8-25-20 MTA Transcript
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NEW YORK STATE LEGISLATURE JOINT PUBLIC HEARING SENATE STANDING COMMITTEE ON TRANSPORTATION SENATE STANDING COMMITTEE ON CORPORATIONS, AUTHORITIES & COMMISSIONS ASSEMBLY STANDING COMMITTEE ON CORPORATIONS, AUTHORITIES & COMMISSIONS IMPACT OF COVID-19 ON THE METROPOLITAN TRANSPORTATION AUTHORITY August 25, 2020 10:00 a.m. - 3:30 p.m. Page 2 Joint Hearing Impact of COVID-19 on MTA, 8-25-20 SENATORS PRESENT: SENATOR LEROY COMRIE, Chair, Senate Standing Committee on Corporations, Authorities and Commissions SENATOR TIM KENNEDY, Chair, Senate Standing Committee on Transportation SENATOR TODD KAMINSKY SENATOR GUSTAVO RIVERA SENATOR ANNA KAPLAN SENATOR JESSICA RAMOS SENATOR ANDREW GOUNARDES SENATOR LUIS SEPULVEDA SENATOR THOMAS O’MARA SENATOR JOHN LIU SENATOR BRAD HOYLMAN SENATOR SHELLEY MAYER SENATOR MICHAEL RANZENHOFER SENATOR SUE SERINO Geneva Worldwide, Inc. 256 West 38t h Street, 10t h Floor, New York, NY 10018 Page 3 Joint Hearing Impact of COVID-19 on MTA, 8-25-20 ASSEMBLY MEMBERS PRESENT: ASSEMBLY MEMBER AMY PAULIN, Chair, Assembly Standing Committee on Corporations, Authorities and Commissions ASSEMBLY MEMBER KENNETH BLANKENBUSH ASSEMBLY MEMBER CHARLES FALL ASSEMBLY MEMBER NILY ROZIC ASSEMBLY MEMBER SANDRA GALEF ASSEMBLY MEMBER STEVEN OTIS ASSEMBLY MEMBER RON KIM ASSEMBLY MEMBER STACEY PHEFFER AMATO ASSEMBLY MEMBER VIVIAN COOK ASSEMBLY MEMBER DAVID BUCHWALD ASSEMBLY MEMBER PHILLIP PALMESANO ASSEMBLY MEMBER ROBERT CARROLL ASSEMBLY MEMBER REBECCA SEAWRIGHT ASSEMBLY MEMBER CARMEN DE LA ROSA ASSEMBLY MEMBER YUH-LINE NIOU Geneva Worldwide, Inc. 256 West 38t h Street, 10t h Floor, New York, NY 10018 Page 4 Joint Hearing Impact of COVID-19 on MTA, 8-25-20 INDEX Page PANEL 1: Patrick J. Foye 14 Chairman & CEO Metropolitan Transportation Authority Janno Lieber 38 Chief Development Officer President MTA Construction & Development Bob Foran 49 Chief Financial Officer Metropolitan Transportation Authority Sarah Feinberg 55 Interim President New York City Transit PANEL 2: Anthony Utano 103 President Transport Workers Local 100 Robert Kelley 114 Chairman Stations Department Transport Workers Local 100 Anthony Simon 117 Chairman Sheet Metal, Air, Rail and Transportation Union (SMART) Transportation Division Ed Valente 124 General Chairman ACRE Jose DeJesus 131 President Amalgamated Transit Union Local 1179 Geneva Worldwide, Inc. 256 West 38t h Street, 10t h Floor, New York, NY 10018 Page 5 Joint Hearing Impact of COVID-19 on MTA, 8-25-20 PANEL 3: Justin Wood 191 Director of Organizing and Strategic Resource NY Lawyers for the Public Interest Colin Wright 197 Senior Advocacy Associate Transit Center Kwacey Coggins 203 Essential worker Member of the NYPIRG Straphangers Campaign Rachael Fauss 206 Senior Research Analyst Reinvent Albany Lisa Daglian 213 Executive Director Permanent Citizens Advisory Committee to the MTA Danny Pearlstein 219 Policy and Communications Director Riders Alliance PANEL 4: Nicole Gelinas 246 Senior Fellow Manhattan Institute Denise M. Richardson 254 Vice President of Research Citizens Budget Commission Rachel Haot 257 Executive Director Transit Innovation Partnership PANEL 5: Walter Pacholczak 283 Vice President of Government Affairs Associated General Contractors Geneva Worldwide, Inc. 256 West 38t h Street, 10t h Floor, New York, NY 10018 Page 6 1 Joint Hearing Impact of COVID-19 on MTA, 8-25-20 2 (The public hearing commenced at 10:00 3 a.m.) 4 ASSEMBLY MEMBER AMY PAULIN, CHAIR, 5 ASSEMBLY STANDING COMMITTEE ON CORPORATIONS, 6 AUTHORITIES AND COMMISSIONS: Welcome everyone. 7 We are having a joint hearing, the Assembly and 8 Senate on the MTA and what we know is a fiscal 9 crisis. I’m going to take first, I’m the chair, 10 Amy Paulin, of the Corporations Committee and I’m 11 first going to introduce the other members of the 12 Assembly who are here today, in no particular 13 order, Assembly Member Charles Fall, Assembly 14 Member David Buchwald, Assembly Member Nely 15 Rozic, Assembly Member Phil Palmesano, Assembly 16 Member Ron Kim, Assembly Member Sandy Galef, 17 Assembly Member Stacy Pheffer Amato, Assembly 18 Member Steve Otis, Assembly Member Vivian Cook 19 and Assembly Member Ken Blankenbush. 20 I am going to take a minute to just give 21 some opening remarks and then turn it over to my 22 senate colleagues. So many New Yorkers have 23 relied on a combination of Metro-North, LIRR, the 24 subway and buses to get to their jobs each day. Geneva Worldwide, Inc. 256 West 38t h Street, 10t h Floor, New York, NY 10018 Page 7 1 Joint Hearing Impact of COVID-19 on MTA, 8-25-20 2 Many have taken advantage of the cultural meccas, 3 the economic opportunities and the personal 4 connections they have in New York City. 5 Since I moved to Westchester in 1980, 6 I’ve been using Metro-North. Having grown-up in 7 Brooklyn, I’ve been using the subways longer. Our 8 transit system is the key reason our community is 9 as robust as it is. These past few months, this 10 health pandemic has put this vital resource in 11 jeopardy. The MTA’s fiscal situation is dire, not 12 only in its need for capital investments to 13 stabilize and modernize, but now for the very 14 operating dollars to keep the trains running. 15 I fear what will happen if the federal 16 government doesn’t come through for New York. 17 Sustainable funding is not possible without it. 18 Today, we’re here to listen and understand the 19 depth of the problem. Today, we’re here to listen 20 and understand the options before us. I know 21 there are no silver bullets, that most of the 22 options available will be difficult and painful 23 for someone to bear. 24 As the chair of the Assembly Committee Geneva Worldwide, Inc. 256 West 38t h Street, 10t h Floor, New York, NY 10018 Page 8 1 Joint Hearing Impact of COVID-19 on MTA, 8-25-20 2 on Corporations, Authorities and Commissions, 3 I’ve had the opportunity to work closely with the 4 administration, the advocates and the hard- 5 working men and women who operate the system. 6 I’ve come to appreciate the expertise, the talent 7 and the dedication of the frontline employees and 8 operators of our mass transit system who work 9 hard every day and who have put their own lives 10 on the line during this crisis. 11 I thank all of you here that are about 12 to share your thoughts. It will truly help me to 13 do a better job, as together we work to save our 14 transportation system, our communities and our 15 state. Thank you. I’d like to turn it over to the 16 Senate. 17 SENATOR TIM KENNEDY, CHAIR, SENATE 18 STANDING COMMITTEE ON TRANSPORTATION: Well, 19 thank you so much Assemblywoman Paulin and thank 20 you for your leadership as chair and for co- 21 chairing today’s event. I want to recognize my 22 colleague in the Senate and the chairman of 23 authorities and corporations and that is Senator 24 Leroy Comrie who is also co-chairing this event Geneva Worldwide, Inc. 256 West 38t h Street, 10t h Floor, New York, NY 10018 Page 9 1 Joint Hearing Impact of COVID-19 on MTA, 8-25-20 2 with us today. I’m Senator Tim Kennedy, I’m the 3 chair of transportation. I want to recognize our 4 colleagues in the Senate that are here with us 5 today as well. Senator Ramos, Senator Gounardes, 6 Senator Kaminsky, Senator Kaplan, Senator Rivera, 7 and I think that’s it. If I missed anybody my 8 apologies and I know there will be more coming 9 in. Oh, Senator Tom O’Mara as well joined us. 10 So I just want to take this opportunity 11 to thank everybody joining us on this important 12 conversation that we’ll have today. We recognize 13 that this pandemic has upended our entire global 14 economy. And it is hit us here in the United 15 States particularly hard, and here in the state 16 of New York the hardest. And it hit us the 17 hardest because it hit us first. We had to react 18 to it first and we have done a tremendous job of 19 beating back the curve but we have to continue to 20 stay vigilant, keep our eyes open, continue to 21 practice our proper precautions and take this 22 seriously so we don’t see a resurgence in the 23 virus. 24 That being said, as it’s upended our Geneva Worldwide, Inc. 256 West 38t h Street, 10t h Floor, New York, NY 10018 Page 10 1 Joint Hearing Impact of COVID-19 on MTA, 8-25-20 2 economy it has certainly upended transportation 3 as we know it and the economic impact that 4 transportation, particularly public 5 transportation plays on our economy locally, 6 statewide and nationally. The MTA is a critical 7 component, the most critical component to our 8 economy not only in the downstate region that 9 serves millions of people each and every day but 10 across this great state. As we know, that it 11 supports thousands upon thousands upon thousands 12 of jobs, as well as our national economy. 13 And so it’s so critical that we get to 14 the bottom of how the MTA reacted to the 15 pandemic, where we have come from, where we are 16 today, and where we are headed into the future. I 17 am inspired by the work of those that make the 18 system run each and every day. I want to 19 recognize the laborers, the workforce, those that 20 operate the system, those that maintain the 21 system, those that clean the system, those that 22 prepare the system for functioning each and every 23 day.