Your Voice and Your Commitment Counts, Long Island!

According the the most recent news updates, the MTA may be compelled to eliminate more that $1 billion from its budget for three of its most important "mega-project" proposals. These projects include the Fulton Transit Center, the Long Island Railroad link to the Grand Central Terminal, and the Second Avenue Subway. Originally budgeted at $15 billion in public money, the estimated cost of these projects could now exceed more than $16 billion. The MTA's CEO, Mr. Elliot Sander said, "While I continue to be committed to providing the transportation benefits and the purpose of each and every one of these transportation projects, we will likely need to trim them back to the maximum amount possible." Mr. Sander, MTA Chairman Dale Hemmerdinger, and MTA Capital Construction Co. President Mysore Nagaraja have cited rising construction costs and increasing costs for steel and concrete as major factors which contribute to the MTA's budget shortfalls. "If cuts are to be made, the goal would be to maintain the 'best transportation function' of the projects," Sander said. It seems although the plans for the Second Avenue stations will remain as stated, the plan to install a third track in an uptown section (which will allow trains to bypass railway problems) will likely be cut.
(Click on all images to enlarge)

Also important to note is the fact that the MTA-LIRR has recently submitted its Draft Environmental Impact Statement (DEIS) for its "third track project" to the Federal Transit Administration. [Citizens are encouraged to refer to the Dec. 7th post below to learn more about the capital project process.] This project, which is included in the comprehensive LIRR Mainline Corridor Improvement Project, has two proposed plans:

1. PLAN A proposes up to four grade crossing elimination projects and impacts 91 properties in New Hyde Park and Westbury.
2. PLAN B proposes two grade crossing elimination projects and impacts 82 properties in New Hyde Park and Westbury.

Presently, the LIRR refuses to release its proposals to the public and has referred all requests for information about the properties affected by the project to the Federal Transit Administration. Unfortunately, the FTA has yet to release copies of the LIRR's preliminary plans.

LIRR President Helena Williams recently admitted that the railroad's original premise for the project, the "reverse commute", was not true, and presently claims that the third track is need as "a passing lane" so that trains will not suffer from any "residual delay" heading to Grand Central Station through the East Side Access tunnel (which is expected to be completed in 2014).

Both Plans A and B specify the need to:

• eliminate the New Hyde Park Road crossing by a long and complicated process which will reconstruct a roadway beneath the railroad tracks (tracks which will include the newly installed third track), redirect vehicular traffic through residential neighborhoods and claim whole or parts of private properties via eminent domain.
  
• close Urban Avenue in Westbury to all vehicles where it intersects with the LIRR. All vehicles would be redirected across a bridge built from Bond Street, south of the tracks, to connect with Railroad Avenue, just to the northwest. A separate footbridge would be installed over the tracks at Urban Avenue.

Specifically in New Hyde Park:

• PLAN A - which eliminates 91 properties in NHP and Westbury via eminent domain - also includes the elimination of the Covert Avenue crossing and reconstructing this roadway below the railroad tracks via a long and complicated process similar to the NHP Road crossing elimination; this process will result in serious environmental and economic impacts to families in the area and the general community. It also proposes to eliminate the South 12th Street crossing by closing it to all vehicular traffic, with a footbridge built over the tracks there. This plan can also potentially reduce the NHP Fire Dept.'s access to homes and businesses south of the railroad tracks.
  
• PLAN B - which impacts 82 properties in New Hyde Park and Westbury via eminent domain - would leave Covert Avenue and South 12th Street open; quadrant gates are proposed at these crossings which actually increase gate down time and promote greater roadway congestion and environmental hazards.
  

COMMENTARY:

The MTA has finally admitted that its budgetary shortfalls and disaster-bound construction schedules place the future of its mega-projects in serious jeopardy. It has admitted that it has no funds left to build the Fulton Street Transit Center as it was originally promised to residents and business owners, as well. Since 2005, this project has caused massive chaos, closed subway entrances, dug up streets and sidewalks, and damaged neighboring stores and office buildings - with no end in sight! It has evicted viable stores, restaurants and businesses and tore down six buildings. Track work has disrupted subway service as far as Brooklyn! Clearly aware of its impending deficits, the MTA plotted to scale back its original grandiose proposals - and, sadly, this newly scaled back version seems to renege on many promises that it made to affected commuters, residents, and business owners. The MTA has finally admitted what $900 million (and counting) in public money for the Fulton Street Transit Center has bought the City of New York: a rodent-infested, vacant lot!

WAKE UP, LONG ISLAND...WAKE UP!!!

From our inception in March 2007, Save Our Village has always favored the crossing elimination projects in New Hyde Park. However, we are vehemently opposed to the aforementioned plans in the MTA's DEIS because they jeopardize our community's economic stability, environment, and suburban quality of life. We demand that the MTA-LIRR and all federal, state and local representatives hear our voice, explore viable alternatives and negotiate fairly with citizens in order to promote the best plan that inflicts the least collateral damage to residents and community.

How can the citizens who live, work, and travel through the communities affected by the proposed LIRR Mainline Corridor Improvement Project be assured that the budgetary shortfalls and disaster-bound construction schedules that plagued the Fulton Transit Center will NOT be repeated in our own Long Island communities? As Americans, we enjoy many rights and freedoms, but we also bear the responsibility to be active citizens so that our elected local, state and federal officials can appropriately represent our interests. New Hyde Park and all mainline communities will face serious challenges in the near future - challenges which potentially threaten our suburban quality of life , school and property taxes, and property values. These challenges demand our immediate attention. We must resolve to work together, along with our representatives, to protect and preserve our neighborhoods and entire Long Island region. We must make our concerns known to those who have direct influence on these matters and proactively work with our represenatives - they want to hear from us!

Please read Save Our Village's Dec. 7th post below to learn more about the representatives who need to hear your voice and be held accountable for their choices!

Your voice and your commitment counts, Long Island!
Contact Save Our Village New Hyde Park for more information about how YOU can make a real difference...