Late Friday Links 3/21

It's been a very busy week for the LIRR in the news.  I've also been very busy, so I have not really had the chance to be keeping up.  There are several Late Friday Links for your reading pleasure below, and there are several more that require slightly longer comments, so I'll be posting a bunch of different posts this weekend to catch up, so be on the lookout for those (or follow @TheLIRRToday on Twitter, or your favorite social media network to get updated when new posts come up).

• Mangano Attracts Additional Transit-Oriented Housing To Downtown Farmingdale
• Mangano, Bellone talk teamwork, redevelopment at LI business event
• There were a couple mentions of transit-oriented-development in the news this week, one related to the current ToD project going on next to the Farmingdale LIRR station, and another proposed one to be constructed near Ronkonkoma.  Add that to the Wyandanch Rising development and the LIRR's Mainline will be getting lots of new development along its tracks.  Who knows if that is going to be good or bad considering the LIRR's current, and not really improving, capacity constraints along the Mainline.  But time will tell.
• Take LIRR to 2014 New York Auto Show at Javits Center And Save Up To 30% on Train Fare & Show Admission
• The LIRR will once again be offering its discounted package that will allow those looking to get to the Javits Center for the 2014 New York Auto Show to save up to 30% on their rail fare and admission to the venue.  The package includes an LIRR off-peak round-trip rail fare and admission to the Auto Show. Adults: $28 Zones 1-10, $39 Zones 12-14 Children: (5-11) $4.50 Seniors 65+ should check current regular admission and rail fare and compare with adult package price.
• New York’s Hudson Yards Platform Starts as Funding in Place
• Construction of a deck over the LIRR's West Side Yard that will eventually provide the base for lots of new development at the Hudson Yards sites.  Related, which leased air rights over the Hudson Yards site for $1 billion almost a year ago, completed an agreement this week to finance the deck, including a $250 million loan from Deutsche Bank AG (DBK).
• Obama names new board of mediators for LIRR 
• President Barack Obama has officially appointed the members that will make up the second and final Presidential Emergency Board.  The board will try to smooth over the ongoing conflict between the MTA and many of the LIRR's unions.  This is just one of the steps that takes place during the 270-day countdown period after the MTA and the unions hit an impasse last October.  Just like the last one, the MTA is under no obligation to accept the ruling of the PEB (just like they were able to disregard the previous PEB's findings), so unless this board is much nicer to the MTA, I don't expect it to actually change anything, and it still looks like we are rolling towards something pretty grim looking this July.
• 2 plead guilty in LIRR ticket scam
• Last Friday two men pleaded guilty to placing hidden cameras and credit card skimmers on ticket vending machines at several LIRR stations.  The devices were found back in October at Bayside, Great Neck, Merillon Avenue, and Greenvale stations.  Devices were later found at Sea Cliff and the Chappaqua Metro-North station.  Four Romanian nationals were arrested in the crime.  Two plead guilty last week, and the trails for the remaining two offenders are still pending.
• News Bus, rail tracking apps get play
• In an attempt to take credit for something he had very little to do with, Govenor Andrew Cuomo announced earlier this week that the MTA's BusTime application and the LIRR and Metro-North TrainTime apps are very popular among public transportation users.  Since BusTime launced, more than 5 million riders a month are using the service to track when their ride is coming in real time. About 120,000 people, or four in ten commuter rail riders, have downloaded the LIRR or Metro-North TrainTime apps that track Metro-North and Long Island Rail Road trains and service status since TrainTime went systemwide on the LIRR last December.
• Op-Ed: Cuomo's diversion of MTA funds ill-advised 
• This story about Governor Cuomo and his relationship with the MTA seems to be a bit more true to form.  This piece criticizes (and rightfully so) Cuomo's move to divert $20 million in transit funding away from the MTA last year an an additional $40 million this year.  In addition, Cuomo wants to divert $20 million each year beginning in 2016.  Over the next 17 years, that could total up to a massive $350 million in money in transit being taken away from the MTA.  The piece puts this in perspective by saying that, "when the worst service cuts in a generation were enacted in 2010, cuts which included the end of West Hempstead weekend service and canceled trains on the Ronkonkoma and Port Washington branches among others, the cuts saved the MTA only $93 million a year."  If you're wondering why the MTA's infrastructure is in shambles, this is a very good place to look to see why.
• The Huge Mist Cannons That Keep the Air Clean in NYC's New Tunnels
• This Gizmodo India piece shows some cool shots of an evil-looking water cannon that sprays mist that helps keep the air clean in the caverns deep below Grand Central for the LIRR's East Side Access Project.
•  #HaveYouSeenThis Couple? Campaign Aims to Find Lovers on a Train
• In last Friday's Late Friday Links, I mentioned that there was a group of documentary videographers looking to find a couple that got engaged on a Babylon train back in January.  The search moved to a national scale this week when musician Justin Timberlake (whose song was played during the proposal) joined the search for the couple.  The whole thing is the subject of his new music video, "Not a Bad Thing".
• Seth Meyers Goes Over Some of His Favorite Jorbus Video Games 
•  In Thursday Night's Late Night with Seth Myers, Seth Myers spend a couple minutes going over some of his favorite Jorbus Video Games.  The first game he brings up was a game called Transit Cops, in which the player is an officer in the Long Island Rail Road Police Department, and all you do is go through the train telling people to get their feet off the seats (and if they refuse to comply, you issue them a $2 fine). 
• Even more LIRR News Links

Be on the lookout for two or three posts tomorrow morning/afternoon on the last few news LIRR stories that made the news this week.  As far as weekend LIRR service goes for this first official weekend in spring, the Mainline Concrete Tie Project will knock out westbound service at Hollis and Queens Village again this weekend, and ESA high-tension cable work taking place in HAROLD interlocking will require no movement of trains through the interlocking for a little over an hour.  As a result, several late night trains will operate later on several weekends this spring.  The special timetable cars for those are available on the LIRR's All Schedules Page.

In addition, a number of new upcoming trackwork programs were mentioned in the meeting notes for the MTA Board LIRR Committee Meeting on Monday, and I have added all of those onto the The LIRR Today's Trackwork Calendar. 

Enjoy your weekend!