A Floral Park civic association has left a coalition of local organizations opposing the Long Island Rail Road’s third track project, saying the group has engaged in “juvenile and unprofessional tactics.”
In a July 20 letter to Bill Corbett, the leader and spokesman for Citizens Against Rail Expansion, the Hillcrest Civic Association’s executive board asked to be removed from CARE’s list of more than 70 supporters.
While it still opposes the LIRR’s plan for a third track along 9.8 miles of its Main Line, the president of the Hillcrest group, Nadia Holubnyczyj-Ortiz, said the group’s five officers took issue with CARE advertisements and a sign outside Corbett’s law office that lampooned Gov. Andrew Cuomo, who announced the $1.5 billion project in January. The sign has since been removed.
“We just felt like they were then going to alienate any future discussion. It was unprofessional,” Holubnyczyj-Ortiz said in an interview.
CARE’s website does not list the Hillcrest Civic Association among its member organizations.
The civic group’s letter also cited Corbett’s endorsement of a Republican state Senate candidate, Elaine Phillips, which drew fire from other third track opponents who say their fight should not be partisan.
Corbett has said he only supports Phillips as an individual and CARE has not collectively backed her.
But the fact that he sent an email asking CARE members to attend her campaign launch this month concerned Hillcrest’s leadership, Holubnyczyj-Ortiz said.
“We’re a civic association. We do need to be bipartisan or just neutral altogether,” she said.
Both Phillips, mayor of the village of Flower Hill, and her Democratic opponent, Adam Haber, have expressed concerns about what they have called a lack of public information from the state and LIRR about the third track.
The Hillcrest Civic Association covers about 800 homes in eastern Floral Park and has about 140 paying members, Holubnyczyj-Ortiz said.
Matthew Sexton, an officer in the village’s South Side Civic Association who also criticized Corbett’s endorsement, said his group may ask to leave CARE but its leadership has not met to make a decision.
“I think HIllcrest has done the best for the members of the civic that they represent,” Sexton said.
Corbett, a lifelong Floral Park resident and former village official, said no other organizations have asked to be removed from CARE’s list of members.
Floral Park residents know Corbett’s reputation and “what I’ve done in this village for the past 60 years,” he said.
His wife, Ann Corbett, is a former Floral Park mayor and is also active with CARE.
“My wife and I have been working day and night on this,” Corbett said. “Since this happened a week ago we’ve been spending hours preparing materials, contacting people and doing our job.”
Asked what effect Hillcrest’s leaving might have on third track opposition efforts, Corbett said, “None at all.”
CARE added Haber to its online list of supporters as it updated its website, Corbett said. He was on the list in a May 12 CARE news release but was absent from it when Corbett said he supports Phillips.
“He told us months ago that he’s with us on this issue,” Corbett said. “We’ll take help from anywhere we can get it.”
An LIRR spokesman, Shams Tarek, declined to comment, but has said public outreach for the third track project will continue as planners conduct an environmental study that will address local concerns. The study and more information about the project are set to be released later this year.
