Politics & Government

Mineola Trustees React to Latest Nassau Hub Proposal

Latest drawings show light rail going down East Second Street to Voice Road.

After spending countless hours and a $5.1 million grant that was given to Nassau County to study the feasibility of light rail or dedicated bus service between Mineola, the Hempstead Bus service and the Nassau Coliseum as part of the Nassau Hub plan, designers have at least one firm concept about how the project will manifest: it will go down the middle of East Second Street to Voice Road.

“It’s safe to say this is not going to be happening anytime soon,” Mineola Deputy Mayor Paul Pereira said during a meeting of the village board on May 15 at the village hall, noting the $360 million price tag attached to the project. “We’re pretty certain that it’s a long, long, long way away, if ever.”

Pereira, who attended the Nassau County Planning Commission stakeholder meeting on May 7 at the county legislative building throughout the day with trustees Paul Cusato and Dennis Walsh, described the transportation-project as taking a “backwards C” down East Second Street from the Mineola train station, down Voice Road and south on Glen Cove Road, over Old Country Road and over the Meadowbrook Parkway, into Nassau Community College and Museum Road and back west along Hempstead Turnpike by Hofstra University.

“We’re pretty concerned that it’s a long, long way away,” Pereira said, also pointing out that every community in central Nassau is affected save for Garden City. “It’s kind of interesting, the omission of Garden City when they have a vibrant downtown, they also have a university – Adelphi University there – that I’m sure wants a stop along with a dedicated bus line or monorail.”

Added Cusato: “there was somebody from Adelphi who was almost begging to get the service into Garden City to move his people, but unfortunately he’s not part of the plan.”

Walsh said that planners anticipated that there would be 8-10 railcars every 10 minutes during peak times going under the overpass and would run from 6 a.m. to 11 p.m. every day.

“They say it’s not going to interfere with traffic or parking,” Walsh said. “They’re going to punch a hole through the dirt underground underneath the Long Island Railroad, create a new tunnel, put this thing through and then go 20 ft. in the air, it all seems to be pie-in-the-sky.”

“There are many issues, but certainly the opening up of East Second Street to Voice Road is paramount,” Pereira said. “That cannot happen; certainly not in a way that traffic is allowed to flow between Glen Cove Road and our residential area on East Second Street.”

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