Mayor Giuliani agreed in late July to let the Port Authority proceed with its project to link Jamaica Station to JFK Airport with a new light rail line. The terms of the agreement look much like those of a pact announced last summer, but which apparently had unraveled over the winter. The project must undergo the city's land use review process, and faces opposition from Queens organizations, some elected officials and the airline industry. Still, the PA will likely start work on the line's JFK air terminals loop in advance of city land use approvals, as the project segments to be built on airport property have received all the approvals they require.

Crain's NY Business reports that discussions about building a Manhattan 42^nd Street trolley are still taking place, but that City Hall is cool to the idea. "[The mayor and his aides] don't want to talk about the trolley because it sounds like they're setting up a stadium," an observer told Crain's. Mayor Giuliani's advocacy for a new west side Yankee Stadium has become a major political issue in the city. Interestingly, the Village Voice had reported 18 months ago that the city was permitting the 42^nd St. rail project to move quietly forward for the very reason that it could provide a transit link to the proposed stadium site, above the rail yards west of Penn Station.

The 42^nd Street Development Corporation recently sent a study to the NYC Dept. of City Planning that found the midtown light rail line could be built without moving utility lines beneath the street, the cost of which would be prohibitive to the project, and Consolidated Edison is following up with its own study of the issue. But City Planning officials have waffled on whether or not to move ahead with the project.