You are reading

Constantinides Calls for MTA Board to Have Borough Representation

Photo: Stock Unsplash

Jan. 9, 2020 By Kristen Torres

Council Member Costa Constantinides is calling for major reform to the MTA board that would give each borough president a voting appointee on the decision-making body that oversees city transit.

The current MTA board structure consists of 16 voting members, eight of which are nominated by the governor. New York City has four members recommended by the mayor, while the other four spots are filled by appointees from surrounding counties.

“Too often, high-level MTA decisions that significantly impact Queens residents are made by people who don’t live, work, and commute in the borough,” said Constantinides in a statement Thursday.

The city’s five borough presidents, who act as county executives, currently have no voting powers on the board, which carries out substantial decisions regarding fare increases, transit budgets and strategic planning. Any changes to the board’s structure, however, would require state legislative action.

“An MTA board member appointed by the Borough President, empowered with a full vote, can bring a new perspective to issues facing commuters on a daily basis,” Constantinides said.

Council Member Constantinides pointed to the recent MTA Queens Bus Network Redesign draft plan as an example of the kind of decision making that results from a board with little to no community representation.

The proposal, which was released Dec. 31, removes bus service going eastbound on Roosevelt Avenue between the 74th Street/Roosevelt Avenue subway station and 83rd Street.

“Although the agency has proposed a once-in-a-century review of the entire borough’s bus network…residents in Jackson Heights… would face longer commute times under the proposal,” Constantinides said.

email the author: news@queenspost.com
No comments yet

Leave a Comment
Reply to this Comment

All comments are subject to moderation before being posted.

This site is protected by reCAPTCHA and the Google Privacy Policy and Terms of Service apply.

Recent News

Jamaica man who attacked Sikh driver in fatal road rage incident gets 10 years: DA

A Southeast Queens man was sentenced to a decade in prison for a hate crime for punching out a Sikh man following a 2023 fender bender in Kew Gardens. The victim suffered a head injury and died five days later.

Gilbert Augustin, 32, of 111th Avenue in Jamaica, pleaded guilty on June 2 to assault as a hate crime after he derided 66-year-old Jasmer Singh as “turban man” and repeatedly punched him, knocking him to the ground where his head struck the pavement.

Krishnan leads push to end city contracts with convicted landscaping company owner

Jun. 18, 2025 By Czarinna Andres

A coalition of elected officials and labor leaders is calling on the New York City Department of Parks and Recreation to immediately terminate all contracts with Griffin’s Landscaping, a city contractor whose owner, Glenn Griffin, was recently sentenced to two years in federal prison for bribery and illegal dumping as part of a $2.4 million environmental crime scheme.