A meeting of the Long Island Rail Road Commuter’s Council (LIRRCC) was convened at 12:15 p.m., July 10, 2008, in the 5th floor Board room, MTA Headquarters, 347 Madison Avenue, New York City.
The following members were present:
Gary Babyatzky
Ira Greenberg
Ron Breuer
James L. McGovern
Gerard P. Bringmann
Maureen Michaels
Jerome I. Shagam
The following members were absent:
Sandra Krebelj-Douglas
Patricia McCauley
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
Approval of Agenda and Minutes
The agenda for the July 10, 2008 meeting was approved. The minutes of the May 10, 2008 meeting were approved.
Chair’s Report
The Chair’s Report is attached to these minutes.
Old Business
Membership and Meetings: Maureen Michaels began by saying that it is critical that the vacant Council seats get filled. The members agreed that a seat drop is an effective way to get the word out to commuters. Gerry Bringmann suggested that posters at stations announcing the vacancies and information as to how to apply might be another way to attract interested riders. Jim McGovern suggested that staff look at the names of attendees to the President’s Forum and send them a letter about membership on the Council.
Bill Henderson said he would call Sandra Krebelj-Douglas and ask why she has not been attending the meetings.
Ron Breuer wondered if members who participate in meetings via a conference call are considered present; Ms. Michaels noted that it is important to make conference calls more efficient and easier to do.
It was suggested that the Council hold some meetings at Penn Station. Mr. Henderson said he would ask President Williams whether the LIRRCC could hold a few meetings in the small conference room at Penn Station. He also said he would look into whether the Inspector General had space available for a meeting. Ms. Michaels emphasized the importance of members weighing in on issues as they are discussed via email or at meetings. The members voted to hold a few meetings per year early in the morning.
MTA Board Members: Mr. Bringmann expressed dismay with the vote (4 to 3) by the PCAC Executive Committee not to send a letter asking for the resignation of David Mack as Chair of the MTA/Long Island Rail Road Committee; Ira Greenberg explained that because there is a non-voting Board member from each of the three Councils, those members would feel awkward as they have to work with them.
Ms. Michaels suggested that the Council send a letter directly to Mr. Mack to express our dismay with his comments. She added that his comments were an insult to the riders who pay to use the system.
Mr. McGovern said going forward there has to be a reconstitution of the MTA/Long Island Rail Road committee. He noted that none of the existing voting members even ride the Rail Road.
Ellyn Shannon noted that the Metro-North committee receives much more detailed information on a monthly basis and engages in many more in-depth discussions about service than does the LIRR committee.
In response to Ms. Michaels question about how the non-voting members affect the decision making process of the Committee, Mr. McGovern said that it is always important to follow-up on issues. He cited the flooding problems that occurred in Bayside and said that it is important to find out what happened during the incident.
Following a brief discussion, the members voted to send a letter to Governor Patterson to request that any new appointees to the MTA Board should be users of mass transit.
Projects: Ms. Michaels suggested that the Council put together a scorecard on 10 elements or key indicators and give them ratings. She said the members would rate them qualitatively as a group. She said they could look at the indicators in terms of improvements or declines.
Mr. Henderson noted there have been schedule changes due to the Queens interlocking project and noted that Ms Michaels travels on the Port Jefferson line that has experienced some temporary service reductions due to this work.
In response to Jim McGovern’s question about what service cuts have been implemented, Mr. Henderson said the cuts were made necessary by the work being done on the Queens Interlocking project and are planned to be restored at the end of the summer.
Ms. Michaels stressed the importance of being close to the commuters to find out what their concerns are. She suggested that the LIRRCC have its own website or some venue where customers can send in comments and complaints. Ellyn Shannon noted that the LIRR was included in the PCAC’s 2007 end of year assessment. Ms. Wells noted that there is not staff available at this point to fully monitor such an undertaking, Mr. Bringmann suggested that it could be a message board where people write comments but won’t get responses.
Karyl Berger suggested to Mr. McGovern that he ask about the status of the third track project at the LIRR committee meeting next week.
Ellyn Shannon briefed the members about the Third Track meeting that she and Mr. Henderson attended earlier in the week. She said that President Williams was very frank that she is most concerned about the viability of the East Side Access project and that she does not anticipate that the third track program will even make it into the next Capital Program.
Ms. Shannon explained that this group of advocates is going to formally announce its existence at a press conference next week and that there is talk about doing an ad campaign to promote the various Long Island Rail Road projects.
Ms. Michaels noted that the lack of modernity is hurting the LIRR and that the politicians don’t understand the problems facing the Rail Road Information Technology/Ticket Issues: Based on the item in the Chair’s Report that Metro-North is about to go systemwide with their hand held ticket machines, the Council voted to send a letter to President Williams to encourage the LIRR to consider this technology for their conductors. Ms. Shannon indicated that President Williams has hired a consultant to look at all the technology issues involving tickets.
Citi Field Stadium: The members discussed the fact that the LIRR station at Willets Point is not being made ADA accessible. Ms. Shannon briefly described the PCAC report that is currently being written about ADA at the MTA and said they had met with Walter Johnson from the LIRR. Jan Wells noted that it would be helpful to hear Mr. Johnson articulate why the station is not being done and would see if he could write something or come to a meeting to brief the members on this issue.
Ira Greenberg said he would like a copy of this letter so he can reach out and discuss it with Queens Borough President Helen Marshall about it.
Jan Wells noted that the LIRR is applying for federal Freedom Funds that will give them extra money to add ADA accessible features at many stations. Mr. Bringmann suggested that staff find out whether the LIRR gets this funding and if they announce it to the press. He said that we should be included in any briefing as we have been fully supportive of this effort.
Email Protocol: It was noted that when someone has an issue that they see or become aware of that should get immediate attention, they should email the information to the staff and send a ‘cc’ to Gerry Bringmann. It is important that the LIRR is not bombarded with random emails. We want to make sure the emails get answered, and by sending them to staff it is easier to keep track of what is sent to the LIRR. Mr. Bringmann said it is also important to tell the LIRR when something works well.
New Business
In recognition of Jerry Shagam’s contributions to the Council, Bill Henderson read a proclamation and wished him well on his departure from the Council after seven years.
Mr. Shagam noted that often train doors don’t open where it says MIND THE GAP on the platform. He said that it is important the trains stop in the appointed positions or else there is no point to have those markings placed on the platforms.
Mr. Bringmann said he commended the MTA Police for their handling of the recent incident at Sayville and said the LIRR made good announcements that only certain cars would be platforming at the station.
Adjournment
The meeting was adjourned at 2:00 pm.
Respectfully submitted,
Karyl Berger
Research Associate
Chair’s Report
Bill Henderson wrote to the Suffolk County Executives office to request the County Executive to recommend three names to the Governor to fill the vacancy left on the Council as a result of Ed Rich’s resignation from the Council. Ed resigned as he was no longer commuting into New York for his job, and was not using the LIRR with any frequency. He also wrote to the Nassau County Executive encouraging him to recommend names to the Governor to fill the existing vacancy on the Council, as well as vacancies that occur in the future.
On June 10, as part of the research for the PCAC report on ADA at the MTA, Associate Director Jan Wells and Planner Ellyn Shannon met with Walter Johnson, Senior Attorney for the LIRR in charge of ADA compliance, and Holli Dunayer, Director of Corporate and Community Affairs. They discussed the latest FTA audit reports, the accessibility status of various stations, inspections, and the funding of the Rosedale elevator. The Rosedale elevator was recently opened with a press conference attended by MTA Executive Director Lee Sander, LIRR President Helena Williams and other dignitaries. There had been a delay in the completion of this work for two reasons: 1) problem getting track outage time because of Port Authority needs at Jamaica; 2) the concrete extension of the platform was found to be defective and had to be replaced.
Interestingly, the project was funded with CPRB funds (Capital Program Review Board), which are political (NYS Senator Malcolm Smith and NYS /Assemblyman William Scarborough). The majority political party is given a certain amount of dollars during a cycle. Seaford is also getting an elevator with CPRB funds. The cost of the elevator at Rosedale was $5 million.
Mr. Johnson asked if the LIRRCC would write a letter of support for a grant application for approximately $2.9 million in federal ‘New Freedom’ funds. LIRR will have to match these funds with another 20%, bringing the total project to $3.6 million. These resources would be used to enhance ADA amenities, such as tactile warning strips, Braille signage, curb cuts and handrails, at eight stations that already have wheelchair accessibility. We are happy to support this effort and a letter was sent to Nancy O’Connell at the New York Metropolitan Transportation Council in favor of the application.
Finally, Mr. Johnson noted that the CityField station will not be assessable due to lack of financing. Paratransit will be offered from Woodside station.
Jan, Ellyn and Dan Bianco, our summer intern from Hunter College, attended the Vision Long Island Smart Growth Awards in Woodbury, Long Island. They were impressed by the number of new housing units being developed near transit.
Vision Long Island featured our press release on the national ‘Dump the Pump’ day (June 19th) on its home page website. Bill Henderson appeared and spoke at the MTA’s ‘Dump the Pump’ event in Rockville Center on the 19th.
Jan and Ellyn also paid a visit to the Rauch Foundation in Garden City on June 23rd to discuss how we can jointly support the East Side Access and Third Track projects, and foster well planned transit-oriented development across the Island. They met with Ann Golob, Director of the Long Island Index and John McNally, program officer for environment.
On June 25th, Bill Henderson appeared by telephone on News 12’s Long Island Speaks. The in-studio guest was Mitch Pally and the topic of conversation was the MTA and its financial problems.
On June 26th, Jan attended a lecture entitled Designing for Transit at Adelphi University by noted new urbanist Tony Nelessen. The presentation outlined the benefits of transit-centered development and highlighted the promise it holds for creating more livable and sustainable communities on Long Island. The program was part of the 3rd Annual Long Island Mayors’ and Supervisors’ Institute on Community Design which is sponsored by the Regional Plan Association.
Yesterday, Bill and Ellyn met with Helena Williams along with eleven other representatives of members of the Coalition for the Main Line, an alliance of groups supporting improvement of the Long Island Rail Road Main Line corridor. The Coalition heard a very frank appraisal of the LIRR’s capital needs and resources, and Bill and Ellyn will discuss this meeting later in our agenda.