AirTrain to nowhere: Gov. says she’ll reconsider LGA AirTrain
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Sen. Leroy Comrie joined Assemblymember Jessica Gonzalez-Rojas, Sens. John Liu, Toby Ann Stavisky, Michael Gianaris and Jessica Ramos at a rally against the proposed LaGuardia AirTrain on Monday, Oct. 4, 2021. Eagle photo by Jacob Kaye
By Jacob Kaye
The future of former Governor Andrew Cuomo’s plans to build an above-ground rail link to LaGuardia Airport appeared to be cast in doubt Monday after Governor Kathy Hochul asked the Port Authority to look at “alternative mass transit solutions” to the airport.
While Hochul’s statement on the $2 billion project made no mention of the AirTrain itself, it came hours before a group of lawmakers and activists planned to rally against the controversial rail line.
"I have asked the Port Authority to thoroughly examine alternative mass transit solutions for reducing car traffic and increasing connectivity to LaGuardia Airport,” the governor said. “We must ensure that our transportation projects are bold, visionary, and serve the needs of New Yorkers. I remain committed to working expeditiously to rebuild our infrastructure for the 21st century and to create jobs - not just at LaGuardia, but at all of our airports and transit hubs across New York."
Hochul expounded on her position later in the day, saying that she doesn’t feel “obligated to accept” the plans and projects she inherited when she took over as the state’s executive in August.
“I have an opportunity to take a clean look at these issues and to hear from many individuals but there were alternatives on the table that even the [Federal Aviation Administration] people are saying did not look at as closely as they should have,” Hochul said. “We will have state-of-the-art, world-class mass transit to get people from LaGuardia to the City of New York. I’m going to find the best way to do that.”
On Monday afternoon, State Sens. Michael Gianaris, Leroy Comrie, Toby Ann Stavisky, Jessica Ramos, John Liu, Assemblymember Jessica Gonzalez-Rojas and advocates from Riverkeeper, Guardians of the Flushing Bay and the Ditmars Boulevard Block Association gathered at the World's Fair Marina Restaurant in East Elmhurst to call on Hochul to halt the project.
“Governor Hochul, we need you to be here, we need you to come and see us,” said Frank Taylor, the president of the Ditmars Boulevard Block Association. “Fix what needs to be fixed, fix the foundation, and then you can build up.”
Those opposed to the project say it was designed with little community input, it poses a threat to the environment, it won’t prove to be a convenient way to the airport and it costs too much money. Additionally, as the city continues to battle and recover from multiple crises, they say the money could be better spent elsewhere.
“Let me tell you, if this wasn’t true before, it’s true now: We can find a better use for $2 billion of our taxpayer dollars,” Ramos said. “East Elmhurst can’t eat the AirTrain.”
Ramos and her colleagues said they “appreciated” Hochul’s comments on the rail line but encouraged her to go further.
“We need Governor Hochul to halt the project all together,” she said.
The FAA approved the AirTrain, which is part of an $8 billion upgrade to the airport, in July.
In its final decision on the project, the FAA called the current plan and route “reasonable, feasible, practical and prudent.” However, the agency raised concerns about alternate routes that may have proven to be more practical in previous reviews of the project. Some alternatives include extending the N/W line toward LaGuardia, dedicating lanes for buses and
The project, which is said to support the creation of 3,000 construction jobs, would pick up and drop off riders at Willets Point – connecting with the 7 train and the LIRR Port Washington branch – and take them on a 6 minute elevated journey along the Flushing Bay and through a portion of East Elmhurst, according to project proposals.
With Cuomo out of office, opposition to the project has mounted.
Last week, Queens Borough President Donovan Richards spoke out against the AirTrain publicly for the first time. The borough president was previously in support of the project.
“With our borough still coping with the COVID-19 pandemic and recovering from devastating flooding from storm Ida that was exacerbated by our poor infrastructure, we should reevaluate our priorities,” Richards said in a statement to the Eagle. “A temporary delay of the AirTrain project gives us the opportunity to ensure this project centers impacted communities, as we focus on capital investment projects that will strengthen our resiliency, reduce school overcrowding, improve our hospitals, and repair our roads.”
But the project still has its supporters.
Assemblymember Jeffrion Aubry, who has represented East Elmhurst for nearly 30 years, said that most important is getting traffic out of the neighborhood, which he says will be achieved with the AirTrain.
“The only answer is to move airport traffic from roads to rails. It's good for the environment and it will bring long-overdue benefits to our community, including historic investments in parks and our youth, which I also helped to negotiate,” Aubry said. “To do nothing by blocking LaGuardia AirTrain, as some of my colleagues in elected office now want, means that we will have no opportunity for success and more and more cars on the roads in and out of our community for generations to come.”
“I want the future to be the best that it can be and AirTrain represents that possibility,” he added.
Despite the mounting opposition to the project, Tom Grech, who serves as the president and CEO of the Queens Chamber of Commerce, said he still believes that the AirTrain is the best route to serve New Yorkers looking to get to the airport.
“[Hochul] certainly has the right to call for a review of potential alternatives, but we still feel firmly that this option is the best option of the nearly 50 that were presented,” Grech told the Eagle.
However, advocates disagree. Last month, Riverkeeper, Guardians of the Flushing Bay and the Ditmars Boulevard Block Association together sued the FAA and Port Authority alleging that the FAA illegally issued its approval, known as its Record of Decision, of the project by not exploring alternate routes and options and ignoring flaws with the proposed project.
On Monday, Taylor celebrated the people who have renewed the fight against the AirTrain.
“It should be stopped and with these good people and along with the rest of the city, it will be stopped,” Taylor said. “We appreciate everyone who has come out and picked up the mantle on this cause, it’s a just cause.”
