If you think we're coming to the end game on the debate over the third track, or that we've played out all the arguments, think again. The various constituencies that include not only residents along the Main Line corridor, but special interests groups, unions and several political and bureaucratic jurisdictions will keep this kettle boiling for some time to come.

From the outset, this community has viewed the third track project as a Frankenstein monster that must never be brought to life. This struggle is not, however, one sided, but multisided. For three years we've been engaged in a great labor to organize, to persuade and to ultimately harvest the public will into action. The stakes are enormous and the process has been an education about politics with all its overlapping priorities, its ever-evolving relationships as well as a battleground of ideas and objectives.

Let me state where things presently stand so it is clear on what direction we are heading. Recently, the LIRR completed its Draft Environmental Impact Statement (DEIS) in which they are required to respond to all the comments and questions raised at the scoping hearings back in June of 2005. Buried under a mountain of information, it took an army of LIRR staffers and consultants more than two years to complete the DEIS.

Because this is such a critical document, indeed the blueprint of the entire apparatus, it is imperative that we be given the opportunity to review the DEIS. Meanwhile, the LIRR, pursuant to federal law (National Environmental Protection Act) then forwarded the document to the Federal Transit Administration (FTA) but refused to share its contents with us even though they are under no legal prohibition from doing so!

This declination was tantamount to a Declaration of War. It is one thing for us to respect the process, quite another to be blindfolded to the results. Indeed, their uncooperativeness was even more disturbing in light of recent events.

Let me explain: The LIRR/MTA's unwavering justification for building an 11.5 mile third track was to meet the needs for the "reverse commute," meaning commuters going in opposite directions during rush hour. This, they argued, would be a catalyst for an economic renaissance on Eastern Long Island. The media, editorialists and talking heads embraced the idea of a third track with such enthusiasm and unquestioning unanimity that one would have thought that the proposed mega project to be an act of God rather than of a public authority long mired in a culture of waste. Even more insulting, opponents of the project were pilloried as being myopic, self-interested and, if you read between the lines, too stupid to know a good thing when they see it.

Despite the firewall, the village's Third Track's Task Force was not at all unhinged by these acclamations, convinced the LIRR's arguments were based on frail underpinnings. Like Winston Smith in the novel 1984, we were not willing to believe that 2+2=5 because Big Brother says it does. Our own vigorous investigations revealed that passenger cars on the reverse commute were not only half empty, but also, more often than not, the last railroad cars were closed to commuters.

These astonishing findings reverberated like a trumpet blast of truth and the walls of Jericho came tumbling down. With one shock wave, we eviscerated the principal argument for the third track and ultimately, like a sinking ship, the LIRR had to abandon it. Then, under new leadership, a seismic change occurred.

Out of the dustbin containing the remnants of their imploded logic, newly installed LIRR President Helena Williams repackaged the justifications for the third track. She began by first lauding the LIRR's record of on-time performance, environmental sensitivity in reducing Long Island's carbon footprint as well as smiling on an increase in ridership. Frankly, we viewed Ms. William's boasts with the same conviction that journalist H.L. Menken tells us to indulge the opinion of a man who informs us his wife is beautiful and his children brilliant.

Ms. Williams, however, soldiers on. She now informs us that the third track will create a "passing lane" to assist the repair of broken down trains and increase overall operations by running extra trains each rush hour, which, when ultimately connected to the east side of Manhattan, will shave off 40 minutes for some Long Island commuters.

Whatever its drawbacks, and there are more than a few, this is a more credible argument than the preposterous reverse commute. No one, of course, ever wants to be on the wrong side of history and I've noted many times that modern transportation made the modern world and we all have immensely profited because of it.

But the point is the cart is still being put before the horse. Before commencing this grand undertaking of the third rail, the LIRR should first electrify the track so that diesel trains that don't work can be removed; double-track the areas that are single-tracked, add platforms at Jamaica, and build rail yards where they are required so that empty trains don't have to be repositioned for each morning commute.

After that, the LIRR/MTA must come to terms with the disproportionate burdens Floral Park has shouldered over the years. We already have four tracks traversing our village (it's not "not in my backyard" but "enough in my backyard"). We've already gone through the havoc of elevating the tracks. Now, with our station in serious disrepair, they are forcing the construction of another track where Floral Park will get all the grief and none of the benefits.

One wonders if the LIRR thinks we're in some Chekhov play where they discreetly leave the pistol on the table and we're supposed to obligingly point it at our head and pull the trigger? Do they think we will willingly place our neck in a hangman's noose, walk the gangplank blindfolded or be quietly led away to be quartered and martyred for the sake of shaving off 40 minutes of travel time for someone in Eastern Long Island?

While the odds have always been stacked against us, the people at the LIRR/MTA need to get it straight: Floral Park will not be the sacrificial lamb for anybody's den of lions. The days of what's mine is mine and what's yours is negotiable are over. Our community has forged alliances with our neighboring villages and elected representatives on all levels of government. We have procured the legal representation needed if it comes down to a gladiatorial confrontation in the courts.

We are determined to sustain this fight as long as possible or until the LIRR comes to its senses and starts doing the right thing. Until then, ideological opposition rules the day, awaiting the moment when aggressive pragmatism on our part will secure the future happiness of the village and its residents.