Fun fact: yesterday, August 19, marked the very first day of G train service in 1933. So we’ve decided to present you with a little bit of history about our neighborhood’s most beloved (and often disparaged) subway line. Continue reading
On Thursday, May 5, the Metropolitan Transit Authority (MTA) held its first community meeting to discuss two proposed plans for the Canarsie Tunnel renovation, the final step in the MTA’s Sandy Recovery Work plan and a major concern for Brooklyn residents who use the L train daily.
The first plan, which all officials seemed to favor (emphasized by the noticeably longer “pro” list in the presentation), proposes an 18-month turnaround, with work beginning in January 2019 and ending in July 2020, and requires a complete shutdown of the L train from 8th Ave to Bedford Ave. The train would run as normal from Bedford Ave to Rockaway Parkway. This plan would give the agency more flexibility with contractors and would get the work done as quickly and efficiently as possible.
The second plan, which would take three years, would leave one tunnel open, allowing the train to run at 12-to-15 minute intervals from 8th Ave to Bedford Ave: only 20% of the current level of service the L train provides. There would be no train service at all between Bedford and Lorimer, with a shuttle bus as an alternative. Service would run as normal between Lorimer and Rockaway Parkway. Continue reading
Do we smell another passive-aggressive Cuomo/de Blasio standoff? A state audit found that the MTA fudges its numbers on how often subway trains show up on time, and that service sucked more in 2015 than it did in 2014. But wait! Want to know the real shocker? The G Train performed better than any other line in terms of meeting target wait times: a rate of 81.3%.
Is it the Streetcar Named Desire for the people of New York, or is de Blasio’s proposed streetcar linking Brooklyn and Queens a developer’s fantasy in the making? In either case, here’s what we know so far.
We know slightly more about the L Train Shutdown than we did last week. Brace yourselves, because it seems as though “1 year vs. 3 years” was a generous estimate.
It only took a year, but the reports from the CitiStorage fire investigation have been wrested into public view by The Brooklyn Paper. The fire was allegedly sparked by a light fixture, subdued, and then reignited. Kind of weird that department reps maintained their line that the investigation was ongoing, even though investigators signed off on the report on Jan. 8. Continue reading
The L Train is facing an imminent, extensive shutdown in the wake of lingering Hurricane Sandy damage, and North Brooklyn hasn’t taken the news very well.
And why would it, given the amount of daily riders who travel through the Canarsie Tube every day — around 350,000 — not to mention the huge impact ridership has on local businesses?
Currently, the MTA is considering two options to implement as early as 2017: to close the entire tunnel nonstop for one year, or to leave one side open and reduce traffic to half-volume, which would take anywhere from three to four years.
Not ones to bide their time quietly, a number of local residents and business owners have already formed The L Train Coalition to demand a better solution from the MTA, though many know full well that the answer will definitely be “pain.”
Pain, of course, can be abstract or painted in sharp relief. And while a fair amount of ink has been spilled over the implications for L Train commuters, there are fewer educated guesses regarding the fate of surrounding areas like Greenpoint, which will absorb a great deal of shock from the closure as riders scramble to find alternative routes. Continue reading
The clapboard menace has ruffled enough feathers to generate a “no-film zone” proposal, but some are sensing a recurring plot line.
This year, many locals have been wishing for a Greenway Christmas, but the proposed bike path is nowhere to be seen.
Applications are now being taken for affordable units at 21 Commercial Street, one of the three affordable buildings within the imminent Greenpoint Landing complex. Studios start at $494/mo for applicants making less than $18,309 per year.
On the complete opposite end of that spectrum, here’s what a $1.2 million apartment looks like in our dear heartland.
If the MTA is a petri dish, the G Train is an itty bitty hot bed of salmonella.
Just because we’re up shit creek without a paddle doesn’t mean our waterways don’t have basic rights. Riverkeeper is the one to thank for keeping an eye on Newtown Creek.
A 40-year-old man is being treated at Bellevue after the G Train clipped him in the head early on Tuesday morning. He was reportedly leaning too far over the edge when the train pulled into the station.
The neighbors are already on high alert concerning the jolly St. Nick scourge overtaking the city tomorrow. Here’s some thoughts on why the Santa Conmen aren’t welcome in our twee little neck of the woods, as well as a guide to local Santa-free zones.
Is “Greenpoint” becoming synonymous with “gentrification?” This week, Forbes spotlighted the decline of Polish businesses, and McSweeney’s did a McSweeney’s.
Curb Your Litter is tackling Greenpoint’s abysmal person-to-garbage-can ratio with a new interactive map that lets you recommend locations for trash bins. As a matter of fact, “person-to-garbage-can ratio” is also pretty good shorthand for life in New York City.
Protect your package, people. Greenpointers posted this video on our Facebook page earlier this week, but in case you missed it, here’s something that might make you think twice about buzzing in a stranger.
Jack and Joshua Guttman just filed an application to build a new hotel on West Street at the abandoned Greenpoint Terminal Market complex. Perhaps the proposed rooftop bar will be distress-signal-distance from the Wythe Hotel’s.
Another five-story rental going up on West and India hopes to offer a more “approachable, neighborhood feel” counterpart to the big towers going up around it.
Is it the dawn of a new era for the G? Old Faithful made it to this short list of “best trains to live near” in NYC, but I’m not sure how much that actually means coming from a source who says the L is “reliable” and that the Q moves “with astonishing speed.”
