Is there still hope for the QueensLink?
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QueensLink member Paul Trust shared a presentation on the details of the project on Thursday. Eagle photo by Ryan Schwach
By Ryan Schwach
The QueensLink, a long sought after transportation project for many residents in Southeast Queens, is still chugging despite an announcement last fall from the mayor that the city would be pursuing an opposing project
The QueensLink plan, which now brands itself as “Rails and Trails,” intends to reactivate 3.5 miles of the old Rockaway Beach Line, which in some places runs adjacent to the existing A line, and add additional infrastructure to make it a one shot train trip to lower Manhattan for commuters from Southeast Queens neighborhoods like Ozone Park and the Rockaway peninsula by 25 minutes.
The QueensLink project would also include parks beneath the elevated tracks.
Volunteers from the QueensLink team held a town hall meeting Thursday night in South Ozone Park to discuss new plans and hopes for the massive infrastructure project, which took a hard blow last September.
Mayor Eric Adams announced $35 million in funding to the QueensWay project, which will build a park on the abandoned right-of-way similar to the High Line in Manhattan. Though the Adams administration denied it, advocates were concerned that choosing the QueensWay would preclude any plans for future train reactivation.
A proposal for the city to do an environmental impact study on the QueensLink is supported by 16 members of the Queens delegation, including Congressman Gregory Meeks, Councilmember Joann Ariola, Senators Jessica Ramos and Kristen Gonzalez, Assemblymember David Weprin and Queens Borough President Donovan Richards.
QueensLink members are hoping to grow that list of supporters in the coming months.
On Thursday at M.S 137 in South Ozone Park, QueensLink members began what they say is a new community outreach effort in an attempt to get the attention of Adams and other city officials, who they say have been unwilling to meet with them.
“We said, ‘You know what, if they're going to make that decision without what we consider proper community outreach, then we're going to engage the community and let them speak their minds, and to let the mayor know that this needs to be part of the conversation’,” said QueensLink member Paul Trust.
Rick Horan, the executive director of QueensLink, echoed similar thoughts over the phone the day following the event.
“We view this right-of-way as the property of the citizens of New York,” he said. “The citizens have not had a chance to weigh in on how they think that property can best be used going forward.”
“It's very unique, it's priceless,” he added.
The mayor’s office has repeatedly stated that the QueensWay project doesn’t count out the QueensLink, an argument that QueensLink volunteers don’t fully believe.
“It's completely going to stop it,” said Trust. “No one's going to ever want to touch a $35 million park when it's done…How could that not possibly stop future reactivation?”
This week the mayor’s office told the Eagle that the MTA is going to complete a feasibility study on the QueensLink, and if that study comes back positive, the city would be interested in making it possible.
However, none of that is holding back QueensLink supporters.
“The mayor has made a commitment but no shovels are in the ground,” said Trust. “The only part that he has made a commitment for is a very small piece of the abandoned right-of-way right above Forest Park. So with the fact that it hasn't come to be yet, we know that there is still a chance for us to voice ourselves so the mayor can hear that the people of South Queens want better transit.”
Most of the attendees of the event were already well acquainted with the aspects of the QueensLink plan or were part of organizations that already support it. Nevertheless, QueensLink came with more details on the proposal and addressed concerns about how often a route like this would run, and what sort of green space might be included.
The renewed calls for the QueensLink come as headlines concerning limited transportation in the World’s Borough have come up often in the last few months.
The opening of the Grand Central Madison LIRR terminal that led to delays for Queens commuters and the recent announcement that there won’t be an airtran at LaGuardia Airport may serve to bolster the calls for more transportation options, like the QueensLink, in the borough.
“If we're as a society going to make a commitment to improve the environment and reduce congestion on roads, and motivate people to get out of their cars and use public transportation, then we've got to give them a transportation system that is viable,” Horan said. “It really has to be looked at holistically.”
