Welcome to the Hook-up. We all know the MTA is a diva. But this time it’s not (all) about the L-pocalypse. In fact, this week, MTA honcho Andy Byford was crowing about a different set of repairs. His goal is to update the subway’s pre-war signal system, and he suggests he can get it done in 10-15 years! To put that in perspective, other estimates peg the time frame at 40 years. How will he do it? Suspending a lot of weekend service.
But anyway, back to L-pocalypse. If there’s any silver lining within the impending doom that is the L-train shutdown, it might be that rents have already begun to fall in North Brooklyn ahead of the closure.
Presumably, those still renting in North BK will be sanguine about the shutdown, and go about their lives as best they can. But not everyone was so serene on the subway this week. In fact, a 25 year-old man punched a 5-year-old in the face on the G train on Monday, and checked himself into Jacobi Medical Center. Police cannot question or arrest him until he is released.
And, that’s not the only unprovoked fist that flew around town this week. A man broke another man’s jaw in Greenpoint on Friday. The victim was walking down Lorimer Street toward Metropolitan Avenue when he was unexpectedly punched. The blow broke his jaw. The man and his attacker had no previous interaction.
Unfortunately, our Mayor dumped a couple shelters on North Greenpoint, on Clay and McGuiness, which house mentally ill recently released convicts and addicts. The shelter on 66 Clay the most notorious. They have been menacing passersby and store owners ever since.