July 5, 2020 Your Neighborhood — Your News®
Month xx–xx, 2019
LOCAL
CLASSIFIEDS
PAGE 7
Redesign of
BK buses on
pause: MTA
Out COMIC of this world: Galaxy Comics in Bay Ridge has seen an outpouring of support from its RELIEF community during the pandemic. Google
Ridge community raises thousands to support local comic shop
BY JESSICA PARKS
Kind-hearted Brooklynites
have raised thousands of dollars
for a beloved Bay Ridge comic
store that fell behind on several
months of rent because of the
state-mandated shutdowns of
non-essential businesses during
the novel coronavirus outbreak.
“I was very surprised when I
fi rst saw and was so touched by
all the support we have been getting,”
said Abdulilah Esa, owner
of Galaxy Comics in Bay Ridge. “I
would like to thank the community
for all the support and all the
good comments we have been receiving.”
Hoi Chen, a longtime customer
of the comic shop, created the online
fundraiser on June 11 and set
an ambitious $29,000 goal — and
has since received over $8,500 in
donations in mere weeks.
“The store is a mom and pop
comic book shop in Bay Ridge
Brooklyn and the only true surviving
one,” wrote Chen.
The comic store owner owes
nearly $28,000 in back rent on the
Fifth Avenue storefront between
68th Street and Bay Ridge Avenue
— and, while he’s received government
money to cover the cost
of his employee’s salaries, Esa
hasn’t seen enough help to pay his
mounting operating costs.
“It wasn’t much because I only
have two employees,” Esa said.
Instead, his community has
stepped up and gone to great
lengths to ensure that their beloved
comic book shop makes it
through the pandemic.
“We had customers that
wanted to help, so they said they
would come in and spend money
in the store,” Esa said. “They
were not looking for something
specifi c, only with the intention to
spend money.”
The Sunset Park native fi rst
reopened his shop on June 7 — after
the city entered into Phase One
of its reopening — but said the
pandemic has discouraged many
from browsing without a specifi c
purchase in mind.
Now, in Phase Two of the city’s
reopening, patrons can shop inside
non-essential storefronts
— which Esa hopes will bring a
much-needed infl ux of both visitors
to his cherished business.
BY KEVIN DUGGAN
They’re pulling the brakes!
The MTA will miss their scheduled
June 30 completion of the
Brooklyn Bus Network Redesign,
which is on hold due to COVID-19-
related constraints, according to
an agency letter to local elected offi
cials and stakeholders.
“Due to the ongoing COVID-19
pandemic’s impact on staff resources
and the challenges to
safely conduct public outreach
with community stakeholders under
prevailing social distancing
guidelines, the project is on hold,”
the June 25 letter reads.
MTA reps will talk to politicians
and other stakeholders to fi gure
out what’s next and publish a
revised timeline for the scheme in
“the next few months.”
The coronavirus pandemic has
wreaked havoc on the agency’s
budget, with MTA leaders projecting
more than $10 billion in losses
during the next two years and its
chairman Pat Foye calling the situation
a “four-alarm fi re.”
Offi cials launched the redesign
project in October to remodel the
borough’s 63 local and nine express
bus lines over the coming year and
gathered input from Kings County
straphangers for months.
In February MTA released a report
about the existing conditions
in borough’s bus system, where
many of the lines remain largely
unchanged since they replaced old
trolley lines in the 1920s.
That report also questioned the
need for so many different bus lines
running through the congested areas
of Downtown Brooklyn.
The survey also identifi ed 50
corridors in the borough that
could benefi t from bus priority
lanes, which are implemented to
help buses move faster in dedicated
red-painted lanes on congested
streets.
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