Railroad Forums 

Discussion of the past and present operations of the Long Island Rail Road.

Moderator: Liquidcamphor

 #1022038  by Jeff Smith
 
Man, where do I put this? It's got LIRR, MNRR, Subway, Tappan Zee......

I'll cross-post in other forums but park it in LIRR for now (for the really random reason of the picture).

http://www.capitalnewyork.com/article/p ... -joe-lhota
Governor Andrew Cuomo, who, though widely admired for his ability to bring Albany to heel, has expended no political capital to defend expenditures on mass transit. In fact, Cuomo's apparent disinterest in transportation issues prompted Lhota's well-respected transportation-specialist predecessor, Jay Walder, to bolt shortly after he came to office. And the governor has since earned the displeasure of mass-transit advocates for excluding public transportation from the Tappan Zee Bridge-replacement project, and for horse-trading a payroll mobility tax cut for Republican support of a nominal tax hike on the very wealthy.
 #1022073  by Tommy Meehan
 
Very interesting article.

Despite being a lifelong registered Democrat, I thought Rudy Giuliani did an excellent job as Mayor. I moved from the city a few years before he tookover but I could quickly see the difference. For once the city was showing some signs of having some common sense. Lhota was one of Giuliani's deputy mayors and he sounds pretty good. Wait and see I guess.

I was not aware Jay Walder was so confrontational and ignored the unions and the riders. That's terrible. Maybe back in Dickens time it was okay but not in the 21st century. China -- or wherever he is -- they can have him.

One area where Lhota is not quite accurate: When Dr. William Ronan was lobbying the legislature to fund MTA (back around 1970) he told everyone the commuter railroads would make money under MTA. Clean the cars and stations, add service, advertise and oh yeah, teach the conductors to SMILE :)

Ronan insisted that's all it would take. ;)
...Lhota responded, “There is no way that the M.T.A. can operate without taxpayer money. It was never envisioned to be run without taxpayer dollars...
 #1022396  by LIengineerBob
 
One of Lhota's better qualities is he isn't full of doom and gloom like Walder was. Sometimes a fresh way of looking at things from a different pair of eyes makes a difference.