Local residents are the Hempstead Train Station talk about the attention the station gets from the LIRR.
(NNL Video by Ryan Broderick)

HEMPSTEAD -- The MTA has announced a capital improvement plan that will bring money to stations all over Long Island. The major pieces of the improvement plan for the Long Island Railroad (LIRR) involve improved access, general updates to Jamaica station, and the addition of an audio-visual paging system to all 121 branch line stations. But the Hempstead station will not be included.

The 2010-2014 plan, according to the MTA's Q&A document, has two parts. “The [proposal] is composed of two key pieces: core infrastructure maintenance and the completion of expansion projects. The expansion portion covers cost of completing Second Avenue Subway and East Side
Access.”

The Hempstead Branch will see its update by June 2010. All LIRR stations will see modernization from the MTA except for Hempstead station.

In a phone interview LIRR PR representative Salvatore Arena explained Hempstead’s absence from the improvement plan. “That station underwent a major overhaul a few years ago. We put a lot of money into Hempstead station."

Mr. Arena in an email outlined the major renovations that Hempstead has seen in the last decade. “The LIRR has spent a major station renovation project for Hempstead Station was completed in 2001.  This included demolition of the former station building and replacement of all components within the station complex, including: new platform structures, new Overpass, new canopies, new station building, new staircases.”

Arena’s email went on to state “The LIRR’s most recent systemwide assessment of capital assets, which was undertaken in 2007, rated all of the above assets for Hempstead station as a Level 1 (Modernized).  This means that assets are in very good condition and will not be in need of capital rehabilitation or replacement for a number of years.”

As for how the community reacts to the quality of attention the MTA gives to the Hempstead stop, some are content. A shop clerk at the Hempstead stop who would only offer his first name, Anis, described the state of the station now. “It is better now. Since school started we have more cops here. It’s alright now.”

Yitzi, a tourist originally from Toronto who would only offer his first name, thought the station was a little sparse. “I’m used to more, like a building with a subway underneath. [Where] You have more convenience and places to buy things.”

But there are residents unhappy with Hempstead station’s status among other train stations. Chris, a Hempstead local who also would only offer his first name, had a strong opinion about why the LIRR might not be giving more attention to the station. “Hempstead’s one of the poorest stations. It’s in a bad neighborhood and they don’t want to fund it because it’s in the hood, the ghetto.”