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The MTA board could soon get its first ever disabled board member. On Monday, Mayor Bill de Blasio announced Victor Calise as his nomination to the transportation board — a body primarily comprised of millionaires living outside the city, and long lacking the voice of even one person with a disability.
Calise currently serves as commissioner of the Mayor’s Office for People with Disabilities, and previously worked with the Bloomberg administration. He has used a wheelchair since 1994. His nomination follows calls from advocates to appoint a disabled member to the board, amid a growing push to improve accessibility in the subway system.
“Victor believes in his heart that it is our civic and moral duty to make our subways, buses and Access-A-Ride services more inclusive for everyone," the mayor said in a press release. "From his rich personal history and longtime advocacy for the disability community, Victor will make a great addition to this Board.”
Calise added: "To be the only person with a self-disclosed disability currently on the MTA Board is an important responsibility that I will not take lightly."
While de Blasio can appoint four of the board's 14 voting members, two of the city's seats are currently sitting vacant, giving the city less sway over major MTA decisions, such as the recent reorganization (a Cuomo-backed proposal blamed, in part, for the resignation of the Andy Byford.) Three of the mayor's picks — Veronica Vanterpool, Carl Weisbrod and Polly Trottenberg — have resigned from the board in the past year.
De Blasio's proposed nomination of Dan Zarrilli, the city's chief climate policy adviser, was rejected last year, after the Governor's Office claimed the application was not received in time. Good government groups suggested deliberate stonewalling by Cuomo in an effort to exercise full control over the board.
The governor appoints a plurality of board members and effectively controls the MTA. His office did not immediately respond to a question about whether Calise's nomination will be approved.
"New York City has been without a full complement of four voting MTA Board members since Carl Weisbrod resigned in April 2019," a spokesperson for the good government group Reinvent Albany said in a statement. "Veronica Vanterpool, an effective advocate for the City on the Board, resigned in December 2019. Mr. Calise’s appointment would bring the City’s representation to three seats, with one more seat left to fill — which we urge the Mayor to do ASAP."
Tagged
we the commuters
MTA
Cuomo
accessibility
de Blasio
mta board
Jake Offenhartz
Jake Offenhartz is a former Gothamist reporter.
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Gothamist is funded by sponsors and member donations
Gothamist is funded by sponsors and member donations
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