Who knows if it\u2019ll ever get built but New York governor Andy Cuomo is pushing a plan that would bring trains to the planes at LaGuardia Airport.<\/p>\n
The idea he\u2019s proposing isn\u2019t great but LaGuardia has never had a rail link. Is something better than nothing?<\/p>\n
Cuomo\u2019s idea is to build two miles worth of train tracks between Willets Point (near where the Mets play home games) and LaGuardia along (or above) the Grand Central Parkway. Both the 7 train and Long Island Rail Road have stops at Willets Point. The stations there aren\u2019t utilized much except during events at Citi Field and\/or the Bill Jean King National Tennis Center.<\/p>\n
There are problems with Cuomo\u2019s plan. Willets Point is out of the way for people traveling between the airport and Manhattan (and vice-versa). Ideally, you want something resembling a direct shot to the city\u2019s center. This doesn\u2019t do that.<\/p>\n
Since the new train would feed into the 7, the plan assumes a single subway line already overburdened during rush can absorb additional passengers carrying bulky luggage.<\/p>\n
Cuomo is holding back details but by calling it \u201cAirTrain,\u201d the implication is that the new service would be operated under the purview of the Port Authority which we know can bungle or mismanage anything it gets its hands on. There would likely be a fare to ride the AirTrain above and beyond the cost of entering the LIRR or subway system at Willets Point.<\/p>\n
When you think it all through, it appears Cuomo simply chose the path of least resistance. At a half-a-billion dollars (estimated price tag – sure to be much higher when all is said and done), it\u2019s probably the cheapest way to do it. And since there are no neighborhood incursions, you won\u2019t get NIMBY fights.<\/p>\n
The most effective and realistic train to plane idea would be to extend the N\/Q from its current end point at Ditmars Boulevard. This would extend the reach of NYC\u2019s great subway system to the airport\u2019s doorstep and it would give riders a reasonably direct path to key parts of Manhattan. The politically powerful Vallone family has long put the kibosh on this plan whenever it\u2019s discussed because it doesn\u2019t want another stretch of above-ground tracks cluttering Astoria\u2019s landscape. It\u2019s worth noting that Peter Vallone Jr. is currently a Cuomo staffer.<\/p>\n
It\u2019s a minimum five years before we\u2019ll even sniff the Willets Point plan so those not currently in the know should try the Q70 bus out of Jackson Heights. The Q70 has turned out to be a brilliantly efficient route to LaGuardia even though it\u2019s just a bus. The Q70 has wildly exceeded my expectations since it launched in September 2013. I\u2019ve taken the Q70 every day to work since inception and have not been late one time. It runs 24 hours a day and seems to stay on schedule no matter the day or time. The stop used by the Q70 in Jackson Heights is cluttered and confusing but even that seems better of late. In recent weeks, I\u2019ve personally witnessed taxi drivers get ticketed almost daily by plainclothes law enforcement in unmarked cars for blocking the Q70 stop in Jackson Heights. This has helped bring some sanity to the bus stop.<\/p>\n
On the subject of Cuomo, the latest New Yorker magazine devotes major space to a piece on New York\u2019s sitting governor. Written by Jeffrey Toobin, the story breaks zero new ground. Don\u2019t even waste your time reading what amounts to a rehash of Cuomo\u2019s biographical details. Yeah, Toobin discusses Cuomo\u2019s dismantling of the Moreland Commission, but he doesn\u2019t bother to mention the US government\u2019s criminal investigation of that action. It\u2019s basically a puff piece which you don\u2019t expect from a guy like Toobin.<\/p>\n
And speaking of shallow, gimme a break from news that New York\u2019s Working Families Party has formally asked Elizabeth Warren to \u201cjump into the race for President.\u201d Warren can only laugh at the WFP\u2019s credibility and influence on the left given its decision last fall to endorse Cuomo over Zephyr Teachout. While the WFP was vindicated in small measure by Cuomo\u2019s decision to ban fracking, that upstart political movement alienated a lot of progressive Democrats in New York City by turning its back on Teachout simply because it wanted to align the party with a candidate seen as the likely winner. Watch the WFP do the same thing to Warren should she run against Hillary.<\/p>\n
-Aiming to break up the off day Tuesday, I made a special trip to 46th and 7th mid-day to see HEARTBEAT at Father Duffy Square. The new art installation won the annual Times Square Valentine Heart Design contest and will occupy the crowded public space for a month. Perhaps it\u2019s the oppressively commercial environment of that part of the city, but I wasn\u2019t feeling any romance in the presence of HEARTBEAT. I looked at it for a few minutes and walked away without even a slight palpation or swoon. Maybe I\u2019ll go back at night, when it\u2019s lit up to see if that makes a difference.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Who knows if it\u2019ll ever get built but New York governor Andy Cuomo is pushing a plan that would bring trains to the planes at LaGuardia Airport. The idea he\u2019s proposing isn\u2019t great but LaGuardia has never had a rail … Continue reading