FOR BREAKING NEWS VISIT WWW.QNS.COM MAY 31, 2018 • THE QUEENS COURIER 33
oped
A LOOK BACK
It’s that time of year again when schools across our borough bid farewell to their graduating classes. We checked the Ridgewood Times
archives for some old graduation pictures and came across this black-and-white vintage photograph. Here are the eighth-grade graduates
of the Class of 1952 from P.S. 68 in Glendale. Send us your historic photos of Queens by email to editorial@qns.com (subject: A Look Back)
or mail printed pictures to A Look Back, The Queens Courier, 38-15 Bell Blvd., Bayside, NY 11361. All mailed pictures will be carefully
returned to you.
letters & comments
LaGuardia AirTrain
won’t be for a billion
BY LARRY PENNER
Governor Andrew Cuomo continues to be
overly optimistic concerning building a train to
the plane for LaGuardia Airport.
In early 2014, Governor Cuomo said the estimated
cost for construction of the LaGuardia
AirTrain would be $450 million. At the time, this
was based upon a planning feasibility study. Over
four years have passed since Cuomo announced
this project with little progress to date. Th ere are
no environmental documents or any preliminary
design and engineering eff orts necessary to validate
any actual construction costs. Th e environmental
review process will be further delayed.
More time will be needed to look at new proposed
concepts of building the AirTrain over
Flushing Bay versus the original option of using
the Grand Central Parkway median. Th is could
easily add several hundred million dollars to
overall construction costs.
I previously wrote that the anticipated fi nal
potential cost for LaGuardia Airtrain could end
up being several hundred million dollars above
Cuomo’s estimated fi gure of $450 million. I also
predicted that the promised completion date by
2019 was unrealistic. Both have proven to be
true.
Th e Port Authority 2017-2026 capital budget
plan lists this project at $1 billion. Costs will be
further refi ned as the project progresses through
the environmental review process, preliminary
and fi nal design, award of construction contracts
followed by change orders to the base contracts
during construction.
Cuomo’s belief that this will provide a “one-seat
ride” for those traveling to and from LaGuardia
Airport isn’t born out by the facts. Th ere will be
signifi cant confl icts when the LaGuardia Airtrain
is built and open for service with connections to
both the Mets Willets Point subway and LIRR
stations.
Why would any LaGuardia Airport bound
travelers with luggage attempt to squeeze in on
already packed morning and aft ernoon rush
hour subway and LIRR trains?
Th ere is no room to run additional trains in
or out of Penn Station via the East River tunnels
with connections via the Port Washington LIRR
branch to any LaGuardia AirTrain. Th is confl icts
with Cuomo’s promise to have the MTA LIRR
introduce a new frequent service between Penn
Station and Mets Willets Point LIRR Station.
With three tracks merging into two tracks
between the 33rd Street and Queensboro Plaza
stations, there is also no space to run any
additional 7 line rush hour trains to serve the
LaGuardia AirTrain. It could easily cost $5 to
$10 billion to construct a third track plus a new
East River tunnel west of Queensboro Plaza.
Th is is necessary to extend express service into
Manhattan. Th e concept is clearly not feasible
either technically or fi nancially.
To build a train to the plane within fi ve years
for $1 billion is a planner’s dream. In reality, it
will be a nightmare for both taxpayers and riders.
You can count on cost overruns in the hundreds
of millions and multiyear delays in construction
before reaching benefi cial use.
Larry Penner is a transportation historian and
advocate who previously worked 31 years for
the U.S. Department of Transportation Federal
Transit Administration Region 2 NY Offi ce.
QUEENS DEMS NEED
REFORM, READER SAYS
Last week, the Queens County
Democratic Party, chaired by
Congressman Joseph Crowley,
endorsed state Senator Jose Peralta’s
re-election.
Th is decision in eff ect rewarded the
senator for caucusing with Trump
Republicans in Albany. Together this
coalition blocked progressive legislation
that would protect immigrant
communities from ICE, guaranteed
healthcare coverage to all New
Yorkers, and reformed our broken
criminal justice system.
Protecting turncoat elected offi cials
for no reason other than incumbency
and the whimsical desires of a county
chair is not democracy, it’s an insult to
what the party should aspire.
Th e Queens Democrats Party is in
need of serious structural reform.
Ethan Felder, member of
Queens Community Board 6
ON THE NFL’S STAND
AGAINST ANTHEM
KNEELING
I feel the NFL owners have fi nally
united and have fi nally have taken
a stand against kneeling during the
national anthem.
Teams will be fi ned and players will
be faced with the consequences of
their actions. Also those who don’t
want to stand can stay in the locker
rooms.
Th e act of kneeling during the
national anthem, I feel, is an insult to
all of us who have died and served our
country in the military — not to mention
those who have lost limbs protecting
the rights we all hold most dear.
In my opinion protesting is the
right of those who feel abused by
police but there are many police offi -
cers who protect the many and meanwhile
there have many police offi cers
who have been killed in the line of
duty nationwide. Th e majority of our
police deserve respect and should be
honored.
Frederick R. Bedell Jr.,
Glen Oaks Village
Editor’s note: Time and time again,
NFL players who have chosen to kneel
during the playing of the national
anthem have stated that their protest
was not intended to disrespect members
of the Armed Forces.
As Eric Reid, a San Francisco 49ers
safety, explained in a September
2017 op-ed for Th e New York Times,
he and his former teammate, Colin
Kaepernick, chose to kneel “aft er hours
of careful consideration, and even a
visit from Nate Boyer, a retired Green
Beret and former NFL player.”
“We chose to kneel because it’s a
respectful gesture. I remember thinking
our posture was like a fl ag fl own
at half-mast to mark a tragedy,” Reid
wrote in the Times. “It baffl es me that
our protest is still being misconstrued
as disrespectful to the country, fl ag and
military personnel. We chose it because
it’s exactly the opposite. It has always
been my understanding that the brave
men and women who fought and died
for our country did so to ensure that
we could live in a fair and free society,
which includes the right to speak out in
protest.”’
Even NFL Commissioner Roger
Goodell, in announcing the league’s
new national anthem policy last week,
said as much: “It was unfortunate that
on-fi eld protests created a false perception
among many that thousands of
NFL players were unpatriotic. Th is is
not and was never the case.”
Th e NFL, as a private business, has
a right to regulate its own practices, so
they are free to penalize players who
choose to kneel during the national
anthem. Th at is their prerogative.
However, in the United States of
America, people have the right to protest
— an inalienable right guaranteed
to them under the First Amendment of
the Constitution that our armed forces
have valiantly defended through
the years.
Despite the perception of some, Reid,
Kaepernick and other players who
have knelt during the anthem seem
to realize and appreciate the sacrifi ces
made in defense of their freedom
to protest.
While there is always room for disagreement
in this great republic, in the
words of Edward R. Murrow, “we must
not confuse dissent with disloyalty.”
Robert Pozarycki, editor-in-chief
Email your letters to editorial@qns.
com (Subject: Letter to the Editor) or
leave a comment to any of our stories
at QNS.com. You can also send
a letter by regular mail to Letters to
the Editor, 38-15 Bell Blvd., Bayside,
NY 11361. All letters are subject to
editing. Names will be withheld upon
request, but anonymous letters will
not be considered for publication. Th e
views expressed in all letters and comments
are not necessarily those of this
publication or its staff .
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