www.fpvillage.org

By Phil Guarnieri

The momentum is growing as opposition to an additional 11.5 mile electrified track from eastern Queens to Hicksville as a part of the so-called "MTA/LIRR Main Line Improvements Project" and the spending of our tax dollars for this unwanted and unnecessary mega-project continues to widen and pick up steam. Our grass roots group, C.A.R.E. (Citizens Against Rail Expansion), has reached out to public officials on both sides of the aisle and has left no stone unturned in seeking out support wherever and however we can find it.

What had begun as a spark in Floral Park has ignited a conflagration in western Nassau County and elsewhere. Everyday, more and more citizens, organizations and elected officials are joining our noble cause.

County Legislators Vincent Muscarella and Richard Nicolello, as well as Assemblyman Thomas Alfano, all stand steadfastly behind Floral Park and its allies in opposing this $600 million plus project and made their voices heard at the recent MTA hearings. The mayors of Bellerose Village, New Hyde Park, Garden City, Stewart Manor and Mineola are standing shoulder to shoulder with us to defeat this colossal intrusion.

Our state senators, Kemp Hannon and Mike Balboni, have heard our calls for help and are leading the fight in Albany. Along with our Queens neighbors, we have reached out to Senator Padavan, who has also expressed deep reservations about this mega-project.

I also reached out to Town of Hempstead Supervisor Kate Murray and Councilman Ed Ambrosino and, as I fully expected, they have come through with flying colors embracing many of the same arguments we had made in our literature and at the MTA hearings.

Our residents have recently received a mailing from Supervisor Murray and Councilman Ambrosino with a petition card to be mailed to the MTA. I strongly encourage everyone to sign and mail that petition card. Along with our ongoing petition drives, which have now collected some 5,000 signatures, this is yet another way to raise our voices.

Despite all of the cooperation we have received from our local representatives, the real heroes in this fight have been our residents. At the public hearing at the Floral Terrace, which was attended by more than 1,000 of our residents and neighbors, I was proud to be mayor of this great village and to represent the people who make this village their home. Your sentiments were intelligently delivered and eloquently expressed. Your voices were heard; you stood up and were counted and you have made a real difference.

Despite the remarkable performance of our residents, the tireless efforts of C.A.R.E. and the help of many public officials, we must remain realistic in assessing the chances of derailing this mega-project. There is no question, however, we have made a major impact. All of the special interest groups supporting this mega-project are keenly aware that we will not sit quietly by because our grass-roots effort is a force to be reckoned with. In our fight against the MTA's additional track, we have unleashed democracy's greatest weapon: the voices and will of we the people.

I will not raise expectations, nor give false hopes. The MTA is a Goliath entity and this is still an uphill fight, but we have made a difference in the decision-making process. The New York Times has even identified our community as the "nemesis" of this mega-project. A "nemesis" is defined as a "formidable and usually victorious rival or opponent." We have changed the public debate on this issue. Our hopes, our dreams and our lives are no longer being ignored.

Democratic expression is the medicine the MTA needs to take. Public authorities like the MTA are, in effect, an invisible government. Armed with a $5 billion budget (our village's budget is about $20 million), the MTA board is made up of 23 appointed members who are unelected and a largely unaccountable body who could exert enormous control over our lives and way of life. The MTA also has the power of eminent domain, unquestioned autonomy to regulate projects within their sphere of jurisdiction, and the power to issue bonds.

Public authorities have so much power but very little accountability. Prior to the creation of the New York Port Authority, each public authority was established to effect only one public improvement, to issue only enough bonds to pay for it, after which it would transfer ownership and control back to the government that created the authority and who were answerable to the people they represented.

Public authorities are now created in perpetuity, can take on multiple projects, operate outside of market constraints (they have a projected $1.3 billion deficit next year but still propose to spend more than $600 million on an additional track), and can keep and reinvest revenues, all of which are taxpayers' money. This hardly sounds like the hallmark of democracy. In a sense, public authorities have become an invisible branch of government - independent of the other three!

Until very recently, the news media gave very little coverage to the MTA board's actions. Even the public officials who appoint the MTA board have little control over their actions. Because of their sheer number and their staggered terms of office, they are insulated from the demands of the appointing officials.

In its recent editorial, Newsday was unfair in its characterization of us "Floral Park folks" with regard to the LIRR mega-project. We have accepted our fair share of the transportation needs of our region and are certainly not against the advancement of mass transit. We understand the critical need to support the revitalization of New York after 9/11. The economic vitality of the downtown business area is especially important to our whole region.

We, therefore, will be closely following the MTA's scoping study proposing the potential transportation project linking Jamaica and JFK to lower Manhattan. There was a scoping meeting scheduled for the Lower Manhattan- Jamaica/JFK Transportation Project July 20 in Jamaica, Queens with an informational session beginning at 4 p.m.

Unlike the scoping document presented to us for the additional electrified track, that MTA-sponsored project will consider several different alternatives. It has five major goals and over 20 study objectives. It also promises to establish a Public Advisory Committee (PAC) comprised of elected officials, interested individuals and representatives of community organizations and advocacy groups. It also has more complete mitigation measures and overall, appears to be a much more comprehensive and flexible document. Contact the MTA Project Manager, Chris Bastion, at 212-266-8363 for more information about this project.

Over the Fourth of July holiday weekend, our residents were once again subjected to discolored water. What the Water Authority first thought was caused by opening wells and routine water main flushing beginning June 25, brown water affecting half of Floral Park and parts of New Hyde Park, was actually caused by a faulty check valve on the booster pump at their Cisney Avenue facility. I have spoken to the chief engineer at the Water Authority and registered strong objections to their lack of communication and notification with residents and our officials regarding the duration and cause of the brown water.

In other news, the Stewart Street Water Main Replacement continues on schedule. The Water Authority's contractor has begun refurbishing the sidewalks that were dug up or damaged during construction. The concrete work should continue for approximately a week, whereupon refurbishing of the trenches in the roadway will begin.

Once this is completed, the village will start its road overlay process of Stewart Street. This will involve some additional concrete replacement, milling of the gutter, raising of sewer and drain covers and eventually a complete asphalt overlay of Stewart Street.

Finally, our sidewalk program also continues apace. The village contractor has completed the repairs on Crocus Avenue and Mayfair Avenue. Repairs were scheduled to start the week of July 18.