State Senator James Sanders Jr. Announces Nearly $13 Million in Transportation Improvements to Far Rockaway

State Senator James Sanders Jr. (D-Rochdale Village, Far Rockaway) held a press conference yesterday in Far Rockaway at the A-Train Station to announce  that $12.94 million in state funding has been allocated for transportation improvements for the area.
 
"You look around right now, and it’s a little run down, and well, it’s rather ratty," Sanders said. “This is one of the last times you will see it like this. Moving forward,  it will not be a grimy place, but the entrance to the Rockaways.”
 
This money was set aside in the 2016 budget for a multi-year state transportation plan agreed upon by Senator Sanders along with his colleagues in the legislature and Governor Cuomo.
 
“As someone who has taken public transportation for most of my life, I understand how important it is to have fast reliable options to get to work, school and important appointments,” Sanders said. “This capital investment in our mass transit system and surrounding pedestrian areas will bring much needed changes to Far Rockaway, which has long been a transportation desert.”

Sanders stressed the importance of community involvement in planning how the money is used.
 
“Why should everyone else design our community?” Sanders said. “Why don’t we design it ourselves?”
 
“If it’s about us, without us, then it’s not for us.” Sanders continued.
 
Sanders also said that Far Rockaway residents, especially Minority and Women-Owned Business Enterprises (MWBEs), should be given priority on construction jobs, when the projects are planned. Sanders is the father of MWBEs, having authored Local Law 1 and Local Law 129, a type of affirmative action, during his time in the City Council.  
 
According to the State Department of Transportation, the reconstruction project will create open spaces to improve pedestrian safety and accessibility while stimulating economic development. It will include the addition of a new pedestrian plaza at the Far Rockaway Station- A Train Station/ Beach 22nd to Beach 21st Street, and the expansion of the NYC Parks Department Green Street on Central Avenue and Mott Avenue. The addition of these open spaces will allow for seating, plantings, and other features.
 
The NYC Department of Transportation (DOT) and MTA are collaborating on improvements to provide increased transfer convenience for buses and commuter van operations, stops and layovers at the Far Rockaway Station- A train and the MTA Bus Terminal on Beach 21st Street.
 
Senator Sanders was surrounded by community leaders, Rockaway residents and others at the press conference including Dr. Ed Williams, CEO of Ready Rockaway, representatives from the Rockaway Youth Task Force, Pastor David Cockfield of Battalion Pentecostal Church in Far Rockaway, Eugene Falik of the Bayswater Civic Association, Glenn Collins president of the Redfern Resident Council, and Bill Henderson, Executive Director at Permanent Citizens Advisory Committee to the MTA.