Dear HPHA Members and Friends:

As you may already know, the Port Authority is suspending weekend PATH train service to Exchange Place and World Trade Center. This service interruption takes effect late this Friday, February 14th, and will continue through early Monday, February 17th, repeating each weekend for the next foreseeable year. For additional and up-to-date information, please view the PATH Alerts posted at http://www.paalerts.com/recent_pathalerts.aspx.

We have been advised that the suspension of service is needed to remediate damage from the Hurricane Sandy flooding, and also to upgrade the PATH’s signal system in compliance with the Rail Safety Improvement Act of 2008 § 104, Public Law 110–432, 122 Stat. 4854 (Oct. 16, 2008) (codified at 9 U.S.C. 20157).

To better understand the crippling effect this shutdown has on all of us and so many others, we encourage you to read Candice Osborne, Jersey City Councilwoman for Ward E’s February 6th letter to the Port Authority: http://candiceosborne.com/updates/weekly-blog/81-shut-down-of-path-service-on-weekends.

As a result of Ms. Osborne’s efforts, the Port Authority has committed to:

1. Cross-honor PATH SmartLink cards and MetroCards for those traveling on the Hudson Bergen Light Rail between Exchange Place and Hoboken on the weekends.
2. Increase weekend service between Newark and 33rd Street to every 10 minutes during the day, and every 15 minutes in the evening.

The HPHA Board is urging Port Authority to do more to defray the extra costs in finances and time for the tens of thousands of PATH riders who rely on the weekend train service to Exchange Place and World Trade Center.

Specifically, we are calling on the Port Authority to:

1. Arrange for discounted weekend ferry service between Paulus Hook and World Financial Center.
2. Provide shuttles between Christopher Street and World Trade Center.
3. Eliminate the Hoboken stop from weekend PATH service between Newark and 33rd Street, and establish separate, direct weekend PATH service between Hoboken and 33rd Street.

If you agree these measures are essential to mitigating the loss of weekend PATH service to Exchange Place and World Trade Center, it is incumbent upon you to take action now.

Below appears the template for a letter we propose you send to Patrick J. Foye, Executive Director for the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. .

It is recommended that a copy of your letter be forwarded to these other Port Authority employees and politicians (copied on one e-mail, or corresponded with separately):

• Julie Lomba, Customer Service Representative for the PATH at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.
• Adrienne Holmes, Superintendent of the PATH This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.
• Kevin Lejda, Superintendent of the PATH at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.
• Stephen Kingsbury, Director of the PATH at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.
• Wilfredo Guzman, Assistant Director of the PATH at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.
• Robert Menendez, United States Senator for New Jersey at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.
• Cory Booker, United States Senator for New Jersey at online comment form, http://www.booker.senate.gov/?p=contact , or This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.
• Kirsten Gillibrand, United States Senator for New York at online comment form, http://www.gillibrand.senate.gov/contact/ , or This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.
• Charles Schumer, United States Senator for New York at online comment form, https://www.schumer.senate.gov/Contact/contact_chuck.cfm
• Albio Sires, United States Congressman for the 8th District of New Jersey at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.
• Chris Christie, New Jersey State Governor at online comment form, http://www.state.nj.us/cgi-bin/governor/govmail/govmail_1c_new.pl
• Andrew M. Cuomo, New York State Governor at online comment form, http://www.governor.ny.gov/contact/GovernorContactForm.php
• Sandra Cunningham, New Jersey State Senator for District 31 at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.
• Charles Mainor, New Jersey State Assemblyman for District 31 at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.
• Thomas De Gise - County Executive, Chairman of the North Jersey Transportation Planning Authority at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.
• Steven Fulop, Jersey City Mayor at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.
• Bill De Blasio, New York City Mayor at online comment form, http://www.nyc.gov/html/static/pages/officeofthemayor/contact.shtml (Note there is a 300 word limit.)
• Candice Osborne, Jersey City Councilwoman for Ward E at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.
• Rolando Lavarro, Jersey City Council President at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.
• Daniel Rivera, Jersey City Councilman at Large at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.
• Joyce Watterman, Jersey City Councilwoman at Large at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.
• Frank Gajewski, Jersey City Councilman for Ward A at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.
• Kemraj Ramchal, Jersey City Councilman for Ward B at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.
• Rich Boggiano, Jersey City Councilman for Ward C at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.
• Michael Yun, Jersey City Councilman for Ward D at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.
• Diane Coleman, Jersey City Councilman for Ward F at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.
• Margaret Chin, District 1, Council Member, New York City Council Member for District 1 This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.
• Melissa Mark-Viverito, District 8, Council Speaker, New York City This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.

A hard copy letter may also be sent to one or all of these individuals through the U.S. Postal Service.

Feel free to modify the suggested text, or draft your own letter. What is most important is that you speak up.

We also suggest, in addition to e-mailing this letter, that you copy and paste your preferred text into the PATH’s online comment form: http://www.panynj.gov/path/contact.html. Our template fits within the 1,000 word limit for each submission.

Finally, kindly consider copying Megan Smollik, Vice President of the Historic Paulus Hook Association at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. on your correspondence. The HPHA Board would like to measure the quantitative breadth of this campaign. To be clear, we are only interested in the numbers responding to this call for action. Your contact information will be kept secure, and will not be used for any purpose or in any manner other than in connection with this matter.

With the membership’s approval at last week’s meeting, the HPHA Board plans to send a similarletter on behalf of the organization to the Port Authority. The HPHA is also on board with the other member organizations of the Downtown Coalition of Neighborhood Associations (“DCNA”) to issue correspondence.

The suspension is taking effect this weekend. Your immediate and timely action is crucial.

As we receive additional updates about the suspension of service, and any efforts by the Port Authority to mitigate its impact, we will keep you informed.

Please keep this campaign alive until we see results. Kindly forward this e-mail to your friends, family, and neighbors.

If you have any questions, please contact Megan at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. .

Thank you,
The HPHA Board of Directors

[DATE]

Patrick J. Foye
Executive Director
The Port Authority of New York and New Jersey
225 Park Avenue South
New York, NY 10003

Re:        Shutdown of Weekend PATH Service

Dear Mr. Foye:

I am writing about the recently announced year-long suspension of weekend PATH train service to World Trade Center and Exchange Place. This shutdown will severely impact the tens of thousands of New Jersey and New York residents who rely on the Newark–World Trade Center route as a direct connection to and from New York City on the weekends.

In this regard, I implore you to delay the service interruption for at least three weeks to provide commuters sufficient notice and time to plan alternate routes. I further urge you to establish alternate channels of transportation to mitigate the repercussions this shutdown will impose.

It is my understanding that the Port Authority has committed to providing free Hudson Bergen Light Rail transfers for PATH riders traveling between Exchange Place and Hoboken. I also understand that the Port Authority has committed to increasing weekend PATH service between Newark and 33rd Street. While these measures are certainly appreciated, they still fall short of what is expected of the Port Authority in compensating its constituency for the loss in service.

Accordingly, I press upon you to make every effort to accomplish the following:

• Arrange for discounted weekend ferry service between Paulus Hook and World Financial Center.
• Provide shuttles between Christopher Street and World Trade Center.
• Eliminate the Hoboken stop from weekend PATH service between Newark and 33rd Street, and establish separate, direct weekend PATH service between Hoboken and 33rd Street.

Without any of the above mitigating measures, the shutdown of weekend train service will cripple the livelihoods and lifestyles of tens of thousands of the Port Authority’s customers, particularly those who are low-income. Tourism and countless other businesses on both sides of the Hudson River will suffer tremendously.

Also consider the shutdown’s impact on travelers when coupled with the upcoming east-bound closure of the Pulaski Skyway. Removing both of these vital connections to lower Manhattan, without offering reasonable alternatives, is a burden far too heavy to bear.

Respectfully,

[NAME]

 The HPHA thanks you for supporting our call to action.