Last night's mayoral candidates forum

1 view

Skip to first unread message

rbl...@gmail.com

unread,

Apr 26, 2013, 12:28:34 PM4/26/13

to rockawa...@googlegroups.com

For those who did not attend last night's mayoral candidates forum:

1) Christine Quinn is not an RBL supporter. I arrived late to the meeting, but I heard her say that she'll look into the Rockaway Beach Line and get back to us with an answer. What does that mean? She'll take a walking tour along the ROW with CB6 and make her decision? I was told that she had also mentioned that some communities don't want the RBL.

2) Bill Thompson appeared to be the most enthusiastic supporter of the RBL. When Lew Simon asked, Thompson responded "Absolutely!"

3) John Liu said that the RBL is an asset that should not be thrown away and that a Queens "High Line" would not be the right project for this ROW. He said that he doesn't know if it could be reactivated tomorrow or next year, it will take a lot of resources, but it is cheaper than the Second Ave. Subway or 7 line extension. When pressed by Lew Simon for a commitment, Liu said that he is committed to "figuring out how to reactivate the line, but we need to get started at some point." Liu's support seemed shaky. I don't know if he's being a realist in terms of how long it will take the RBL to be reactivated or he's hedging his bets and he'll drop support if he faces too much heat from the ROW communities and elsewhere.

4) Sal Albanese had a somewhat similar reaction when asked about the RBL. At first, he said that he wants to be the "mass transit mayor," he'd like to reduce tolls in areas that don't have many mass tansit options and vice versa, and that he wants to increase SBS service all over the city. When pressed by Lew, he said, "yes." He also stated that Rockaway needs ferries, bus service, and trains. Interestingly, Albanese said that he is not a big supporter of Casino World and gambling establishments in general. He feels that they don't provide the economic benefit that they often promise.

5) Bill de Blasio did not show up.

I wonder how these candidates will respond to CB6 and CB9 when questioned about the RBL.