FOR BREAKING NEWS VISIT WWW.QNS.COM OCTOBER 7, 2021 • THE QUEENS COURIER 25
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Why the LaGuardia AirTrain project must move forward
BY TOM GRECH, SETH BORNSTEIN
AND HOPE KNIGHT
Communities in Queens face urgent
needs, ranging from schools to health
care, and more recently, improved sewage
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and drainage systems. However,
canceling the AirTrain to LaGuardia —
a project that will stimulate economic
activity that supports small businesses;
ease traffi c congestion on our roads;
and invest in our local parks — will not
provide a single penny to address those
important priorities.
If LaGuardia AirTrain does not go forward,
the $2 billion budgeted for the project
by the Port Authority could instead be
used to pay for the agency’s capital investments
in transportation projects in other
boroughs — or even New Jersey.
Some opponents of LaGuardia’s
AirTrain seem to suggest otherwise,
arguing that funding for the mass transit
project would be better spent elsewhere
in the community. We all understand
the need for greater investment in critical
community resources and infrastructure,
particularly aft er many of the communities
nearest to the airport were hardhit
by COVID-19 and Hurricane Ida. But
those are needs that city, state and federal
offi cials must address – not a selffunding
agency created by Congress solely
to build transportation infrastructure
and to stimulate economic development.
Th e Port Authority is legally restricted to
spending the revenues it raises only on its
own transportation projects and facilities.
Th e Port Authority has myriad transportation
priorities that need funding,
from a new bus terminal in Midtown to
New Jersey’s PATH train expansion. Th e
bi-state agency has so far prioritized capital
funding for AirTrain as part of its
commitment to a complete transformation
of LaGuardia Airport. It would be a
shame to lose that signifi cant investment
in Queens.
Th e fact is that construction of
LaGuardia’s AirTrain will deliver real
benefi ts to Queens, to the borough’s residents,
and its local and minority- and
women-owned businesses. Building
AirTrain will create 3,000 good-paying,
union construction jobs with a hiring
and recruitment program targeting local
residents. It will create permanent jobs
operating and maintaining AirTrain, with
80% of those posts fi lled by applicants
from communities nearest to LaGuardia
Airport. AirTrain will create $500 million
in contracting opportunities for minority
and women-owned businesses, as well
as local businesses in Queens. AirTrain
would include a new, ADA-accessible
LIRR station at Willets Point with fulltime
service to Penn Station and Grand
Central Terminal for the fi rst time. And
it would remove millions of cars a year
from local streets and highways, reducing
congestion and greenhouse gases that
contribute to climate change.
In addition, AirTrain LaGuardia delivers
a robust package of community benefi
ts that includes a historic $50 million
to make signifi cant improvements to the
Malcolm X Promenade at Flushing Bay
and other local parks, including longterm
fi nancial support for maintenance.
Th e Promenade has not seen any investment
in more than a generation. If we
lose this opportunity, it will likely not see
any investment for at least another generation,
if not longer. More than 5,000 trees
would also be planted in the community.
AirTrain will also provide funding for
STEM programs for local middle school
students and college scholarships for students
from the nearby communities of
East Elmhurst and Corona. Th ese will
be real investments in the community
that were demanded by the community,
and the Port Authority is actually able to
deliver them only because of the AirTrain
to LaGuardia. Without that project, these
investments also disappear.
AirTrain is the only rail alternative of
the nearly 50 that were independently
evaluated by the FAA that would be built
without the taking of any private property
and that does not run through any residential
or commercial neighborhoods.
Signifi cantly, it would be built without
any taxpayer dollars — leaving those
much-needed public funds for other
worthy projects.
It should be noted that there was similar
resistance to the JFK AirTrain. Some
believed it would not be utilized, be an
eyesore, and devalue the surrounding
area. Th e opposite has happened; it is well
used, is not an eyesore and it has spurred
development.
All of this would be lost if AirTrain
does not go forward. And for Queens,
that would be a tragic loss of investment,
jobs and economic activity that’s sorely
needed to help lift up and restore our
communities aft er the brutal eff ects of
COVID.
Tom Grech is the president and CEO
of the Queens Chamber of Commerce.
Seth Bornstein is the executive director
of the Queens Economic Development
Corporation. Hope Knight is the president
and CEO of the Greater Jamaica
Development Corporation.
QUESTIONS
SURROUND MTA’S
PLANNED ZERO
EMISSION BUS FLEET
“Public transit does its part in
reducing NYC’s carbon footprint”
(op-ed by Craig Cipriano, Sept. 30)
overlooked critical details of how
the MTA reaches a zero-emission,
all-electric, 5,800-bus fl eet by 2040.
Th e estimated cost of an electric
bus can range from $1 to $1.4
million per vehicle, or $200,000 or
more over the price of a standard
clean diesel bus. Th e price depends
on if it is a standard 40 foot, articulated
or over the road coach model.
To replace 100% of the fl eet
would cost the MTA over $6 billion
in 2020 dollars. Add another
$1 billion for all the other non
MTA transit operators.
We need to see what the detailed
costs would be for facility modifi
cations to 29 MTA bus garages
to accommodate installation
of electrical power plug-ins. Th e
MTA needs to upgrade some bus
depots that are located in fl oodprone
areas.
Between design, engineering,
construction and other costs
(including work with Con Edison,
PSE&G, other local utilities and the
New York Power Authority), this
will be a very expensive and timeconsuming
proposition.
Much of this information would
be provided within the MTA’s 2020-
2040 20-Year Long-Range Capital
Needs Plan. Former Governor
Cuomo and past MTA Chairman
Pat Foye promised to make this
document public by December
2019. It is now 21 months late.
Perhaps interim MTA NYC
Transit President Cipriano can
convince Governor Kathy Hochul
and Acting MTA Chairman Janno
Lieber to let commuters, taxpayers,
transit advocates and local elected
offi cials access to this critical report
sooner rather than later.
Th ere are other alternatives such
as clean diesel, compressed natural
gas or methanol to consider.
Th ey could provide similar benefi
ts, cost less and be implemented
more quickly. Nassau Inter County
Express Bus provides service under
contract to Nassau County on Long
Island with a fl eet of 288 buses
— all fueled by compressed natural
gas. Th ey have made a positive
contribution for decades in helping
keep the air clean.
As we move away from dependency
on nuclear and coal powered
production, perhaps some in the
MTA have forgotten that creation
of electricity other than hydro electric,
solar or wind farms is not necessarily
clean.
Larry Penner, Great Neck
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