"Losing Mysore is a significant loss" - not a quote you read in the New York Daily News every day. Or any day. That's a quote, not about the city in India, but about an official in the Metropolitan Transportation Association - a story that's getting a lot of attention in NYC, the resignation of an official. From "MTA projects chief resigns" by Pete Donahue:
The MTA official in charge of mega-construction projects, including the LIRR extension to Grand Central Terminal, is leaving - amid concerns about rising costs and delays.
Mysore Nagaraja, 65, president of the Metropolitan Transportation Authority's Capital Construction Co., is departing at the end of the month to be a private-sector consultant, ending more than two decades with the authority.
His knowledge is unsurpassed when it comes to the MTA's most ambitious construction and system expansion plans, MTA board member Barry Feinstein said. "Losing Mysore is a significant loss."
The MTA's high-profile and controversial projects have been in trouble for some time (see this amNY story by Marlene Naanes) and Nagaraja, as head of these projects, was held responsible for the problems. Here's a commentary in the New York Post by Steve Cuozzo, "You Read it Here First: A Disaster from the Get-Go":
All those who signed off on the Fulton fiasco should be hauled before a tribunal, if not a court of law. That means former Gov. George Pataki, former MTA Chairman Peter Kalikow and Executive Director Katherine Lapp, and the MTA's capital construction boss, Mysore Nagaraja - who's conveniently retiring.
To see where Nagaraja fit into the MTA power structure, see the screengrab from MTA's agency presidents page below. Post your comments below.
