Oxford defines an advocate as “a person who publicly supports or recommends a particular cause or policy.”
This being the case, I fail to see how regular letter writer Larry Penner qualifies as a “transportation advocate.”
Nearly every week, Mr. Penner points out a major transportation project he feels will cost more and take longer than projected and condemns it as a waste of taxpayer money. (In your June 1 edition, it was the AirTrain LaGuardia project.)
While he is quick to shake his fist at what has already been proposed, Mr. Penner never suggests any improvements or alternate projects that would cost less or take less time while achieving the same goal.
Perhaps this is because Mr. Penner isn’t actually interested in making public transportation more convenient, efficient or reliable. Instead, slashing the size and scope of government appears to be his overriding aim.
Don’t take my word for it. Visit Metro New York’s website and read Mr. Penner’s article of Jan. 9, 2018, titled, “Governor Cuomo and donor states” (https://www.metro.us/news/local-news/new-york/governor-cuomo-and-donor-states).
In his Metro article, Mr. Penner made his distaste for borrowing, spending and taxation at the state and federal levels abundantly clear.
(To be fair, Mr. Penner did not mention transportation projects specifically in the article I cited above, but his weekly contributions to Blank Slate Media suggest that he is just as disgusted by large government expenditures on transportation as he is by any other large government expenditures.)
When he isn’t condemning projects that will, in the long run, substantially improve the lives of commuters and other travelers, Mr. Penner is feigning outrage over minutiae, like the fact that LIRR trains that arrive less than six minutes late are considered “on time” for statistical purposes.
Never does he propose or express support for any infrastructure projects that would improve the LIRR’s on-time performance, of course. He just uses the opportunity to generally excoriate MTA leadership.
Mr. Penner may fancy himself a transportation advocate, but, in actuality, he is a transportation obstructionist.
Matthew Zeidman
New Hyde Park
