Thursday, March 20, 2025
Local officials held a press conference Thursday outside the Long Beach LIRR station calling for more "accountability" from the MTA.
County Executive Bruce Blakeman, Comptroller Elaine Phillips, Legislator Pat Mullaney and others joined Long Beach City Manager Dan Creighton, City Council Vice President Chris Fiumara and Councilmen Mike Reinhart and John Bendo, talking about the state that many of the Nassau County LIRR stations — including Long Beach — are in.
"Nassau County pays $36.5 million annually for the maintenance, use and operating of the 58 train stations here in the county," Phillips said. "That amounts to a little more than $1,700 per day per station. With the money spent on this upkeep, you would think the MTA stations would be five-star hotels, not five-alarm safety hazards."
Phillips said that stations have visibly crumbling infrastructures and signs of neglect, broken concrete, water leaking down on pedestrians, debris falling on pedestrians and rust.
"We send $36 million each and every year to take care of our train stations, and quite frankly, all of them are in disrepair and in need of immediate repairs and upgrades," Blakeman said. "We've got to get a return on the investment that we make each and every day to the MTA. The MTA is not keeping up with the maintenance of our train stations."
Officials held up signs with photographs of some stations that they say are in need of repair. The photographs showed signs of wear to infrastructure, waiting rooms, bathrooms and platforms. Some stations shown were Floral Park, Hempstead Gardens, Valley Stream, Inwood and Lawrence.
"You've heard about the money that's being wasted and you can see for yourself the conditions," Mullaney said, "whether it's the troubling infrastructure, the bathroom conditions, or just the overall condition of all the train stations. You have commuters where this is the last place they see before they go to work, and it's the first place they see when they come home. The MTA has got to be held accountable and to a higher standard."
Reinhart, Fiumara and City Council President Brendan Finn were elected into the Long Beach City Council in January 2024. Reinhart said that since they were sworn in, he and the council have been "advocating for better conditions for this historic Long Island Railroad MTA station."
"This is the station where our many, many visitors come, and, unfortunately, they're greeted with peeling paint, crumbling columns, leaking overhangs, and just some maintenance and safety issues here at the station," Reinhart said. "There is also an issue of cleanliness in the station and on the platform. Our residents, our visitors, our riders, deserve more."
“Where have these elected officials been the last five years?" LIRR President Rob Free said in response to the conference Thursday. "The MTA has made significant investments on every LIRR branch and millions of dollars have been earmarked for improvement projects in the 2025-2029 Capital Plan — including a project to make the Bellrose LIRR station fully accessible. Stations are cleaned daily, and infrastructure is regularly inspected. These investments speak for themselves — on-time performance is at a record high and customers are overwhelmingly satisfied with LIRR service. I hope these lawmakers will reconsider their position, and work with the MTA to secure funding so these projects can be completed.”
