Hochul promises new rail line in Queens during State of State address
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Governor Kathy Hochul proposed the creation of the Interborough Express during her State of State address Wednesday. The rail line would run from Northwest Queens to Southern Brooklyn. Graphic via MTA
By Jacob Kaye
Promising to-go drinks, billions of dollars for New York’s health care system and a new rail line connecting Queens to Brooklyn, Governor Kathy Hochul laid out her vision for the state during her first State of State address on Wednesday.
Hochul, who assumed the executive’s office when former Governor Andrew Cuomo stepped down amid a sexual harassment scandal in August 2020, promised a “whole new era” in New York, one that would be marked by cooperation between the governor’s office and the legislature.
“The days of governors disregarding the rightful role of this legislature are over,” Hochul said. “The days of the governor of New York and mayor of New York City wasting time on petty rivalries are over. The days of New Yorkers questioning whether their government is actually working for them are over.”
Expectedly at the top of Hochul’s agenda was the battle against COVID-19. On Monday, over 23 percent of COVID tests taken came back positive and hospitalizations across the state continued to rise.
As has been the case throughout the surge, Hochul said that unlike March 2020, the state would remain open.
“During this winter surge, our laser focus is on keeping our kids in school, businesses open and New Yorkers’ lives as normal as possible,” Hochul said.
To fight the virus, the governor said she’d make a $10 billion investment into the sector, with the goal of growing the healthcare profession in New York by 20 percent over the next five years. A portion of those funds will go toward $3,000 retention bonuses to health and direct care workers who worked throughout the crisis.
She also announced a $1 billion property tax rebate that is expected to impact over 2 million homeowners and a $100 million fund dedicated to funding small businesses.
Hochul also said the state would once again be allowing restaurants to serve alcoholic drinks to-go.
Moving Queens
The governor, who laid out several transportation initiatives during her speech, said Wednesday that she would be directing the MTA to immediately begin an environmental review of the unused, 14-mile-long rail that runs from Northwest Queens and down to Southern Brooklyn.
Calling it a “bold idea,” Hochul dubbed the route the Interborough Express. The above-ground rail line would begin in Jackson Heights and head toward Middle Village before entering Brooklyn, hitting 17 stops in the two boroughs along the way.
“Infrastructure is about connections,” Hochul said.
MTA Acting Chair and CEO Janno Leiber promised the project would bring jobs to the city.
“This project would smartly repurpose existing infrastructure to add mass transit and create access to jobs, education, and opportunity for so many residents of Queens and Brooklyn,” said MTA Acting Chair and CEO Janno Lieber. “I applaud Governor Hochul’s leadership, and we are enthusiastic to work with her, and Federal and State partners to advance the Interborough concept.”
The plan is a version of a proposal made by the Regional Plan Association in the 1990s, known as the Triboro RX. The MTA in 2019 and 2020 announced plans to study it, but the project stalled.
Queens Borough President Donovan Richards commended the plan, though he added that he still wanted more in way of details.
“While details are still forthcoming, I commend Governor Hochul for making improved outer borough connectivity a central theme of her State of the State address,” Richards said. “By transforming the existing freight line running between Bay Ridge and Jackson Heights into a public transit option, we can connect thousands of Queens and Brooklyn families to new employment opportunities in each borough, while dramatically cutting commute times in the process.”
“The overall health of any urban community, especially one as large and diverse as Queens, is heavily dependent on the reliability of its public transportation system,” he added. “But for far too many Queens families, and the communities they call home, the inability to travel between boroughs in a quick and efficient manner has been an unnecessary detriment to their economic vitality.”
‘Jails to Jobs’
While committing to “tripling” the resources the state expends on combating gun violence, Hochul also said the state would recommit to a number of criminal justice reforms to help currently and formerly incarcerated people access more educational and vocational opportunities.
Among those reforms was a commitment to passing the Clean Slate Act, a bill sponsored by Queens Assemblymember Catalina Cruz that would allow for felony records to be sealed seven years after the completion of a sentence, and misdemeanor records to be sealed three years after the completion of a sentence.
Hochul also committed to fully staffing the state’s parole board. There are currently four vacancies, which can only be filled by the governor. In addition to making nominations for the board, Hochul also said she’d propose a change that would prohibit board members from holding outside employment.
However, some criminal justice reform groups were left feeling like more could have been done.
In a statement, the Legal Aid Society commended Hochul for addressing the reforms she mentioned, but urged her to “advance other critical measures, including Good Cause legislation to protect vulnerable tenants; the Housing Access Voucher Program to ensure that homeless families have access to safe and affordable housing; commit to a ‘Jails to Home’ platform, which includes passage of the Elder Parole and Fair and Timely Parole bills; grant widespread clemencies and pardons; commit to meaningfully address the humanitarian crisis engulfing Rikers Island; and increase protections for youth interrogated by the police.”
