Queens Leaders Join Fight Against Cuomo's LaGuardia AirTrain Plan

EAST ELMHURST, QUEENS — Two Queens politicians joined a growing list of locals opposing former governor Andrew Cuomo’s controversial LaGuardia Airport AirTrain plan, according to a new report.

State Sen. Leroy Comrie, who represents southeast Queens, said that the project doesn’t make logistical or financial sense, and Queens Borough President Donovan Richards, who previously supported the plan, said that its construction should be halted, the New York Post reported on Wednesday.

Other local leaders and transit experts have long-maligned Cuomo’s $2 billion proposal — which would link LaGuardia Airport with a 7- and LIRR-train station at Willets Point — saying that the plan would increase travel time and isn’t worth the hefty price.

Comrie, who chairs the committee that oversees the Port Authority — the agency responsible for building the AirTrain — echoed similar criticisms, saying that he doesn’t think the project makes sense, especially at its current price tag.

“The ability [for the proposed AirTrain] to provide reliable transportation at a high amount of usage is minimal,” he said, adding “I don’t believe it’s the best use of public funds.”

Richards, by contrast, didn’t go as far as to say that the project should be fully grounded, but said that it should be delayed in lieu of infrastructure investments to help the borough recover from the coronavirus pandemic.

“We were the epicenter of the epicenter for COVID,” he told the Post — a point that is particularly resonant in Elmhurst, an area of Queens that bore the brunt of the pandemic’s early impact and would be most impacted by the proposed AirTrain’s construction.

Concerns that the AirTrain plan could have a negative impact on nearby communities were central to a recent lawsuit, filed by a group of environmental advocates and northwest Queens residents.

The advocates said that the Port Authority and the federal government unlawfully approved Cuomo’s plan without taking into account other proposals, which would have less of an impact on the environment and nearby communities in East Elmhurst.

Frank Taylor, president of a local block association named in the suit, said that “this area of East Elmhurst has been underserved and environmental racism has almost never been addressed,” noting that area residents disproportionately suffer from asthma, cancer, and poor air and noise quality — which he fears would worsen with the new plan.

State Sen. Jessica Ramos — who represents her home neighborhood of Elmhurst and other areas that border LaGuardia airport — has long-opposed the AirTrain on the basis that it would harm nearby communities.

“COVID has already taken a devastating toll on our neighbors. The last thing we need is a multi-billion dollar vanity project that will further affect the health and well-being of our communities,” she told the Post, adding that she wants an investigation into whether Cuomo abused his power to win the project’s approval — a request that Port Authority staffers also made.

Ramos said that other legislators will be coming out against the project soon. The project’s list of opponents has only grown longer since Cuomo resigned in Aug. after Attorney General Letitia James found that he sexually harassed 11 women while in office.

On Thursday, when asked what he would do about the AirTrain proposal if he were governor, Mayor Bill de Blasio restated his skepticism about the project, calling for an assessment of other options before beginning construction on Cuomo’s plan.

“It’s no longer an imperial building project,” he said of the AirTrain, using the question as an opportunity to lambast the former governor — his long-standing political rival — who he said “rushed through projects whether good or bad.”

“Now we get a chance to look at [this project] in the cool light of day [in] a much more mature, humane, decent environment where we can decide if it makes sense,” deBlasio said.

While the project sits in limbo, as the Port Authority waits to see if a state court upholds the federal government’s decision to approve the plan, Governor Kathy Hochul says she is reviewing the project, too.

The governor, however, hasn’t given any indication about whether or not she plans to stop Cuomo’s project.

“Governor Hochul is committed to a world-class airport and transportation network, and she is working with the Port Authority, community members, elected officials, and advocates to ensure fiscal transparency and robust engagement,” a spokesperson, Hazel Crampton-Hays, told the Post in a statement.

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