The LIRR strike will hit the New York region with an economic blow of up to $50 million, according to a new state comptroller analysis.
The disruptions to the economy of a Sunday strike include shutting off visitors to Long Island attractions like Southhampton, Long Beach, wineries, golf courses, and state parks during a peak tourism season.
“A LIRR strike would cause headaches and financial hardships for riders and businesses,” said state comptroller Thomas DiNapoli. “It would also be another devastating blow to a region that is still struggling to recover from Superstorm Sandy and the recession.”
New York City shops will lose the business of the 150,0000 people who use the LIRR on weekdays, largely to go to work and appointments in Manhattan, Queens, and Brooklyn.
The city will also lose the dollars of Long Islanders who come in to watch Broadway shows or shop at boutiques.
The plunge in business will also lower how much sales tax is collected, which will hurt local towns’ coffers, the analysis adds.
However, Gov. Cuomo said Wednesday that a strike would not be a disaster for the region.
“We’ve had strikes before, and we survived. So—we’ve had disasters and we know what that’s like,” he said in Schenectady at a General Electric plant. “This is not a disaster—a real pain, maybe, but not a disaster.”
To calculate the pain the strike will inflict, the comptroller analysis used ridership and census data, as well as information available on spending patterns in New York City and Long Island.
Other economic costs of the strike, such as the wear and town on Queens roads, have not yet been calculated.