Jaybird Flies

Jay Walder Is Not Casey Jones,

Jumps From NYC to Hong Kong

Because MTA Nears Fiscal Crash

Jay Walder is no Casey Jones.

Unlike the iconic railroad engineer, who kept his hand on the throttle while his train plunged down curving tracks to disaster, and by doing so saved the lives of many people, the MTA chief Jay Walder did not even complete two years at the helm of the transit authority before he jumped ship for a more secure and lucrative berth in a private, profitable transit system.

Walder was not shanghaied in the dead of night; he is going voluntarily to MTR (Mass Transit Railway), a railroad colossus headquartered in Hong Kong. Any idea where they might bank?

Actually, Walder had a number of good reasons for his secretive flight from New York and the MTA. The first is the impoverishment of the system he is leaving. The MTA has consistently been undersupported, not given enough money to operate, let alone to build and maintain the system in good repair. Before he came, they overspent wildly, in part because of bureaucracy, over-engineering, and weakness before unions, as well as traditional corruption, particularly in construction and real property. Walder did not want his reputation endangered by too many years presiding over a system subject to those perils.

Second is the apparent indifference of Governor Cuomo to the plight of the MTA, and the absence of any effort to develop a relationship with Walder. It was not nearly as bad as Governor Paterson, who refused to speak with Lee Sander, Walder's predecessor, or even to return his calls, because Sander had been appointed by his predecessor, Governor Spitzer. Sander did not have the luxury of another job offer as Walder did, so he hung around until he was dismissed by Paterson on May 7, 1999 on practically one day's notice, even though it took more than two months after that to find a successor (Walder).

Sander was not the only Paterson commissioner to be fired practically instantly. On October 21, 2010, just twelve days before the election of Governor Cuomo, the Environmental Protection Commissioner, Pete Grannis, who had served since the start of the Spitzer administration and before that, spent 32 years in the Assembly, was told to clear out immediately by Larry Schwartz, at the time a key aide to Governor Paterson. The trumped-up charge against Grannis was that he had sought to avoid budget cuts for his agency, which every commissioner worth anything does every year. Grannis was told that Paterson would not speak to him about the matter and that his dismissal was final. He got the news as he was preparing to deliver a speech and receive an award from an environmental group at what became his last supper in office.

The question arose as to why Grannis was fired just then. Why not leave it to the incoming governor (Cuomo) to choose his cabinet? Why should Grannis' 36 years of state service end in peremptory dismissal? One plausible explanation is based on where Larry Schwartz is now. Governor Cuomo has appointed him Secretary to the Governor, which is the equivalent to chief of staff on the national level and the same post Schwartz held in the Paterson administration.

It is likely that, in firing Grannis on the spot, Schwartz was serving his new master, Cuomo, and sparing the governor-elect the embarrassment of firing an environmental icon. Cuomo has the right to choose his own commissioners, and Joe Martens is a good choice for the position, with a fine environmental record. Nonetheless, we recount the story now to tell you how it was done, which is in accord with the important Rule 26, "No prints."

Walder chose to accept what could be the best transit job in the world, at a multiple of the salary which was begrudged to him in New York. He thus avoided the fate of his predecessor Sander and his colleague Grannis.

Last night, I watched The Call on New York 1. People called and emailed the station to express their views on Walder. Almost all were very negative, with the exception of Richard Ravitch, the former lieutenant governor, as well as MTA chair. Ravitch was highly complimentary, as was Mayor Bloomberg. The hostile attitude of the public came because of the service and personnel reductions that Walder was obliged to make because of the lack of public funds and steadily rising expenses, most but not all of which were uncontrollable. How many years should one devote to serving people who think you are doing a lousy job, when in fact you are doing a very competent job at an obviously thankless task?

One could tell that many of the disgruntled callers were transit employees or union activists. Even so, there were precious few callers who admired the service they received from the MTA or its departing chairman. If there were an attempt to jam the switchboard, it succeeded. If there were not, the negative sentiment was more authentic. Of course, no one likes waiting for a train on a hot platform, being squeezed or crushed inside a car, or being delayed for an indefinite period, whether by "the dispatcher" or by "train traffic ahead".

The underlying fact is that the transit system is in a financial bind comparable to that which faces the United States, except that it cannot run up fourteen trillion dollars in deficits and then ask for more. Sooner or later, probably sooner, fares will rise and interest on the MTA's indebtedness will increase. The State and City, traditional sources of additional funding, are, as we know, undergoing severe fiscal problems and highly unlikely to substantially increase transit subsidies, if indeed they are willing to retain them. One cannot mention state aid without recalling with sorrow the disgraceful decision of the New York State Assembly to eliminate the commuter tax on May 17, 1999, a date which will live in infamy in mass transit history. How long should Walder remain at the helm of a ship which takes on more water each year?

We believe that Jay Walder is, by and large, a decent, honorable, hard-working and competent bureaucrat, who will be missed after he is gone. He is not an inspirational figure, nor did he attempt to be one. Nicole Gelinas, giving Walder a mixed review, asks today in The Post: "Can the next MTA chief be a fighter?" One answer to that question is that the MTA chief is an appointed, rather than an elected official. Major funding decisions are made by the elected, and it is the job of the appointed to do the best they can with the resources that they have been given.

Of course, they can and should demand more; that is what Commissioner Pete Grannis (who was from 1974 to 2005 an elected official, given to expressing his own opinions) did in October 2010, for which he was summarily politically beheaded in what appears to be a pre-election housecleaning. Fortunately, Grannis has found a new job in what appears to be a more congenial setting, so his public service can continue and his pension clock keep running.

"Speak truth to power" is a noble slogan, but truth is better spoken by those with no power than by those with some. People with intermediate degrees of power are likely to lose what little they have if they engage in unappreciated candor. Those outside the Beltway (or its local equivalent) are less subject to the whims of the authorities.

We wish Walder the best in his new adventure, which we hope will be excellent, for the sake of the millions of Chinese and others who will benefit from his services. The search for a successor should begin at once. It will be a real challenge to the Governor and the MTA to find someone as knowledgeable and professionally skilled as Walder. But once such a person is hired, s/he must be given the appropriation that is needed for the MTA to do the job right.

P.S. It is ironic that people now go from New York to Hong Kong in order to triple their wages.

Live 19 Months Longer

Mayoral Bill Bans Smoking

In City Parks and Beaches

Mayor Bloomberg this afternoon signed a local law that would prohibit smoking in city parks and beaches.

The bill was approved by the City Council on February 2, twenty days ago. The Council vote was 36 in favor and 12 opposed. 3 members were excused. In the municipal legislature, that is considered a close vote on a controversial issue. On most questions put before the Council, fewer than a handful of members differ from the majority, which usually represents the views of the Speaker (Christine Quinn). Many bills are approved without dissent, any problems either having been resolved in committee or vanishing in thin air.

None of the naysayers on the Council appeared at the public hearing and signing ceremony, nor did any tobacco lobbyists or libertarians, although all were welcome to attend. Speaker Quinn was not present either, although she often attends hearings on legislation. She deserves credit for its passage, although she may not want to dwell on it. Nonetheless, some people will live longer because of this legislation.

Under the City Charter, a public hearing is required before the Mayor signs or vetoes a bill. As a result of the opponents' failure to show up, the hearing was more a pep rally for the bill than an argument over its merits. The mayor spoke first, followed by the two relevant commissioners, Dr. Thomas M. Farley of Health and Mental Health, and Adrian Benepe of Parks. Then came the lead sponsor of the bill, Councilmember Gale Brewer, followed by the chairs of the Health Committee, Maria del Carmen Arroyo, and the Parks Committee, Melissa Mark-Viverito.

The Council vote was as follows, for those of you who know some of them as individuals:

Yes: Quinn, Carmen Arroyo, Brewer, Cabrera, Chin, Comrie, Crowley, Dickens, Dromm, Eugene, Ferreras, Foster, Garodnick, Gennaro, Gentile, Gonzalez, Greenfield, James, Koo, Koppell, Koslowitz, Lappin, Levin, Mark-Viverito, Nelson, Recchia, Reyna, Rodriguez, Rose, Seabrook, Vacca, Vallone, Van Bramer, Vann, Weprin, Wills

No: Dilan, Fidler, Halloran, Ignizio, Jackson, Lander, Mealy, Mendez, Oddo, Sanders, Ulrich, Williams

Excused: Barron, Palma, Rivera

Four of the twelve No votes came from the five Republicans on the Council, with Peter Koo of Flushing the sole Republican supporter of the bill.

This blogger attended the hearing in support of the bill, but that was hardly necessary. The first local law to restrict smoking was adopted by the Council in 1988, although it had been introduced by a number of sponsors, including the Councilmember-at-large from Manhattan, more than five years earlier. It was written to complement the Clean Indoor Air Act which Assemblyman Pete Grannis carried for many years in the State Legislature until it passed in 1989. After thirty-two years in the Assembly, Grannis was appointed State Commissioner of Environmental Conservation, serving in the Spitzer and Paterson terms. He was recently appointed First Deputy Comptroller under Comptroller Tom DiNapoli.

The principal argument for the bill is that it will prolong people's lives if they are not exposed to the toxic brew of second-hand smoke. That is smoke which has already passed through someone else’s respiratory tract and is being recycled just for you. It is now considered scientific fact that the tar and nicotine in smoke is poisonous, and especially damaging to children, asthmatics or people with weak lungs. Both Mayor Bloomberg and Commissioner Farley said smoking was the largest preventable cause of death in the City of New York, and presumably our city is not alone.

When this witness pointed out that smoking killed many more people than gunshot wounds (now simply listed as GSW by local hospitals), but deaths from smoking were quiet and often not reported on or attributed to tobacco, Mayor Bloomberg added that smoking deaths (often from lung cancer) were usually far more painful and prolonged than deaths from gunfire.

Commissioner Benepe spoke of park employees' unpleasant and repetitive labors of picking cigarette butts out of beach sand, where the smokers have hidden them for aesthetic reasons. A child (or even an adult) should be able to run his fingers through sand without having to deal with burnt tobacco, paper and ashes.

As to woodlands, how many acres of forest land out west have been destroyed by fires started by carelessly discarded cigarettes landing in piles of leaves and eventually setting them ablaze? Those fires kill people as well as animals.

Popular parks like Central Park contain rows of benches, and people sit in relative proximity. The closer people are to each other, the greater the likelihood of their involuntarily breathing someone else's second-hand smoke.

The new law will go into effect ninety days from today, which is May 23. Enforcement will be left to the Parks Enforcement Patrol, in addition to posted signs and social pressures, since it is not likely to be considered a police priority. That should not stop cops, at least, from issuing warnings to violators. Fines will start at $50, which is modest compared to the $115 cost of a ticket for double parking in much of Manhattan. The bill is not intended primarily as a revenue raiser, but as an effort at behavior modification.

Another bill dealing with the conduct of park users was the Leichter-Lehner Pooper Scooper Law of 1978, which requires dog owners (or walkers) to clean up after their pets poop in the park. People now carry plastic bags, which they deftly fill with their dogs' waste. Not everyone is compliant, but many people do obey the law, and the problem has been substantially reduced, at least in some neighborhoods.

The Clean Outdoor Air Act, as the Brewer bill might be called, will probably have a salutary effect on public health. The life expectancy of New Yorkers has increased by 19 months during the Bloomberg era, which is noted for public health initiatives (e.g. campaigns against salt, smoking and trans fats). There may be fewer guilty pleasures, but if cleaner air keeps you or a loved one from the ravages of lung cancer or other tobacco-related diseases, it is probably worth it.

DIGRESSION: If what you are looking for is assisted suicide, Dr. Jack Kevorkian was released in 2007 at the age of 78, but the rigid terms of his parole prevent him from treating senior citizens, the disabled, or advocating euthanasia. Kevorkian was allowed to run for Congress in Michigan, which he did in 2008, receiving 2.6% of the vote. Last year, he was portrayed in the HBO film "You Don't Know Jack" by Al Pacino, who won Golden Globe and Emmy awards for his portrayal of the beleaguered physician. When you smoke, you are doing to yourself what Dr. Kevorkian is now forbidden to do. END

In reality, other measures to influence behavior, originally regarded as unenforceable, have had success. The requirement to wear seat belts in cars, helmets when riding motorcycles, the bans on cell-phone use while driving - all encountered skepticism but gradually gained public acceptance with the passage of time, public service announcements and the coming of age of a new generation. Some of these changes are works in progress.

The tired argument - "You can't change human behavior" - was used against laws prohibiting racism and promoting gay rights too. But persistent effort does result in behavioral change, not always and not completely. But if it saves lives and promotes public health and well being, it's worth trying, and to its credit, New York City has become a leader in public health.

Our last Health Commissioner, Dr. Thomas Frieden, is now head of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, a Federal agency based in Atlanta, GA. Mayor Bloomberg's first Housing Commissioner, Sean Donovan, is now secretary of the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development. We have probably contributed more Federal officials than any other city except Chicago. Rule 10 - "I wonder why."

Inconvenient Truths

Cuomo Takes on Dragons,

Can He Win Submission?

Governor Cuomo kept his word and presented a state budget of $132.9 billion for Fiscal Year 2011-12, which begins April l. This figure, believe it or not, is a sharp brake on spending, the first reductions since the Pataki years. He also gave a fine speech Tuesday afternoon, with greatly improved visual aids, to make the state's financial distress evident to anyone willing to see, including the legislature.

For eight years, New York Civic has been preaching that state spending is irresponsibly high, a notion that has gradually gained acceptance even though is nothing is done about it.

On September 22, 2002, we wrote an article headlined DRIFTING FROM ERIE TOWARD ONTARIO. The geographic reference to the two Great Likes is intended to imply to readers just what happens to ships that try to drift from Lake Erie to Lake Ontario: they go over Niagara Falls, a natural wonder but a disaster for shipping. Vessels can use the multiple locks of the Welland Canal, which connect the two lakes a little over ten miles west of the Niagara River, which forms the boundary between the United States and Canada. The original canal was begun in 1824 and opened in 1829. It was subsequently widened and enlarged until 1932, when it reached its present size. Niagara Falls has occupied its present location since the end of the Wisconsin glaciation in the last Ice Age.

The point of our 2002 article, which was written when Governor Pataki was in his second (of three) terms, was that New York State was running out of money. In the intervening eight years, during the administrations of Pataki, Eliot Spitzer and David Paterson, disaster was postponed by borrowing billions of dollars in the name of various public authorities which are euphemistically referred to as 'off-budget entities'. That is an Enronian phrase that should rank with 'collateralized debt obligations' in the vocabulary of fiscal irresponsibility.

In his remarks Tuesday, the new governor also referenced Enron, once No. 7 in the S & P 500, and now a synonym for fiscal flim-flam. We have mentioned that defunct corporation eighteen times over the eight years of our editorial criticism of New York State's unsound borrowing practices and concealment of its growing deficits. Governor Cuomo said:

"When you use reality-based budgeting, as opposed to Albany-based budgeting, which is where Albany meets Enron, in our opinion, the Albany-based budgeting institutionally assumes an exorbitant growth rate that is disconnected from fiscal reality. And this has been going on for many, many years."

It is too early in the budget season, for us, anyway, to offer judgments on the individual appropriations that the governor proposes for agencies. But he is definitely inclined in the right direction. It is ironic that his message has resonated most with Republicans and Conservatives, and least with the Democratic left. That shows that the principal fault line in fiscal policy is not between the two parties, but between spenders and savers, with the Democrats evenly divided.

For those of you who are political junkies and keep box scores (which we think is completely laudable), the vote on imposing the property tax cap proposed by Governor Cuomo in his campaign was 45 to 17. The 45 consisted of all 32 Republicans and 13 Democrats. The 17 Democrats who voted against the cap were Addabbo, Avella, Diaz, Dilan, Duane, Espaillat, Hassell-Thompson, Krueger, Kruger, Montgomery, Parker, Peralta, Perkins, Rivera, Serrano, Squadron, and Stavisky.

The 13 Democrats who voted in favor of the cap were Adams, Breslin, Carlucci, Gianaris, Huntley, Kennedy, Klein, Oppenheimer, Sampson, Savino, Smith, Stewart-Cousins and Valesky. We note that the four members of the Independent Democratic Conference - Senators Jeff Klein, David Carlucci, Diane Savino and David Valesky - all supported the tax cap, voting with the Republicans, as did Senate Democratic leader John Sampson. So much for ideology, vote your district.

It has been a generation since New York had a governor of whom we could be proud. A swallow does not make a summer, but think of where we were on Groundhog Day four years ago. The new governor had already described himself as "a fucking steamroller", was preparing for the Troopergate war against Senate majority leader Joe Bruno, and was trying to impose his choice for State Comptroller, Martha Stark, on the state legislature to fill the vacancy caused by the resignation of Alan Hevesi following his first felony conviction.

The legislature chose one of its own, Assemblyman Tom DiNapoli, for the plum position. DiNapoli was a better choice than Spitzer's candidate, who was subsequently compelled to resign as City Finance Commissioner because of sundry irregularities whose details you can find with the aid of Google. DiNapoli is not as bright as Hevesi, but there are more important qualities, like decency and integrity, that high public office demands. The Comptroller is a good man, highly affable and liked by his colleagues. His industry and devotion are unquestioned. Nonetheless, it is ridiculous that he be the sole trustee of a pension fund that exceeds $120 billion. That should be corrected.

BTW, DiNapoli's new First Deputy Comptroller is Pete Grannis (park name "Reliable"), who served 32 years (1975-2007) in the Assembly and four as State Commissioner of Environmental Protection before being rudely and unceremoniously dismissed by the dying swans of the lame duck Paterson administration. When Grannis asked to see Paterson to ask why he was being fired after four years service, particularly since it was only weeks before the whole bunch would be turned out by the calendar, he was denied that opportunity.

REMEMBRANCE OF THINGS PAST

When I was Parks Commissioner, February 2 was the day of an annual ritual, consulting a groundhog who would advise what the season would bring. If the day were clear, and the groundhog saw his shadow, that meant that winter would continue for six more weeks (until mid-March). If the day were cloudy, there would be no shadow, which indicated that winter was over. In 2011, winter is not over, no matter what the groundhog indicates.

The groundhog custom is most closely associated with Punxsutawney, Pennsylvania. Its spread to New York zoos (Queens and Staten Island) was flagrantly derivative. The Borough President of Queens, Claire Shulman (park name "Queen Bee"), a good friend of parks, came to the Queens Zoo every year to open the little door behind which the animals hovered, awaiting their annual fifteen seconds of fame.

We had a difficult experience one year with Claire's predecessor, the late Borough President of Queens, Donald Manes. On a similar occasion, he saw a pair of otters climbing out a pond in the zoo, and he threw rocks at them, even when asked to stop. To me, that was as bad as all the money he extorted from parking meter operators. You can Google him, too, for a sad chapter in New York City history. Who ever heard of a great big borough president stoning an innocent family of otters?

A New Low

Paterson Ousts Grannis

From Environment Post

11 Days Before Election


Just when you think an administration cannot get any worse, it does.

After the devastating report by State Inspector General Joseph Fisch on the politics of the Aqueduct racino, we awaited the reaction of the scandal-scarred Paterson regime.

It came unexpectedly last night in the sudden dismissal of Pete Grannis, Commissioner of Environmental Conservation, while he was receiving an award from the New York Water Environment Association, a nonprofit educational group founded in 1929 by professionals in the field of water quality.

The firing of the commissioner, coming eleven days before a statewide election, is so ridiculous that it is difficult to comprehend. It was ostensibly based on the leaking of a memo outlining the consequences of budget cuts proposed for DEC. The memo was innocuous, a standard warning by an agency head of the impact of the loss of hundreds of employees. It was followed by a cordial meeting with the budget director to see how the cuts could be made with minimal disruption of services. That is why the sequence of emails culminating in his discharge came as a surprise.

Why is it that Pete Grannis enjoys such a good reputation, while Paterson's staff is viewed as irrelevant and inconsequential? It is because Grannis has done constructive work over the years to protect the environment, which people appreciate, while the achievements of the others, if they exist, are unknown.

It is not uncommon for outstanding commissioners to be harassed and belittled by executive staff. I endured those slings for years, but Mayor Giuliani was always supportive when disputed matters came to his personal attention. Apparently Governor Paterson is so dependent on those around him that he is unable to protect his own commissioners, even if he has known and been friendly with them for over twenty-five years.

I recall a similar situation about twelve years ago. First Deputy Mayor Peter Powers told the assembled Giuliani commissioners that the budget had to be reduced for almost all agencies. He patiently said that some agencies might feel in good faith that their work would be seriously impaired, that they would be unable to provide the services on which people had become dependent, that the social fabric would be strained, etc. Powers said he could understand how commissioners could feel that way, and if so, he added, "Let's part friends". Those words became Rule 15.

An unsigned, undated memo, revealing no secrets and simply seeking to avoid budget cuts, is nothing to complain about that seriously. You cut the budget if you must, but you do not fire a competent commissioner for explaining the consequences of reductions. One cannot prove who leaked the memo, but it really doesn't matter because there was nothing in it that could not be said in public.

If Grannis were insubordinate and a poor administrator, as is now claimed, why did it take Paterson until ten weeks before he leaves office to fire him? This is the politics of a banana republic, actions taken out of spite rather than reason. If you want to punish Grannis, cut his budget a little more than you would have if he had been on board with the cuts.

One theory is that this action was taken by a failed governor, through a henchman, out of resentment at the public esteem and popularity of a commissioner who had served thirty-two years in the Assembly and four years in the cabinet. Another theory is that Larry Schwartz, who holds the title of Secretary to the Governor, was responsible for the action, with Paterson either misled or too weak to prevent it.

It has been suggested that the real reason for the dismissal is the handling of the Marcellus shale controversy. Schwartz is a strong supporter of hydrofracking, a process for extracting natural gas by shooting water and chemicals to break rocks.

He has pestered Grannis for hasty approval of the project, although a substantive environmental impact statement has yet to be prepared.

Whatever reservations observers may have had with Grannis' performance are dwarfed by resentment of his dismissal, apparently over a trifle, but possibly over Grannis' desire to protect the countryside and watershed from pollution.

In an administration not known for integrity, with a governor facing one investigation after another, all for relatively small matters until the Aqueduct racino blew up in his face, the ouster of a popular commissioner, a few days before the election of a new governor, is unprecedented, even for the most dysfunctional state government in the nation.

We predict that Pete Grannis' reputation will be enhanced by his dismissal, as well as his chance of being retained by Governor-to-be Cuomo. The stain of his participation in the ill-fated Spitzer and Paterson administrations has been alleviated to some extent by his peremptory dismissal.

This is not to say that we agree with everything Commissioner Grannis has said or done in four years. His agency has been criticized for obduracy and for not reining in environmental zealots. (There are such people, even for good causes.) It is, however, valuable when commissioners support the goals of their agencies, and are willing to fight to achieve them in the face of obstacles thrown up by those who would imperil the planet for personal profit.

To dismiss an unquestionably honest, highly regarded environmentalist who has devoted his professional life to public service is a new low for the Paterson-Schwartz administration. Not allowing the Commissioner even to see the Governor is a cowardly flight from responsibility. Both the Governor and Schwartz should be ashamed of themselves, if they are capable of such a feeling.

It is sad to see an administration that began in hope dissolve in scandal. Now it has happened for the second time in four years.

Seventy-one days remain for this troubled executive chamber. They cannot pass soon enough.