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City looking for efficient ways to get to LaGuardia

City looking for efficient ways to get to LaGuardia
By Rebecca henely

The city Department of Transportation and the Port Authority of New York & New Jersey solicited opinions on how to improve public transportation to LaGuardia Airport, but also fielded complaints that the Jackson Heights meeting last week was poorly advertised.

“I think it’s important that we have this first meeting again,” said Giovanna Reid, district manager of Community Board 3.

Aaron Suguira of the DOT, who led the June 22 meeting at Jackson Heights’ PS 69, at 77-02 37th Ave., said the organization was conducting a study on how to improve public access to the airport, and the meeting was one of three designed to solicit ideas from the community. The other two meetings have not been scheduled as of yet.

The slightly more than 40 people who attended the meeting mostly asked for better bus service. Some said the M60 bus, which originates in Manhattan and stops at Hoyt Avenue and 31st Street in Astoria before going on to the airport, does not come as often as it is supposed to and sometimes bypasses the stop if the bus is too full.

Another suggestion was an East Elmhurst-to-Manhattan express bus, similar to the lost QM22, which would pick up passengers at locations in Manhattan, Astoria and East Elmhurst before going to the airport. An AirTrain that would go from Hoyt Avenue to Citi Field, similar to AirTrains that run to John F. Kennedy International Airport from transportation hubs in Jamaica, was another idea. One participant wanted bus service from LaGuardia Airport to the Bronx.

Another idea was creating a place where liveries can park at the end of the N and Q subway lines at 31st Street and Ditmars Boulevard. The area is often a hotspot for livery cabs and there is a demand for cabs in that area, but residents have said the cabs sometimes park illegally beneath the elevated train and have requested a designated cab area be created.

Some also spoke of what they did not want to see. Rose Marie Poveromo, president of the United Community Civic Association, said any new buses should not go down Ditmars Boulevard, nor should the N and Q subway lines be expanded.

The DOT implemented its study after a report by its own organization and the Federal Transit Administration found there was a need. The FTA gave a grant to the DOT to study the issue, and Suguira said the DOT is looking for low-cost solutions to transportation problems that can be implemented within five years.

Scott Gastel, spokesman for the DOT, said the department was early in the process.

“A lot of times we start these studies and people think we have preconceived notions,” Suguira said. “We do not.”

Some of the attendees also complained the meeting had not been advertised properly. When DOT officials said they had reached out to elected officials, representatives said they had not been alerted to the meeting. Poveromo suggested the DOT contact the elected officials in the communities that surround the airport — Astoria, East Elmhurst and Jackson Heights — and contact the civic leaders.

“People aren’t here,” said Maureen Allen, chief of staff for state Assemblyman Michael DenDekker (D-Jackson Heights). “They need to be here.”

Reach reporter Rebecca Henely by e-mail at rhenely@cnglocal.com or by phone at 718-260-4564.