Op-Ed
OTHER VOICES
A closer look at LIRR work for Belmont Park
With 31 months left before
scheduled opening, “Belmont Park
needs full-time LIRR Schedule:
Vallone,” could also mean that
LIRR improvements may not be
completed in time to coincide with
the promised fall 2021 opening of
the Belmont Park Islanders Arena.
In January 2018, former MTA
Chairman Joe Lhota informed
the Empire State Development
Corporation that there is no current
Penn Station capacity to support
new Belmont Park service.
The study started in July with
a promised completion date of
September. Why the six month
delay in making it public? They have
yet to even make a presentation
to the monthly LIRR or full MTA
Committee Board meetings. The
MTA has never committed to a new
schedule and date for release of
the study.
Gov. Andrew Cuomo’s proposed
new $175 billion budget offers no
funding. The governor’s promise
of significant increases in LIRR
service to coincide with the arena’s
planned opening in 2021 continues
to be unrealistic.
Improvements to the Belmont
Park LIRR Station could take three
to five years. You may just end
up with shuttle service between
Jamaica and Belmont Park LIRR
Stations. The most difficult
challenge will be providing full
time rush hour evening service.
This may not be possible until both
East Side Access to Grand Central
Terminal begins in 2023 and
renovations to all four East River
Tunnels are completed by 2032.
There is also the need for a
bus terminal to accommodate
Nassau Inter County Express. Will
upgrades to the existing Belmont
Park LIRR Station include a bus
terminal to accommodate Nassau
Inter County Express bus, NYC
Transit bus, MTA bus and private
bus charter operators? How will
taxi, Uber, Lyft and other car
services be accommodated?
Will these funds appear within
the future MTA 2020-2024 Five
Year Capital Plan? The MTA has
been working behind closed doors
on this document. Funding for
the future Belmont Park LIRR
capital improvements might not be
available until 2021.
Larry Penner
Great Neck
SUSTAINABLE QUEENS
Hello, you might remember me from my
appearance in these pages several weeks ago. Though
you might only recognize my eyes; I was celebrating
my big victory on shutting down the city’s gas-fired
power plants in the darkness.
I’ll admit, we had a good laugh about that in my
office. You’re doing something right when you get
your own editorial cartoon (although I wished the
artist had caught my good side). But I’d like to make
my own submission: a regular Queens homeowner
sitting in an underwater living room saying, “Welp,
Costa called this one.”
That’s what’s going to happen if we don’t stop
treating climate change like just an environmental
issue. Which is why New Yorkers — especially the
good people of Queens — deserve a full-blown agency
to act as conduit for addressing this phenomenon’s
toll on infrastructure, parks, and the economy.
Back in February, I introduced a bill to create
the Department of Sustainability — a first-of-itskind
agency with the mandate to protect New York
City against climate change. DOS would merge the
Mayor’s Office of Sustainability with the Office of
Resiliency and Recovery to put our existing efforts
under one roof.
And it couldn’t come at a more important time.
Worsening tides from unprecedented sea level rise
regularly flood Hamilton Beach and put more at risk
of losing their homes. Five of the wettest 10 years in
New York City have all come since 2003, which means
more of a strain on the underserved infrastructure
in Glendale. Erosion wasted away beaches in Far
Rockaway so much that they stayed closed all of last
summer.
Creating the Department of Sustainability will
be a clear mandate that we’re addressing these
challenges. A well-versed commissioner must come
up with a strategy on how to protect neighborhoods
from Bayside to Broad Channel, make them cleaner,
and adapt to the demands of the 21st Century.
I’ve lived every day of my life in our amazing
borough, and I want my son to have the same
opportunity to make a future for himself right here
in Queens. Donald Trump might not care about the
future of his home borough, but New York City will
pick up the slack where the White House is conceding
defeat. By creating a Department of Sustainability,
the people of Queens will get to keep the best place
on Earth to grow up, raise a family, and hitch a ride
to Rockaway Beach.
Costa Constantinides
City Councilman
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18 TIMESLEDGER, MARCH 15-21, 2019 QNS.COM
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