Labor Day is almost upon us, and, in addition to marking the unofficial end of the summer recreation season, it will mark the final day the Long Island Rail Road will operate on a modified schedule.
Amtrak, which owns and operates New York’s Penn Station, will finally finish the bulk of the extended emergency repairs meant to address the constant equipment failures and derailments that occurred there earlier this year.
Hopefully, Labor Day will also mark the end of the naked political opportunism spearheaded by GOP candidate for Nassau County executive Jack Martins and his protégé, state Sen. Elaine Phillips.
In the months prior to what Gov. Andrew Cuomo unnecessarily deemed the “summer of hell,” Martins and Phillips waged a war against LIRR commuters and other regular riders, staunchly and vocally opposing the addition of a third track to the railroad’s “Main Line.”
This project, which will break ground in a few months, will substantially improve service for those who utilize the Port Jefferson, Oyster Bay and Ronkonkoma lines by adding a third track to the two-track stretch between Floral Park and Hicksville stations. It will also remove all street-level crossings, add noise-dampening walls and replace vital aging hardware along that stretch of track.
Instead of welcoming this long overdue infrastructure project, which would improve the lives of commuters and non-commuters alike and bring long-term construction and engineering jobs to Nassau County (the project is estimated to cost nearly $2 billion and last up to 4 years), Martins and Phillips tried everything in the book to sink it.
Martins, who was a state senator running for U.S. Congress at the time, and Phillips, who was running to take Martins’ senate seat, saw an opportunity to exploit the vocal minority of residents who opposed the project with a religious fervor.
Not once stopping to ask LIRR commuters or county residents in general what they thought of the project, Martins and Phillips dug in, ignoring the opinions of any constituents who supported the project and dismissing its substantial benefits.
Although Martins largely faded from the debate after he lost his bid to replace former Rep. Steve Israel in Washington, Phillips redoubled her opposition to the project after she won her election.
At one point, Phillips (along with state Sen. Kemp Hannon) even pressured state Sen. Martin Golden to veto the entire MTA Capital Plan in a failed last-ditch attempt to stop the project.
A funny thing happened earlier this summer, however.
After the infrastructure in Penn Station began to fall apart and Amtrak announced its emergency repair schedule, Phillips began to paint herself as the LIRR commuter’s best friend.
Martins followed suit when he announced his county executive candidacy.
Phillips in particular began routinely showing up to LIRR stations in her district for photo ops, posting construction updates to Facebook and bragging about how proactive she was regarding Long Island’s infrastructure needs.
In fact, Phillips now posts several LIRR-related messages and photos to her official Facebook page each week. Suddenly, no service alert is too minor for her to mention.
Martins’ Facebook page is also plastered with photos of him ambushing commuters at railroad stations across the county.
Essentially, Martins and Phillips pushed LIRR commuters in the mud to impress opponents of the third track project and are now offering to help those commuters up and clean them off, hoping they won’t remember who pushed them in the mud to begin with.
LIRR commuters need real advocates, particularly in times of crisis. Martins and Phillips are not those advocates.
Matthew Zeidman
New Hyde Park
