Seven Staten Island pols are pressing Gov. Hochul to remove an MTA board member who recommended stripping the forgotten borough of its promised new railcars.
The reps penned a letter to the governor excoriating the “outwardly hostile bias and callousness” of nonvoting MTA board member Norman Brown at a June committee meeting on the now-paused $15 congestion pricing tolling program.
Brown asked whether the 75 state-of-the-art R211S cars ordered up for the Staten Island Railway could be used on the city’s subway system “since representatives from Staten Island …do not support the capital plan.”
“Today, we are asking you to remove Mr. Brown from his position on the MTA Board,” reads the July 29 missive signed by Republican Assemblymen Sam Pirozzolo, Michael Tannousis and Michael Reilly, Borough President Vito Fossella, state Sen. Andrew Lanza, City Council Minority Leader Joseph Borelli and Councilman David Carr.
“The complete contempt Mr. Brown exhibited for Staten Islanders was a masterclass in bureaucratic ignorance.”
Brown, a Metro-North labor rep labor for the board, said he welcomed the pols’ campaign to have him booted.
“They’ll be doing me a favor,” Brown quipped.
Staten Island reps “have too much time on their hands … if they’re worried about me being on the board, but it’d be fine with me if they took me off,” he said.
Hochul’s office did not respond to requests for comment.
