Reactions have been pouring in since the sudden announcement yesterday afternoon that MTA chairman Jay Walder will leave the financially unstable organization in October for Hong Kong. Mayor Bloomberg effusively praised Walder as a world-class transportation professional who "set a new course for the MTA during an extremely difficult period when the agency was not given the resources required to meet the City’s needs." And many insiders say that it was that lack of resources, and a frustration with the bureaucracy, that led to Walder's resignation: "The MTA's got these major problems that seems insolvable, and nobody seems willing to address them, especially in Albany. And with his credentials, he could always move on...so why does he have to stay here and put up with this stuff?" transit historian Peter Derrick told us.
Derrick, who worked for the MTA from 1982 to 1996, said that while nobody knew the resignation was coming, "a lot of people suspected it was coming" because of those major problems, including the issues surrounding the capitol program, the pressure on the operating budget, and bleak promise of either more fare hikes or service cuts in the next two years. Other insiders told the News that Walder was not pushed out, but rather received an offer he couldn't refuse.
Derrick, who worked with Walder for five years, mostly agreed with that assessment: "It had to have gotten to the point where it didn't make any sense to stay here." He added that Walder had taken a dramatic salary cut in coming to NYC from London (where he made over $500,000/year), and perhaps was overly criticized for his salary ($350,000/year) here: "He always had options [outside NYC], and I bet in Hong Kong they dont make a big thing about how much transit executives are making. They expect him to run it like an executive should: efficiently and effectively, and I'm sure he'll be successful."
While Bloomberg was close with Walder, and seemed to share a similar ethos in managerial styles, Derrick noted that Walder, who was hired by former Gov. David Paterson, was never close with Gov. Cuomo, and they didn't seem to have a "warm" relationship—however, Cuomo did commend Walder yesterday, saying, "Riders of the MTA are better off today because of Jay's expertise and the reforms he initiated will benefit all for years to come." Regardless of why he left, Derrick says there doesn't seem to be any clear-cut successor in the wings to replace Walder: "Nobody has even come up with a name. I cant even imagine who would want to take this job, given what's happened to the last two chairmen."
For now, it seems that the consensus is that the MTA lost a valuable official yesterday, one who helped stabilize the MTA's finances, who kept major construction projects (2nd Avenue subway line, No. 7 line extension) going, and who focused on making small but essential improvements to the transit system which should have been done years ago: adding subway platform information signs to over a hundred stops, improving the MTA website, and getting rid of barriers for EZ Pass drivers on the Henry Hudson Bridge.
Denise Richardson, of the General Contractors Association of New York, summed up the view of Walder proponents: "This is not only a loss for transit in New York but for all transit systems in the United States. His resignation says more about our collective unwillingness to properly fund our transportation network than it does about new opportunities for his career."
However, there is one group who is positively overjoyed to see Walder go: Local 100 of the Transport Workers Union. They released a damning statement leaving no doubt as to how they felt about the outgoing Chairman:
He never grasped the notion that our bus and subway systems are the most basic and vital service afforded to New York’s working class. And he was ineffective in dealing with Albany to not only secure new funding for public transportation to avoid service reductions, but to protect the dedicated sources of transit revenue. He attacked his blue collar workforce and his own lower level white collar employees. But never looked to upper management on his “quest” for cost savings.
He leaves New York City transit in worse shape than when he arrived less than two years ago. We will urge the Governor to appoint a new Chair who will view his workers as allies not the enemy, and a person who fully grasps the magnitude of the contribution of our public transportation to the economic vitality of New York.
