Cuomo Vetoes Bill To Study Extending Motor Parkway To Long Island

OAKLAND GARDENS, QUEENS — Gov. Andrew Cuomo vetoed a bill authorizing a study on extending the historic Vanderbilt Motor Parkway trail to its sister trail in Long Island, creating a miles-long bike and pedestrian path.

The bill, which the state Senate and Assembly passed earlier this year, would have allowed the state's Office of Parks, Recreation and Historic Preservation and Office of Mental Health to study the cost, duration and environmental impact of the project.

In a Nov. 25 letter on the veto, which was obtained by Patch, Cuomo wrote that the bill called for a study of a project that is "not currently contemplated" by the state's parks office and "for which there are no appropriated funds."

"I support the laudable intent of this legislation and urge the sponsors to revisit this project in the context of state budget negotiations," Cuomo wrote.

State Sen. John Liu, who sponsored the Senate version of the bill, said he plans to do exactly that.

"I'll continue the fight alongside our community allies and advocates in order to see this completed," Liu said Wednesday through a spokesperson.

The Vanderbilt Motor Parkway runs from Cunningham Park to Alley Pond Park in Queens. It was built in 1908 by railroad mogul and financier William K. Vanderbilt Jr. as America's first all-elevated road for cars.

Just across the border, in Nassau County, a stretch of the Motor Parkway Trail is getting redeveloped, but that trail doesn't connect to its Queens counterpart.

Activists living in eastern Queens have spent years campaigning to connect the greenways, forming a coalition called Motor Parkway East and amassing more than 1,000 signatures on a petition to the governor's office and other elected officials.

"While I am disappointed that the Governor chose to veto the bill, his statement makes me very hopeful that elected officials and his office can work together to find funding to make this dream a reality," Hollis Hills resident Joby Jacob, who co-founded the Motor Parkway East coalition, told Patch.

Read the full text of Gov. Andrew Cuomo's veto letter below: