She should have resigned from her position.

Now, she’s moving into another cushy job at CUNY. How did she get that job? Was there a panel with multiple candidates or was this a “no-bid contract” based on politics?

If anyone knows the answer to this, please e-mail me or post on my blog ASAP. If this was cronyism we should stand up against the elites.

I believe she should turn down the CUNY job until these questions are a matter of public record. Welcome to Sunshine Week.

Her inside cronies are all over the place and good people were sacraficed at their expense.

Bring back Lou Riccio and create another division to worry about traffic congestion and rapid transit. DOT should just focus on repair of roadways & bridges.

As far as a new Commissioner, Primeggia hardly meets the criteria of a creative thinker that is needed at DOT. I say give it to Joan McDonald!

However, if maintenance is all DOT can aspire to, it should be disbanded and replaced by an infrastructure maintenance agency — a position advocated by former commissioner Lou Riccio and adopted by Giuliani. Many of us think that would leave us even worse off than we are now. Maybe we should rethink this.

DOT can do better. There are many things within DOT’s power that are essentially free, and politically non-controversial. Many have been listed on these pages and by Transportation Alternatives. But here are a couple:

-The DOT commissioner could use their position to raise the level of public knowledge and debate about transportation and traffic — and create political space for more action. Currently, the advocates, business and city council are the transportation dialogue.

Among many other things, DOT could co-promote forums like the one conducted by Scott Stringer in 2006. (In the early 1990s DOT hosted a three day traffic calming forum at NYC that was attended by hundreds of people.)

- Issue a new design template for city streets that finds a new balance between motor vehicles and pedestrians and cyclists. When streets are reconstructed (currently 90 lanes miles a year)they would, depending on desired use and volumes, include features like neckdowns, raised medians and raised crosswalks.
- Promote widespread, substantial traffic calming as part of Safe Routes to Schools.
- Ensure pedestrian median refuges are protected by walls or bollards, like phone booths.
- Encourage car-free Central and Prospect Parks.
- Encourage street pedestrianizations and experiments where the community support exists.
- Promote rational on-street parking policies within NYC govt and media and business.( Granted this would require political capital, but it’s a must.)

I’m sure Sbloggers could add many additional inexpensive and politically realistic things.

It would do a lot less than you think. DOT’s Traffic division is the smallest operation in the agency. Street Maintenance, Bridges, and Ferries are have bigger headcounts, and people in these areas are unimpressed with traffic engineering or planning as a credential.

On the narrow question of what would make people at DOT happy, given the amount of damage done by people with vision (or visions, in at least one case), the best things for morale would be:

Don’t reorganize the agency yet again;
Don’t fire too many people;
De-politicize career paths;
Don’t micro-manage.

People want to be able to do their jobs without too much interference and with _some_ expectation that competence will be rewarded and incompetence punished. Vision is nice, as long as it has some basis in reality, but not necessary.

What many posters here don’t seem to realize is that policy debates are very much at the margins of the agency’s business, and always will be because DOT is a maintenance agency, not a development agency. A small number of congestion/sustainability initiatives find their way into and out of DOT, and the DOT commissioner can act as an advocate for some positions, but DOT is really not in a position to _do_ a whole lot becuase of the way the money in the region lines up. Most of the thoughts on these threads would be much better directed toward the Mayor, the Governor and people in the authorities than any DOT commissioner. Even Joan, who is very nice, capable person.

It would be very disappointing if Bergtraum is installed. It would indicate a mayoral punt on livable streets issues. Somebody needs to stir up some pro-McDonald rumor mongering. Anonymous, you seem to know the rumor circuit, how about making a couple of calls to City Hall?

Even the strongest DOT boss doesnt hold the transportation reins in NYC, the mayor does. EDC,DCP, NYPD, MTA do not report to the DOT commissioner. (SBloggers grant the DOT commish much more power than most political observers. DOT is considered a 2nd or 3rd rank agency by most.)

The implicit question is that given City Halls lack of interest couldn’t much more have happened with some leadership from Weinshall? YES! Some observers feel Weinshall essentially gave control of the agency to traffic engineers after the SI Ferry crash. There’s no doubt she was looking for another job for quite awhile. Either way, she is out of here and City Hall is signaling interest in traffic and transportation. Opportunity knocks.

We have a seemingly rare window to see many good things get done relatively quickly. The mayor’s Olympics/WS Stadium obsession, SI Ferry crash, 9/11 and the commissioner churn at DOT, were huge distractions from achieving a 21st Century transportation agenda. Now, the mayor himself is framing transportation as one of the key issues deciding NYC’s future. It’s clear the advocates sense the possibility, hopefully City Hall does too.