Dale Hemmerdinger, real estate mogul, has been nominated by Gov. Spitzer to be the new MTA Chairman to replace Peter Kalikow. That’s right, another huuuuge real estate giant in charge of the MTA. Not the end of the world since the MTA owns an ass load of property. However, a property guy might not be the best at managing infrastructure…no?
Wouldn’t more of a civil engineer type be better at this kind of gig? Personally, I think what the MTA needs is someone that has a focus on improving the service technology of the system.
It’s not a done deal yet. The State Assembly still needs to approve the nomination. So, you never know, but he’ll probably get in.
Of course, I’ve got nothing against the guy. As a matter of fact, he shows many Bloomberg like qualities in the way he runs his business. He appears to be a very straight forward guy that looks out for his people.
SUBWAYblogger 
I’m thinking that Real Estate isn’t exactly what your resume should read when dealing with transportation. Maybe this guy is an expert on hiding money because that’s something the MTA does really well.
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If looking out for his people means other millionairs, look out! They aren’t exactly your average straphangers.
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Tom – “If looking out for his people means other millionairs…”
Well actually, there are reports of him taking care of his employees. For example, he apparently pays employees $100 cash for losing weight or something like that. And there was another report where he gives smokers $500 for quitting smoking. So it looks like (on the surface) that he has some loyalty to his employees. So he might have good relations with the MTU.
As for infrastucture issues, who knows.
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[…] Hemmerdinger to be new MTA Chairman? Oh c’mon…that’s not a real name! […]
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He’s also the recent ex-chairman of the Citizens Budget Commission, a nonprofit budget watchdog. Which means he pays very close attention to transparency & clarity in handling public money. This is almost certainly a Good Thing.
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