New York City Mayor Eric Adams Nominates Deputy Mayor Meera Joshi to Serve On MTA Board
- The Indian American has led the city in its efforts to improve Street Safety, Create vibrant public spaces
New York City Mayor Eric Adams has recommended Deputy Mayor Meera Joshi to serve on the MTA Board along with Dan Garodnick, a former City Council member and now city planning commissioner chair. The nominations will need state Senate approval. “Deputy Mayor Joshi and Director Garodnick are the perfect people to help secure the MTA’s future and deliver a world-class, safe, reliable, and accessible transportation system to all New Yorkers,” Adams said in a statement.
Joshi is the deputy mayor for operations, overseeing New York City’s infrastructure, public realm, and climate portfolio. She spearheads the administration’s street safety work while also creating vibrant public spaces in all five boroughs and preparing the city for congestion pricing.
In a statement, Joshi said she’s “grateful” for the nomination, calling the public transit system “the backbone around which our economy functions and our identity as New Yorkers is built.” She continued: “Supporting the MTA’s fiscal and operational wellbeing through this moment of transition would be a great honor and privilege.” If conformed, she promised her commitment “from delivering needed upgrades to effectively operationalizing congestion pricing.”
Before joining the Adams administration in December 20221, Joshi was president Joe Biden’s nominee for administrator of the U.S. Department of Transportation’s Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration, the agency responsible for regulation of interstate trucking. In this role, she led initiatives aimed at improving roadway safety, the working conditions of truck drivers, and accountability mechanisms to integrate automation.
She was previously chair and CEO of the New York City Taxi and Limousine Commission where she spearheaded Vision Zero campaigns, keeping high risk drivers and unsafe vehicles off the road. She led landmark policy changes, including establishing robust open transportation data standards, enacting the nation’s first for-hire driver pay protection program, and providing broad and on-demand access to for-hire transportation for passengers who use wheelchairs.
In addition to her roles in transportation oversight, Joshi was previously the inspector general for the New York City Department of Correction, responsible for investigations of corruption and criminality at all levels of New York City’s jail operations between 2002 and 2008; and the first deputy executive director of the New York City Civilian Complaint Review Board, leading investigations of civilian allegations of police misconduct. She holds both a B.A. and J.D. from the University of Pennsylvania.