Residents, village officials and local politicians alike took advantage of the Metropolitan Transportation Authority/Long Island Rail Road's (MTA/LIRR) move to extend the comment period to Dec. 31 regarding the proposed Main Line Corridor Improvements Project. They bore the December cold Wednesday evening and let their voices be heard, once again.

Floral Park Village Hall was standing room only as resident after resident, politician after politician, school administrator after school administrator and village official after village official publicly denounced the project, which, among other things, proposes to construct an additional track along the 11.5-mile LIRR Main Line, a move the MTA/LIRR says is necessary to better accommodate the reverse commute to eastern Long Island.

All comments made at the Dec. 14 public meeting, according to Floral Park Mayor Phil Guarnieri, will be sent to the MTA/LIRR for the record. Further, 4VS taped the entire meeting. Many hoped LIRR President James Dermody could have been present to provide answers to the many pressing questions. Dermody, however, declined Floral Park's invitation in writing; his seat remained vacant.

This past summer the MTA/LIRR held six scoping meetings in which thousands of opposing comments were placed on record. The original comment period deadline of Aug. 31 brought thousands of petitions and adamant words from concerned and frankly, fed up, residents to the MTA/LIRR.

Floral Park Trustee Tom Tweedy, liaison to Floral Park's Third Track Task Force, said, "We discovered that this commenting period had been re-opened some six weeks after the original commenting period had ended, not by official announcement, not by official letter or any other notice - rather by a diligent review of the MTA/LIRR's website.

Trustee Tweedy continued, adding, "Surreptitiously, the LIRR extended the commenting period. Even the most optimistic among us has reason to be skeptical at this turn of events. I submit the reasons are obvious. The LIRR underestimated the voice of the people. Therefore, they re-opened the commenting period, no doubt, to get the testimony of other organizations sympathetic to their position onto the record. We have followed process. A process and rules set by the MTA/LIRR ... This re-opening of the record serves only the LIRR's needs. They control the rules and now they are trying to control the outcome by manipulating the record. Clandestinely, the MTA/LIRR has allowed lobbying efforts of mostly Suffolk County organizations to supersede the needs, and ultimately the viability, of dozens of communities and hundreds of thousands of residents."

An aggressive grassroots effort took shape this past summer in which, to date, more than 90 local organizations and public officials have boarded the opposition train in a stalwart attempt to derail the project, particularly the construction of the additional track along the Main Line.

It is important to note, however, that these organizations and public officials support the elimination of five on-grade crossings for obvious safety reasons and much-needed traffic easement.

Once Floral Park officials "quietly" learned of the MTA/LIRR's decision to extend - or re-open - the comment period, they brainstormed to build momentum. "It is important that the MTA/LIRR never get the impression that the period of public arousal and urgency has passed and that this village or any of its sister communities are quietly slumbering during this second commenting period, which would give rein to the MTA/LIRR to pack the record with testimony from special interest groups supporting the mega project," Mayor Guarnieri said.

Donna Sherrer, mayor of the Village of Bellerose, a community that has also been at the forefront of this fight, said that since Aug. 31 Bellerose Village has met with a representative of the State & National Register to preserve several historic buildings in her community. Bellerose Village Hall, the Bellerose Fire Department station as well as the police booth are among them. "We are in the process of marking these places," she explained. "I'm sure the MTA/LIRR will take these designations seriously."

Further, Mayor Sherrer noted that she has met with Bellerose Terrace, Queens Village and the Bellerose Business District to discuss the negative impact another track would have on all of the communities. "We also discussed the distribution of an updated flier," she said. "They agreed to distribute the flier to local organizations and go door-to-door whenever possible."

Stewart Manor Mayor Joseph Troiano as well as Garden City Mayor Gerard Lundquist, both in attendance, also pledged their full support. As did Legislator Vincent Muscarella, who spoke on behalf of himself and Legislators John Ciotti and Rich Nicolello, Assemblyman Tom Alfano, who could not attend the meeting because of a longstanding prior commitment. Tim Dalton read a letter on his behalf.

Town of Hempstead Councilman Ed Ambrosino also came on board, adding, "In 1982 I graduated from Chaminade High School and I was there for that terrible tragedy when those people died at that grade crossing. It offends me personally that the MTA/LIRR is coupling that tragedy with their need to generate more profit for them. It's wrong. It's disingenuous. I stand with you in firm opposition of this project. We didn't need it then, we don't need it now and we don't need it in the future."

Terry Whalen, co-president of the Floral Park Chamber of Commerce, expressed, on behalf of all members, dissatisfaction of the proposal of an additional track. "Our members voted unanimously to oppose the MTA/LIRR's proposal for a third track," Whalen said. "We feel this would adversely affect our businesses, our residents and our community. Our village will be celebrating its 100th anniversary in 2008. By seizing both commercial and residential property along the railroad, the landscape of our village would be altered tremendously, losing a part of our history, which would be devastating. The loss of a tax base might also jeopardize the vitality of our businesses and our community."

Floral Park-Bellerose School District Board of Education President David Fowler noted the board passed a resolution asking that this project be killed. "This is a disaster," he said. "This is a disaster for our schools and for our taxpayers. The Floral Park-Bellerose School building is 67 feet from the LIRR," Fowler said. "We already have issues of noise and vibration. The pedestrian tunnel, which many children from Bellerose Village and Bellerose Terrace access that school, runs under the railroad tracks ... Although we've been told there is no current intention to close the tunnel we have no documentation whatsoever, no communication from the railroad..." If the tunnel had to be closed during the construction period, Fowler added that approximately 200 children would have to be bused to school.

John Lewis Childs School, although not located directly along the railroad tracks, sits adjacent to the school fields, where school buses are kept and teachers find parking. "If we were to lose that parking lot, we would have to find a place, at considerable cost no doubt, to relocate our buses. Those teachers would be forced to park in a residential area, adding to an already difficult situation," Fowler added.

Floral Park-Bellerose School District Superintendent Lynn Pombonyo noted that Floral Park-Bellerose School currently serves 940 children while John Lewis Childs School serves nearly 700 students. "The Floral Park-Bellerose School District has two of the largest schools in Nassau County," she said. "Certainly in terms of this project, we are the only school district that has all of its children attending schools that are adjacent to the railroad tracks. No other communities along the Main Line have that. We require a very special piece of the planning process."

On June 20 former superintendent Dr. William McDonald sent a letter to LIRR President Dermody, strongly urging that he meet with the administration and the board of education to discuss the district's concerns. "We did not get a response to that letter," Dr. Pombonyo noted. "As Trustee [Gerry] Bambrick pointed out, the school district does not nearly have enough information on the project to go ahead with our routine, long-term school district plan for over 1,700 students..."

Those wishing to address the Main Line Corridor Improvements Project can send written comments to Peter Palamaro, MTA/LIRR Public Affairs Department, Jamaica Station #1131, Jamaica Station, NY 11435 or call 718-558-7934 with questions.