Hochul Criticized for Closing Hamptons Subway

SCENE ON THE SUBWAY

Nobody.

HAMPTONS SUBWAY STILL NOT OPEN

In spite of all efforts to get Gov. Kathy Hochel to reopen the Hamptons Subway after she shut it down Thursday after so many financial mismanagement accusations became public, no such thing has happened yet. Vigils for the Hamptons Subway took place in San Francisco at subway headquarters there where our beloved Commissioner Bill Aspinall once worked as assistant manager and on the platform at 86th Street on the Lexington Avenue Line in Manhattan. Here, the police and the fire department had to be brought in to shut down the ill-conceived candlelight vigil there after many protesters were felled from smoke inhalation. There have been daily candlelight vigils here at the Hampton Bays headquarters of the Hamptons Subway, of course, though it’s been suggested that they might be more dramatic at night.

The governor has agreed to call back the National Guard whose members had been placed at all subway entrances to stop the public from using the subway which, according to the governor, was “a financial cash cow for its commissioner, and, besides that, incompetently run.” This has allowed the general public to go down into the subway to see it one last time and to wish it well in its future endeavors.

Fred Feinhouse has brought his model subway system down to the platform in Southampton and set it up on a ping pong table for all to see — or hear anyway — since it is all underneath the surface. But you can see the model trees and roads and rocks above it, punctured by an occasional vent or grating. And, of course, you can hear the subway.

On the East Hampton platform, there is storytelling going on about various adventures on the subway, interspersed with a slow and continuous reading of all back issues of the Hamptons Subway newsletters, looped around when they are done to start over just as the subway system trains themselves used to do.

An art exhibit of photos taken on the Hamptons Subway by straphangers has been mounted on the walls of the Westhampton Beach platform.

Meanwhile, aboveground in East Hampton, several restaurants have begun serving Subway Burgers, which are actually hamburgers on hot dog rolls. They have become quite the rage in that town.

MEMORIAL DAY AUTO TRAFFIC SHOULD BE OK

Without the Hamptons Subway, many organizations volunteered their services to get the community through the busy upcoming Memorial Day weekend without gridlock. Extra busses, kayaks, skateboards, bicycles, etc., have been commandeered. It is expected that there will be several major tie-ups over the weekend, but with everybody helping out, it should not be too terrible.

COMMISSIONER ASPINALL RECEIVES AWARD

A large bronze trophy was presented to our Hamptons Subway Commissioner Bill Aspinall by the United States Subway Safety Board (USSSB) last Thursday. The USSSB gives this annual award for the safest subway in America. Aspinall received the award on behalf of Hamptons Subway in Aspen, where the board is headquartered, at their annual dinner convention, and where the commissioner is visiting while some problems with Hamptons Subway are being ironed out. He is the first winner of this annual award. The award was presented to him by Biff Aspinall, the CEO and Chairman of USSSB who also just happens to be the brother of the commissioner.

NEW MASS TRANSIT SYSTEM PROPOSED FOR EAST END

Last Wednesday, State Assemblyman Fred W. Thiele (D-Sag Harbor) held a press conference on a topic that is of interest to all former subway goers. Thiele announced a plan to create an ambitious, shovel-ready and expensive network of trains, busses and feeder shuttles for the North and South Fork that would be wholly separate from Hamptons Subway.

At the press conference, which was held at the Suffolk County Community College in Riverhead, Thiele presented a comprehensive report he had ordered written last week by the newly formed Volpe National Transportation Systems in Cambridge, Massachusetts. The report suggests that along with the Long Island Rail Road service operating throughout the Hamptons and the North Fork, a new bus service be created to run every half hour, seven days a week, and available to all at 6-minute intervals, which was the interval between arriving and departing subway trains when the subway was operational. This new service, estimated to cost between $117 million and $148 million, is expected to begin service in 2027.

“There will be some political heavy lifting to get this done,” Mr. Thiele said. “I don’t underestimate the level of the political battle.”

A spokesman for the LIRR issued a prepared statement at the press conference. It reads, “We will study the report’s recommendations and we look forward to working with community leaders on the East End to improve public transit opportunities.”

That the report completely overlooks the Hamptons Subway system seems to us to be a major oversight, even though at the moment Hamptons Subway is not running, but then, what do we know? It could bounce back at any time.

COMMISSIONER ASPINALL’S MESSAGE

The closing of the Hamptons Subway by Gov. Kathy Hochel was a ghastly act and she is paying for it in political coin. According to one poll, her approval rating, which was already very low, dropped from 19% to 18.5% during this past week that her subway law was in effect. If she thinks she can get re-elected Governor the next time she runs, she’s got another thing coming.

On the other hand, we are working closely with the governor to get our subway system back up and running. What exactly were her complaints? She talks of “mismanagement” and “graft” and “incompetence” and we would like to know what that means. Surely the subway is safe. She didn’t mention that.

Hamptons Subway plays an important role in getting the general public moving around and around in the Hamptons. It alleviates the traffic problems on the roads above. It has a long history of service and accomplishment. Saddam Hussein was one visitor here. So were singer Gladys Knight and former President George W. Bush. These things mean something.