East Enders blast MTA and its cuts


County Legislator Ed Romaine told MTA executives they had failed the East End during a hearing on proposed Long Island Railroad cuts in Riverhead Monday.

The Metropolitan Transit Authority has failed the people of eastern Long Island through a combination of taxes that stifle the region’s economic development and wholly inadequate transit services, according to lawmakers and others who spoke at a public hearing Monday to discuss the cash-strapped authority’s proposed service cuts.


“We begin to wonder if the MTA has outlived its usefulness,” said county Legislator Ed Romaine (R-Center Moriches), whose district covers the North Fork. “You have failed as a public agency.”


“The MTA is broken and can’t be fixed,” added Rebecca Molinaro, who was representing state Assemblyman Fred Thiele (I-Sag Harbor).


At least 55 people registered to speak during Monday night’s hearing at the Riverhead County Center, which drew a crowd of nearly 200. The main topic at hand: the MTA’s proposed rail service cuts to the North Fork.


But speakers were universally critical of the perceived mistreatment of the entire East End, which many referred to as the MTA’s “forgotten stepchild.”


In January, the agency proposed cutting all rail service between Ronkonkoma and Greenport except for summer weekends in an effort to close a $400 million budget gap. MTA officials have defended the proposal by explaining that the Greenport line, which has about 200 riders daily, is its least- used branch.


The proposal came just months after New York State mandated a payroll tax on all employers in New York City and surrounding counties, including Suffolk, forcing them to pay 34 cents to the MTA for every $100 spent on payroll. That tax is in addition to the $350 million Suffolk County residents already pay in mortgage taxes and other fees to the transit authority annually, local lawmakers have said.


Some critics of the MTA say a Peconic Bay Regional Transit Authority could more effectively coordinate public transportation on the East End — and do it cheaper, too. 


Mr. Thiele, Assemblyman Marc Alessi (D-Wading River) and state Senator Ken LaValle (R-Port Jefferson) have sponsored legislation to put a non-binding referendum on the November ballot in eastern Suffolk County asking voters to consider the creation of an East End transit council. For more on what a regional transit authority could mean on Shelter Island, see the story on page 8.


Many of the speakers, which included mostly politicians, representatives of advocacy groups and owners of small businesses, derided the transit authority for proposing to virtually eliminate Long Island Rail Road service to the North Fork, something they said would stagnate economic development and lead to more congested roads.


Representatives from the MTA, including Chairman Jay Walder, LIRR President Helena Williams and the Suffolk County representative on the board, Mitch Pally, listened virtually silently for nearly three hours as residents expressed their outrage — and in many cases personally insulted MTA officials’ competence.


One man, Paul Askedall, traveled from Farmingdale and donned a tuxedo to get his point across. “You’d rather have everyone who can afford your train dress like this,” he said. He also likened the MTA’s attitude toward the East End to that of Clark Gable’s character in “Gone With the Wind”: “[It’s like they are saying], ‘Frankly taxpayers, I don’t give a damn.’ ”


Many critics agreed that low ridership on the Greenport line was due not to lack of interest, but to insufficient service. The presiding officer of the county legislature, William Lindsay (D-Holbrook), noted that the Hampton Jitney is able to thrive precisely because of the MTA’s poor East End service.


“I guess [they’re] making a pretty good living off a service that you folks are walking away from,” he said.


Riverhead Supervisor Sean Walter said MTA officials should take the East End train themselves to see how inconvenient the service really is. He noted that if the MTA representatives did take the train to Riverhead that evening, they would have gotten off at the “squalor-infested train station that [they] don’t manage” and waited for hours before the meeting began.


“Take your own darn train,” he fumed.


The cuts hurt some people on a more personal level than others.


MTA employees protested the elimination of jobs and small-business owners complained of the payroll tax.


Current commuters also showed up to air their concerns.


“I cannot afford a taxicab from Ronkonkoma to my house,” said one man, who said he lived in Medford.


Monday was the ninth and final hearing on the proposed cuts. MTA officials expect to reach a decision by March 25. 


There were originally only eight hearings scheduled, with the easternmost in Carle Place in Nassau County.


The MTA added the Riverhead hearing after public opposition.