MTA ‘brain drain’
New questions on ability to replace veteran managers
More than a dozen senior managers have retired or resigned from the MTA in recent months — a “brain drain,” in the words of one senior transit boss, that raises serious concerns over how prepared the agency is for a long-haul recovery from the pandemic.
Included in the exodus is Barry Greenblatt, a transit executive who until last week ran the crucial rail control center that oversees the city’s subway service.
John Santamaria, who managed the Metropolitan Transportation Authority’s fleet of 6,400 subway cars, has also retired, the Daily News confirmed. His exit came shortly after the exit of his deputy Steve Halvax, who oversaw the Coney Island and 207th St. rail car maintenance shops.
Al Putre — who is overseeing the MTA’s rollout of its tap-andpay OMNY system and previously oversaw the transition from subway tokens to MetroCards — is also expected to leave next year.
The list includes a chief of labor relations, executives who oversaw paratransit and bus scheduling, and several senior officials at MTA Bridges and Tunnels.
The retirements mostly consist of officials who spent decades at the MTA and were expected to retire imminently — but sources said the agency lacks a cohesive plan to replace longtime managers with in-house staff.
One senior official at the agency said the exodus is spurred by a lack of opportunities for promotion and concerns over the competence of the MTA’s new chief operating officer, Mario Peloquin, and “chief transformation officer,” Anthony McCord, who has been nicknamed the “hatchet man” by rank-and-file transit workers.
The official worried the agency’s day-to-day operations would be impacted by the retirements, as the agency is losing decades of institutional knowledge.
“It’s been an incredibly difficult year that’s taken an incredibly difficult toll on incredibly talented people,” said Lisa Daglian, executive director of the Permanent Citizens Advisory Committee to the MTA. “If people move up into some of these jobs, there’s nobody to take their place. They’re not backfilling.”
MTA spokesman Abbey Collins declined to provide details on the agency’s plan to replace the outgoing managers, but said many of the positions are exempt from a loose hiring freeze that’s been in place for more than two years.
“These are all lifelong public servants who have dedicated more than 30 years on average to the MTA and to the public,” said Collins. “We’re also proud to have a deep bench of talented, hardworking people here who always rise to the challenge, and where
we need specialty expertise we will go outside the organization to get it.”
Even before the rush of lateyear retirements, MTA honchos have already had a hard time filling a pair of major positions over the past year.
Interim NYC Transit President Sarah Feinberg was brought in from the MTA board as a temporary replacement for Andy Byford, the transit chief who resigned in
February amid a feud with Gov. Cuomo.
Feinberg in February said she would only hold the job for a couple of months and that her primary goal was to find a permanent replacement — but she’s stayed on since then due to the pandemic and is expected to leave the MTA next year. Agency officials have so far made little progress on finding a long-term NYC Transit president, sources said.
Sally Librera, the former senior vice president of subways, resigned in June — a decision sources said was also influenced by Cuomo’s record of micromanaging transit experts at the MTA.
Librera’s role has since been filled by Frank Jezycki, a subway official with more than 40 years experience at the MTA. But Jezycki is expected to retire next year — and it’s not clear whether anyone there is qualified to replace him.
MTA officials have had an especially hard time attracting outside talent during the pandemic, which has sparked a financial crisis at the agency that could lead to thousands of layoffs and drastic reductions in transit services.
Many experts would rather leave for more lucrative jobs in the private sector than come to New York’s rescue.
After Byford resigned in a highly-publicized feud with Cuomo, sources said other executives at major transit agencies have declined job offers at the MTA, fearing their expertise would be overpowered by the governor’s political priorities.