NYT: Gantt Should Get Yanked As Transportation Head
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- July
- 25
The New York Times had a stern editorial about Rochester Democratic Assemblyman David Gantt yesterday over his opposition to putting more cameras at red lights to nab speeders and traffic violators.
“Mr. Gantt is a Democratic assemblyman from Rochester. That’s the Rochester that is 333 miles from Times Square,” the editorial reads.
“He has long controlled the State Assembly’s Transportation Committee with an iron fist, micromanaging New York City’s traffic from afar and for bewildering reasons.”
It has always been unclear why Gantt has been opposed to red-light cameras at intersections, but he again blocked legislation this year that would have let several cities, including Yonkers and Buffalo, to have a pilot program with some cameras.
“The only real clue is that Mr. Gantt apparently decided years ago that he does not like cameras in public places. Too big brother,” the editorial said.
New York City is the only place that has been allowed to have the cameras, but Gantt has thwarted efforts to expand the number of cameras the city has. The Times said that the city only has 100 cameras at streetlights, leaving 11,900 intersections without them.
Gantt also came under fire this year when he sponsored a red-light camera bill that favored a technology company, CMA Consulting—now home to new CEO Joseph Bruno—that hired Gantt’s buddy and lobbyist, Scott Gaddy. The legislation was not forwarded by Gantt, though.
“It makes no sense for one upstate legislator to strangle progress — and safety — in New York City,” the editorial concludes. “This should be a matter decided by New York’s mayor and City Council. Since it is not, Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver and his Democratic majority should replace committee chairmen like Mr. Gantt who have clearly been there too long. If he won’t, the voters should.”
This entry was posted
on Friday, July 25th, 2008 at 3:40 pm by Joseph Spector.
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Jay Gallagher has covered Albany for Gannett News Service since 1984 and has been Albany Bureau chief since 1989. He`s a native of the Boston area and likes to point out that in this millennium, the score is Red Sox 1 championship, the Yankees 0. 
Cara Matthews has been a statehouse correspondent in the Albany Bureau since August 2005. Prior to that, she covered Putnam County government and politics at The Journal News for nearly five years. Before that, she worked at newspapers in Connecticut and covered the state Legislature for one of them. 
