In the dappled dawn of the 6th of March, I arose to an early breakfast before I hurriedly gathered my papers making sure, one last time, to check the train schedule.

Trustee Tom Tweedy and Patrick Farrell, village clerk of New Hyde Park, would accompany me to downtown Manhattan for a scheduled appointment with officials from the Federal Transit Administration [FTA].

Our mission was to obtain the LIRR's Draft Environmental Impact Statement that had been forwarded to the FTA some three weeks earlier. Since then, it has been closeted as the best kept secret since D-Day.

The third track megaproject, despite six scoping hearings and endless inquiries, remained exasperatingly fuzzy in terms of the magnitude of its construction and the breadth of its impacts. In short, the DEIS is the DNA of the third track enlargement and the Rosetta stone that should reveal some of its more perplexing mysteries.

Trustee Tweedy had painstakingly mapped out our itinerary. We took the train (yes the LIRR) to the Brooklyn station. There we made a way through a labyrinth of passageways until we hopped on the number 4 subway and exited at Bowling Green. A mad rush to a solitary stairway where we ascended from the catacombs below to the daylight that summoned us from above.

Reaching its summit, our pupils had to momentarily adjust to the banners of sunlight that shone not on verdant flowers but on white, almost alabaster colored stones of skyscrapers soaring upward to the clouds. Below its great heights the streets and busy intersections hummed with the irrepressible restlessness and energy of a city at work and play. It was morning in Manhattan and experiencing its glories is one of the great buoyancies of life.

My reverie over the marvels of mankind's material heroism was leavened by a touch of sadness in seeing the "National Museum of the American Indian" situated at the edge of Bowling Green which directly faced, in almost mocking irony, the civilization that had supplanted theirs. To think that Peter Minuit bought the whole island for $24!

The FTA is located in the old customhouse where duties were paid and vessels were entered and cleared. It is sandwiched between the great New York Harbor and the fenced-in area of Bowling Green where in 1776 Patriots famously pulled down the equestrian statue of King George III as a rebuke to tyrannical rule.

We didn't want to overplay the symbolism as we sallied into the domed building with its grand rotunda and giant murals depicting life about the harbor during the late 19th century. We were promptly ushered into a 4th floor conference room occupied by a long, lacquered table. The three of us sat on one side and five members of the FTA sat on the other.

They were polite but guarded. As if their visages were tealeaves, I sought to divine the thoughts behind their immobile faces but they remained steadfastly inscrutable. After the usual amenities, I proceeded in lawyerly fashion by making the following points in descending order of importance:

1. It is critical that we obtain a copy of the Draft Environmental Impact Statement. In addition, we want to see all the exhibits and correspondence associated with it in order to get a clear picture on how the LIRR reached its conclusions.

2. After their engineers and consultants took more than two years to put the DEIS together, we insisted that at least 180 days of public review be set aside to digest the information and parse through its often bewildering complexities. Niggling legalities and regulations limiting us to 45 days are utterly unfair and unsatisfactory. This analysis should include the elimination of on-grade crossings and a definitive demonstration why this can't be accomplished without public takings.

3. That subsequent to this review period, the LIRR should hold public hearings in each of the communities along the mainline corridor.

4. That the FTA does not "rubber stamp" the DEIS but must scrupulously review each and every aspect of this proposal.

5. That the LIRR recently abandoned the reverse commute as its justification for the third track. It was supplanted with a $1.3 billion proposal for a passing lane to fix broken down trains and give the LIRR the ability to improve operations by running extra trains each rush hour.

Whatever the viability of this new rationale (I remain skeptical, of course) I maintained that the process was corrupted since it was from the outset based on faulty premises. With the anchor of the reverse commute unhinged from its moorings, the LIRR, in mid-track, so to speak, have changed cabooses! This, in my judgment, constitutes a procedural impediment that can only be rectified by restarting the whole process.

If improved operations are the goal of the LIRR, then they could start by improving operations: Electrify the tracks so that diesel trains that don't work can be disposed. Double track the areas that are single tracked (Floral Park at one point is traversed by four tracks) i.e. Great Neck to Port Washington and Smithtown to Port Jefferson etc. Put rail yards where they are required so Floral Park doesn't have to be burdened by empty trains being repositioned at two or three in the morning so they can get ready for the morning rush. These measures will undoubtedly improve the on-time performance of the LIRR and cost far less than a third track.

Construction of a third track will not untangle the bottleneck at Jamaica, but electrification, double tracking and adding platforms and state of the art switching at Jamaica Station will alleviate the so called infamous Jamaica crawl.

Finally, the LIRR should invest more in its other infrastructure such as the Floral Park train station that is badly in need of rehabilitation. Floral Park gets at or near 40 percent of the train traffic so why, I ask, does Seaford get a new station. I don't begrudge the good people of Seaford but there are fewer lines on the south shore than on the main lines.

After taking copious notes, the FTA assured us that they have no intention of just rubber stamping the DEIS, that they will entertain having more rather than fewer public meetings and they do not favor meetings over the summer months because it will necessarily limit attendance and public participation.

They also assured us that they are very interested in asking the LIRR questions about the reverse commute justification as well as their sudden and recent about face. Furthermore, they will investigate the prerogatives in extending the normal 45-day public commenting period after the release of the DEIS. They thanked us for what they said was valuable and useful information.

As for the DEIS, the FTA, not surprisingly, refused to release it. They noted that they were at the very beginning stages of reviewing the document and could not release it until they indelibly sealed it with their imprimatur. The LIRR, by the way, having released it to the FTA, seemed to be under no restriction, at least none I can discern, from sharing it with the public they serve.

When I asked how long the review of the DEIS would take they said there was no hard and fast rules but at least three months would be an educated guess. The regional director of the FTA did agree to stay in communication with me regarding the status of their review.

In one important sense we must recognize, that the FTA, MTA and LIRR are all essentially under the same umbrella and have a symbiotic relationship. It is no accident that James Simpson, who currently heads the FTA was formerly an MTA board member. The interrelationship of these acronymic authorities can be described as follows: The MTA/LIRR is looking for a mortgage to build an additional track, the FTA is the mortgage broker and we, the commuters and taxpayers, are the bank, but with no oversight on who we're lending to and what they're spending it on.

It is an imperfect analogy for sure but it is, nonetheless, arresting in its approximations. We shook hands and parted.

The morning had already drawn to a close by the time I arrived back at Floral Park and had now flowered into a beautiful, radiant afternoon. Exiting the train the peace and quiet contrasted favorably to the hustle and bustle of the great metropolis I had left behind. Perched on the platform, I paused, gazed to the south I espied village hall and across from it, our oldest house of worship, the Methodist Church. To the north was the library with its Mount Vernon architecture and looking east one could see the tiny commercial establishments populating Tulip Avenue. To the west, stood the prized west end of the village. It was quaint, picturesque, old fashioned in a way. Quite charming, really.

I savored the moment and thought that while it has been an uphill battle, it is all worth fighting for. Our village, in so many ways, is unobtrusive, low key, and blithely insulated to the drumbeat of history. Its stillness, however, belies, when aroused, the sound of its roar from which the whole world has awakened to know that this sleepy little village, sleeps not.