Photo courtesy Phil Goldfeder.
Rockaway transit activists had an opportunity last week to voice their concerns about the lack of transportation on the peninsula.
Assemblyman Phil Goldfeder and Assemblywoman Nily Rozic (D-Fresh Meadows) partnered with the New York State Assembly Committee on Corporations, Authorities and Commissions on Thursday to hold a public oversight hearing and address transportation needs of communities throughout the city.
A recurring subject – brought up by both Queens residents and nonresidents alike – is the proposed reactivation of the Rockaway Beach Branch of the Long Island Railroad. Service on the rail line was discontinued in 1961. A large group of Queens residents, many from Rockaway, are pushing to reactivate the line, saying it would help speed up travel time and could be an economic boost to the peninsula.
However, a group called Friends of the QueensWay has set plans in motion to turn part of the rail line into a linear park, similar to Manhattan’s High Line, which would be called the QueensWay.
And finally a third group, primarily those who live right along the rail line in Woodhaven, want the tracks to be left completely alone out of concern for their safety and property values.
John Rozankowski, who attended the hearing as a representative of the Queens Public Transit Committee, said reactivating the rail line would help deal with the problem of traveling within the borough of Queens.
“Forest Park and its adjoining cemeteries create the equivalent of the Great Wall of China: splitting central Queens in half” – the consequences of which are dire, he said.
John Fazio, who attended the meeting to represent Community Board 10 – which encompasses the neighborhoods of Howard Beach, Ozone Park, South Ozone Park, Richmond Hill, Tudor Village and Lindenwood – said reactivating service would mean needing fewer buses on the streets, meaning less congestion on Woodhaven Blvd.
And while several Rockaway stakeholders pressed the Committee on the need for the Rockaway ferry, they found an ally in the Metropolitan Waterfront Alliance. Jose Soegaard, a representative of the Alliance, said New York City has the second largest ferry system in the world, only behind Istanbul, but it’s the only ferry system whose schedules and routes are not integrated into a broader public transit network. He said waterfront communities around the city are especially starved for public transportation.
“At the end of the day, the MTA is in the business of moving people and ferries are one part of that whole system,” he said. “They must be part of the region’s transportation solution.”
Goldfeder said projects like the Rockaway Beach Rail line can benefit every resident of the city.
“No more excuses, every family should get the transit resources they deserve,” he said. “In today’s difficult economy, we need more affordable and reliable transportation that will allow our city to grow and prepare for the future.”
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