There are many, many things that Gothamist doesn't understand, the least of which is the MTA's bizarre actions. Today, the NY Times' Sewell has an interview with MTA Chairman Peter Kalikow, who says possibly the most confounding thing in response to criticism that the MTA has only spent $30 million of $600 million budgeted for security:
"The easy way out would be to spend the money quickly, without a thorough analysis of the cost and benefit. The technology for this kind of stuff is still emerging. When stuff is proven, we'll be there. We don't think we should be wasting money on unproven technology."
Man, take that logic another level and just say, "Well, since hindsight is 20/20, there's no need to fix anything, because it's just going to get broken and outdated." This is why New Yorkers have problems with MTA management! AUGH! Kalikow does go on to say he'd like to use that money to hire more police officers (not mention use more bomb sniffing dogs and closed-caption TV), but can't because the money is restricted, but please, this is a public agency, Gothamist is sure there's some loophole that can be exploited to fund them. Like, "Hey, we're putting in this new fangled motion sensor, we're going to need some officers to monitor it. And they will need their bomb sniffing dogs. And we'll need CCTV to monitor them." Yes, yes, Gothamist is Pollyanna-ish, but it's all we have.
The Daily News says that the MTA will award contracts for surveillance cameras later this year. And after yesterday's revelations about the MTA's potential but failed partnership with the Army to secure the subways, the MTA emphasizes that the Army's proposals were too small for the MTA's size and that the Army wanted to have the right to change train schedules. Oh, and the Army would have wanted money upfront to pay Lockheed for work, which is laughable because the MTA seems like the kind of client that would pay its bills three months after the third invoice.
