Transit workers union sues the MTA

Subject: New MTA lawsuit - article and press release
Date: 4/18/2005 11:51:52 AM Eastern Daylight Time
From: kitchen@hellskitchen.net
Sent from the Internet (Details)


Transit workers union sues the MTA
IN THE SUBWAYS
BY JOSHUA ROBIN
STAFF WRITER
Newsday
April 18, 2005, 10:51 AM EDT

The city's largest transit workers union is suing the MTA, claiming the Authority failed to get the most money when it sold its West Side yards to the Jets last month.

Joining Local 100 of the Transport Workers Union are the transit advocacy groups Straphangers Campaign and the Tri-State Transportation Campaign, and the New York chapter of the good government organization Common Cause.

An MTA spokesman declined to comment on the suit.

The plaintiffs were to hold an 11 a.m. news conference announcing the court action at Manhattan State Supreme Court.

The suit seeks to nullify the Authority's Mar. 31 decision to sell the Long Island Rail Road yards for $280 million to the New York Jets to build a stadium on the 13-acre parcel.

Cablevision offered to pay the MTA about $425 million for the site, which the company wants to protect competition with its flagship arena Madison Square Garden.

A news release announcing today's suit said it would make no claim that one bid was better. But attorneys said the MTA violated its financial duties by selling the property far short of the $1 billion the agency's own appraiser said it as worth.

Representing the plaintiffs are several attorneys who sued the MTA in 2003 in an unsuccessful bid to roll back a fare hike, including State Sen. Eric Schneiderman (D-Manhattan).

The Straphangers Campaign and the Tri-State Transportation Campaign are already suing the MTA and the city over environmental concerns about the stadium.

Cablevision also sued the MTA and the city last month, claiming that the process was rigged to favor the football team. Before the MTA put out the parcel to bid, the Jets were all but assured of the required zoning changes and promised $600 million in state and city subsidies.

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Common Cause/NY
NYPIRG Straphangers Campaign
Tri-State Transportation Campaign
Transport Workers Union Local 100

NEWS RELEASE
Embargoed for Release: Contact: Neysa Pranger or
Monday, April 18, 2005, 10:30 a.m. Gene Russianoff at (212) 349-6460
Dave Katzman (212) 873-6000
Rachel Leon (212) 691-7071
Jon Orcutt (212) 268-7474

Groups Take MTA to Court
Demand MTA Rebids Its Hudson Yards Property; Seek Far Higher Price To Benefit Transit System


New York-Four groups today filed a lawsuit seeking to have the Metropolitan Transportation Authority rebid its Hudson Yards property to get more funding for the transit system.

The groups argue that the MTA violated its statutory and common law duties to secure the most beneficial terms possible for the sale of this valuable asset and did not proceed through a process that insured fairness to all potential bidders.

The suit makes no claim that one bid was superior to another, but asks as relief that the MTA begin the bidding process again with the aim of achieving an appropriate price for its property. The groups included the NYPIRG Straphangers Campaign; Common Cause/NY; Transport Workers Union Local 100; and the Tri-State Transportation Campaign.

The case was filed today in New York State Supreme Court.

The groups are represented by Tom Shanahan of the law firm Shanahan and Associates, P.C.; Daniel Bright of the law firm of Kennedy, Schwartz and Cure; Nancy Christensen of the Tri-State Transportation Campaign; and Eric Schneiderman, New York State Senator for the 31st District. Schneiderman represented the Straphangers Campaign and the New York Urban League in a 1995 civil rights lawsuit against the MTA, objecting then to a 25-cent fare increase.

All the lawyers - except for Ms. Christensen - represented the TWU, the Campaign and other groups in challenging the 50-cent fare hike and the closing of scores of station booths in 2003.

"The MTA was too quick, played favorites, and violated its own rules," said Rachel Leon, executive director of Common Cause/NY. "Common Cause cannot let their flawed process stand."

"The MTA cannot act like a rogue agency," said Senator Eric Schniederman. "It has a legal duty to maximize the benefit of the sale of its assets."

"If we don't get a fair price for the Yards, the loss will be taken out on the riding public in fewer new cars and buses, less repairs and eventually higher fares and poorer service," said Gene Russianoff, staff attorney for the Straphangers Campaign.

"The MTA's Capital Plan requires them to sell assets to generate cash. Their most valuable asset-worth close to $1 billion, according to the MTA's own appraisal-are the Yards," said Tom Shanahan.

"The quality of the work environment directly affects our members," said TWU Local 100 President Roger Toussaint. "A fair price for the Yards would give us more dollars for a decent system."

"Tri-State knows that money from the Yards is part of the MTA's Capital Program," said Jon Orcutt, executive director of the Tri-State Transportation Campaign. "A shortfall in money from the Yards means that vital parts of the subway will not get fixed in the next five-year plan."

Two of the groups -the NYPIRG Straphangers Campaign and the Tri-State Transportation Campaign - are already in New York State Supreme Court suing the MTA and the City over the adequacy of the traffic section of the Environmental Impact Statement.

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