(Editor's Note: Senator Craig Johnson sent this letter to Richard Ravitch, the newly appointed chairman of the Commission on Metropolitan Transportation Authority Financing. It is being printed here at his request.)

I would like to congratulate you on your recent appointment as head of Governor Paterson's Commission on Metropolitan Transportation Authority Financing.

With a change to make the MTA financially viable in the face of a multiyear projected shortfall, your panel has an important task ahead of it that will greatly and directly impact the hundreds of thousands of New Yorkers who use the MTA and the Long Island Rail Road.

It is my sincere hope that this goal is achieved without yet another fare hike.

As your panel looks at ways to save the MTA money, I strongly urge you to consider scrapping the proposed third track expansion project along the LIRR's Main Line. Eliminating this project would save a projected $1.5 billion, perhaps more, judging by the marked increase in the third track's cost estimates since it was announced several years ago.

Also, as you may know, the justification for this project has continuously been in flux. Currently, the official line is that the third track is to be a "passing lane" to "better facilitate" East Side Access. Though, if asked, MTA officials will admit that East Side Access can be achieved without the third track.

While the reasoning for the project has continuously shifted, the overwhelming local opposition to the project remains. The residents from Floral Park to Hicksville that are being asked to host the third track have real and valid concerns about how this project will impact their homes and irrevocably change the character of their communities.

As I said in the above, the cost of this project has climbed. Last year, it was projected to cost $1 billion. As of April, the MTA said it would be $1.5 billion.

Given these facts and the dire financial realities that this agency and New York State as a whole are laboring under, it makes little sense to continue pursuing this project.

If you have any questions regarding the contents of this letter, or any other matter, please do not hesitate to contact me at my district office, 516-746-5923. Thank you.

-Craig M. Johnson