FOR BREAKING NEWS VISIT WWW.QNS.COM APRIL 15, 2021 • THE QUEENS COURIER 21
Community groups voice opposition to LaGuardia AirTrain project
BY ANGÉLICA ACEVEDO
aacevedo@schnepsmedia.com
@QNS
Queens community groups and state
Senator Jessica Ramos voiced resolute
opposition to the proposed LaGuardia
AirTrain and criticized the project’s
review process during a town hall on
Tuesday, April 6.
Th e in-person town hall was hosted
at the World’s Fair Marina Restaurant
and broadcast over Zoom, with organizers
saying that about 90 people tuned in
virtually and more than a dozen attended
in person. Th e event was sponsored
by Ramos, Ditmars Boulevard Block
Association, Guardians of Flushing Bay
and the Sensible Way to LGA Coalition.
Th e few residents who spoke at the
event expressed various concerns with
the project as it stands, many of which
remain the same aft er nearly two years.
Th e proposed AirTrain, a $2 billion
project proposed by Gov. Andrew
Cuomo, involves construction of a rail
line of approximately two miles for a
people mover with three stations, two at
LaGuardia Airport and one off the airport.
Th e stations would connect with
the 7 train and the Long Island Rail
Road’s Willets Point station.
Some of the concerns voiced at the
town hall include the environmental
and health impact the project may have
on immediate communities of northwestern
Queens; inadequate funding for
park and promenade land; lack of targeted
jobs for residents; property damages
to businesses and homes; and overcrowding
and accessibility issues on the
LIRR and 7 train.
Ramos, who could not attend the town
hall in person because she was voting on
the late state budget in Albany, said that
Cuomo’s AirTrain is a “vanity project”
that “must be stopped.”
“East Elmhurst has long been a transportation
desert, a health care desert,
our schools have been chronically
underfunded,” Ramos said. “I can think
of 100 diff erent ways to spend $2 billion
in East Elmhurst alone, not only our district,
and let me tell you, none of it is an
AirTrain that bypasses our community,
that does not help our neighbors who
work at LaGuardia Airport get there any
cheaper or any faster, and that just simply
is a new accessory for the rich in
Midtown or for the rich on Long Island
to be able to get here faster.”
Th e town hall comes aft er the Federal
Aviation Administration (FAA) released
its 600-page Final Environmental Impact
Statement (FEIS) last month. Th e FAA
is expected to release their Record of
Decision in April, which is the fi nal step
before construction may start in June.
During the town hall, Ramos said the
FAA is “complicit in this boondoggle of
a project because of regulatory capture.”
Mike Dulong, senior attorney with
Hudson Riverkeeper, an environmental
advocacy organization, said the FAA’s
review process was marred with issues
from the beginning, including an outreach
process that didn’t reach the linguistically
diverse communities of East
Elmhurst, Flushing, Corona and Jackson
Heights, and an analysis that didn’t fully
consider other transportation alternatives
for the airport.
“As we’ve been watching this for the
past two years … what we’ve seen is that
the FAA has not done its job,” Dulong
said.
Th at day, Riverkeeper released a report
with documents they attained as a result
of litigation that they say showcases how
the FAA critiqued the Port Authority’s
initial analysis of the project for excluding
other potential alternatives. Th ey
also believe other possible additions to
the project — such as possible plans to
construct a rental car facility, additional
off -site parking, an on-airport hotel
and ferry service — mentioned in the
documents were not fully considered in
the FEIS.
Th e organization sent a letter to the
U.S. Department of Transportation
Secretary Pete Buttigieg, asking for more
scrutiny of the review process and FEIS.
When asked for comment regarding
the Riverkeeper’s documents, the FAA
said they’re reviewing their report and
letter.
Th e Port Authority maintains that the
project will reduce traffi c on local streets
and highways and provide benefi ts identifi
ed by residents, including jobs creation and
a $50 million investment in the Flushing Bay
Promenade and other local parks.
“Th e FAA conducted a thorough process
that resulted in a 600-page environmental
impact statement that appropriately
and independently examined
all alternatives and ultimately identifi
ed the Port Authority’s proposed route
as the preferred alternative for bringing
mass rail transit to LaGuardia Airport,”
a spokesperson for the Port Authority
said.
But some of the residents who spoke
about the plan as it stands at the town
hall said the benefi ts being off ered to the
community are not nearly enough considering
the price tag.
James Carriero, a local attorney, pointed
to the scenic view of the bay at the
World’s Fair Marina.
“Th is view and this promenade are
going to be adversely aff ected by the
AirTrain that is going to be about 30
feet high on a large concrete driveway
supported by at least 40 large concrete
columns,” Carriero said. “It will
look just like the JFK AirTrain. How
many of you have driven down the Van
Wyck Expressway alongside JFK? Th at’s
a beautiful looking AirTrain, isn’t it?”
Both Dulong and Carriero said the
project isn’t off ering enough funding
for the 13-acre Flushing Bay Promenade
and other parks.
Dulong said the park will only receive
$16.5 million, which he said is “virtually
nothing” when compared to funding
that other parks have received.
“Th at’s just over a million dollars per
acre for this 13-acre park, those other
parks are looking at something like $5
million per acre,” Dulong said. “So this
community is being short-changed.”
Others, including Ramos, are proponents
of extending the N and W line to
LaGuardia instead.
James Mongeluzo of Sensible Way to
LGA pointed to new FAA policy that
he said could fund the extension. He
explained that the reason the FAA is
involved is because the Port Authority
wants to collect passenger fees to help
fund the project.
“Many of us believe the extension is
a much more ideal solution than having
this AirTrain that will take you to
Willets Points and take you to the east
and probably charge you $7.75 just to
get to a subway or LIRR, where then you
would have to pay an additional fee,”
Mongeluzo said. “Direct connection to
the subway would be ideal because it
would probably encourage way more
people to take mass transit.”
John Choe, executive director of the
Greater Flushing Chamber of Commerce
and candidate for City Council District
20, said many small businesses in the
area are being ignored.
“To me, that’s ludicrous, and it really
proves the point that this project is not
being built for us,” Choe said.
Choe added that the project is just
a “legacy project” for Cuomo, who’s
currently being investigated for 15,000
nursing homes deaths and for sexual
harassment claims.
“I can think of 100 diff erent ways to spend
$2 billion in East Elmhurst alone, not only
our district, and let me tell you, none of it is
an AirTrain that bypasses our community,
that does not help our neighbors who work at
LaGuardia Airport get there any cheaper or any
faster, and that just simply is a new accessory
for the rich in Midtown or for the rich on Long
Island to be able to get here faster.”
—State Senator Jessica Ramos
Courtesy of the governor’s offi ce
A rendering of the proposed LaGuardia AirTrain.
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