AMNY Subway Tracker

John Liu, the Queens councilman and chairman of the transportation committee, rips the MTA again for its Lockheed Martin  contract to wire the subway with 3,000 security cameras and AI software. The TA approved another $4.9 million for Lockheed, making the original $212 million contract no worth $303 million.

“ Lockheed-Martins' no-bid contract announced last August has now grown into a monstrous $300 million behemoth.  This January, the MTA testified before the City Council that the system was delayed because the MTA suddenly decided it needed an $80 million for a command center.  Obviously, a command center for this type of system should have been included in the original procurement.  Now, the MTA wants to add another no-brainer: a $5 million antennae to communicate with first-responders.  And, this amendment doesn't even include the equipment needed to operate the antennae.  This is like building a house and forgetting to draw up plans for the roof and beams.  In the post-Madrid, London, and Mumbai world, we cannot afford the type of unfocused planning and piecemeal implementation of security in our mass transit system."

-- Chuck Bennett

MTA critic and City Councilman John Liu, who chairs the council transportation committee, has again been accusing the MTA of keeping a slush fund -- unused money for the now abandoned $645 million LaGuardia Access project to bring the R train to the airport.

“The MTA is still holding on to their remaining $204 million slush fund like there's no tomorrow,” he said. “What about the twelve subway station renovations across the City scrapped by the MTA just last year for lack of funding while they kept this slush fund hidden and untouched?  Keeping $204 million hidden under the mattress indefinitely is another clear example of the lack of accountability and transparency at this behemoth authority."

The old LaGuardia money has been used for new buses and depot upgrades in Queens (more than $100 million), a new Yankee stadium Metro-North station ($40 million), and perhaps another $40 million for the new Mets stadium.

Last June, Michelle Goldstein, Director of Government Affairs for the Metropolitan Transportation Authority, denied it was a slush fund at one of Liu’s hearings.

“All I can say is that it was absolutely not hidden,” she said during the sometime tense hearing.

But, Goldstein won’t be in Liu’s hot seat anymore. Today Mayor Bloomberg announced she’ll once again work for City Hall -- this time as director of the Office of State Legislative Affairs aka the mayor’s lobbyist.

So, with Goldstein out. Who’s the next MTA person with the responsibilty of denying the existence of a “slush fund?”

Newsday photo, Liu is center

-- Chuck Bennett

OT, Oy Vey: The transit strike cost the NYPD $10.4 million in overtime, lower than first thought. A City Council oversight hearing today is set to address walkout costs with Police Commissioner Ray Kelly.  [amNewYork]

Milestone for victim: The bike-riding firefighter, left, who was struck by a private bus during the December transit walkout was finally released from the hospital today. [AP via amNewYork]

On-time almost every time: Metro-North trains set an on-time performance record in April — 99% of the commuter trains showed up when they were supposed to. [amNewYork]

Subway plot conviction: A Pakistani immigrant was convicted of planning to blow up the Herald Square subway station.  [AP via amNewYork] 

Train to the plane: A takeout on the politics behind the quest for a downtown-JFK rail link. [The New York Observer]

-- Rolando Pujol

Photo of Firefighter Matthew Long by  Howard Schnapp

For what it may be worth, City Council Speaker Christine Quinn said the MTA should honor the union-ratified contract.

“The City of New York has gone too long without a contract between the MTA and the TWU. Now that the transit workers have voted in support of the contract offer, we cannot to let this opportunity pass. That's why I am calling on the MTA to join with the workers, accept the contact and focus on what all New Yorkers want them to do: provide safe, clean, timely public transportation services," she said.

Part of the public pressure plan of the union, I guess.

-- Chuck Bennett

The MTA suffered a bit of trash talkin’ from the City Council over the weekend. Apparently the MTA is allowing properties it is responsible for to turn into dumping grounds for discarded furniture, dirty diapers, graffiti and rubbish of all kinds, according to a council report.

But, top MTA spokesman Tom Kelly retorted, “Both council members know the efforts that we take to try to be good neighbors, but this is strong rhetoric to get them headlines on a Sunday afternoon.”

While the MTA is an easy punching bag, I think most New Yorkers know that the shadowy areas under the elevated lines trestles can downright nasty and even a little intimidating. Who’s ultimately to blame the city or the MTA? Even Counilman Eric Gioia, who presented the report, admitted the law is “murky.”

In other news, the New York Post reports that NYC Transit began testing new “robo-train” technology on the L line. Trains running between Third and Eighth Aves. will be in the hands of the computers -- part of CBTC or “communications-based train control.”

And the Daily News said transit workers should expect a lighter pay check next week as the MTA begins docking them three days pay for their “illegal” December strike. The MTA said workers should give up any hope that the penalties be waived.

-- Chuck Bennett

A bit of news came out of the City Council hearing today on the MTA’s security and anti-terror plan.

The MTA did say its $212 million dollar Lockheed Martin security system — complete with artifical intelligence and smart cams — will  be up and running by the third quarter of 2008.

There was a lot of debate over human element versus AI and the perceived lack of urgency on the part of the MTA. The transit union weighed in as well saying they receive no substantial emergency training whatsoever.

Staten Island Councilman Mike McMahon stole the stage for a few moments by berating MTA representative Veronique Hakim, general counsel for the Capital Construction division.

“I think sending down a lawyer to answer questions about the security and safety of all New Yorkers is to me is unacceptable. We should be having the system put in place instead of talking about all the roadblocks and bureaucratic reasons the system is not in place and is taking too long ... The MTA seems more concerned about designing a system and taking the human element out of it and to make a ‘prototype artificial intelligence system” rather than having security in place," he said.

Oddly, Darlene Mealy, the newly sworn in councilwoman from Brooklyn and a former transit union activist was a no-show at the hearing. Transit reporters expected her to shine with the chance to grill her former bosses at a formal hearing.

-- Chuck Bennett

Transit reporters right now are trying to figure out if any news will be coming out of the City Council hearings Thursday morning.

John Liu, chairman of the transportation committee, is expected to grill MTA brass over use of its $600 million in counterterrorism funds — much of it was unspent until London bombings last July.

An aide to Liu said the focus will be on the “haphazard contract with Lockheed Martin” for security cameras.  But the controversial proposal to wire the subway platforms for cell phone use may also come up.

But, so far, only Veronique Hakim, a VP and general counsel in Capital Construction, confirmed attendance. Expect lots of long, vague, lawyerly answers.

-- Chuck Bennett