Comments on: Lee Sander Stepping Down

By: gecko

gecko — Mon, 11 May 2009 09:13:10 +0000

If Sanders had integrated cycling into the MTA he would have greatly improved the system and we all would have been a lot better off.

It is just that simple.

By: WhyNot

WhyNot — Mon, 11 May 2009 04:08:33 +0000

Niccolo, Sander's chief mistake is that he took a job that he is way too crappy a manager to be able to pull off. You may be right that Ravitch or Gunn would fair poorly these days, but they are nevertheless far more capable and substantive than Lee.

By: WhyNot

WhyNot — Mon, 11 May 2009 04:05:13 +0000

To Jasca. The obvious box-shuffling gimmick is Sander's annointing "managers" for individual train lines, which serves no purpose except to give the appearance of change. At the same time, it adds a layer of management and tosses away economies of scale and established ways of working for absolutely no performance or cost benefit. He made similar moves at City DOT. Apart from that you just have see the guy up close in action. All he does is spout gibberish and avoid answering people's questions. To give away more than that would be to give away too much. If you know anyone who works at the MTA whose opinion you value, ask them what they think of Lee. You are very unlikely to hear a positive opinion.

By: Niccolo Machiavelli

Niccolo Machiavelli — Sat, 09 May 2009 02:15:31 +0000

WhyNot - I come not to praise Caesar but to bury him.
These sainted figures you compare Mr. Sander to have long past their shelf life and could never have ruled in the fishbowl that the media has made of the MTA. Lee's chief mistake was empowering Grey Beard Ravitch to fumble the critical bridge toll political strategy. That was after Mayor Moneybags refused to make it part of his last political campaign because he had to win by several thousand percentage points. All the critics wanted transparency, Lee let them watch while the sausages were made and, I'm shocked, others wanted the casings handled differently.

By: herenthere

herenthere — Fri, 08 May 2009 19:15:41 +0000

BOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO Paterson

By: Jasca

Jasca — Fri, 08 May 2009 18:53:09 +0000

To #16 WhyNot --

Could you give some examples? I am not trying to put you on the spot, but, these would be useful for outsiders to understand. Otherwise, you're just making an anonymous attack that isn't grounded in anything and should be discounted.

By: Urbanis

Urbanis — Fri, 08 May 2009 17:01:37 +0000

@ Cap't Transit: I'm glad you're only kidding. I want Diaz de-fanged and out of office at the next opportunity.

By: WhyNot

WhyNot — Fri, 08 May 2009 15:49:05 +0000

The reaction here is amazing. Among professionals who have actually dealt with Sander (and by this I mean people who work hard every day to try to manage their organizations sanely and competently, not sandbaggers and malcontents), Sander is universally regarded as a twit. His stock in trade is throwing out wonkish mumbo jumbo and shuffling around the boxes on the org chart. This guy is in no way in the league of say Richard Ravitch or David Gunn. He is a pure empty suit, and always has been. The only things I find objectionable to his being fired are the total absence of reasoning behind the act, the failure to send Howard Roberts packing along with him, and the notion that Paterson (a man completely incapable of judging others' abilities) will now actually have to hire someone.

By: Jeffrey Hyman

Jeffrey Hyman — Fri, 08 May 2009 15:28:45 +0000

Post the date for the Sander-lovefest and I AM THERE! I didn't think I could have a lower opinion of Albany than I already had, that is, until the past two months. Is it just going to keep getting worse?

By: Larry Littlefield

Larry Littlefield — Fri, 08 May 2009 13:31:46 +0000

My take: if you are going to fired anyway, you might was well tell the truth.

I was disappointed that the incoming Spitzer Administration didn't stop the borrowing, freeze the situation, and make a public accounting of it. It wouldn't have made a lot of people happy, but in the end no one is going to be happy anyway.

I was stunned when 50 year plans were released, which sounded like more empty promises to anyone aware of the financial situation, instead of calls for short term sacrifice for long term gains after years of the reverse.

The best I heard of the Sander Administration was a throwaway line in an article about Straphangers being inconvenienced by the reconstruction of the 9th Street viaduct, which will otherwise eventually shut down the F train the way the Manhattan Bridge was shut down for 20 years.

After years of overpaying for construction and then over-running even that, and not worrying about because after all its just borrowed money anyway, the bids reportedly came in something like 40% below estimates. THAT is what has to be done.

By: Cap'n Transit

Cap'n Transit — Fri, 08 May 2009 12:11:58 +0000

If the rally fails, I second what Mark Walker said. The Governor should appoint one of these senators to head the MTA; then it will be just as "transparent" as the way the Senate does business. I would nominate Ruben Diaz, but I don't want that homophobe in charge of anything that would give him a chance to discriminate against GLBT people. Maybe John Deutzman. Or Gene Russianoff.

By: mfs

mfs — Fri, 08 May 2009 03:34:04 +0000

I second JK.

By: Rhywun

Rhywun — Fri, 08 May 2009 03:21:37 +0000

I guess that's possible, if you assume by then that the state budget has ballooned so high there's nothing else left to tax/toll.

By: Cap'n Transit

Cap'n Transit — Fri, 08 May 2009 02:46:30 +0000

Well, don't worry, everyone! We'll have another round next year, but then it'll be the Senate and the Assembly's turn to vote for bridge tolls while the Mayor and Governor block it.

By: Rhywun

Rhywun — Fri, 08 May 2009 01:23:51 +0000

And I was ready to give Paterson the benefit of the doubt through most of this. He's new, he's sort of likeable. But not now. This just reeks of the same old Albany that's been stinking up the Northeast for the last couple generations. Backroom deals, sacrificial lambs, reward your "friends", and of course, never accomplish today what you can postpone until after the next election. Disgraceful.

By: Glenn McAnanama

Glenn McAnanama — Fri, 08 May 2009 01:04:34 +0000

Yes, Ian. That's right. Where was the Manhattan Assembly and Senate delegation to counter the grandstanding pro-car, anti-transit, out of touch outerborough elitist (compared to their constituents) class of legislators?

Where were the legislators to supply real facts and data to the debate to counter with logical, rational arguments against clear pandering against the needs of the city? Or at least someone to counter their stupid grandstanding with their own stupid grandstanding on our side?

The Fare Hike Four, similar to Weprin & Co during the congestion pricing fight, were out in the media, presented a unified front against a particular policy proposal and got their way. A few Manhattan Senators could have done the same and yet they were nowhere to be found. You could not find a quote from them in the media. They left the battlefield to the Fare Hike Four.

By: Ian Dutton

Ian Dutton — Fri, 08 May 2009 00:40:47 +0000

I totally agree that the leaders in charge of the MTA need to be replaced for there to be real reform, to properly serve the needs of the ridership and the greater populace.

Those leaders, namely, are Malcolm Smith, Sheldon Silver, the members of the legislative chambers they "lead," and to a lesser extent David Paterson.

What a disgrace. And where have the pro-city voices been to counter the anti-city zealots that make headlines as they run the transit system into the ground by borrowing their way out of properly sustaining the MTA and into a burden of impossible debt? I only hear crickets.

By: Bystander

Bystander — Fri, 08 May 2009 00:10:47 +0000

Yo Cap'n. I'm up for the rally. When and where?

It's totally outrageous to sacrifice Sander on this, but completely consistent with Patterson's approach to his job.

By: Cap'n Transit

Cap'n Transit — Thu, 07 May 2009 23:41:11 +0000

Who's up for a "Save Lee Sander" rally?

By: Dan Berkman

Dan Berkman — Thu, 07 May 2009 23:16:07 +0000

Way to throw a guy under the bus Gov. The optics of this are terrible. It gives cover to Albany for their gross negligence and makes the MTA look bad at the same time.