On the heels of former MTA chairman Jay Walder bailing out of his contract and taking off for a sweet $2 million dollar a year deal in Hong Kong, MTA board member Nancy Shevell has abruptly resigned her post soon after marrying ex-Beatle Paul McCartney.
Shevell made one last, gallant gesture to cover the asses of her fellow board members. After a group of subway riders who went through living hell trapped on an outdoor A train for eight hours during last winter’s Christmas blizzard finally got around to suing the MTA for gross negligence last month, Shevell said their nightmare was merely “an act of God” and the MTA had absolutely no responsibility for it.
Hey, but didn’t NYC Transit President Tom Prendergast say “We forgot about that train. It was inexcusable.” Huh? What about that?
MTA lawyers responded “Tom who?” or something pretty darn close to it.
“It is shocking the lengths the MTA is going through to avoid accountability in this matter,” said Ayman Aboushi, the trapped riders’ lawyer.
Really Ayman? Don’t you know the MTA board is mainly composed of out-of-touch, politically-appointed one-percenters who wouldn’t be caught dead riding the subway?
For her part, Shevell took off in a private jet with new hubby McCartney (“Jet!”) after a ritzy sendoff by her fellow board members.
“As you ascend into stardom, a little bit of your stardust falls upon us,” gushed fellow board member Mark Lebow.
Unfortunately Shevell wasn’t described in such lofty terms by others who dealt with her.
“We’re happy the long and winding road is removing this woman from the lives of transit workers,” said Transit Workers Union President John Samuelson, who also couldn’t resist including a Beatle reference in his diss of Shevell.
The two have a long history of animosity, dating back to when Shevell opined that bus drivers who get spit on don’t need a paid day off to recover. Samuelson responded that if someone had spit in this pampered princess’ face, “she’d have a nervous breakdown” and “wouldn’t just take a day’s leave, she’d quit.”
Shevell has also been criticized for missing many MTA board meetings to attend society functions. “She had a very poor attendance record at MTA public hearings on fares and service cuts,” noted Gene Russianoff of the Straphangers Campaign.
Meanwhile, the lawsuit reveals that after the subway train from hell was finally moved after eight hours last Christmas, the passengers were dumped off at the next stop into the blizzard.
“There was no one there to help us,” recounts Agnes Hui, on the train after landing at JFK. “It was a nightmare. I couldn’t hold in my bodily functions anymore. I had to go between cars. I could have been electrocuted.”
Twitter user OMJohnny tweeted from the trapped subway car “I wanna go home! Dudes on this train are talking about cannibalism! Is anyone listening??”
Not Nancy Shevell. She’s got a ticket to London. Sorry Johnny.