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City Council Speaker Peter Vallone is considering allowing the Kennedy Airport rail link to move forward without a council land-use review - even as a new report by his own staff criticizes the controversial project.
The report sharply challenges claims by the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey that its elevated "AirTrain" would attract rider interest, that Jamaica businesses would benefit and that traffic flow would improve from the controversial $1.2-billion rail-link plan.
But Vallone (D-Astoria) and key allies declined to predict if the council's Land-Use Committee will vote on transferring to Port Authority control the city land along the Van Wyck Expressway above which the rail would run.
If the committee and the council do not take up the matter, which they note is optional, they'd be leaving the decision to the City Planning Commission, which is expected to vote on the transfer May 3.
Three community boards and the Queens borough board have backed the project, though residents who live along the route fear it would blight their southeastern Queens neighborhoods. Supporters and foes alike say they believe the commission will approve the plan, since Mayor Rudolph Giuliani struck a deal last year with Gov. George Pataki to support it.
The light-rail train would...