Last Stop for MTA Chairman
Kalikow said he will resign soon, a welcome announcement for Spitzer

Peter Kalikow, chairman of the Metropolitan Transportation Authority (MTA), announced today that he will step down from that position as soon as his successor, who will be chosen by Governor Eliot Spitzer, is ready to take over. Governor George Pataki appointed Kalikow last June to serve a second six-year term. Many observers saw this move as a taunt to the advancing Spitzer, who later asked Kalikow to step down in order to make way for his reported choice, Elliot (Lee) Sander. But instead of assuming the role of chairman, in January Sander became MTA executive director and CEO. This may explain speculation in the press that the new chairman will serve in more of an advisory role than the hands-on Kalikow, leaving most of the day-to-day operations and administration to Sander.

Kalikow had said in the past that he would stay on as chairman at least until two major programs pending federal funding were underway: the 2nd Ave subway line and a Long Island Railroad connection to Grand Central Station, which is expected to pass in the next six to eight months, according to The New York Times. As of yet, the Spitzer administration has offered no comment as to whether Kalikow will be in place for the LIRR groundbreaking.

“I am a firm believer in setting aggressive goals, accomplishing those goals, and then giving others the opportunity to both expand upon those initiatives and create new ones with fresh vision and new energy,” Kalikow said in a statement released by the MTA. Some of those major goals, beyond the above two, included overseeing post-9/11 transit reconstruction and the passage of the 2005 Bond Act, which secured $2.9 billion for transit infrastructure. That same year, he also negotiated the tenuous transit strike that froze the city for days in December.

Spitzer paid Kalikow a backhanded compliment in the MTA statement, as well as hinting at the future. “I would like to thank Peter Kalikow for his service to the state and the MTA, and for working cooperatively with MTA executive director and CEO Lee Sander since his appointment in January,” Spitzer said. “I will be looking for a new chairman who will help oversee Lee’s ambitious plans for the agency.”

Matt Chaban

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