FROM 43 TO 164 TRAIN DOWN THE HELL GATE LINE

Penn Station Access via the Hell Gate Line Project

We the undersigned are submitting this petition in response to the Penn Station Access Project. This project will use Amtrak’s Hell Gate Line to bring commuters from the eastern portion of the Bronx to Penn Station. This will send an additional 121 trains down the Hell Gate line which runs alongside Boulevard Gardens. This project offers “NO BENEFITS” to the residents of Queens. As we are residents who reside in Boulevard Gardens, we know that this project will adversely affect us in these ways:

· This will cause constant noise and ground-borne vibration from the increased service along the Hell Gate Line. Track noise and vibrations, when it is consistent and sustained can have a substantial impact on our quality of life.

· This will lower our property values.

· Increased vibration can cause structural problems to our buildings. These repairs can be expensive.

· Increase use to the track, will increase maintenance and repairs. Which means late night track repairs using drills and machinery. This will create loud magnitudes of noise throughout the night.

· These tracks are very close to our complex. Increased use means, additional garbage and debris to an area already cluttered with garbage and debris and is currently neglected by Amtrak. This garbage breeds rodents who make their way from the tracks to our buildings.

There are many adverse conditions that this Project will pose to the residents of Boulevard Gardens, with ABSOLUTELY NO BENEFITS. For these reasons we adamantly oppose the use of the Hell Gate Line to bring commuters from the Bronx, on an UNNECESSARY ROUTE through our neighborhood to Manhattan.