SHEEPSHEAD BAY'S ONLY INDEPENDENT NEWS BLOG

As most know, the Metropolitan Transit Authority has proposed yet another series of cuts that will drastically alter service. With $40 million in cuts to Access-A-Ride, ten bus routes being eliminated, weekend service cuts to be implemented, and reduced service expected to take effect, the crowds of people waiting to huddle into a urine-soaked car will start to become even more inhospitable than it presently is.

With many of the route cuts affecting express lines and buses that service the Downtown Brooklyn area, it’s easy to think Sheepshead Bay residents needn’t bother opposing this. But they’re wrong.

Nearby train lines D, F, and A lines will all be affected by reduced service, while express buses X29 and X38, which service Coney Island/Seagate, will be eliminated. The B4 bus will no longer travel along Emmons Avenue/Shore Parkway – forcing some Bay residents to walk more than a mile to the nearest bus line.

Perhaps the most devastating cut will be the elimination of Student MetroCards, a luxury that has accommodated NYC youth (and predated by the illustrious bus pass) for ages. With the increased cost of transportation in recent years, the flawed logic of this plan is evident to just about everyone.

Christine Quinn of the New York City Council is encouraging Brooklyn residents to sign her petition, available here . You can also become involved by working with NYPIRG’s Straphangers Campaign or signing up to volunteer (contact Nick Rolf NROLF@council.nyc.gov.).

Of more immediate importance, a public hearing will be held on Wednesday, March 3, 2010 at the Brooklyn Museum’s Cantor Auditorium at 6 p.m. There’s strength in numbers, so even if you don’t plan to speak, show them that the issue was important enough to bring you out in the cold weather.

From the New York Times:

Boy’s Leg Is Severed in Tunnel on N Line

A teenager’s leg was severed by a train while he was in a Brooklyn subway tunnel on Saturday night, planning to paint graffiti with two other boys, the authorities said.

…

They were about 75 feet north of the platform at the Kings Highway station when the accident occurred, the police said.

The teenagers had noticed a train leaving the station and were standing inside recesses normally used by maintenance workers alongside the tracks. It was unclear whether Jose’s leg had been in the path of the train, if his clothing got caught, or if there was some other cause, the police said.

“He was in a box by himself,” Julio said, referring to the recess that Jose was standing in. “I knew something was going to happen, I saw my cousin walk to my brother’s box. The train sliced his knee. I saw sparks and him laying there.”

According to a law enforcement official who insisted on anonymity because he was not authorized to discuss the details of the investigation, Jose was hit by a metal part of the train called the shoe, which connects to the third rail.

“He is lucky that all he had was his leg amputated,” the official said. “If he had been touching another piece of metal when he was hit by the shoe, he would have burst into flames because of all the electricity.”

It was not clear whether Jose’s leg was severed by the shoe or by the train’s wheels.

The train did not stop because the driver did not know anyone had been hit, the official said.

Julio said that he yelled to his brother, “Droopy’s dead! Droopy’s dead!” using Jose’s nickname.

“He was moaning, ‘Oh, my knee,’ ” Julio said. “We said, ‘Don’t worry, we’ll get you out of here.’ ”

Julio said that only a little skin connected the lower part of Jose’s leg with the top; Julio tried to hold it together while his brother struggled to carry Jose on his back.

A train passed in the other direction, and the police and rescue workers soon arrived.

“He asked the cops, ‘Can I get up and walk?’ ” Julio said. “They said, ‘No, you have no leg.’ ”

As we informed you last week, the Avenue U and Neck Road train stations have reopened their Coney Island-bound platforms after more than one year.

Featuring wider platforms and wood-ish paneling, the station had its first commuters yesterday and were caught by photographer Paul Anderson.

Below you’ll see photos of the new station – a sign of things to come all along the B/Q line – which is not yet totally complete. You’ll see work is still being done on the stairwell and on the platform itself. The station’s signs appear to also be in commute, as workers temporarily placed dirty, tagged up signs from the other side of the tracks until new ones are installed.

So… we await your photos of gummed up platforms and graffiti’d walls…

And now the photos

I think subway platforms – especially Sheepshead Bay train station’s – make great scenes for photography. Gary Wong proves my point with this photo taken just a few days ago. He writes on his photoblog, The Wong Way, “With the temperature in the low 20s and the wind fiercely blowing, these people were smart and stayed in the stairwell while waiting for their train.” For those interested, check out his site. Wong has challenged himself to take and publish one thought out photo per day to document his 29th year of life. He’s going from birthday to birthday. Also, you can subscribe to his Flickr stream.

Following yesterday’s report about graffiti vandals tagging the subway platforms at Gravesend Neck Road and Avenue U, one reader sent us a much better shot of the crap at Neck Road. Thank you, reader, you can collect your free hug when we finally have our first Sheepshead Bites meetup.

Photo by Arthur Borko

It’s a rare sight indeed, but construction workers at the Avenue V subway overpass were photographed working earlier today. The work at Avenue V is part of the rehabilitation projects at the Gravesend Neck Road and Avenue U train stations that started almost exactly one year ago. The work on this side was scheduled to be finished by now and construction on the Manhattan-bound tracks are next. But, unsurprisingly, work has been delayed and now the MTA says work on the Coney Island-bound side will finish by “Early 2010.”

Regarding the overall project affecting the entire line this side of Prospect Park, the MTA has not yet responded to our leaders’ requests for more information. Politicians and organizers for the area met with MTA officials in October to ask for alternatives to the work and guarantees of the timetable. MTA told them they would be in touch in a few days after they had gathered relevant data. Sheepshead Bites is offering $100,000 (in Monopoly money) to anyone who can snag a photo of an MTA executive at work.

Gothamist Newsmap is reporting that a person fell onto the tracks at the Sheepshead Bay train station. The incident occurred just before noon today. No further information is available. Please contact us if you know anything.

MTA will not raise fares in 2010, but is considering cutting services and staff to close the budget gap

MTA Chairman Jay H. Walder told reporters yesterday that the agency will avoid jacking prices next year, despite a $140 million cut from its budget.

“It is my intent to stay with the schedule of fare hikes that was agreed with the Legislature in May, which does not call for a fare hike in 2010,” he told reporters after a three-hour hearing in Lower Manhattan on the authority’s capital plan. “It is my intent to stay with that.”

Instead, the authority is looking at ways to tighten the belt in-house, and is weighing service cuts, worker layoffs, and maximizing other revenue sources to fill the gap.

Still, Walder says the agency will look to raise fares 7.5 percent in 2011 and 2013, as approved by Legislature.

(Photo courtesy of via William Darhy Flickr)

Local leaders pressed MTA officials and the agency’s contractor for proposals and promises from the authority this morning, but the biggest payoff appears to be for residents of Gerritsen Beach and communities east of Sheepshead Bay.

“Did a magic bullet appear? No,” said Councilman Lew Fidler of the meeting. “The thing that probably will come out of it – and we’re optimistic will come out of it – and it doesn’t affect a whole lot of people, but it does affect Weinstein’s constituents and mine – there was some willingness to consider reversing some of the service cuts on the BM3 and BM4 buses. That’s the thing we’re most optimistic will happen, but obviously it doesn’t help the vast majority of people affected by the construction.”

It appears the MTA came unaware of the demands and complaints awaiting them.

“They were there to tell their side of the story, and I think that’s all they thought they were there for,” said George Broadhead, president of the Gerritsen Beach Property Owners Association. Broadhead said they came to discuss the construction plans, not alter them. However, the meeting changed direction when Broadhead brought up the recent service changes to the BM3 and BM4 buses, which provide alternative Manhattan-bound service to Gerritsen Beach and the eastern portion of Sheepshead Bay. Those bus routes now leave many riders with only the handicapped B/Q line.

The MTA officials present only represented the subway service, and according to sources at the meeting, they were unaware of the bus division’s actions and dismissed it as the other branch’s responsibility.

“[State Senator Carl] Kruger blew his top,” said one source who asked not to be named. “[The MTA was] there to really apologize for all the bullcrap. But I think they got a taste of it from Kruger.”

Kruger scolded the MTA for its dismissive attitude towards bus alternatives, reportedly saying, “We bailed you out with billions of tax-payer dollars, and now you’re telling me the right hand doesn’t know what the left hand is doing?” Continue Reading »

Just to add a little more inconvenience to your commute…

From Notify NYC:

Emergency personnel are on the scene of a subway smoke condition near West 53rd Street and 7th Avenue in Manhattan. The F and V trains are suspended in Manhattan. B and D trains are diverted onto the A line between West 57th Street and West 4th Street.