Hicksville's NorthWest Civic Association (NWCA) is currently awaiting information on activity, manifests and documents of operation, as well as labor hours logged for freight activity at the Hicksville Freight Yard between Jan. 1965 and Dec. 1997. In September, the association submitted a written request for such information to the Metropolitan Transit Authority Long Island Rail Road (MTA LIRR).

According to civic leaders, the request, which was made under New York State's Freedom of Information Law (FOIL), is the result of more than a year's worth of unsuccessful inquiries, questions and concerns pertaining to the need and usage of the Hicksville freight yard. While officials for the MTA LIRR state that the yard has been continuously active since 1965, residents disagree. They also state that each time they have made a request for information and answers, they have received a different answer from a different party.

The Hicksville Freight Yard is located on industrial property near Charlotte Avenue, just west of the LIRR train station. In existence for more than 150 years at its current site, the yard is essentially used as a parking lot for idle freight cars. In 1997, under a rail freight privatization agreement, the Hicksville yard was leased for shared use to the New York and Atlantic Railway (NYA).

Last summer, an agreement was made between the MTA, LIRR and NYA ensuring the Hempstead branch would be permanently closed off to freight traffic and be used only for passenger commuters. Gov. George Pataki helped broker a deal between LIRR and NYA as part of efforts to promote the use of rail freight transportation as an alternative to truck transportation in the downstate region of New York. As part of the agreement, the Garden City freight yard was closed. Specifically, the LIRR provided NYA with a Hicksville Yard facility in exchange for the Garden City Yard facility.

According to the agreement, the LIRR and NYA would exchange storage yards for equipment and trains. Specifically, the LIRR would provide NYA with a Hicksville yard facility in exchange for the Garden City yard facility. The old freight line in Garden City was permanently closed to all future rail traffic, with the exception of the Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey Circus train which heads toward Nassau Coliseum once a year.

New York State Senator Kemp Hannon (R - Garden City) and New York State Assemblywoman Maureen O'Connell (R - Williston Park), both of whom represent Garden City, were among the many who fought for years to make sure the deal came about. For years, Garden City residents have been opposed to the movement of freight traffic by railroad through that community.

"This issue goes back more than a decade when many citizens in the Garden City community brought potential problems that freight rail would cause to our attention," said O'Connell in an August 2001 article (Garden City Life). "This has been a long time in the making and the hard work of many, many, many people. This agreement will forever put to rest the issue of freight in Garden City."

Hicksville residents and civic leaders believe they have been victims of "economic discrimination." "People hear discrimination and right away think of racial issues," said Greg Yatzyshyn, a NWCA trustee. "There should be equality with Garden City; they should not be absolved because of their affluence. We are willing to shoulder our weight of freight traffic, but we are not willing to take Garden City's burden. We believe getting commercial traffic off our roads is a good thing, but not if it means we have to take the burden for the whole thing."

In an effort to obtain a justifiable answer from those involved with the freight yard deal, NWCA has spent the past year and a half participating in verbal and written correspondence with state and county representatives. Among those the association has reached out to include New York State Assemblyman Marc Herbst, Nassau County Executive Thomas Suozzi, Gov. Pataki and the MTA LIRR. To date, each inquiry has received a different explanation.

In April 2002, the association sent a letter to Suozzi pointing out key reasons why using the Garden City yard would be more appropriate. The letter stated, "Garden City is almost twice the capacity of Hicksville, has better access, more room for expansion, is further from residential homes [and] is off the main rail line so it will not cause problems with the commuter schedule."

The letter, which was forwarded by Suozzi to Gov. Pataki and then again to the MTA, also questioned the need to "re-open" the Hicksville freight yard. In July, Katherine Lapp, executive director and chief operating officer for the MTA, sent a reply. She did not address the civic association's concerns as printed above, but instead claimed that the Hicksville yard has been continuously active since 1965.

The association replied to Lapp's letter in August, once again focusing on the issue of "economic discrimination" and how they, as residents, were not informed of the MTA LIRR and NYA deal until long after it had been brokered and put into place. Later that month, Kenneth Bauer, president of the MTA, sent a letter back to the association stating the MTA LIRR's reasons why the Hicksville yard is more appropriate for freight than that of Garden City.

"The goal of increasing freight train operation in the metropolitan region is aimed at keeping that same freight off local roads," wrote Bauer. "During the last several decades, while rail freight business has been on the decline, truck movement on Long Island has congested the roads, adding to the region's mobility and air quality problems. With a population roughly equivalent to the Chicago metropolitan area, Long Island is dependent on trucks to ship virtually everything local residents eat and use. By increasing the amount of goods shipped by rail, Long Island's air quality can be improved and road congestion reduced."

Bauer also stated, "The rail spur that leads to the yard in Garden City is a rather short branch with little potential for any significant rail freight growth. However, the MTA LIRR's main line, which operates through Hicksville is the central rail corridor to Nassau and Suffolk counties, offering access to many areas of Long Island. While I understand your concerns, it would be difficult to attempt any improvement to mobility and air quality issues without making use of those main line tracks. The yard in Hicksville is key to that effort based upon its location within the existing configuration of track infrastructure."

A year earlier, however, in an August 2001 article which appeared in Garden City Life, Bauer is quoted as saying that the "project presented all parties involved with an unusual and perhaps unique opportunity to work across organizational boundaries while solving an interesting problem. Working outside of our boxes, we were able to construct a creative solution with elements that were tailored to the needs of all parties involved."

During a recent interview with the Hicksville Illustrated News, NCWA Trustee Anthony Savino said, "The purpose of rail freight is to get things as close as possible to their final destination. Garden City is not only larger, but it is a more centralized and ideal location. The Garden City yard is closer to where most of the freight is actually going. To send it into Hicksville and then back doesn't make sense."

Savino added, "For commercial traffic to get through Hicksville by truck it has to pass BOCES, an elementary school, a house of worship and a park crossing. The Garden City yard is actually further from a residential area. It is more practical and access is easier. By taking freight off the main spur and onto the Garden City spur, you would avoid any interruption from the commuter line."

Earlier this month, the MTA sent a letter to the civic association confirming receipt of the FOIL request. The letter, dated Sept. 26, states the association should receive the information within 90 days.