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BROOKLYN WEEKLY, MARCH 8, 2020
BY ROSE ADAMS
What the F!
The Metropolitan
Transportation Authority
will halt F train service
to Coney Island weekends
beginning in March — for
the rest of the year!
In an effort to upgrade
the line’s aging signaling
system, the Metropolitan
Transportation Authority
will suspend train service
between Church Avenue
and Stillwell Avenue
from March 21 into 2021, a
transit rep said.
“Work on the F train
will continue in 2021.
Right now, we are sharing
service changes through
2020 so customers can
plan ahead,” said Kayla
Shuts.
In the interim, free
shuttle buses will transport
riders from Church
Avenue to Stillwell Avenue,
Shuts added.
The improvement
scheme is part of a $253
million project to install
technology, known as
Communications-Based
Train Control (CBTC)
along the F Line, which,
when completed, will allow
for seamless updates
on train positions, distances,
and travel speeds,
according to the rep.
F train service will resume
in 2021, and trains
will operate normally on
Easter weekend, Fourth
of July weekend, Thanksgiving
weekend, Christmas
weekend, and select
weekends in October.
The N train, which has
been suspended between
86th Street and Stillwell
Avenue, will resume
full service at the end of
April, meaning that neither
train will travel to
the People’s Playground
on weekends between
March 20 and April 27.
Community leaders
say that the construction
will reduce visitors to
Coney Island during the
neighborhood’s peak season
— and say they are
working with the MTA to
change its plans.
“We’re trying to negotiate,”
said Community
Board 13 district manager
Eddie Mark. “It’s
usually practiced where
they do it on a weekend to
have less of an impact on
the community, but our
The MTA will shut down F train service between Church Avenue and Stillwell Avenue on weekends this
summer. MTA
community is a summer
destination.”
Coney Island’s flagging
commercial strip,
which has witnessed ongoing
construction for
years, may also suffer because
of the project, local
business advocates said.
“As a beachfront and
amusement destination
and community of many
small businesses who
rely on visitorship during
the summer season to
make ends meet, this will
be incredibly disruptive
to our economy and livelihoods,”
said Alexandra
Silversmith, the executive
director of the Alliance
for Coney Island, a
business advocacy group.
“We urge the MTA to reconsider
these plans and
schedule these system upgrades
at a more appropriate
time.”
Business owners
echoed Silversmith’s concerns
and added that ongoing
construction across
the peninsula has already
dealt local shops a tough
blow.
“There are restaurants
on Surf Avenue
that weren’t able to make
it through the construction,”
said Dick Zigun,
the founder of Coney Island
USA, a non-profit
that runs an arts center,
museum, and theater program.
“We were promised
all of it would finally
wrap up on Memorial Day
this year.”
Ditmas residents demand answers after a year of displacement
BY JESSICA PARKS
More than a year after
a massive inferno
engulfed a Ditmas Park
apartment building, the
landlord has made limited
progress in restoring
the fire damage — leaving
18 families displaced
from their homes since
February of 2019.
“I have gone into the
apartment a few times to
see, but nothing has been
done,” said Esperanza
Pena, who joined a protest
on Feb. 25.
Faulty electrical wiring
ignited the blaze inside
the E. 18th Street
building near Albemarle
Road on Feb. 25 of last
year, leading the city’s
Department of Buildings
to institute a partial vacate
order for the building.
Since then, the 18 displaced
families have
been personally footing
the bill for their relocation
costs — with some
staying with family, and
others finding other temporary
housing.
The tenants first took
legal action against the
landlords, Juda Rosenfeld
and JBM Estates, for
the fire-related damage
in April 2019, demanding
speedy repairs and compensation
for their relocation
costs — as well as
for Rosenfeld to be held
in contempt of court for
the alleged slow pace of
reconstruction.
The Kings County
Housing Court later issued
a Jan. 31 move-back
date, when the building’s
managers were supposed
to have completed the
necessary renovations
— but they blew past that
deadline, and the court
granted them an extension.
Now, the tenants have
taken to protesting the
court’s decision, which
they claim gives undo
preference to landlords,
according to an organizer
with the Flatbush
Tenant Coalition.
“We are protesting
a housing court system
that works only for the
landlords and not the
tenants,” said Estefania
Trujillo Preciado at
Tuesday’s demonstration
outside the courthouse.
The tenants have
pointed out that Rosenfeld
has been a notoriously
poor landlord,
racking up numerous
different complaints and
violations over the past
several years.
In 2016, the E. 18th
Street building’s tenants
filed a lawsuit against
Rosenfeld calling on the
landlord to repair the
building’s electrical wiring
and mitigate other
hazardous conditions
after the Department of
Housing and Preservation
deemed the building
“immediately hazardous”
in 2015.
The residents of another
Rosenfeld property,
at 1800 Albemarle Rd.,
have filed over 80 complaints,
resulting in over
60 Department of Building
violations, for water
damage, mold, and other
porous conditions.
Rosenfeld and JBM Estates
could not be reached
for comment.
F That!
MTA suspends weekend F
train service to Coney Island
Flatbush Tenant Coalition members protested outside of Kings
County Housing Court on Feb 25. Photo by Jessica Parks