The Long Island Rail Road has recently started bridging the gap at some stations between the platform and trains due to safety concerns and although Syosset has a 15-inch gap and is known as one of the most problematic stations, it is not on the list of locations to be fixed. Nassau County Presiding Officer Judy Jacobs (D-Woodbury) blasted Long Island Rail Road officials for omitting the Syosset station from its list of locations.

"Is there a reason why the Syosset railroad station is exempt from your priority?" Jacobs asked in a letter to LIRR President Raymond Kenny. "Every day I read that you are prioritizing stations according to the severity of the gaps. Isn't 15 inches a priority? ... I am extremely upset and baffled by your schedule of improvements and your lack of concern at the Syosset site."

Jacobs has been in the forefront of the LIRR gap issue and brought it to the attention of officials last summer. She has turned over hundreds of petitions signed by concerned commuters protesting the LIRR's poor record in dealing with this safety issue.

The issue has changed focus in the last few weeks with a local civic group looking for other alternatives. Residents for a More Beautiful Syosset has long advocated the reopening of the former Landia Station, which was located close to the Robbins Lane crossing, behind the town landfill and public works facility. According to Residents, they have been looking into closing the Syosset station, which they said would eliminate the hazardous grade-level crossings at Jackson Avenue and Robbins Lane in Syosset.

"This is a real win-win situation," said Laura Schultz, vice president of Residents for a More Beautiful Syosset. "A new Landia station would close the gap at the Syosset train station and alleviate the commuter and shopper parking problems that are currently plaguing the downtowns of Syosset and Hicksville and destroying the quality of life for both communities."

Mitchell Pally, the Long Island representative on the MTA Board, was scheduled to attend last week's Syosset Chamber of Commerce meeting to discuss the possibilities of reopening Landia train station.

According to the Long Island Business News, Pally left his position of vice president for government affairs at the Long Island Association in September to become the partner in charge of government relations for the Weber Law Group, a real estate firm in Melville that represents the Taubman Company, who is fighting to build a mall on the Cerro Wire site in Syosset.

Approximately three hours before the chamber meeting, Pally cancelled. "Mitch Pally called us three hours ago and cancelled his appearance," said Schultz. "He did not want to discuss the Cerro Wire Mall issue. He suggested that the Syosset Chamber write a letter to Supervisor Venditto and the LIRR asking for a feasibility study on the reopening of the Landia train station."

In a recent interview with the Syosset-Jericho Tribune, Pally said that the idea of opening Landia is not to solve the gap problem, but the parking problem that exists in Syosset. "Landia station surfaced in 1984 so it has been around for 22 years. That is when it was first discussed because of a parking problem at Syosset and Hicksville because the only way people can take the railroad these days is to have a parking spot," said Pally. "I supported the original proposal at that time and now the issue is can it still be done. What would have to happen is that the Town of Oyster Bay, which controls the Landia station property, would have to ask the railroad to do a feasibility study on what could happen."

Town of Oyster Bay Supervisor John Venditto said that the town would support a feasibility study, but at this time, can't make an informed decision on the idea of re-opening Landia until they have all of the facts. "The town proposed a feasibility study in response to the civic group's and the MTA's renewed interest in Landia," said Venditto. "We can't make an informed decision if we are for or against Landia at this time, because we don't have all of the facts."

Todd Fabricant, head of the Cerro Wire Coalition, a coalition comprised of 27 civic, business, educational and community organizations representing more than 40,000 Town of Oyster Bay homeowners and 6,000 small business owners countywide opposed to the mall, labeled the efforts being made by Residents and Pally to close the Syosset train station and re-open the old Landia location as nothing more than a ruse by the Taubman Company to create better access to the site where it wants to build the mall.

"This has nothing to do with the gap safety issue and everything to do with Taubman's efforts to build its mega-mall," said Fabricant. "Mitch Pally is employed as a lobbyist for real estate development deals at the law firm representing Taubman and the civic group advancing the Landia idea is the only one in the entire town that has expressed support for Taubman's mall project."

Fabricant also accused Pally of having a severe conflict of interest based on his new position and being on the MTA board. "How can Pally wear two hats like that and not disclose his lobbyist role every step of the way?" Fabricant asked. "Better yet, how does the MTA feel about Pally using his position as a board member to influence this situation while serving as a lobbyist on behalf of Taubman? It's pretty apparent that he's using his MTA status to advance his true cause, which is serving as the newest lackey for the Taubman machine that is orchestrating this latest PR maneuver to coincide with the lawsuit Taubman started last week."

Pally said that the idea of reopening Landia is not new. "The issue of Landia has been around since 1984 and I supported it then. The railroad has done the exact same thing at a variety of other places - Deer Park, Brentwood, Wyandanch and Central Islip - they closed downtown stations to provide more parking on bigger areas so that more people can take the railroad and that is my intent," said Pally. "That is why I support the feasibility study, but it is not going to happen without the town wanting it to happen. I am looking out for the Long Island Rail Road's interests - I can't speak about how anyone else feels about it."

The long battle over the mall has taken a number of twists and turns since it was first proposed over 11 years ago. Recently, Taubman announced it was going back to court to seek approval to build an 860,000-square foot mall.

"If the mall goes in at Cerro Wire and the Syosset station is moved next to it, what would be left to downtown Syosset?" asked Warren Church, president of Syosset Groves Civic Association. "Syosset is the only real downtown in our area. The Town of Oyster Bay is currently in the process of planning the revitalization of downtown Syosset. Let's continue to work on making things better, instead of handing off problems to others."

State Senator Carl Marcellino said that decisions can't be made regarding the opening of Landia or the closing of Syosset until more studies have been done. "Without extensive studies on one community that will lose a station and another that will gain one, we can't even talk about it," said Marcellino.

Some have suggested that because of the curved tracks at Syosset that the gap problem can't be fixed. "Syosset has a curved platform and they can't fix it by moving the tracks closer to the platform like they are doing in other places," said Schultz. "We need a solution. There is no doubt that reopening Landia would benefit a mall project, but we are most concerned with safety."

Jacobs said the focus should not be shifting from fixing the gap problem at Syosset. "I don't believe that the Syosset train station can't be fixed. That is a cop-out by the MTA and anyone involved who doesn't admit that the same type of configuration exists at various stations in the city - all of which have received retractable, under-the-platform extenders," said Jacobs. "Honestly - this has nothing to do with Landia. I am fighting to make Syosset safer. We have an immediate problem right now that does have a solution. They already know how these retractable platform extenders work. This would be quick and it has been proven already. Reopening Landia could take years and Syosset needs a solution now. Whether Landia is the answer for other problems that Syosset has - that is a completely different issue and would be up to the residents of Syosset and Jericho."

According to Residents, they included a question in the January 2006 membership survey, which was sent to the paid members of the group, which is approximately 500 people, and 81 percent of those surveyed thought that the Landia project should be considered by the Town of Oyster Bay and be subject to a detailed study and review to assess its practicality and possibility.

"We feel that the MTA proposal requires careful consideration and great study, to assess all of the future implications," the Residents group said. "The decision to deny or approve a proposal of this magnitude will have long lasting implications."

According to Pally, the Long Island Rail Road is undertaking a variety of engineering studies relating to the Syosset train station's gap problem to see if it can be corrected. "Syosset is one of the more difficult stations because it is on a curve," said Pally. "It does not come to an easy answer with regard to what one can do. That doesn't mean that there aren't things that we can do, I just don't know the answer yet and won't know until the railroad comes back with its engineering study."