By Philip Newman
Things could turn out just a tad dull Feb. 29 at 347 Madison Ave.
Nancy is gone.
No more gleaming smiles for her colleagues at the Metropolitan Transportation Authority. No more checking out her ever-changing ensembles.
She will be missing — and missed — when the full MTA board again convenes at the end of February.
It was in October when Nancy Shevell married Beatle Sir Paul McCartney in London after a trans-Atlantic courtship that began in the Hamptons.
Now it was time to resign after 10 years on the board.
“In my 30-year professional career, this has been the highlight,” she said Jan. 25 before getting hugs all around from board members who guide our transport system.
Shevell said she planned to live in England and New York.
Board member Mark LeBow told Shevell that “a little of our stardust just fell off on us.”
Shevell, 51, missed a few votes in the transit agency while meeting her betrothed at soirees large and small.
She got flak from the occasional member of the public at MTA meetings, some implying she did not know what she was doing, although she graduated from Arizona State University with a degree in transportation and runs a family trucking company in New Jersey.
But it was during a discussion of how much leave is appropriate for bus operators who get spit on in on-duty altercations that she drew criticism. She said a driver so abused should “go home and take a shower and return to work.”
The Transit Workers Union took particular exception.
But these were exceptions in a decade of businesslike service Shevell performed on the transit board, where she voted on issues, headed committees and handled other tasks.
Then-Gov. George Pataki appointed Shevell to the MTA in 2001. Gov. Andrew Cuomo will appoint her replacement.
Oh, yes — board member Patrick Foye, of Nassau County, also resigned from the MTA and will be replaced by Nassau County Executive Edward Mangano.
Reach contributing writer Philip Newman by e-mail at timesledgernews@cnglocal.com or phone at 718-260-4536.
