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Meeting Minutes August 13, 2015

LONG ISLAND RAIL ROAD COMMUTER’S COUNCIL
MINUTES OF AUGUST 13, 2015

 A meeting of the Long Island Rail Road Commuter Council (LIRRCC) was convened at 4:30 p.m. on August 13, 2015, in the LIRR East Side Access Readiness conference room at 450 7th Avenue, 20th floor, New York, New York

The following members were present:

Sheila Carpenter                 Mark Epstein
Michael Godino

The following members were on phone:

Gerard Bringmann               Matthew Kessler
Larry Rubinstein

The following members were absent:

Owen Costello                      Maureen Michaels
Ira Greenberg                       Raymond Pagano
Bryan Peranzo

In addition, the following persons were present:

William Henderson              -PCAC Executive Director
Robert Paley                         -MTA
Hector Garcia                        -LIRR
Rosemary Mascali               -Transit Solutions

Approval of Minutes

The agenda for the August 13, 2015 meeting was approved.  The minutes of the July 9, 2015 meeting were approved.

Chair’s Report

The Chair’s report is attached to these minutes.  In addition, the following items were discussed during the presentation of the Chair’s Report.

Mark Epstein stated that it has been confirmed that the area at the corner of LIRR Main Concourse and the concourse leading to 34th Street at Penn Station will become a Duane Reade pharmacy.

Mr. Epstein mentioned that he went to the Wyandanch parking facility ribbon cutting.  He stated that he had been involved in this project since its early stages and that the idea was for the garage to provide commuters with additional space for parking and to support economic development in the Village.  Mr. Epstein said that he had just found out that the Town of Babylon is making some surface lot parking spaces near Wyandanch station available only to Town residents.  He said that he did not know how many spaces would be reserved for Town resident permit holders, but that there would be a problem attracting people from other Towns to shop and spend money in Wyandanch when there is not free parking available.

Mr. Epstein noted that this controversy over parking at Wyandanch is just part of the larger issue of parking on the LIRR system and said that in an interview on News 12 he called for a commission to discuss the overall parking issue that includes both the Nassau and Suffolk County Executives.  Mr. Epstein said he also spoke to Suffolk County Executive about having a designated consumer seat on the Suffolk County Taxi Commission.

Sheila Carpenter pointed out that there are more public buses running now and some additional people are using this form of transportation, so the Council should include this trend in its consideration of station issues.

Mr. Epstein said that the Town of Huntington called and told us about the upcoming repairs to the parking structure at Huntington Station.  They had not provided much advance notice, but he noted that he pushed for the Town to do more to inform the riders of the construction.

Staff Report

William Henderson discussed contact with members of the public since the Council’s last meeting.  He also briefly discussed the status of Capital Program.  It was noted that the Council has not had much contact with New York City elected officials and that the Council should seek to have discussions with Brooklyn and Queens New York City Council members.

Council Guests

Mr. Epstein introduced Rosemary Mascali, representing Transit Solutions.  Ms. Mascali discussed the purpose of Transit Solutions and said that the organization is using Car Free Day to promote transit use on Long Island by leveraging the national branding of the event to support its efforts.  The heart of Car Free Day is a pledge to eliminate or reduce car use on Car Free Day, but beyond this there is hope that raising awareness will ultimately increase financial support for Transit by making Long Islanders recognize that everyday people in their communities use transit. She said that a major challenge is to increase this awareness to build support for funding transit.

Mr. Epstein said that he would like Ms. Carpenter to be a liaison for Car Free Day.  Ms. Carpenter stated that she worked with employee assistance programs as a social worker and is well aware of many situations in which transit was critical to people maintaining their employment.

Ms. Mascali stated that Transit Solutions has promotional posters and pledge cards for people to promise to eliminate or reduce their use of private cars on September 22 and distributed copies of them. Mr. Henderson said that he would take them back and have them put on the PCAC website.

Mr. Epstein asked for members to be contacts for the effort. Ms. Carpenter will be the Suffolk representative and the Mike Godino will be Nassau representative.

Ms. Mascali noted that North Hills is starting shuttle service to the train station and said that this is one way local communities can support transit. Mr. Epstein stated that the LIRRCC would like to be more involved with local communities and that he spoke to Mitch Pally and John Malloy about its proposal to staff its Mineola office.  He said that they will support funding for LIRRCC staff for the Long Island office.

Mr. Epstein introduced Robert Paley, MTA Director, Transit Oriented Development to discuss changes to the north side of Penn Station’s Long Island Rail Road concourse. Mr. Paley stated that he would talk about retail at Penn Station and said that in his role with MTA he oversees transit oriented development efforts and the MTA’s liaison to the development community.  In some cases he interacts with developers who are neighbors and in other cases they host MTA facilities in their buildings.

Mr. Paley briefly reviewed the LIRR’s tenure in Penn Station.  He said that Amtrak owns the station and the LIRR is a level A tenant.  The LIRR does not control the north side of their concourse, as this space was conveyed to private developers many years ago.  At that time Penn Central was looking mainly for monetary benefit from the transaction and not function or beauty. As a result, the area is not attractive and the placement of merchandise, such as in the beer carts, impede flow in the connecting concourse.

Vornado, which is the current owner of 1 Penn Plaza, has committed to improving stores on the north side.  In 1990, LIRR negotiated with the prior owner to set up guidelines for tenants in the concourse, but they were ignored in practice.

Mr. Paley said that there is a series of steps that will be undertaken to improve the experience in the concourse. The first is removing the current corner tenant and replacing this business with Duane Reade. Duane Reade will push back the corner of the 34th Street passage and the Connecting Concourse.  This will create more space for circulation and more openness.  The tenant is paying for this improvement.

Vornado has also brought in the Pret a Manger chain into the concourse. This is a plus because this is a high quality chain and good retailers make a better environment for the people in the concourse.  In addition, Vornado will enforce signage requirements in the concourse and make their tenants eliminate the clutter at the front of their stores.  For example, Vornado will be enforcing a requirement that the first three feet of a tenant’s space may only be used for display and not to house merchandise for sale.  This moves buyers off the concourse and into stores.

Magnolia Bakery is also coming to the concourse and will serve upscale coffee and pastries. The Hudson News location will stay where it is, but the north wall of the concourse will be improved. Mr. Epstein asked whether Hudson News is in the most advantageous place, as it restricts pedestrian flow. Mr. Paley responded that he does not handle leasing, so he could not comment directly on the factors that went into their location, but he knows the location is profitable.

The MTA has also proposed updating Penn Station design guidelines. The regulations covering the LIRR portion of the terminal date to the 1990’s, so it is time to revisit these rules.  Vornado is also taking a broader look at the area, as can be seen with the closure of 33rd Street to traffic this summer to create a pedestrian mall.

Mr. Epstein asked whether the glass at the corner created by Duane Reade could be be a problem for low vision and blind persons. He said that he has been told that there is a need to have some sort of yellow and black contrast to allow individuals with limited sight to see the division between the corridor and retail spaces. Mr. Paley suggested that the best approach would be to see the store that is put in place and, if there is a problem, then proceed to make changes to resolve it.

Mike Godino asked whether Mr. Paley had a relationship with the businesses in the corridor. Mr. Paley replied that the MTA has a direct relationship with MTA tenants, but works through Vornado on issues involving tenants on the north side of the concourse.

Mr. Godino pointed out that AT&T has developed an audible signage system for visually impaired people and said that this system could be used in the concourse.

Gerard Bringmann wanted to know what will happen to the old Duane Reade space.  Mr. Paley said that he did not know.  He stated that this might be something for Vornado to run with in trying a creative use of space in the station.

Mr. Epstein mentioned that there was an issue raised about sidewalk vendors around the station and asked who controls the area on 7th Avenue in front of the escalators.  Mr. Paley replied that Vornado would know who controls this area.

Mr. Epstein also asked who in in charge of the garbage bins in the station.  Hector Garcia stated that Fed Cap is the contractor that handles trash removal, but the LIRR has a say on replacement of the existing receptacles.

Mr. Paley stated that Vornado owns a lot of real estate in the Penn Station area, so they are working on a comprehensive strategy to upgrade the area.  He noted that the MTA’s customers are also the customers of Vornado’s tenants, so the MTA works with Vornado in these efforts.

Mr. Epstein asked if there was anything the council could do to help improve Penn Station. Mr. Paley replied that that this is a relationship building phase in the development of the station and roles that the Council might play could come out of this.

Larry Rubinstein asked about reopening the Gimbels Passageway.  Mr. Paley stated that this was a condition of the redevelopment of the Hotel Pennsylvania property.  Vornado is not moving forward with this redevelopment at the present time.

Old Business

Ms. Mascali stated that on January 1, 2016 a New York City ordinance goes into effect to require employers to provide pre-tax transit benefits if they employ twenty or more persons.  She said that Transit Solutions will host an event on this new law in the fall and one closer to the end of the year. Mr. Epstein stated that this could be done in conjunction with a Meet the Council event.

Mr. Bringmann asked whether employees can take advantage of both pre-tax transit and parking.  Ms. Mascali responded that employees can take advantage of both benefits.

New Business

Sheila Carpenter stated that a weekend East End-bound train recently left Ronkonkoma early without some passengers.  Mr. Garcia asked her to give him information about the date and time of the incident and the LIRR will look into it. Ms. Carpenter stated that the LIRR needs to do a better job of informing riders what is going on.  People should not have been left on the platform without knowing what had happened.

Mr. Bringmann commented on a situation earlier in the year where a train overran the platform.  Mr. Bringmann suggested that cameras could be used to monitor this.

There being no further business, the meeting was adjourned at 6:20pm.

Respectfully submitted,

William Henderson

Executive Director