Cuomo representative on MTA board rarely shows up to meetings
Gov. Cuomo (r.) appointed Larry Schwartz (l.) to serve on the MTA board. But Schwartz is often AWOL.
(MIKE GROLL/AP)
One of Gov. Cuomo’s men at the MTA has been MIA.
A Daily News review of official minutes for the Metropolitan Transportation Authority board shows that Larry Schwartz, a former top aide to Cuomo who was appointed in June 2015, has been absent from dozens of hearings and meetings.
Schwartz missed all but two hearings of the board’s most important committees since the start of his term. He also has a spotty attendance record for full board sessions.
The people who take these unpaid positions keep a check on the performance of the agency’s mass transit network, examine finances, approve fare hikes, award contracts and monitor progress of megaprojects.
“I think it brings a lot of value,” MTA Chair Thomas Prendergast said Friday, when asked about the role of board hearings. “We go through a series of operational committee meetings and finance meetings…The board members strongly believe that they need to have that ability.”
An MTA spokeswoman said in response to questions about Schwartz’s record that all members get information ahead of meetings and that staff is available to get them up to speed when they can’t attend.
Gene Russianoff, attorney for the Straphangers Campaign, said they offer a learning experience in the ways of a large and complex organization like the MTA.
“At the board meetings, they can and have asked tough questions that have triggered the authority to clean up its act in a whole number of ways,” he said.
Schwartz, who now works at an airport management firm, has largely been absent from those committee meetings — out of 84 hearings for the top six committees, he attended two of them in July 2015 and September. Both were meetings of the finance committee, which he now chairs.
He missed six of 14 full board meetings held during his tenure.
Schwartz strongly defended his work on the board, citing his years of experience in government and his position as secretary to two governors. He said those roles separate him from most of his board colleagues.
“I think I know how the MTA works,” he said. “I think I know how state government works.”
Schwartz explained that his absenteeism since his appointment was due to helping his daughter choose a college and his job, which required traveling.
He said that he reads the committee materials and is in contact with top MTA brass.
“My reputation is, no one works harder than Larry Schwartz and no one is more conscientious than Larry Schwartz,” he said. “I’ve spent a lot of hours helping and assisting the MTA on their capital program and other important issues. Staff looks to me for advice.”
The Cuomo-appointed members’ presence on the board, however, is in stark contrast to members nominated by Mayor de Blasio.
City Transportation Commissioner Polly Trottenberg and transit advocate Veronica Vanterpool have changed the tenor of discussion with pointed questions.
At last week’s October board meetings, the duo pressed agency brass on mass transit possibly getting shortchanged when they were asked to fast-track Cuomo’s plan to ditch toll booths for an “open road” automated collection system. Tolls from motorists subsidize transit operations.
Prendergast was left to defend Cuomo’s initiative and the MTA’s decision to prioritize it.
A spokesman for Cuomo, meanwhile, defended Schwartz’s role at the board.
“Larry Schwartz brings unparalleled expertise to his position on the MTA board and has been a driving force in the implementation of the governor's vision to reimagine the entire system,” Cuomo spokesman Jon Weinstein said in a statement, adding that his attendance “is not an accurate measure of the time, effort, and dedication he has spent on this crucial revamp.”
Meanwhile, another Cuomo appointee to the MTA board — Peter Ward, who runs the New York State Hotel and Motel Trades Council and was approved in June — has also been absent from committee hearings, as well as Friday’s full board session.
In a statement, Ward said that “personal reasons” kept him from attending.
“I take this appointment very seriously and it is my intention to be fully engaged and attend every meeting possible going forward," he said in the statement.
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