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Thirty-three years ago, Charles and Elsa Lucas moved into their dream home in Richmond Hill: a three-bedroom high ranch on a quiet, tree-lined street. It seemed an ideal place to raise three daughters, with a basement for parties, a good public school nearby and an easy commute to Manhattan.
But now, instead of enjoying their retirement, they find themselves in the midst of a long-and so far fruitless-fight against a proposed rail link from Jamaica to Kennedy Airport. Plans for an Airtrain were approved by the Federal Aviation Administration three months ago.
"Our dreams have crumbled," said Charles Lucas, a retired social worker. "This is the worst thing that has happened to the community since I have been here." Lucas and other neighbors who live near the Van Wyck Expressway have fought the $1.5 billion rail project for years, but were disappointed when the City Council overwhelmingly approved it last spring. In recent weeks, they've moved their battle to the courts, saying the project violates the civil rights of Van Wyck area neighbors by targeting minorities.
Last month, the Southeast Queens Concerned Neighbors and the Committee for Better Transit Inc., an environmental advocacy group, filed a...