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January 29, 2005
Play NY
Play NY, a lounge, bowling alley and pool hall
in Elmhurst, Queens.
Posted by omor at 05:47 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBack
January 16, 2005
Cornershots architectural photoblog
Cornershots is an architectural photoblog featuring
corners of major buildings.
Oh, for my train station entrance to look like this.
Posted by omor at 03:17 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBack
January 15, 2005
The Bronx? No thonx!
The Bronx? No thonx! -- Ogden Nash
Posted by omor at 03:04 AM | Comments (0) | TrackBack
January 10, 2005
Peconic Bay Regional Transportation Authority
Two Tracks Converge
2005 January 09, By JOHN RATHER, The New York Times
AN unusual convergence of events may be opening a way for a
top-to-bottom refashioning of public transportation on the East End,
where traffic snarls and Hamptons summer gridlock have brought cries
for years for something to be done, but where local opposition to new
or wider roads remains fierce.
The Metropolitan Transportation Authority, already increasing fares
and reducing service for the new year to close budget deficits, wants
to raise an additional $1 billion by selling or leasing properties
including parking lots, train yards and stations.
On the East End, some elected officials and groups want to explore
creating an East End transportation authority that would buy or lease
the Long Island Rail Road tracks that run along the North and South
Forks, transforming them into the arteries of a new light rail and
shuttle bus transit system.
Some of the basic ingredients for a future deal seem to be there. But
the five towns and nine villages that make up the East End would need
to agree first on a common course of action, and the authority, which
owns the L.I.R.R., would need to be persuaded that are financial
advantages to ceding control of the railroad's eastern extremities.
Even the most optimistic of East End transportation advocates agreed
that making all that happen would take some doing, but several of them
indicated that they were poised to give it a try.
"The M.T.A. certainly isn't winning any awards for how they are
running the system out here," said Hank de Cillia of Bridgehampton, a
spokesman for a private advocacy group called the Five Town Rural
Transit Committee. "One of our arguments to them would be that we are
an insignificant, tiny little part of their empire, and we think we
could run it better."
(Thomas R. Suozzi, the Nassau County executive, also has designs on
parts of the L.I.R.R. track system, having proposed a mass transit
light rail loop for the Hub area in central Nassau that would
incorporate the railroad's Oyster Bay and West Hempstead lines. But
the plan is tentative and financing is nowhere near being secured.)
Tom Kelly, an M.T.A. spokesman, said he had not even heard of the
proposed East End authority and could not comment on whether the
M.T.A. would consider lease or sale of East End tracks. "This is not
something we have explored," he said. "I won't say its premature, I
just don't know the legality of it. It might not be feasible." The
Long Island Rail Road public affairs office, informed of the proposal,
did not offer any comment.
But legislation to create an East End transit authority has already
been introduced in Albany. Assemblyman Fred W. Thiele, Jr., a
Republican from Sag Harbor, wrote a bill last year to create what
would be called the Peconic Bay Regional Transportation Authority. It
would cover the towns of Southampton, East Hampton, Shelter Island,
Riverhead and Southold, and the nine villages within them.
The bill did not come to a vote, but Mr. Thiele said he would
reintroduce it this month. He said he believed that East End officials
supported the plan, but added that he had not discussed the proposal
with M.T.A. or Long Island Rail Road officials.
"We have certainly talked to the M.T.A. about the type of service they
provide now, and quite frankly it has been their lack of
responsiveness that has resulted in this," he said.
Mr. de Cillia's group visualizes one-, two- or three-car self-powered
trains running half-hourly on North and South Fork routes, supported
by shuttle buses waiting at the stations to carry riders to or near
their final destinations. This, Mr. de Cillia said, would be a better
way to run a railroad in an area with 29 percent of Long Island's area
but less than 5 percent of its year-round residents.
Currently the L.I.R.R. serves the North Fork with two eastbound and
three westbound trains weekdays and two round trips on weekends
connecting Greenport and Pennsylvania Station. There is also one round
trip connecting Riverhead and Pennsylvania Station on weekdays. On the
South Fork, the railroad runs five westbound and six eastbound trains
on weekdays except on Friday, when there is a seventh eastbound train.
On weekends there are five eastbound and four westbound trains.
The East End plan also envisions small-scale, primarily seasonal ferry
and water taxi service with bus and rail links. Routes might include
service between Orient Point and hamlets on the North and South Forks.
The Cross Sound Ferry Company carries passengers and vehicles between
Orient Point and New London, Conn.
The group contends that its proposal would avert further surrender to
cars and roads while serving residents, visitors and second
homeowners. Its advocates say it would accommodate freight trains in
off-hours, connect seamlessly with the Long Island Rail Road and carry
tradespeople to reduce the daily "trade parade" that East End
residents blame for congesting roads, particularly on the South Fork.
The group said tradespeople could initially drive their vehicles to
secure parking locations near job sites and then travel to and from
the locations by rail. They point out that many commuters to the East
End work in restaurants, schools and area hospitals and had no need to
travel with tools and heavy equipment.
Mr. de Cillia, a business consultant, said the group had been
concerned more with what had to be than on how to do it, but
recognized that creation of the new transportation authority might be
necessary.
Southampton voted on Dec. 17 to make exploring an authority a part of
the town's master plan. "This is really where our focus is," said
Steve Kenny, a Southampton councilman. "What we would really like to
see now is the M.T.A. coming to the table."
Mr. Thiele said a bill that created a new authority for the explicit
purpose of immediately replacing the M.T.A. on the East End would have
slim chance of passage. "That's probably an uphill battle," he said.
But he said chances were far better for establishing a new authority
that would work cooperatively with the M.T.A. He said the new
authority could be financed by what he said was a fair share of fares
and money the East End paid in sales taxes, mortgage taxes and a
number of other taxes to the M.T.A.
"From the research we've done so far it appears that when it comes to
the M.T.A. the East End is definitely a creditor nation," he said. "If
we had our fair share, we believe a train and shuttle bus service
could be covered."
Mr. de Cillia's group estimated that East End residents, second
homeowners and visitors accounted for $40 million in revenues routed
to existing rail and bus service. The group said the amount far
exceeded what the East End got back in services, but made no estimate
of the difference.
A state-created authority would have the power to sell tax-exempt
bonds to finance its operations and buy M.T.A. assets and new
equipment. But backers of the new authority said large-scale borrowing
was not part of their plan.
Instead, they spoke of securing federal financing for new light rail
cars and exploring the possibility of leasing tracks. Mr. de Cillia
said the M.T.A. might even agree to cede the tracks to the new
authority.
Mr. Thiele said the M.T.A.'s announced interest in selling or leasing
assets might be a sign the time was right for significant changes. "We
may be underestimating this thing," he said. "Maybe the M.T.A. would
be glad to let someone else take over."
Whether towns and villages could reach agreement would be another
matter. Some are currently at odds over transportation issues.
Southold is suing East Hampton in federal court in an effort to knock
down East Hampton ordinances that ban car-and-driver ferries and limit
passenger ferries. Southold and Shelter Island, which has joined in
the action, contend that they are being victimized by traffic to and
from the Cross Sound Ferry terminal in Orient and points on the South
Fork.
Joshua Y. Horton, the Southold supervisor, said it was unfair for East
Hampton to bar ferries that could relieve traffic problems on the
North Fork and Shelter Island. "That is the transportation issue that
needs to be addressed," he said.
East Hampton, meanwhile, would be the terminus of a new limited-access
highway built along the Long Island Rail Road tracks that is proposed
for further study in the transportation plan the Southampton town
board added to the town's master plan on Dec. 17.
The road, which Southampton officials concede would be unlikely to be
built, would begin at the eastern end of County Road 39 in Southampton
and end at the East Hampton town line near the East Hampton Airport.
William McGintee, the East Hampton town supervisor, said Southampton
officials had given assurances that no road along the railroad would
be built without his town's consent. "Any plan for that is not worth
the paper it's written on without East Hampton agreeing," he said.
Mr. McGintee said he was more favorably disposed toward an East End
transportation authority. "It is an interesting concept," he said.
But North Fork officials had questions. "I am certainly not a naysayer
in regard to enhanced transportation," Mr. Horton said. "But I am not
sure a new authority with brand-new bonding authority is the answer to
that. There are agencies already in place, and we should be fighting
to have better representation and service from those agencies."
The Greenport mayor, David Kapell, said he had heard what he described
as "loose talk" about an authority. "I don't place much credence in
that," he said. "Whether or not an authority is a viable alternative
is a very complicated issue."
"In my opinion, smaller units of government do not operate efficiently
from an economy standpoint," Mr. Kapell said. "It's hard for me to
understand how you could create a smaller authority that people could
afford to pay for. The problem is one of economics."
The five towns and nine villages are part of a $500,000 federally
financed initiative to find a regional consensus on transportation and
land use. If a consensus were reached, it would target county, state
and federal financing for transportation.
The New York Metropolitan Transportation Council began the initative,
known as the Sustainable East End Development Strategies, or Seeds,
program, in 2001. Other participants include the M.T.A., the Long
Island Rail Road and state and Suffolk County transportation agencies.
Gerry Bogacz, a planning group director in Manhattan for the council,
said the initiative would not weigh directly on the question of
whether a new transportation authority was warranted. "Seeds is trying
to build a consensus on what needs to be done," he said. "Once that
consensus is reached, it's a question of how do you implement that
consensus."
Some local officials said the initiative had taken so long they
doubted it would yield useful results. But a wealth of statistical
information compiled by Seeds about a range of transportation options
will be available soon.
Patricia Thiele of Sag Harbor, the Seeds coordinator, said data from
computer modeling of transportation alternatives would be released in
April. Ms. Thiele, who is not related to Assemblyman Thiele, said
alternatives studied included road widenings, new roads, increased
rail and ferry service and different types of services.
Mr. de Cillia, who took part in the initiative, said he had reviewed
some of the results. "I have seen enough to know that if you make more
investment in transit you are going to get more riders," he said.
Mr. Bogacz said the results could help lead to an inter-municipal
agreement in 2006. "The data will hopefully tell a story that people
will be able to read," he said.
Previously: Expanded rail service on the South Fork needed, MTA shortchanges
eastern Long Island.
Posted by omor at 04:38 AM | Comments (0) | TrackBack
January 02, 2005
Road route numbering
When Nassau County had its county route numbering system, at least
two routes must have been very confusing.
CR 25 was Old Country Road, a major road that intersects,
but was unrelated to NY 25.
CR 110 was Round Swamp Road, which was one LIE exit west of NY 110.
Did people often get thsoe confused? It's strange, since most of
the other duplicate route numbers were either county extensions of
state routes, or county maintained sections f a state touring route.
CR 25 and CR 110 were just unrelated roads that were close enough
to their state counterparts to be confusing. Were the route shields
prominently posted? Or, were they purely academic, like Suffolk
County CR 25 and CR 112?
Posted by omor at 04:33 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBack