Fox Meadow Resident Jonathan Ballan: Lawyer, Commuter and New MTA Board Member

Jonathan Ballan, an attorney who belongs to the law firm of Mintz, Levin, Cohn, Ferris, Glovsky and Popeo, P.C., was appointed two days ago by Governor Andrew Cuomo to serve a six-year term as a member of the Board of the Metropolitan Transportation Authority (MTA).

Ballan, who was recommended to Cuomo by County Executive Robert Astorino, was confirmed to the MTA Board by the New York State Senate on Tuesday afternoon.

While scanning Ballan’s resume, it’s clear that the lawyer’s B.A. from Williams College, his J.D. from the George Washington University National Law Center and his experience analyzing governmental issues from a financial perspective for 25 years make him an apt pick for the MTA Board.

But what makes Ballan a uniquely qualified choice is the Scarsdale resident’s daily commute to his firm’s office in New York City – a journey that begins and ends every day at the Village Center’s Metro-North Railroad station.

“I’m a commuter,” Ballan said. “I use Metro-North, the subways and the city buses. I also drive using MTA bridges, so I have the perspective of a city resident and also as a Westchester resident of 9 years. I understand the system rather well as a user, and I think efficient, safe, clean, reliable service is important. I’m going to do my best to make sure we have it.”

Ballan’s appointment to the MTA Board is one of many opportunities in which he’s been called on by groups to apply his expertise in municipal finance, public authority finance, economic development, project finance and privatization.

In addition to heading his firm’s New York Public Finance practice group, Ballan has served as chairman of the Municipal Assistance Corporation for the City of New York, chairman of the New York State Public Asset Fund and as a board member and chairman of the Capital Committee of the New York City Health and Hospitals Corporation.

As an MTA Board member, Ballan hopes to use his legal and financial perspective to help solve the transit system’s budget crisis.

“Finances are one of the top priorities for the MTA, and I’ve helped cities, counties and the state figure out how to attack finance issues begging with bond issuance and budgetary issues. This experience is directly relevant and hopefully transferrable to my position [on the Board],” Ballan said.

Ballan remained taciturn about the Metropolitan Transit Authority payroll tax for schools and small businesses, which may be eliminated by January 2010 due to a .

“The issues are complicated, and what I want to do is use my experience to analyze the problem from the various perspectives. Before I come to any conclusions, I think it’d be more appropriate to do more analysis,” Ballan said.

“I share our neighbors’ concerns,” Ballan continued. “But there are lots of different perspectives from all different constituents of users, MTA employers and residents of the city’s suburban area. I’ll try to consider all of them as I analyze the problem.”

Ballan did, however, say that the MTA’s “number one issue” was its budget.

“We need to figure out how to balance the budget, maintain service and keep tax increases to a minimum – or not have any tax increases,” Ballan said.

When he’s not sitting in board rooms or riding the Metro-North train, Ballan lives in Fox Meadow with his wife and four children – Sarah, 18, Jamie, 16, Scott, 13 and Joey, 11.

In his spare time, Ballan coaches local soccer, basketball and baseball leagues and enjoys watching Jamie, a singer, perform with Scarsdale High School’s a capella group “For Good Measure” – an after-school activity that led to a performance at the Tampa Bay Rays Stadium in Florida last April.

“It was really exciting to see her sing in front of a major league baseball team,” Ballan said.

Ballan also spends his weekends playing sports with his two youngest sons and watching Sarah, a Lehigh College sophomore, wield a field hockey stick .

But when it comes time for Ballan to leave Scarsdale and board the train to New York City, he’s all business.

“I am very appreciative to Governor Cuomo and County Executive Robert Astorino for confidence they’ve placed in me,” Ballan said. “I’ll work my hardest to do a good job.”