Accomplishments over the Past Year

  • testified (both David Peter Alan and Sally Jane Gellert) at Transit Equity Day, Feb. 4, hearings organized by the Labor Network for Sustainability, stressing the needs of the transit-dependent and the value of public transit for a healthy environment
  • encouraged NJ Transit to open its larger stations as vaccination sites, which they did in August 2021 at Secaucus and Newark Penn Station (interestingly, though no longer an employee, Stewart Mader agreed with us on this one!)
  • objected to the hiring of someone designated a “customer advocate” rather than a “customer experience officer”, “ombudsperson”, or some such term. Our fears were proven accurate when Stewart Mader was roundly criticized for being more of a public-relations person than an advocate for customers.
  • created a new WordPress Website—though we are still working out the connection to the forum where so much member discussion takes place, our main site, currently using the URL www.lackawannacoalition.net, is up to date and functioning well. We are working on posting our back issues of the Railgram.
  • 2 museum outings
    • to Mahwah Station Museum on Mahwah Day, with a special thanks to John and Cathy, who opened just for us, with its memorabilia of the Erie line, from china to timetables to bells and photos, and where they are raising funds to restore the caboose that sits behind the station, damaged in a storm and in need of a new roof, and
    • to Whippany Rail Museum, where we rode a classic parlor car, complete with accurately reproduced furnishings, from carpet to lamps to wicker chairs
  • returned to in-person meetings after being solely on MaestroConference since March 2020—time will tell if we need to retreat again, but for now we have a core group back in our traditional home, the Millburn Town Hall conference room and still connecting with those further away, or more vulnerable, through MaestroConference (thank you, InterOccupy!)
  • published a Railgram EXTRA! in November 2021 with the text of our 2 most recent statements, expressing our concerns about the planned Greenway and interest in ensuring that any regional fare card preserve adherence to the federal laws for half-price senior fares

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