East Side Access changing routines

Commuters adjust to new schedules

BY CAMERYN OAKES

For many Long Islanders who work in Manhattan, their commute is a defning aspect of their lives. With many spending upwards of two hours a day riding the train to and from the city, commuting defnes part of their day.

But with the addition of the Grand Central Madison terminal, the newly established LIRR destination, the schedule changes made have not just changed their commute but also a crucial part of their weekday routine.

Blank Slate Media’s Cameryn Oakes rode the Long Island Railroad Port Washington line for the Monday morning commute into Penn Station to speak to commuters about how the new schedule had afected their trip and experience it for herself.

Grand Central began full LIRR service Feb. 27 with a revised schedule that added trains running into Grand Central to its regular Penn Station service.

Trains running to and from Penn Station were reduced under the new schedule in order to reroute trains to Grand Central instead.

The schedule also cut the number

BY BRANDON DUFFY

The Village of Floral Park announced a tentative budget of $35.4 million for the 2023-2024 fscal year.

The $35,429,702 budget represents a $1,566,407 increase from the current year, a 4.5% rise in spending.

General funds amount to $32.6 million for the upcoming fscal year.

For the village’s library and pool, the tentative budgets are $1.56 million and $1.22 million, respectively.

The tax rate per $100 of assessed valuation for homeowners will be $14.67, which Mayor Kevin Fitzgerald said in a letter to the village amounts to an increase of $157 in village taxes for an average homeowner with an assessed value of $37,694.

Annual Village taxes for a home assessed at $37,694 would be $5,530.

The proposed budget has a tax levy increase of 2.83%, which exceeds the state’s applicable tax cap of

2.12%, the mayor said.

In June 2011, the property tax cap was signed into law by Gov. Andrew Cuomo to limit the annual growth of property taxes levied by local governments and school districts to either 2 percent or the rate of infation, whichever is less.

The proposed tax levy increase amounts to a $766,000 increase compared to the tax cap’s limit of a $573,120 increase.

Fitzgerald added in his letter that many costs associated with providing village services continue to rise, specifcally health insurance costs, which are projected to rise by 14.95%, or about $600,000.

The village is also planning to add one police ofcer, creating a total force of 35.

“The Village Board constantly tries to balance keeping the taxes as low as possible with the need to maintain the services that contribute to making Floral Park a ‘Great Place to Live’,” Fitzgerald said in a statement. “With this balancing act in mind, this budget accomplishes a lot while dealing with the most signifcant infationary increase the United States has experienced in quite some time.” of express trains running along the Port Washington branch after the MTA originally proposed that all would be eliminated.

For the Fire Department, the budget is projected to replace a 27-year-old pumper truck with a new one partially fnanced by the village and state grant.

Floral Park is also looking into repairing and upgrading facilities and buildings in a cost-efcient manner. Fitzgerald said the village entered into an energy performance contract with Johnson Controls to evaluate multiple projects, including HVAC repairs, library and Firefghters Hall upgrades, a partial roof replacement at the library and installing solar panels on the Department of Public Works building.

The village will hold a budget hearing Wed., April 12, at 8 p.m.

The 7:54 a.m. train from Port Washington is scheduled to arrive at 8:30 a.m. in Penn Station. One of the three express trains during the morning rush, it only stopped at three stations – Plandome, Manhasset and Great Neck – before arriving on the West Side of Manhattan.

The MTA’s Train Time app, which provides the train schedules for all LIRR and Metro-North trains as well as online ticket sales, includes a feature that reports the occupancy of each train car.

The app describes each car on the train with the number of occupants and a color associated with the percentage of seats taken. Colors range from green, yellow, orange and red, each respectively associated with less than 35%, 35-50%, 50-85% and over 85% of seats taken.

The train was made up of M7 rail cars, which use the train’s suspension systems to measure the weight of each car’s seating cabin and approximate its occupancy, according to the MTA.

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SUBSCRIPTIONS: Sue Tabakin 516-307-1045 x206 stabakin@theisland360.com

DISPLAY ADVERTISING: Steven Blank 516-307-1045 x201 sblank@theisland360.com

CLASSIFIED ADVERTISING: Deborah Flynn 516-307-1045 x218 dflynn@theisland360.com

EDITORIAL:

New Hyde Park Herald Courier: Brandon Duffy 516-307-1045 x215 • bduffy@theisland360.com

Manhasset Times: Robert Pelaez 516-307-1045 x203

Roslyn Times: Cameryn Oakes 516-307-1045 x214

Williston Times: Brandon Duffy 516-307-1045 x215

• rpelaez@theisland360.com

• coakes@theisland360.com

• bduffy@theisland360.com

Port Washington Times: Cameryn Oakes 516-307-1045 x214 • coakes@theisland360.com