The Downtown Express reports that the remaining $1 billion of post-9/11 aid money has been earmarked for a Downtown to JFK rail link (additional details on the scope of funds and community reaction can be found here).
One curious aspect to this allocation is the among the available LMDC documents, even though regional commuter transit is listed as a priority item, with several options being considered, not one of them is a airport connector – four of the eight involve subway ugrades, two are LIRR/MetroNorth improvements, one is PATH development and the last is for improving pedestrian interconnections between the above (PDF here). Pataki’s office has promised an update to the LMDC plans this month, but it is probably wishful thinking that it will feature some explication from where this major shift in priorities arose. Previous LMDC boondoggles have include the a proposal to bury a portion of West Street (which has never garnered community support). If you are interested in connecting the dots, it would be helpful to point out that the LMDC board includes John Zucotti (who, as chair of Brookfield Financial Properties, developer of the World Financial Center, would profit from either the West Street tunnel or the JFK connector), Jack Rudin, whose son is busy trying to wrest a sweetheart deal for a downtown residential development, and Carl Weisbrod, head of the downtown BID, and who has made his ardent support for the link well known.
From a regional planning standpoint, creating a one seat link from Manhattan to JFK is strong one, except the plans as outlined do not guarantee this, and were this city to invest heavily to connect the major business district to regional airports, it would make far more sense to connect Midtown, which is a larger and growing district, and would not create havoc on existing train lines. No matter how they work it, unless someone is willing to pony up $8 billion, there would be service disruptions or reductions involving two subway lines from Atlantic Avenue to downtown. For $8 billion, we could get the Brooklyn-NY freight link, a development investment that would have an exponentially greater benefit to the region.
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Road to Nowhere.
The Downtown Express reports that the remaining $1 billion of post-9/11 aid money has been earmarked for a Downtown to JFK rail link (additional details on the scope of funds and community reaction can be found here).
One curious aspect to this allocation is the among the available LMDC documents, even though regional commuter transit is listed as a priority item, with several options being considered, not one of them is a airport connector – four of the eight involve subway ugrades, two are LIRR/MetroNorth improvements, one is PATH development and the last is for improving pedestrian interconnections between the above (PDF here). Pataki’s office has promised an update to the LMDC plans this month, but it is probably wishful thinking that it will feature some explication from where this major shift in priorities arose. Previous LMDC boondoggles have include the a proposal to bury a portion of West Street (which has never garnered community support). If you are interested in connecting the dots, it would be helpful to point out that the LMDC board includes John Zucotti (who, as chair of Brookfield Financial Properties, developer of the World Financial Center, would profit from either the West Street tunnel or the JFK connector), Jack Rudin, whose son is busy trying to wrest a sweetheart deal for a downtown residential development, and Carl Weisbrod, head of the downtown BID, and who has made his ardent support for the link well known.
From a regional planning standpoint, creating a one seat link from Manhattan to JFK is strong one, except the plans as outlined do not guarantee this, and were this city to invest heavily to connect the major business district to regional airports, it would make far more sense to connect Midtown, which is a larger and growing district, and would not create havoc on existing train lines. No matter how they work it, unless someone is willing to pony up $8 billion, there would be service disruptions or reductions involving two subway lines from Atlantic Avenue to downtown. For $8 billion, we could get the Brooklyn-NY freight link, a development investment that would have an exponentially greater benefit to the region.