I read a couple of interesting articles in the news recently, including "Bush Signs Highway Bill - $286.4 Billion on Roads and Bridges, Rail and Bus Facilities, Bike Paths and Recreational Trails," and "MTA Surplus at $833M." Crazy stuff. You can only imagine the benefits that will be bestowed upon the town of Hicksville and its commuters. No longer will we face a daily commute with bird droppings under our feet, garbage below the platforms, urine smells at the taxi stand and a sad/scary/old parking garage. This money would obviously come flowing in and solve all the problems. Just in case this does not happen or they can not think of a way to spend the money, here is an idea:

Ever since the train tracks were extended from Jamaica to Hicksville in 1836, Hicksville and its neighboring communities have been on a continual growth path and so has the Hicksville train station. What started out as a shipping resource for local farmers pushing to the New York markets soon became a commutation requirement for local residents working in New York. Today Hicksville is the heaviest traveled station east of Jamaica.

Commuters pour onto the Hicksville train each morning and, in doing so, absorb every last parking spot within a mile radius of the train station. The sprawling overfilled parking lots of Hicksville create a danger to the daily commuters, a blight to the town center and a suffocation to the local businesses who need parking. The parking facilities in Hicksville have been overgrowing Hicksville for decades, like weeds in a garden that is trying to bloom. For Hicksville to have a successful future it needs to take control of its ever-growing parking requirements, reclaim its town center to support new business growth and make its powerful train station an asset to the community, not a liability.

Hicksville needs to build a colossal multi-level parking facility and transportation hub right at the Hicksville train station site. The transportation hub should be located on and above the existing train station parking lots of West Barclay and Newbridge road, extending all the way back along the railroad tracks to the post office. This location will push all train parking and train traffic west of Newbridge Road and on Newbridge Road out of Hicksville's town center. The Hicksville transportation hub would consist of a six-level parking facility, taxi stand (relocated), bus stop and Broadway Mall tram. The six-level parking facility should contain enough parking spots to support all Hicksville train parking, drying up all the sprawling Town of Oyster Bay parking lots of Hicksville. Each level of the parking facility will contain direct access to the train platforms creating a safer and easier daily commute. The ground level of the transportation hub will contain the new taxi stand to replace the existing urine-smelling taxi stand that is there today and a new bus stop for the Newbridge Road line. The new design will create a larger consolidated waiting room facility for all train, taxi and bus users. The last piece will be a Broadway Mall tram that will run every five minutes shuttling out-of-town shoppers to the Broadway Mall, IKEA and Sears. No other mall on Long Island has easy train access and this will be a real benefit to the Broadway Mall and the Long Island Rail Road.

Drying up the numerous parking lots in Hicksville is the first step to rebuilding Hicksville into a thriving commerce center. Hicksville needs to attract new small businesses and large corporations with employees that make and spend money in our town. Businesses should "want" to locate in Hicksville because of the easy train commute for their employees into Hicksville from any point east and west. Hicksville needs to entice train commuters to get off at the Hicksville train station because it is a great place to shop, eat and drink.

Steven Goetjen