De Blasio taps Ozone Park native, Paralympic athlete for MTA Board

Victor Calise, the commissioner of the Office for People with Disabilities and an Ozone Park native, has been nominated to serve on the MTA Board by Mayor Bill de Blasio. Photo via MOPD.

By Jonathan Sperling

Ozone Park native and Office for People with Disabilities Commissioner Victor Calise has been nominated for the MTA Board, Mayor Bill de Blasio announced Tuesday.

Calise, a former Paralympian, has been a fierce advocate for people with disabilities. He would be the MTA Board’s first member with a disability. He’s served as head of the Office for People with Disabilities since 2012.

Calise attended St. John’s University and Queens College, where he received a bachelor’s degree in sports management and a master’s degree in urban affairs, respectively. He also competed in the 1998 Paralympic Games in Japan as a member of the first U.S. national sled hockey team.

In a statement, Calise said he was “honored” to receive the nomination.

"To be the only person with a self-disclosed disability currently on the MTA Board is an important responsibility that I will not take lightly. I look forward to working with the Governor’s Office and the State Senate on my confirmation and pledge to advocate for a transit system that works well for everyone—including the millions of New Yorkers and visitors who have intellectual/developmental, vision, hearing or physical disabilities,” Calise said.

The MTA has long been criticized for its subway system being inaccessible to people with disabilities, especially in Queens, where entire neighborhoods have lacked ADA-accessible subway stations.

Hope is on the horizon, however. Several Queens subway stations, including Court Square on the E/M line, Northern Boulevard on the M/R line, 33rd Street on the No. 7 line, 46th Street on the No. 7 line and Parsons Boulevard on the F line, have been slated to be made ADA-accessible as part of the MTA’s 2020-2024 Capital Plan.