A JFK CTLR CLRED AN ACFT FOR TKOF ON A RWY OCCUPIED BY AN ARPT OPS VEHICLE. ACFT CREW SAW VEHICLE PRIOR TO DEPARTING AND HELD.

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IN THE MIDDLE OF A VERY DIFFICULT AND UNNECESSARY RWY CHANGE; I; AS THE GND CTLR; INSTRUCTED A PORT AUTH VEHICLE TO ENTER RWY 4L FOR A RWY INSPECTION AND TO HOLD SHORT OF RWY 31L (INTERSECTING RWY). I COPIED DOWN THE ARPT VEHICLE NUMBER ON A BLANK PROGRESS STRIP; BUT WAS SO BUSY I DID NOT PUT THE RWY OWNERSHIP STRIP NEXT TO IT LIKE I USUALLY DO. I HAD APPROX 20-25 ACFT ON THE FREQ AT THE TIME AND WAS MAKING A CHANGE FROM 31'S A PAIR TO 4'S A PAIR WITH AN OVERFLOW FROM RWY 31L AT AN INTXN. THE LCL CTLR AND I COORDINATED NUMEROUS ACFT XINGS (TO GET TO THE DEP RWY 4L YOU NEED TO CROSS RWY 31L AT A POINT BEHIND WHERE THE OVERFLOW INTXN IS) BECAUSE WE STILL HAD NUMEROUS ACFT DEPARTING FROM THE FULL LENGTH. DUE TO MY WORKLOAD I FORGOT ABOUT THE ARPT VEHICLE. WHEN LCL CTL ASKED FOR OWNERSHIP OF RWY 4L; I ASSUMED THAT THE VEHICLE WAS CLR (IT HAD BEEN ABOUT 15 MINS) AND THE VEHICLE NEVER CALLED OR PROMPTED ME THAT HE WAS STILL ON THE RWY. LCL CTL CLRED A B757 FOR TKOF ON RWY 4L; BUT THE B757 HAD THE COMMON SENSE TO REALIZE THAT THERE WAS A VEHICLE ONLY A COUPLE OF THOUSAND FEET IN FRONT OF HIM ON THE RWY AND ADVISED THE TWR. THE RWY CHANGE WAS MADE DUE TO CONSTANT PRESSURE FROM THE USERS TO HAVE 2 DEP RWYS AVAILABLE. HOWEVER; THE VOLUME OF OVERFLOW DEP TFC WAS EXTREMELY SLIGHT AND THE MAJORITY OF ACFT TAKEN TO RWY 4L WERE ACTUALLY DELAYED DUE TO THE RWY CHANGE. THE CAB COORDINATOR POS WAS NOT OPEN DUE TO SHORT STAFFING (AN EXTRA SET OF EARS AND EYES). THE AMOUNT OF VOLUME AND COMPLEXITY CAUSED THE GND CTL TO NOT FOLLOW HIS USUAL ROUTINE IN ORDER TO EXPEDITE THE TAXI TIMES OF NUMEROUS ACFT. THE LCL CTLR SCANNED THE RWY PRIOR TO ISSUING TKOF INSTRUCTIONS; BUT A COMBINATION OF SUN GLARE; FILTHY SHADES AND DIRTY WINDOWS MADE IT VERY DIFFICULT TO SEE SUCH A SMALL VEHICLE.