Newsday from New York, New York • 24

i i nurr rm tw 23 I Phone items to (718) 575-2550 Fax (718) 793-6422 Airports Monorail On Track Study is exploring link to Manhattan By Joseph V. Queen STAFF WRITER Port Authority officials are studying the possibility of building a monorail that would take passengers from midtown Manhattan to Kennedy Airport in less than 40 minutes. Stanley Brezenoff, executive director of the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey, announced the study into extending the proposed monorail into Manhattan during a meeting of the Queens Borough Board last week. The authority has already unveiled plans, endorsed by Gov. Mario Cuomo, for a $1.

6-billion monorail that would link Kennedy and LaGuardia Airports with subway and Long Island Rail Road stations in Queens. But Edward OSullivan, who is studying the mono-rail project for the authority, said a new study was recently begun into extending the line, possibly across the Queensboro Bridge to East 59th Street. OSullivan said the proposed monorail would whisk passengers from midtown to LaGuardia in 15 minutes and to Kennedy in 37. Weve got to get it into Manhattan or it wont work, said Queens Borough President Claire Shulman, who released a proposal last year for a system that would run from Kennedy to Manhattan with stops in Jamaica, Flushing and Long Island City. The authority plans to raise the money to pay for the monorail with a $3-per-passenger departure surcharge.

The authority has applied to the Federal Aviation Administration for permission to collect the surcharge for the monorail. If approved, the authority stands to collect an estimated $61 million yearly at Kennedy and LaGuardia Airports. FAA officials said the application is still being reviewed. A decision is expected by Friday. Critics have argued that the orginal plan which did not include a direct link to Manhattan would never attract riders.

They argued that passengers with baggage would be hard pressed or just plain afraid to switch for a subway or the LIRR with their luggage. Authority statistics show that 76 percent of the passengers at LaGuardia and 67 percent of the passengers at Kennedy currently get to the airport by cars or cabs, which must fight their way through roads often jammed with traffic. Brezenoff said that ridership estimates for the proposed monorail arent complete and that a proposed fare hasnt been established. The fare is a critical issue, Brezenoff said, because not only must the monorail attract riders, but it also must pay for itself once its built. He said that efforts would be made to convince airport employees to take the monorail, possibly by offering incentives.

NY-0 NEW YORK NEWSDAY. TUESDAY, JUNE 23, Photo by John Gxtldu Working the Plank Carpenter-rigger Ralph Scarabaggio hoists a plank to co-workers building the scaffolding necessary for the renovation of vie cornice at Grand Central Terminal in Manhattan. will get free tickets to the game against Houston July 3, and other goodies will be given to those who raise money or win the races. There is a 1 0 registration fee, and participants are encouraged to get sponsors to help Project Outreach, or to sponsor Father Coleman Costello, the groups founder wholl be walking the 3.1 mile course. For more information, call (718) 847-9233.

CORONA Rally to Reopen Closed Subway Entrance At the Queens Mall Station The neighborhood stabilization committee of Community Board Number 4 will hold a rally tomorrow to reopen the eastern entrance at the Wood-haven BoulevardQueens Mall subway station on the Queens Boulevard line. The rally, to be held at the now dosed entrance, will be at 5:30 p.m. JAMAICA Poetry Theatre Holds Talent Show, Raffle The monorail wouia iook Bimuar uj me one at Disneyworld. It would have trolley-like cars running along a 26-foot-wide guideway that would nnlca along the Van Wyck Expressway and Grand Central Parkway, according to preliminary authority plans. Authority officials estimate that construction on the monorail could begin in two years.

FLUSHING Outreach Group, Mets Sponsor Run and Walk Walking can stop substance abuse! The New York Mets and Project Outreach are sponsoring a 1- or 3.1-mile walk and run on Saturday at 9:30 a.m. from Flushing Meadows-Corona Park to the Stadium. infield. The first 500 participants. II i The Afrikan Poetry Theatre will hold a talent show and raffle drawing on Saturday at 7:30 p.m.

The show costs $10 for adults and $7 for children and will feature, among others, the Nubian Blues Band, the Medicine Man, Joy of Performance Ensemble and others. Proceeds will send a group of youth to Africa for five weeks. The show takes place at 176-03 Jamaica Ave. For more informa-calf KIN i i i.