EDITORIAL
The MTA’s rollout of its draft proposal to
completely redesign the Queens bus network
has been a dog and pony show since
the plan was released on New Year’s Eve.
The agency recently expanded its “unprecedented
public outreach” of presentations and public workshops
at more than 20 locations around the borough
but the effort has been lacking according to Rockaway
resident Jim Burke, who has been to a half dozen of
these public meetings as a safe streets and public transit
activist.
“We did the unprecedented public outreach. They
did not,” Burke said. “When this process began, my
group distributed 15,000 flyers on buses and bus stops
and for 2 ½ weeks no one ever heard of the meetings.
When people hear the MTA say the effort is community
driven, they just laugh.”
At a recent rally against the plan at Borough Hall,
Councilman Donovan Richards, who is running for
Borough President, said, “Every pocket of Queens is
against this plan. There was very little real community
input into this plan from the get-go.”
At an Astoria presentation last month, the MTA’s
chief of operations planning admitted that the impact
on transfers “was not considered as much as it
should’ve” been. That is something real community
input into the proposals would have fixed.
“Three buses instead of one to get to your destination,”
Burke said. “Now who would say they would prefer
three transfers over a one seat ride.”
Burke was at the first feedback meeting in Jackson
Heights on Jan. 15, when the crowd was outraged there
questions were going unanswered.
“Initially, we weren’t allowed to speak but then
Andy Byford arrived and started taking questions,”
Burke said. “Each subsequent meeting has allowed for
just limited participation from the public.”
He’s been to meetings where participants are told
to write their questions on paper and then a moderator
chooses which questions to ask and “she picks only softballs.”
Burke has been to meetings in Jackson Heights
and Corona where the MTA has brought along a single
translator who was overwhelmed by the crowd and he
has seen people taken aside from their work group for
a “one-on-one” consultation with an MTA official.
“They do everything they can to limit dissension
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AirTrain LGA deserves support
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from spreading.” Burke said.
The “unprecedented public outreach” by the MTA
has been a sham since Byford announced he was stepping
down as transit president last month.
The beleaguered agency should just heed the call of
the entire Queens delegation to the City Council and go
back to the drawing board and amend this draft and
address the real concerns of Queens riders.
READERS WRITE
Any suggestion that funding
for the construction of a proposed
AirTrain to LaGuardia Airport
comes at the expense of any other
transportation project in Queens
is not only without merit, it is flat
out wrong.
AirTrain LGA would cost
$2.05 billion to construct – and
not a penny of that comes from
taxpayer dollars or has been
“funneled” from state infrastructure
funding, as some elected officials
have recently suggested.
For AirTrain LGA, the primary
source of funding comes from
the Port Authority from revenues
that must as a matter of law be
spent on Port Authority owned or
operated facilities with only minor
exceptions.
In particular, any revenues
generated from airport operations
can only be used for airport
purposes. AirTrain LGA meets
that requirement. Rebuilding the
BQE, for example, does not.
Without AirTrain, we would
lose the opportunity to create a
valuable rail link to LaGuardia
and Queens would get nothing
else in return.
AirTrain LGA is good for the
environment, it will reduce congestion
on local roads and highways
and it will provide a reliable
30-minute trip to LaGuardia Airport
from Midtown Manahttan.
It is a project that is long overdue
and one that deserves support.
Rick Cotton
Executive Director, the Port
Authority of New York and New
Jersey
A LUNAR NEW YEAR CELEBRATION
District Attorney Melinda Katz attends the Queens DA’s Office’s Lunar New Year Celebration, co-sponsored
by the Queens Borough President’s Office. Sharing the spotlight with lion dance performers and musicians
are (l-r) Councilman Barry Grodenchik, Attorney General Letitia James, Acting Queens Borough President
Sharon Lee, DA Katz and Assemblyman David Weprin. Courtesy of the Queens DA’s Office
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