205-07 Hillside Avenue, Hollis, NY 11423 ♦ (718) 465-8202

For Release
Sunday, January 31, 2010

Contact:
Corey Bearak
(718) 343-6779/ cell: (516) 343-6207

David Weprin, Labor, Advocates, Civics Urge MTA to Save Q79

Former NYC Councilman David Weprin, joined transit union officials and rank and file,
advocates and civic leaders, urged the MTA to reverse its plan to eliminate the Q79. At a 10:45
a.m., Sunday, January 31, 2010 news conference outside the Queens County Farm Museum, 72-
50 Little Neck Parkway, on the Bellerose/Glen Oaks, Queens border, the Democratic-Working
Families-Independent nominee for Assembly from the 24th A.D. and concerned residents
recommended that the MTA embrace a nearly 15-year old NYC Transit plan originated by the
communities the bus line serves to extend the Q79 to the Floral Park LIRR station and provide
Sunday service.

Photo Left to Right: Steve Behar (Democrats for New Politics), ATU 1056 Financial Secretary
Luis Alzate, former Councilman David Weprin, former Community 13 Chair Richard
Hellenbrecht and Mike Castellano (Lost Community Civic Association of Floral Park and New
Hyde Park)

“Today, I am joined by concerned community residents, civic leaders from Bellerose,

Glen Oaks and Floral Park, representatives of Councilman Mark Weprin, Community Board 13
and SNAP – a local senior center, and ATU Local 1056 Financial Secretary Luis Alzate
representing the local's President, Daneek Miller, to urge the Metropolitan Transportation
Authority Board to reverse its plans to eliminate the Q79 Little Neck Parkway bus,” stated
former Councilman Weprin.
 “It is a poorly-thought out plan that – despite what the MTA asserts in its own documents
– has no alternative. I find particularly troubling the MTA's outright failure to first explore this
sound alternative to the proposed elimination of Q79. The Bellerose-Floral Park-Glen Oaks
community and Community Board 13 has long supported extending the Q79. It certainly makes
sense and still resonates. At a Community Board 13 meeting Monday (January 25) where I
urged residents to testify against the proposed cuts on March 2, the board unanimously passed a
new resolution urging this plan and its operation on Sundays.

“Sunday service not only encourages the weekend use of the Port Washington and Main
LIRR lines, it provides a much needed mode of transportation for our youth and seniors and
others who lack motor vehicles.

“The Queens County Farm Museum, outsite whose grounds we stand today, the Samuel
Field Y, the Seymour Perlmutter Center (Deepdale Pool) and other institutions operate on
Sunday. We need bus service on Sundays as well.

“It is exceedingly rare when an affected community can present a sound alternative to a
service cuts. We are not just saying no. We offer how. Moreover the MTA New York City
Transit originally concurred with this consensus community recommendation on how to save the
Q79. The agency refused to overcome opposition from the Village of Floral Park to allow the
Q79 to cross the county line. So many MTA Long Island Bus routes cross the city line from
Nassau on Northern Boulevard, Hillside Avenue and Jericho Turnpike/ Jamaica Avenue and
Hempstead Avenue on their way to subways in Jamaica and Flushing. A little fairness seems in
order today.

“Further, the Q79, if connected to the Mainline LIRR, enables the Farm Museum to
market itself to potential visitors from Brooklyn and Long Island without any need to use their
cars. It offers Queens residents from this (Bellerose-Floral Park-Glen Oaks) community who
could use the LIRR main line an easy way to reach the LIRR. Keep the 79!”

Remarks by Luis Alzate, Financial Secretary, Local 1056, follow:

“On behalf of President Daneek Miller who sends his regards and regrets that he could
not attend, my name is Luis Alzate, I represent the Operators of Amalgamated Transit Union.

“We would like to thank our future Assemblyman, David Weprin for gathering the
community leaders in averting the service cuts that NYC Transit is proposing throughout the
system. We are requesting that the Transit Authority prioritize the needs of the riding public, the
needs of our kids who attend schools and the needs of the senior citizens in the community. The
MTA needs to lobby in support of federal transit operating assistance. As bus operators we can
forecast what will happen to community of Glen Oaks without the service of the Q79.
NYCTransit needs to understand that transportation is the lifeline in communities such as this
one where there is no train service.

“Once again I would like to thank David Weprin for his tireless efforts to maintain the
Transit service in this community and the rest of the Transit System.”

NY1 News interviewing Luis Alzate. In background are SNAP board member Frank Ujlaky,
North Bellerose Civic Association Treasurer Margaret Fanelli and former Councilman Weprin.

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