September 22, 2020

All Five Chambers of Commerce Across New York City Submit Letter in Support of the AirTrain LGA  

As leaders of the chambers of commerce from across this city, we represent thousands of New York businesses, from mom and pop shops to Fortune 500 companies. Our mission to promote local businesses has never been more challenging, or more important, than it is today as we work to rebuild an economy ravaged by COVID-19.

More than any city in America, our communities and businesses were shuttered, once bustling streets were oddly and eerily quiet. But we are New York tough, and working together we flattened the curve. While we are not entirely out of the woods yet, it is time that we start building for a better future and a stronger, more equitable economy.

As business leaders, we recognize the critical role infrastructure projects serve in reviving an economy – creating good-paying jobs now, when they are needed, and paving the way for long-term economic growth. That’s why we are writing in support of AirTrain LaGuardia, as proposed by the Port Authority of NY & NJ.

AirTrain LaGuardia, in tandem with the $8 billion transformation taking place at LaGuardia Airport, will have an immediate impact on our city by creating 3,000 construction jobs and opportunities for Minority and Women led business; it will provide long-needed relief to traffic congestion snarling our streets and, we believe, it will be a catalyst for growth throughout the 21st century.

If you want to know what AirTrain can do for economic growth near LaGuardia Airport, simply take a look at what AirTrain JFK did for downtown Jamaica, where the rail link between the Long Island Rail Road station and the city’s international airport sparked more than $1 billion in public and private investments.

Since AirTrain arrived, five million square feet of new development has been built in downtown Jamaica with another six million square feet in development, including 2,000 new hotel rooms and 4,000 units of housing.

We believe AirTrain LaGuardia, with a station at Willets Point to allow easy transfers to the LIRR and the No. 7 subway line, would have a similar, catalytic effect at Willets Point.

A new AirTrain station connecting to expanded LIRR service would jumpstart redevelopment of a blighted, industrial site at Willets Point into a new neighborhood with mixed-income housing, shops, hotels, a new school and new parks astride some of the city’s great attractions – Citi Field, the US Tennis Association stadium, the Queens Museum, and Flushing Meadows-Corona Park.

But AirTrain LaGuardia’s impact won’t be limited to the Queens economy. A fast and reliable connection by AirTrain to the LIRR or No. 7 subway line will put travelers within a half hour of key Manhattan destinations, from a newly expanded Javits Convention Center and to Times Square, Penn Station and Grand Central Terminal.

Tourism, conventions and business are the backbone of our city’s economy. AirTrain will improve and speed up the connections those visitors make in getting from LaGuardia to their destinations. After all, we get only one chance to make a great first impression. Why should we squander that opportunity by forcing travelers to endure long, unreliable rides to the airport in traffic.

An efficient rail link that connects to the LIRR and subway system also opens up economic opportunities for residents across the city by making LaGuardia and its good paying jobs easier to access from every borough.

AirTrain would accomplish all this while addressing its primary function – creating a rail mass transit link from the airport to Midtown Manhattan that would provide travelers with a predictable ride of 30 minutes or less. It would be a 21st century rail link for a 21st century airport. And it’s long overdue.

Without AirTrain, our communities have suffered ever-increasing traffic on highways and local streets. Once air travel resumes in full after the Covid-19 crisis, which we fully expect to happen, we can expect traffic to and from the airport to continue to increase. AirTrain LaGuardia will address this problem by removing aprojected 28,000 vehicles from local streets and highways every week and reducing the amount of emissions from those vehicles.

Proposals for a rail mass transit link to LaGuardia have been debated since the airport first opened 80 years ago. But today, LaGuardia Airport remains the only major airport on the East Coast without a rail link. That is no longer acceptable. AirTrain LaGuardia is a project that can get done. Unlike the rail alternatives debated over the years, it takes no private property and is separated from the nearest residential neighborhood by the 8-lane Grand Central Parkway.

With AirTrain LaGuardia, we have an opportunity to not only rebuild our local economy, but to make it stronger, fairer, and more resilient than it ever was before. And we can do it in a way that makes our roads less congested, helps us combat global warming, and supports one of the city’s top economic engines at LaGuardia Airport. The time to act is now – let’s build AirTrain LaGuardia and get all of New York thriving again.

Signed,

Randy Peers, President and CEO, Brooklyn Chamber of Commerce

Lisa Sorin, President, Bronx Chamber of Commerce

Jessica Walker, President and CEO of the Manhattan Chamber of Commerce

Linda Baran, President and CEO of the Staten Island Chamber of Commerce

Thomas J. Grech, President and CEO of the Queens Chamber of Commerce