Are You Bored With Your Job, Governor?
Dear Editor:
Governor Cuomo continues attempting to portray himself as the second coming of the late President Franklin Roosevelt and master builder Robert Moses.
Cuomo is not an engineer, construction contractor, transportation expert, or daily commuter. He does excel at photo-ops when walking New York City Transit, Long Island, or Metro North Rail Road tracks, continuously ignoring Federal Rail Road Administration safety requirements by not wearing mandated orange protective vests, just like all other MTA employees, when touring active track areas. How many times do we see him holding a press conference on an active right of way, not wearing either a protective vest or hard hat? NYC Transit, Long Island Rail Road, and Metro North track employees are required to wear a reflective vest when working or walking near active tracks. They also have to take a mandatory safety certification training course. Has he ever been safety-certified to participate in such activities without wearing a safety vest or hardhat as required by the FRA?
If he is bored being Governor and believes he can do a better job managing NYC Transit or MTA, there is an easy solution. His last act as Governor before resigning could be appointing himself NYC Transit President or MTA Chairman.
In the interim, Cuomo still needs to come up with $5.8 billion balance of the original $8.3 billion he still owes to fund the $33 billion 2015-2019 MTA Five-Year Capital Plan.
Sincerely,
Larry Penner
Larry Penner is a transportation historian, advocate, and writer who previously worked 31 years for the US Department of Transportation Federal Transit Administration Region 2. This included the development, review, approval, and oversight for grants supporting billions in capital projects and programs on behalf of the MTA, NYC Transit, LIRR & Metro North, MTA Bus, New Jersey Transit, NYC Department of Transportation, and 30 other transit operators in NY & NJ.
Thank You For Your Support
Dear Editor:
We would like to thank members of the Queens Jewish community, our friends in West Hempstead, and beyond, for their heartfelt support for our family following the death of our mother Galina Kadinsky. A sudden death in the week preceding Rosh HaShanah, on the first day of her grandson’s preschool program, was certainly not easy. We thank our neighbors for watching the grandchildren, in particular, Ari Breslauer and George Srolovits for making the shiv’ah possible.
For those who could not attend the shiv’ah, we have received phone calls from places as far as Israel, Canada, Norway, Latvia, Netherlands, Slovakia, California, Colorado, Virginia, and Florida. This demonstrates the impact of our mother for so many people. Let us know more joy than sorrow as we enter this new year!
The Kadinsky Fami
