MTA Chairman Tom Prendergast is warning that his agency will “run out of money” for transit-improvement projects unless Albany OKs its $26 billion capital plan by June 30. But maybe it should run dry.
Consider the latest management outrage: Much of the MTA board first learned of major structural flaws in a new $2.4 billion subway showcase by reading about it in The Post.
At a board meeting this week, several members openly complained they’d never been alerted to the many problems at the Hudson Yards station, which opened to wide fanfare last fall.
Agency staffers now admit they knew since summer 2012 — but never told the board — that the station’s a waterlogged mess, with half the escalators not working and the bathrooms closed “until further notice.”
It’s the first new subway station in decades — but MTA management not only bungled the work, it also kept the problems secret.
As one board member, former Bronx Borough President Fernando Ferrer, said: “This board not knowing is a real problem.” Duh.
Another, Andy Cappelli, says the whole thing has caused “a significant blemish on this agency.” Uh-huh.
So why should MTA managers be handed billions more now?
Prendergast says he means to get to the bottom of all this and has launched a probe to determine “what did we know and what actions did we take with respect to trying to correct the conditions.”
Too little, too late. Top managers have a lot of explaining to do — starting with Michael Horodniceanu, the MTA’s chief for these mega-projects.
After all, this mess follows on the multibillion-dollar cost overruns on the East Side Access project to bring the LIRR into Grand Central Terminal.
Until MTA management explains its screwups — and puts serious controls in place to prevent future ones — it shouldn’t expect to be handed any more blank checks.