AFTER BEING ISSUED AN IMMEDIATE TKOF CLRNC ON LGA; RWY 04; AN A319 FLC OBSERVES A MD80; MIDFIELD RWY 31 AT APPROX 200 FT; ON A GAR.

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WE WERE DEPARTING RWY 04 IN LGA. I RECEIVED POSITION AND HOLD; THEN WE WERE CLRED FOR IMMEDIATE TAKE OFF. JUST BEFORE VR; WE HEAR ACR Y GAR. THEY WERE LNDG RWY 31. I LOOKED TO OUR R; THERE WAS A MD80 ABOUT 3000 FT OFF OUR R AND ABOUT 200 FT AGL. WE WERE BETWEEN 20 AND 200 FT AGL. WE TURNED TO A 360 DEG HEADING AT 400 FT. I BELIEVE THE CONTRIBUTING FACTOR FOR LGA AND THE CTLR ARE TKOF AND LNDG TOO MANY AIRPLANES TOO CLOSE TOGETHER. I DON'T KNOW IF THE GAR WAS ISSUED DUE TO ANOTHER ACFT ON RWY 31 OR A CONFLICT WITH US ON RWY 04. SUPPLEMENTAL INFO FROM ACN 571559: POTENTIAL FOR MIDAIR AT LGA. MY ACFT ON TKOF ROLL. MD80 FLT GIVEN GAR INSTRUCTIONS ON CROSSING RWY. 1) CTLR PUSHING THE LIMIT ON SEPARATION. 2) SLOW SPOOLING ENGINES; POOR JUDGEMENT ON CTLRS PART TFC CONGESTION. CALLBACK CONVERSATION WITH RPTR REVEALED THE FOLLOWING INFO: THE DEPARTING ACFT HAD BEEN IN A LONG LINE UP FOR DEP. THEY WERE CLRED INTO POSITION AND HOLD FOR AN ESTIMATED ONE MIN BEFORE BEING ISSUED AN 'IMMEDIATE' TKOF CLRNC. THERE WAS NO DELAY IN BEGINNING THE TKOF ROLL OTHER THAN THE NORMAL TIME IT TAKES FOR THE ENGINES TO SPOOL UP. THE MD80 TFC WAS NOT MENTIONED IN THE TKOF CLRNC. THE LCL CTLR WAS HANDLING BOTH ARRS AND DEPS. ARRS WERE BEING CLRED FOR VISUAL APCHS TO RWY 31. THE APCH END OF RWY 31 IS NOT VISIBLE FROM THE 'POSITION AND HOLD' POSITION ON RWY 04 BECAUSE OF THE TERMINAL LOCATION. THE FULL COMPLEMENT OF APCHING LNDG LIGHTS ON THE MD80 WERE QUITE STARTLING AS WE WERE ABOVE V1 AND COMMITTED FOR TAKE OFF. THE TURN THAT WAS MADE AT 400 FT WAS NORMAL AND NOT AN EVASIVE MANEUVER.