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| Re: NYCTA moves forward with photo ban (23360) | |||
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Re: NYCTA moves forward with photo ban |
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Posted by SelkirkTMO on Sat Nov 27 02:00:51 2004, in response to Re: NYCTA moves forward with photo ban, posted by Mark on Sat Nov 27 00:59:41 2004. My fault - I tend not to go into the minutae of how it really works because it tends to bore people to tears. I'm quite familiar with the requirements although I didn't work for the MTA. I worked for the NYS Department of Public Service (erroneously referred to by the public as the "Public Service Commission" - the "Commission" is JUST the five commissioners, the department is the actual agency) which receives FAR more public comment than the MTA. However, it works the same at any agency in compliance with "Administrative Procedure" ...Here's how it *really* works ... prior to the meeting where the item is on the agenda, a bunch of us get dragged into a conference room along with the boxes of "comments" ... the "comments" get piled onto the conference table. We each grab a bunch of them, along with our yellow legal pad and our official BiC pens. A vertical line is drawn, "Pro" and "Con" ... we then SCAN each comment to determine "Pro" or "Con" ... we then strike off a mark for each in the appropriate column. When all of the "comments" have been "processed," a tally is made of "pro" and "con" and totals are arrived at. Specific comments from LEGISLATORS are put aside along with any "interesting" items to be read by supervision if they so desire. Usually however, they don't. Therefore, "SITING of power plant at Athens, NY: 1,244 *for*, 3,167 *against, damned liberals" ... count goes into "official minutes," comments themselves are trucked in their boxes over to "state archives" and the commissioners vote based on what they were going to vote anyway, comments or not. Any comments by LEGISLATORS or the 2nd floor ("Governor's office") are separated out and attached to a memorandum to the "secretary of the agency" who will then have someone write up an "executive summary" of the "thoughts of the special" (usually a single page) which is then forwarded to the Commissioners. So there's your SAPA and how it's actually done ... been there, done that too many times, public be damned. :( |
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