Port Washington comes to regret a 14-year-old 'no'

For years, the promise of an East Side Access connection to Grand Central Terminal was just that — a promise, without much real to show for it.

But long before the installation of escalators and tracks and platforms, new train schedules, and signal and switch-testing, Long Island Rail Road officials tried to plan, prepare and paint a picture for local residents — of a future with a better commute, a new path to Manhattan, and a huge benefit for the region and its commuters.

But some residents and local elected officials couldn't or wouldn't see that future. They only saw the short term, felt the immediate, seemingly negative ramifications and said "no," joining a long list of cautionary tales that have stymied growth in the region.

In most cases, communities across Long Island eventually came to agreements with the Long Island Rail Road to approve what were known as East Side Access "readiness" projects — local changes needed for increased capacity and new routes.

But in Port Washington, residents and Town of North Hempstead officials kept saying "no." For them, the loss of parking spaces outweighed the need for an expanded rail yard. A decade of negotiation, which included ways to restore the lost parking, failed.

Now, 14 years after the Metropolitan Transportation Authority first unveiled rail yard expansion proposals, residents of Port Washington are seeing the impact of that choice. The new LIRR schedules expand service to and from stations across Long Island, including some on the Port Washington line, like Great Neck. But Port Washington, Plandome and Manhasset won't see a similar increase. That's drawing the ire of commuters, who are disappointed that they're getting less express service and no additional trains. But the service limitations are the direct result of the failure to expand the rail yard. Those limitations are in place only because Port Washington residents and North Hempstead officials lacked the foresight, or the political courage, to prioritize the big picture of future public transit improvements over the loss of a few parking spaces.

We often talk about the impact of Long Island's refusal to change, to improve infrastructure, to add housing, to support new development. But at times, it's hard to show the direct effects of that reticence. We see some of it in the current housing market's tight supply and rising prices, which are certainly correlated to the region's rejection of new housing units and affordable housing proposals. But in housing, it's easy to blame other factors.

Here, there's only one reason for Port Washington commuters' current concerns. And while MTA and local elected officials should continue efforts to determine whether any schedule improvements could be made now, there's little certainty about what can be done.

In this controversy involving a small area of Nassau County, there is a very real lesson for the rest of Long Island to learn.