Van Bramer puts MTA on the Right Track

Council Member Jimmy Van Bramer Chairs Town Hall Meeting February 17, 2010

Assembly Member Catherine Nolan

Lois H. Tendler, Vice President of Government and Community Relations

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Exclusive Video Coverage:

Long Island City, February 17, 2010 Long Island City - A nine week shutdown of the 7 and the G Line service during weekends in February and March was the subject of the first Town Hall Meeting in Long Island City (LIC).

In office for just six weeks, Council Member Jimmy Van Bramer, District 26, called an Emergency Town Hall meeting to confront the MTA about a series of issues affecting residents and businesses in his community. MTA Executives led by Lois Tendler, Vice President of Government and Community Relations, and Engineers attended, as well as two representatives of the NYC Department of Small Business Services.

Skillfully toning his comments with humor and good will, Van Bramer was tough on the MTA executives who seemed to be arrogant, defensive, and careless in the execution of their duties and responsibility to the public.

Assembly Member Catherine Nolan, Community Board Chair Joseph Conley, and Van Bramer gave the floor to the residents and business people who spoke out. Emotions were high. Van Bramer was cool headed and collected small commitments from the MTA Executives and Engineers.

Residents and business people were merciless in their complaints; offering simple, constructive solutions and suggestions to make things right. Common sense solution.

The MTA Executive responses were weak, delivered with impatience, and sometimes inaccurate, stating for example that it was difficult to stop buses from Long Island City at Grand Central Station, forgetting that the MTA operates several bus lines that stop in the Grand Central area constantly as part of their route.

In summary:

• The nine week interruption was mishandled by the MTA since no notification was given to the community. The MTA reluctantly agreed to provide earlier notice to the community, suggesting that scheduling major maintenance was influenced by the available funds in their capital budget. This did not reconcil with the fact that track switches that are being replaced must be engineered, budgeted, purchased, and ordered many months in advance.
• The MTA has demonstrated a lack of sincere interest in the Long Island City community by failing to properly notify the residents and businesses of its planned shutdown even though the plans had been in place for months in advance.
• MTA's failure to anticipate the impact of a nine week shutdown.
• MTA's failure to respond to community leaders requesting that they provide a direct bus connection between Vernon-Jackson and Grand Central.
• MTA's failure to monitor the alternate bus service that loops between Vernon-Jackson and Queensboro Plaza.
• MTA's failure to coordinate the alternate bus route between the Vernon-Jackson and Queensboro Plaza with street closings due to its own construction at Court Square.
• MTA's failure to address community complaints relating to extreme noise from a ventilation system. The fan of the ventilation system creates illegal noise levels resulting in sleep deprivation within the community.
• MTA's failure to recognize the impact of maintenance scheduling on the community.
• MTA's failure to identify the need for an elevator at Queensboro Plaza.
• MTA's failure to meet its service obligations to the community, thereby creating a savings for the MTA which is not being applied to customer service.
• MTA's failure to provide adequate and informed customer service.
• MTA's failure to expand the general bus service within the Long Island City Community by adding route to Hunters Point that can serve the exploding population.
• MTA's misappropriation of capital budget priorities. For example, the 2nd Avenue line is being built for a "two block convience" at a cost of hundreds of millions of dollars, while the 7 line, and the communities it serves, gets neglected.
• MTA's inappropriate priorities that favor not inconveniencing sports fans over the the daily needs of community residents and business people.
• MTA's use of very expensive executive space in Manhattan's Financial District at a time when it is reducing services because of budget needs.

Executives of the MTA proudly explained that the 7 line, as a stand-alone transportation system, is the 4th largest in the United States, carrying more daily passengers than the entire city systems of cities like Boston and Washington, DC.

This Town Hall Meeting was recorded and is presented in its entirety exclusively by OurLIC.com. Forty-one video segments are being posted as they are loaded.

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Lois H. Tendler Vice President of Government and Community Relations Metropolitan Transit Authority	John P. Hoban General Manager # 7 Line Metropolitan Transit Authority	Joseph Raskin Assistant Director of Government Affairs Metropolitan Transit Authority
Patrick O'Carroll General Superintendent Metropolitan Transit Authority	Peter Cafiero Chief of Operations Planning Metropolitan Transit Authority	Fitzroy Thomas Deputy Chief of Track Department Metropolitan Transit Authority
Bernadette Nation Director of BOT/ERU NYC Department of Small Business Services	(Left) Oscar Santana NYC Department of Small Business Services	Dan Halloran (R) City Council Member
Mike Ginneris Assembly Member	Catherine Nolan New York State Assembly Member	Joseph Conley Chairman, Community Board 2

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