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Many gripes fl y at AirTrain ‘forums’
Attendees wonder if feds wanted to hear their voices on plans for billion-dollar LGA rail line
BY MAX PARROTT
The Federal Aviation
Administration (FAA) held
public forums last week
on a plan to construct an
automated AirTrain system
from the Willets Point Long-
Island Railroad station to the
LaGaurdia (LGA) terminals at
the LGA Marriott Hotel.
A June 5 meeting was held
as a workshop where FAA
representatives stood along a
row of posters explaining the
environmental review process
and displaying the possible
alternatives to the FAA’s $1.5
billion plan.
Community organizers
who oppose the AirTrain plan
criticized the agency’s decision
to avoid a public hearingstyle
forum and questioned
the noticeable attendance of
union members in the
cramped space.
The activists believed
that these decisions were
intentionally engineered to
limit the amount of community
feedback that was committed
to the record.
The FAA denied those
allegations, maintaining
that it has used a workshop
approach across most of its
environmental reviews for the
past decade.
Andrew Brooks, the
regional environmental
program manager, said that
forum allows the agency to
have a more active role in
taking feedback because
they’re not just listening but
“engaging” with residents.
James Carriero, a lawyer
with the Ditmars Boulevard
Block Association, argued
that the FAA made no formal
announcement directing
people to the stenographer
tables where their comments
would be committed to the
record. The layout encouraged
residents to spend most of
their time speaking to FAA
reps in conversations that were
not part of the record, he said.
“They’re missing out
on comments from the
community. And if you had a
situation where a person was
speaking at a microphone, it
would impart information to
other members who would
then come up with additional
comments,” Carriero said.
The narrow convention hall
was packed for the first hour
before suddenly emptying out
for the later half.
Tension broke out when
a resident confronted union
workers from the Central
Labor Council who were
standing in front of the stations
that they were preventing
others from speaking with the
FAA representatives.
“Where do you live?” the
resident asked a member of
the union huddle. “I live in
New York,” he answered. “See
that’s an evasive answer,” the
resident responded.
“Someone packed the room
with workers from various
unions,” said Carriero. “Does
it matter to them whether
they’re working on an
AirTrain from Willets Point
or an AirTrain from Astoria?
What’s their stake in this and
why are they here?”
The opponents of the
plan are concerned the plan
will pose obstacles to their
attempts to clean up Flushing
Bay as well as neighbors in
East Elmhurst and beyond
who are concerned that the
plan will negatively impact
CHEERS FOR THE RED, WHITE & BLUE
their quality of life.
The list of potential
potential alternatives to the
FAA’s plan include extending
the N or W train from Astoria,
a new ferry line, more buses,
and alternatives to the Port
Authority’s primary plan for
the AirTrain, which would
construct a raised platform
traveling along the Flushing
Bay Promenade.
Residents can visit
lgaaccesseis.com to look
through the FAA’s proposed
plans and submit formal
comments until 5 p.m. June 17.
Students from P.S. 199 proudly carried Old Glory down Greenpoint Avenue in Sunnyside during the neighborhood’s annual Flag Day
Parade on June 8. For more photos. see Page 23. Photo by Walter Karling
Vol. 7 No. 24 60 total pages
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