|
|
Inside the cozy wood-paneled hall of the Veterans of Foreign Wars, located at 51-11 108th Street in Corona, Raskin answered a series of questions that Community Board 4 members posed about service changes and fare hikes.
“It’s a fluid situation, and it changes by the hour,” said C.B. 4 District Manager Richard Italiano. “We don’t have any direct impact with service changes. We have outlining impacts and metro-booth closings.”
Board members and residents peppered Raskin with questions about whether transit staff would face layoffs, whether the Q-60 would still face service cuts, and what will happen to long-term capital projects like the extension of the 7 line and construction of the 2nd Avenue subway.
“This year is the 80-year anniversary of when the 2nd Avenue subway was proposed,” Raskin said. “Six weeks later, the stock market crashed. One of my colleagues has a phrase for this — it’s ‘bad transit karma.’”
Elmhurst resident Ann Darby had strong words for Raskin and other city officials present regarding the MTA’s finances and accounting methods, and the appointment of members to the authority’s board of directors.
“What’s their income, what are their salaries?” Darby said. “The public has been hurt for so many years and it should be completely transparent. We need their finances posted.”
Raskin tried to assuage the situation, saying no one could have predicted that banks and insurance companies would fail.
“We’re all part of the same economic structure,” said Raskin.
In addition to discussing the effect of MTA changes on Elmhurst, community board members also discussed a proposed traffic flow change at Tuesday’s meeting. The plan is to convert 74th Street between Woodside Ave and Queens Boulevard from a two-way street to one-way in the southbound direction.
The city Department of Transportation asked the community board to weigh in, and members mostly said they want the DOT do a study to see if the change is feasible.
