Testimony of Borough President Diaz
RE: Increased Service for the Spuyten Duyvil and Riverdale Stations
Public Hearing — January 23, 2012
Dear members of the MTA board, Metro North officials, elected officials and the public, I am here this evening to present comments in support of the proposed increased Metro North service for the Spuyten Duyvil and Riverdale stations.
Over the course of the last year, I have pursued a campaign to bring new Metro North service to the East Bronx communities of Co-op City, Morris Park, Parkchester, and Hunts Point. Hundreds of people came out to community meetings to speak out in support of bringing Metro North service to the East Bronx.
The purpose of this campaign was and continues to be the galvanization of public support for the establishment of four Metro North Stations in the East Bronx. Towards that end, we held several forums to both inform and gain feedback from residents, business, employers, employees and visitors to our great borough.
While we believe that adding these new stations will leverage new economic opportunities in the East Bronx, and improve quality of life indicators, such as air quality and traffic congestion, we are cognizant of the need for increased services on our western borders as well.
This proposal to increase service at both the Spuyten Duyvil and the Riverdale stations will further support and improve the quality of life indicators mentioned above. Equivalent service has been extremely successful at the Marble Hill station. Along with the successful Hudson Rail Link bus line, the Bronx communities of Spuyten Duyvil and Riverdale can only benefit from their enhanced connectivity to our great city.