Scope and arrangement
The MTA 1982 and 1987 Capital Programs oral histories contain audio recordings of ten interviews with former MTA employees conducted between 2020 and 2022, along with transcripts of each interview. All narrators worked for the MTA during its first two Capital Programs from 1982 to 1991, and the interviews cover the years 1979 to 1992. Wendy Feuer, who organized the oral history project, conducted nine of the ten interviews; her own interview was conducted by Susan Weiner, a former lawyer for the MTA. Recordings and their corresponding transcripts are grouped together and arranged alphabetically by narrator last name. Agreement forms signed by each narrator are ordered at the end of the alphabetical list.
There are two dates listed for recordings and transcripts. The first is the interview date, and the second is the date of the finalized transcript (all transcripts were finalized on October 17, 2022).
The transcripts feature annotations by Feuer or the narrators, added after the interviews were completed. These annotations, mostly clarifications or elaborations on a topic, are in brackets throughout the transcripts. Feuer also added hyperlinks to web pages containing information about people mentioned in the interviews. Each transcript lists the interview location as well.
The ten people interviewed are: Maggie Boepple, Mortimer Downey, Wendy Feuer, William Goldstein, Amy Linden, Ronay Menschel, Patricia Moore, David Plavin, Steven Polan, and Richard Ravitch. Full job titles held during the time period covered in the interviews are noted in the container list; several narrators worked in the financial and budgetary offices of the MTA.
Each person discusses the era spanning the MTA's first two Capital Programs. The interviews focus on financial planning and decision-making for projects completed during the Capital Programs, the internal organization of the MTA, management, professional relationships between MTA employees, and political elements of the Capital Programs, specifically in regards to fundraising, lobbying, and negotiating. The narrators also touch on their own backgrounds and what brought them to the MTA.
Of special interest is Chairman Richard Ravitch's interview, in which he relays his dealings with major New York political figures, including New York City Mayor Ed Koch. Also notable is Chief Financial Officer Mortimer Downey's interview, in which he discusses early financial plans for the first Capital Program and procuring and purchasing train cars from manufacturers outside the United States.
Arrangement
Alphabetical by last name.