One-on-one with Jonathan Kornreich

One-on-one with Jonathan Kornreich

Brookhaven councilmember talks Lawrence Aviation, PJ Branch electrification

Brookhaven Councilmember Jonathan Kornreich. Photo from Brookhaven Town website

While plans to electrify the Port Jefferson Branch line have stalled for over half a century, nearly every level of government is coming together to support the development of the Lawrence Aviation Superfund site in Port Jefferson Station. [See story, “Schumer announces $450K to help demolish buildings at Lawrence Aviation,” Jan. 9, TBR News Media website.]

In an exclusive interview, Town of Brookhaven Councilmember Jonathan Kornreich (D-Stony Brook) summarized the plans for the Lawrence Aviation property, connecting this local project to the decades-old struggle for branch electrification. The implications for both, he suggests, would be transformational for the community and greater region.

From a planning perspective, what is the overall vision for  the Lawrence Aviation property?

Roughly a third of the site would be preserved as open space. Another third would be for industrial purposes, specifically a solar farm. And the last third would be, theoretically, set aside for the MTA rail yard to try to move [the existing] rail yard there and eliminate the grade crossing on Route 112.

Is the proposed rail yard intended to accommodate electric train cars or the diesel-powered locomotives currently used on the Port Jefferson Branch?

I’d love to see it as an electrified rail yard. But even if it were to relocate the existing rail yard using the same 19th-century technology they’re using now to a better location, it would still be an improvement. 

How is your office coordinating with higher levels of government? Have they been open to your suggestions?

We haven’t interacted much on a federal level. We have had a couple of meetings with the MTA, with [former state] Assemblyman [Steve] Englebright [D-Setauket]. 

Much more of our interaction has been with Suffolk County. I did help negotiate a New York State contribution through Assemblyman Englebright’s office to get the buildings taken down.

When you’re dealing with some of these big state bureaucracies like the MTA, I feel like we tell them things, and they tell us things. But sometimes, I don’t know how responsive they really are. 

This is a major priority for us, but I don’t know if it is for the MTA. My job, what I’ve been trying to do, is get meetings with them to keep those lines of conversation open. It’s to communicate to them how important this project is and what the regional impact of electrification would be.

Is there a disconnect between local and state-level officials’ priorities, particularly with electrification?

Yes, and this is a common theme that we have seen. The centers of power in Albany seem to be well aware of the city’s concerns. To some extent, they’re concerned with upstate and rural communities. But I feel that sometimes there is a disconnect between state-level priorities and suburban concerns.

What can local officials along the North Shore do to make their concerns heard by state-level officials in Albany?

This is the nexus between politics and government. We have to advocate for the needs of our communities — not for political reasons but from the standpoint that these are the concerns of the suburbs. These are concerns that these communities face, and we want state support in addressing the unique challenges that we face in the suburbs.

Is it realistic that MTA-LIRR will commit to Port Jefferson Branch electrification within the next decade?

My parents moved out here in 1968, and my dad was working in the city at that time. The real estate agent who sold them the house said, ‘You are going to love getting into the city because the Long Island Rail Road is going to electrify that train.’ They were literally talking about this in the 1960s.

So, is it realistic? I guess it could happen. Will it happen? I have no idea, but I’m going to fight like hell for it.