Being A Beatle's Girlfriend Leaves Little Time For MTA Work

Nancy Shevell and Paul McCartney at a London movie premiere the day the MTA Finance Committee voted to approve fare hikes and service cuts

With the MTA essentially in crisis, the Post pointed out that Shevell, 49, was absent for the MTA Finance Committee's vote to approve the "doomsday" fare hikes and service cuts. Instead, on March 23, she was at a London movie premiere, the AP reports, "beam[ing] for hundreds of cameras... green silk jacket on one arm and Paul McCartney on the other." Her absence led City Council Transportation Committee Chair John Liu to surmise she "does not belong on the MTA board... I don't see how you go to a show when an important vote that will impact millions of people is taking place."

Shevell, who was appointed the board in 2001 by former Governor Pataki (her ex-husband's friend) and chairs the Capital Construction/Planning and Real Estate committee, did make it back to NYC for the full board vote two days later. Still, reviewing attendance records, the AP says Shevell "missed four full board meetings, more than any voting member" since January 2008, "attended one Finance Committee meeting in the past year, and has 26 absences total, giving her the "worst attendance of any voting board member [since early 2008]."

The MTA characterized her as an active member, pointing out that board members are not paid and spend hours at meeting and reading materials. Still, Gene Russianoff of the Straphangers Campaign, who says Shevell is effective (when she's there), thinks the absences are "significant. The whole point of the board is to be a check and balance on the MTA's staff work. You've got to be physically present to do that." But People deputy managing editor Peter Castro tells the AP, "How many of us would be happy at an MTA meeting versus stepping out onto the red carpet at a Grammy event with a living Beatle?"