Jack Martins Fights The Third Track To The End
“Going, Going… Should be Gone For Good!!!”
July 10, 2008, Mineola, NY --- Congressional candidate and Mineola Mayor Jack Martins issued the following statement in response to the Long Island Rail Road’s announcement that the “Third Track” project which was planned to be constructed on the Main Line between Floral Park and Hicksville has been put on the shelf due to insufficient funding.
“Now that the LIRR has placed the Third Track on hold for financial reasons, they ought to abandon it once and for all, for the sake of the families who live in the Main Line communities. I urge the LIRR and the MTA to withdraw the application for the Third Track project pending before the Federal Transit Administration and to also pull back the Draft Environmental Impact Statement, which has been submitted."
"The underlying premise for the Third Track was that it will enhance on-time efficiency. The LIRR boasts an on-time record of 96%. We certainly did not need to spend over $1.5 billion of taxpayer money to get an additional percentage point of "efficiency". I look forward to working with the LIRR to address the many smaller projects that had been overlooked in the shadow of this now-withdrawn mega-project -- station improvements, added commuter parking, flood remediation, and aesthetic initiatives which will lead to a better environment for both commuters and local residents."
"The property owners along the Main Line deserve the security of knowing that their property values and quality of life will not be devastated by a continuing cloud of uncertainty about whether or not the Third Track project will suddenly rear its ugly head. I have long fought the Third Track project and consider this only partial victory for the many years of hard work and determination that I, my colleagues in local government, and thousands of hardworking residents dedicated toward defeating this project that is neither necessary nor welcomed in our communities. "
"Our residents and business owners certainly have reason to cheer, at least temporarily. However, the continued silence of Representative McCarthy is simply outrageous and unacceptable. She stands out among all elected officials for her failure to take a stand for our communities against this project. Her utter disregard for the families and communities in her own district is a sad commentary on how the people we send to Washington stop listening to us, and listen instead to the Washington lobbyists and powerbrokers who want to use our communities as transfer stations to move garbage, waste and hazardous materials through Long Island and the downstate region."
The train has left the station on this idea. It is time for the MTA and LIRR to announce that the Third Track project is off the table, period."
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Jack Martins is the Republican candidate for Congress in the 4th Congressional District, who, as Mayor of Mineola, took a village on the brink of financial bankruptcy and transformed it into a Long Island success story. He has been a strong and steadfast opponent of the Third Track project.
