In several Anton Community Newspapers editions an opinion article entitled, "What Every Long Islander Should Know About the Third Track" by Nancy Rauch Douzinas was published. This column only shows that Ms. Rauch Douzinas did not even bother to get to know the facts! As an example, her statement that "demand is so heavy that during rush hours trains move only in the peak direction" is just plain wrong! The fact is that a morning commuter from Penn Station to Mineola gets as much rush hour service as a commuter from Floral Park going into Manhattan.

Nancy Rauch Douzinas, who lives in the "Gold Coast community" of Lloyd Harbor in the Town of Huntington in Suffolk County, also prophesizes a host of magical attributes (i.e. "life easier," "relieve highway congestion," "boost the economy") by building yet another LIRR track. But these are nothing more than hypothetical projections, rather than proven facts. While neighboring communities may willingly concede that these magical attributes could someday materialize, (along with the end of global warming), they are simply unproven speculation, and are far outweighed by this megaproject's undeniable devastating negative impacts on neighboring communities.

Nancy Rauch Douzinas, isolated along with her multi-million dollar mansion neighbors in Lloyd Harbor, should not be lecturing other communities, especially on issues such as the lack of transportation, housing, recreation or energy on Long Island. For example, the fact is her own Town of Huntington community strongly objected to and prevailed in preventing the MTA/LIRR from building a new Huntington line rail yard. The result of this opposition is that even more "deadhead" trains needlessly rumble through on the Main Line in order to provide service to her own neighbors. Ironically, perhaps if Lloyd Harbor's "narrow interest" had not "prevailed" over the plans of Robert Moses to extend the Bethpage Parkway along Route 108 into Lloyd Harbor, all Long Islanders would now be enjoying the use of a modern highway leading to two 18-hole golf courses, a large bathing beach area along the Long Island Sound and extensive bridle path facilities in Lloyd Harbor.

Lloyd Harbor Village's own website also boasts that it covers 9.2 square miles and in area is the second largest incorporated village in New York, however, with a population of approximately 3,600, it is one of the most sparsely populated. Using Floral Park, which covers 1.5 square miles with a population of 16,000 as a guidepost, the residents of Lloyd Harbor, which is over six times the size of Floral Park, should therefore immediately offer to accommodate another 96,000 residents or so to help solve Long Island's pressing housing shortage.

Most ironic of all, perhaps if the "Not In My Back Yard" attitude of Lloyd Harbor residents had not "prevailed over" LILCO's plans to build and operate a nuclear power station on the eastern end of Lloyd Neck, which aroused a "storm of controversy" from its residents, who were "very opposed" and formed the "Lloyd Harbor Study Group" to stand in formal opposition to LILCO, all Long Islanders would have cheaper utility bills and avoided the multi-billion dollar Shoreham Plant fiasco, which we all are still paying for today.

Someone from Lloyd Harbor, especially one of its most prominent residents, leading her family's own Rauch Foundation, should not criticize other Long Island communities for their efforts to challenge the fuzzy "facts" propping up the unwanted and unneeded Third Track Megaproject. Instead of her lecturing in the Anton Community Newspapers, Nancy Rauch Douzinas should go back to Lloyd Harbor and make her own Huntington, Suffolk County community the first place on Long Island to have any transportation, housing and power plant megaprojects, instead of the last.

Thomas J. Tweedy

Trustee, Village of Floral Park

Chair, Citizens Against Rail Expansion