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Pitch for fair fares at Qns. town hall
Stringer pushes for equal charges on LIRR and subways, hears congestion gripes
BY MAX PARROTT
Comptroller Scott
Stringer held a town hall
for residents of Jackson
Heights and Elmhurst on
April 17, and he spent a
considerable amount of
the night on reforming
Queens transit.
Stringer was
accompanied at various
points by state Senator
Jessica Ramos and
Assemblywoman Catalina
Cruz during the two-hour
exchange with constituents
on April 17 at Elmhurst
Hospital.
The town hall provided
an opportunity for
Stringer to f lex some of the
transportation reporting
his office has done over the
past year, which pertains to
Queens constituents.
When Charlton D’souza,
a former president of the
McManus Democratic Club,
urged Stringer to oversee
the maintenance and
upkeep of the Hollis Station
LIRR station in Queens
Village, the comptroller
used the question as a
way to tout his proposal
to making commuter lines
more affordable for city
residents.
“Why don’t we align
our commuter rail lines
with the people in our city?
Throughout Queens, all the
way to southeast Queens, we
have commuter lines that
literally bypass New York
City residents on the way to
work,” Stringer said.
Stringer argued that
the subway would provide
a quick fix for the mass
transit’s congestion
and delays.
“Our commuters should
pay $2.75 to use the LIRR
as well as the local subway
station. That is fair and
just,” he said.
But it wasn’t all wine
and roses. Stringer and
Ramos both encountered
opposition for their support
of congestion pricing plan
to fund fixes to the MTA.
Adam Wilkes, an
Elmhurst resident and
member of the Democratic
Socialists of America,
argued that the plan pits
“straphangers against car
owners drivers” and would
be better solved by a tax on
concentrated wealth.
In response, Stringer
argued that congestion
pricing is a necessary piece
to fund the proposal in
Albany raise some $50 billion
to fix the transit system,
but it shouldn’t be the only
funding stream. He made
the case that the city should
bring back a commuter
tax for suburbanites who
use mass transit to get to
their jobs.
“I believe that every
means of taxation should be
on the table because without
mass transit, the city stops,”
he said.
EARTH DAY TREE PLANTING IN ASTORIA
Ramos added that the
State Assembly included
congestion pricing in
the budget by creating
a commission that will
determine what the carve
outs will be.
“But most importantly
we did secure language
that ensures that there is a
lock box to ensure that that
funding stream actually is
streamed directly into the
MTA,” said Ramos.
Lieutenant Governor Kathy Hochul helped volunteers from One Tree Planted and the city’s Parks Department plant a young sapling
in Astoria on Earth Day, April 22. President of Old Astoria Neighborhood Association Richard Khuzami and NYC Parks Department
Queens Parks Commissioner Michael Dockett were among the guests who also participated. Photo by Dean Moses
rather than spending
billions of dollars on new
MTA stations, aligning
the commuter lines with
Vol. 7 No. 17 52 total pages
/QNS.COM
