A meeting of the Long Island Rail Road Commuter’s Council (LIRRCC) was convened at 12:15 p.m. on May 8, 2008, in the 5th floor Board room, MTA Headquarters, 347 Madison Avenue, New York City. The following members were present:
Gary Babyatzky
Maureen Michaels
James McGovern
Ira Greenberg
Jerome I. Shagam
The following members were absent:
Ronald Breuer
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
Peter Engelbrecht – Greater Jamaica Development Corp
Neil Porto – HDR/Daniel Frankfurt
Steve Ritea – Newsday
Art Nudell – IRUM
Ken Stewart – Concerned citizen
Scott Crosby – Concerned citizen
Approval of Agenda and Minutes
The agenda for the May 8, 2008 meeting and the minutes of the April 3, 2008 meeting were approved.
Chair’s Report
The Chair’s Report is attached to these minutes.
Old Business
The members discussed the cleanup of the right-of-way. Maureen Michaels said
she brought it up a year ago when she first joined the council and nothing has
been done over this period. Ms. Michaels said there are old railroad ties that are
lying on a hill next to the right of way on the south side of the Hicksville station
that are creating a real hazard not just for safety reasons but because they send
a message that the system is out of control.
Ira Greenberg noted that the open cut along Main Street in Flushing is a real
problem.
The members agreed that a letter should be sent to the LIRR to express our
concerns about the state of the right of way and that cleaning it up must be a top
priority.
New Business
Mr. Henderson reported that the Tri-State Transportation Campaign asked that
the LIRRCC sign on to a letter to Helena Williams expressing support for the IRR
Main Line Third Track project.
Introduction of Peter Engelbrecht, Director – Planning, Design
and Capital Projects, Greater Jamaica Development Corporation
and Neil Porto, HDR/Daniel Frankfurt to discuss the
redevelopment of the area surrounding the LIRR Jamaica
Station.
Mr. Engelbrecht noted that the Greater Jamaica Development Corporation has
been working on this project for more than four years. He said this study grew
out of a Port Authority funded study which was done in preparation for the Air
Train project.
Mr. Engelbrecht said that 18,000 people come through the Hub on a daily basis.
The area is the access to the Van Wyck expressway.
He said the project has already gone through the ULUURP process and has a
price tag of $80 million. He said they have funded all but $20 million. He said
there is money from the MTA, the City, and private investors committed to the
project. He said they will begin underpass construction later this year.
Neil Porto, the project consultant, described the history of the area and the three
independent projects that have been developed to address different problems but
are all very much interrelated. He noted that the goals of the redevelopment are
to increase pedestrian and vehicular access and safety, improve traffic flow,
increase bus lanes, improve transit connectivity (bus, trains and vehicles), create
open spaces and amenities, and spur Transit Oriented Development.
Mr. Porto said they have done extensive community outreach, which included
holding a design charrette for the area. He said they have had many
conversations with Community Board 12.
He said the first project involves improving underpass on Sutphin Boulevard and
reorganizing LIRR facilities, which allowed for creation of three new retail spaces.
He said Greater Jamaica Development Corporation will lease space from LIRR
and sublease the space to the businesses that will operate there.
The second project involves the creation of a park at the end of the Atlantic
Avenue Extension. This project will help improve access into downtown Jamaica
with the creation of a one way loop route that will access Jamaica Station. This
roadway will be eligible for federal assistance as it is on the Federal Aid
Secondary highway system. He said that the Federal Highway Administration
(FHWA) is funding this project.
The third project is the Station Plaza, which involves different plans for the
various parts of the surrounding area. Mr. Porto noted the unattractive
environment around downtown Jamaica. He said that most people avoid the
area if they can help it. He said that 16 more bus routes are expected to be
planned to traverse this area over the next year. This means that that 120 buses
pass through the area during the peak travel times, and these buses can be
expected to carry up to 3,000 people. He said this plan includes widening Archer
Avenue and that realigning the surrounding streets.
Maureen Michaels expressed concern that there is no good way to get to the
LIRR and the AirTrain from the street in that one still needs to take the stairs to
get to the platforms. She also noted that there is also no connection to
LaGuardia Airport now that Carey Bus no longer runs a bus from Jamaica
Station, and that there is no taxi stand.
Ira Greenberg noted that the LIRR has already completed the major station
improvements that can be expected for the present time.
Ken Stewart, a concerned citizen, asked if any consideration has been given to
disability issues. Mr. Porto reported that the project is faced with the constraint of
designing within limited space. Mr. Stewart raised the point that signal timing
should be adjusted to accommodate the various users of the Station and
surrounding area. Mr. Stewart also suggested that signage needs to be clear
and should include Braille and that lighting must be well balanced. He said it is
important to put tactile strips on street corners and curbs.
Mr. Engelbrecht said that he would be happy to work with Mr. Stewart and others
in the disability community on these issues. He said they are about to go into
final design phase of the project, so this is a perfect time for interested persons to
state their concerns.
Ellyn Shannon asked if they had put together a list of the properties in the station
area and considered what might be done with these properties. Mr. Engelbrecht
said that there is an design advisory group that is looking at these issues. He
said they are hoping to attract to this process a broad representation of
stakeholders including MTA, civic groups and community boards.
He said there are two MTA parcels that they would like to acquire as part of the
project. One of these is an office building on the west side of Archer Avenue that
they would very much like to have LIRR contribute to the project.
Jan Wells suggested that there might be funding available through the New York
State Smart Growth Cabinet. Mr. Engelbrecht said they have monthly
conference calls with Linda Kleinbaum and Roco Kruslic from MTA about the
project.
Maureen Michaels asked why station access was not part of the scope of work.
Mr. Porto and Mr. Engelbrecht responded that the LIRR would be the lead entity
in addressing station access.
It was agreed that the Council would send a letter about connectivity with the
LIRR, taxis and subway.
Adjournment
The meeting was adjourned at 2:00 p.m.
Respectfully submitted,
Karyl Berger
Research Associate
Chair’s Report
As you know our annual LIRR President’s Forum will be held next Wednesday,
May 14 from 5 to 7 pm in the street level concourse of the AirTrain JFK that is
immediately adjacent to Jamaica Station. We are excited about the new venue
and hope that it will attract more riders than in years past. We would like to have
as many council members present as possible. Previously the forum was held
here at MTA Headquarters, so attending was a major inconvenience for people
who wanted to come from work and catch the train home from Penn Station.
Please take a moment to look at the PCAC website, it has been updated with
April news and approved minutes can now be found on the drop-down menus for
each council. Thanks to Jan Wells for coordinating the new and improved PCAC
website.
The replacement of the Queens Interlocking project will mean substantial service
changes over the summer months. A copy of the changes is in your packet.
Ellyn spoke with Mike Seman, LIRR General Manager – Service Planning, to ask
what the LIRR plans to do to monitor crowding issues and if they are prepared to
add cars to trains when necessary. Staff will forward the answers to these
questions to you when we receive them.
Mr. Seman explained that the project will replace the existing signal system with
microprocessor technology and reconfigure the track to include high speed
crossover switches. Mr. Seman said that between March 2007 and March
2008 there were 131 signal problems caused by the Queens interlocking. The
interlocking signal failures are compounded by the fact that the four mainline
tracks are out of tangent and the short crossovers cause the trains to wear
down the switches and rails. The project will make the ride much smoother,
improve the reliability of the system, and enable trains to travel at much
higher speeds over the interlocking.
The efforts to stop the Main Line Corridor Improvement Project, otherwise known
as the LIRR Third Track, continue out of Floral Park. Recently, Senator Craig
Johnson introduced a bill in the New York State Senate that would require a twothirds
approval from the communities adjacent to the Main Line Corridor for the
project to move forward. Senator Johnson represents Floral Park and adamantly
opposes the project. Given the Council’s strong support for the project, this
would an opportune time to write to Senators who represent communities
affected by the LIRR Third Track to outline the Project’s benefits to their
constituents and urge them to vote against this bill. There is a proposed open
letter on the subject from a consortium of transportation advocates in your packet
today, and we can discuss the letter under Old Business.
On April 11, a small group of PCAC members and staff met with Tom
Schulze, the Director of the Access to the Region’s Core (ARC) project, which
aims to construct additional tunnel capacity between New Jersey and
Manhattan. Mr. Schulze discussed the factors that had guided the form of the
project, including the elimination of track connections between the new
tunnels and New York Penn Station. Mr. Schulze explained that, while he
wishes to preserve options for expansion and connection to other projects, his
primary focus is on completing the ARC project to provide badly needed
tunnel capacity between Manhattan and New Jersey.
Last week Jan and Ellyn attended an invitation-only work session held by Vision
Long Island. The session was dedicated to removing barriers to Smart Growth
planning and implementation and focused on the role of the MTA and NY State
DOT. The group of about 25 participants included, Michael Harrison, LI Director
for Governor David Paterson, Paul Beyer, the Director of Smart Growth for New
York State and a member of the Governors Smart Growth Cabinet, and Peter
Fleischer, Executive Director of Empire State Future, a non-profit Smart Growth
alliance comprised of 25 groups that represent environmental, housing and
planning concerns. Representatives from the MTA and NYSDOT also
participated. Under New Business, Jan and Ellyn will discuss the meeting and
some thoughts they have for engaging the Council’s participation with elected
officials on this issue.
Last Friday a press conference was held by elected officials from the Town of
Babylon announcing an LIRR study that will examine the possibilities of building
a new LIRR station at Republic Airport on the Route 110 Corridor. The funding
for the station study is likely to be programmed for 2011. The Council expressed
support for this station a year ago when they met with MTA board member, Mitch
Pally. The project is also of interest to the Council in light of recommendations
made in the PCAC’s report Where is the MTA on TOD? We will discuss this
issue in more detail under Old Business.
On Tuesday Jan attended a conference hosted by Sustainable Long Island
where Helena Williams moderated a panel discussion entitled Getting Around:
Developing Around Transit to Create a Holistic Community. Panelists included
David Fields, Principal-In-Charge of the NY office of Nelson-Nygaard, consulting
planners. Mr. Fields, who has extensive experience in transportation and
environmental planning, made an outstanding presentation on the concept of
transit-oriented development. Also speaking was the Mayor of Patchogue, Paul
Pontieri, who is overseeing a number of new developments within walking
distance to the train station. After listening to the panelists, the audience
participated in a mini-design workshop of the LIRR Republic Airport station area.
Jan reports that It was clear from the variety of distinguished speakers at the
plenary sessions and the intensive workshops focused on smart growth and
sustainability, that Long Island is finally waking up to the benefits of more
compact development in downtown areas and the need for connecting services
to get folks to and from the rail stations. In your packets there is a copy of the
transportation section of the 2008 Long Island Index that was featured at the
conference.