Opponents of Gov. Cuomo’s 1.5 billion proposal to build a third track along 9.8 miles of the Long Island Rail Road between Floral Park and Hicksville continue to offer one option – kill the project.
Never mind the economic loss of a project that transportation advocates, business leaders and union leaders have said would be a boon to commuters and economic development on Long Island.
And never mind that the specifics of the plan have not been released.
As we previously noted, the Rauch Foundation Long Island Index projects that the third track would add 14,000 jobs, $3 billion in personal income, $5.6 billion to Long Island’s gross regional product, 35,000 news residents, $40 million in additional sales tax revenue and $103 million in added property tax revenue in the first 10 years.
Village of New Hyde Park Mayor Robert Lafaro in a letter published in Blank Slate Media last week, also questioned the benefit to commuters while predicting a shift of freight and cargo from the Long Island Expressway to the Long Island Rail Road.
“People want the convenience of their own cars no matter the consequence,” wrote LoFaro, while noting that he commutes to work by train. “And why would the residents of the Main Line communities want the cargo and freight that travel along the Long Island Expressway transferred to a new Third Track through their neighborhood and past their bedroom windows.”
Well, which is it Mr. LaFaro? Would the third track result in a reduction in traffic on the Long Expressway or not?
LoFaro’s argument that commuters would be unwilling to forego the joys of commuting on the Long Island Expressway each morning and evening is also contradicted by the MTA reporting that the LIRR, which is the busiest railroad in the nation, had its highest ridership since 1949 in 2015.
This also does not take into consideration the MTA’s Eastside Access project, which will allow commuters who work on Manhattan’s East Side to get off at Grand Central Terminal rather than go all the way to Penn Station, and then travel back to the East Side. This is expected to reduce commuting time by a half hour, an improvement that is expected to increase ridership on the Long Island Rail Road in the future.
LoFaro and other critics of the proposed plan, which includes five other mayors along the Main Line as well as other elected officials and civic leaders, are not without legitimate concerns.
There is no question that large public transportation projects create problems to residents and businesses in its path. Just ask people living or owning businesses along the route of the Second Avenue subway project in Manhattan. Or those who lived in the path of Long Island Expressway for that matter.
But do short-term, local problems mean we shouldn’t do large-scale projects important the region’s economy in the future?
That is not to say that in some cases the negatives outweigh the positives.
The MTA and the Cuomo administration have encouraged opposition to the third track by not releasing details of the plan and in its absence opponents are basing at least part of their criticism on a larger version of the third track 10 years ago.
Cuomo transportation spokesperson Beth DeFalco said plans for the new proposal would be “radically different” from the plan that was withdrawn 10 year ago in the face of community opposition and will include “increased community benefits.”
Seeing is believing, but we would hope that the village officials would withhold a final conclusion until the MTA and Cuomo come up with the specifics.
In the meantime, village officials should develop proposals on how to fairly compensate people and businesses harmed financially by the project, improvements that will serve their communities such as elimination of seven grade crossings along the Main Line that delays traffic 45 minutes each morning in New Hyde Park and make improvements to the stations along the corridor. Cuomo said Tuesday in a face-to-face meeting with village officials the project would allow for the elimination of the seven grade crossings.
In his letter last week, LoFaro said a third track would increase trail traffic past residents’ bedrooms.
This ignores the fact that all those residents knew what they were getting when they bought homes along the railroad
More importantly, it ignores the possibility that village officials could seek sound barriers that would muffle the noise from all three tracks. The MTA agreed to such changes for the construction of a pocket track in the Village of Thomaston in Great Neck as part of the East Side Access Project.
This is known as a win-win.
Before they say no, local officials ought to hear what the governor and MTA are saying and try to get something they can say yes to.
