A meeting of the Long Island Rail Road Commuter’s Council (LIRRCC) was convened at 12:15 p.m. on November 6, 2008, in the 5th floor Board room, MTA Headquarters, 347 Madison Avenue, New York, NY.
The following members were present:
Ronald Breuer
Ira Greenberg
Gerard P. Bringmann
James L. McGovern
Maureen Michaels
The following members were absent:
Gary Babyatzky
In addition, the following persons were present:
William Henderson – PCAC Executive Director
Jan Wells – PCAC Associate Director
Ellyn Shannon – PCAC Transportation Planner
Karyl Berger – PCAC Research Associate
Holli Dunayer – MTA/LIRR
Daniel Perkins – Long Island Association
Ryan Lynch – Tri-State Trans. Campaign
Ken Stewart – Concerned citizen
Approval of Agenda and Minutes
The agenda for the November 6, 2008 meeting was approved. The minutes of the July 10, 2008 and October 16, 2008 meetings were approved.
Chair’s Report
The Chair’s Report is attached to these minutes.
Board Report
Ellyn Shannon gave the Board Report. She indicated that ridership and on-time performance were both up.
Introduction of Daniel R. Perkins, Long Island Vice President – Government Affairs and Ryan Lynch, Senior Planner – Tri-State Transportation Campaign to Discuss Transportation Improvements Critical to the Economic Future of Long Island
Ryan Lynch explained that the Tri-State Transportation Campaign (TSTC) is a nonprofit organization that is focused on ensuring there is a user friendly transit system. It was created in reaction to the ISTEA legislation in the 1990s. He said there are seven staff members and they receive funding from One Region Funders’ Group.
Mr. Lynch said the TSTC board has members from academia and planning, civic, economic, and environmental groups. He noted that TSTC is a member of the Long Island Transit Coalition, a group which was originally focused on the LIRR Third Track project but expanded to address other transit issues on Long Island.
Mr. Lynch explained that other efforts of TSTC include trying to get a transit funding agreement for Long Island Bus (LIB). This agreement would be similar n nature to the agreement for funding maintenance of rail stations. He said the Nassau County funding agreement has been stagnant since 2004. MTA has proposed a $4 million cut (20 percent) in funding for LIB in light of its current budget problems. TSTC sponsored a “Take Long Island Bus to Work Day” for legislators so that could see how difficult it is to use LIB, and several legislators took them up on the offer.
Mr. Lynch said they have been advocating for better rail and bus transit and have been big supporters of transit-oriented development (TOD). He said they have a TOD grant program of $150,000 for Long Island and the downstate region, looking to fund around 10 projects. He said they have a two-year, $10 million grant program in Connecticut.
In response to Ms. Michaels’ question as to whether TSTC has given any thought to organizing at the local level, Mr. Lynch said they prefer to target the New York State DOT, which has lots of money being spent on road widenings. The Agency is spending $400 million for Route 347 widening, which will give no long-term congestion relief. TSTC wants this money spent on maintenance, promoting smart development, and TOD.
Ira Greenberg asked how much money is being spent on Rt. 110 jughandle. Mr. Perkins said that $25 million has been spent, noting that nothing new was created except a short length of road. He cited New Jersey as a good example. It drastically cut funds for new construction and offered to assist municipalities in reducing traffic problems.
Mr. Perkins noted Long Island is losing young people to other parts of the country. He said 19 percent of young people (age 25 to 44) left Long Island compared to 13 percent for upstate New York, according to the most recent American Community Survey.
Jan Wells noted that at the Rail~Volution conference that she and Ellyn Shannon recently attended, the sense was that people are very interested in living near TOD sites and that McMansions in the sprawling suburbs are losing favor.
Mr. Perkins indicated that when his organization, the Long Island Association (LIA), testified at the Ravitch Commission hearings, their major point was the need to have access to jobs on Long Island and that the key to this is to build the Mainline Third Track project for LIRR. He also pointed out that 125,000 people are commuting to jobs to Long Island, but are often forced to drive as transit is not readily available to their workplace or it simply takes too long.
Jim McGovern asked about meeting with Craig Johnson, the NYS legislator from Floral Park opposed to Third Track. Mr. Perkins said Johnson is still there but he is only one guy and he can’t control things. Mr. Lynch said TSTC surveyed the LI legislators and 90 percent support the LIRR Mainline Third Track project.
Ms. Shannon said she spoke to Ron Craig, planner for Farmingdale, who said that residents believe, incorrectly, that the Third Track project is going out as far as Farmingdale.
Ms. Michaels noted that smart growth emphasizes high density in towns, but most lack a vision of transportation infrastructure to support this. She said the property values east of Huntington are very suppressed because of the limited transportation options.
Mr. Lynch said the next step is to build a bus rapid transit system to improve north /south movement, but said with no leadership from the elected officials, nothing much is happening.
Ms. Michaels said that it is not difficult to find interested commuters and to get them mobilized. She said you need to get grass roots strength to push legislators and create political presence.
Ms. Shannon said she would look into funding for marketing to riders about transit issues. Ms. Dunayer said she would also look into doing some marketing.
Ms. Michaels said that it is important to highlight the economic impact of the Third Track project. Ms. Shannon noted that job creation figures were not spelled out in the Third Track Environmental Impact Statement.
Old Business
Ellyn Shannon passed out a draft list of LIRRCC goals for 2009 and asked that the members review them and call or email Ellyn with comments or changes. A final draft of the goals will be distributed and voted on at the January, 2009 meeting.
Jan Wells and Ellyn Shannon briefly discussed their trip to the Rail~Volution in San Francisco. Ms. Shannon noted that there are tons of advocacy groups in California opposed to the handful here in New York. They said they will give a full report on the conference at the PCAC meeting in December.
William Henderson described the latest news regarding the Moynihan Station project and said it is important the Council keep on top of this issue. He indicated that Tim Gilchrist, the NY State’s Deputy Secretary for Economic Development and Infrastructure will submit to the Governor a report with the final conceptual plan for the station and how it relates to the Access to the Region’s Core project.
Mr. Henderson indicated there is no good news related to the 2009 MTA budget.
New Business
Ken Stewart publically thanked Holli Dunayer for hosting the meeting with the LIRR staff about Penn Station.
Maureen Michaels spoke briefly about the rat infestation at Penn Station. She expressed disgust at the thought that cleaning would be the first thing to be cut in the budget. Ms. Michaels suggested to Holli Dunayer that President Williams send a letter to Amtrak about the rat problem. The Council also voted to send a letter to Alex Kummant, the President of Amtrak, with copies to New Jersey Transit, the NYC Board of Health and the National Association of Railroad Passengers to express the Council’s concern about the rat problem and to ask what is being done to address the problem, both in terms of short- and long-term solutions.
Adjournment
The meeting was adjourned at 2:00 pm.
Respectfully submitted,
Karyl Berger
Research Associate