14 OCTOBER 25, 2018 RIDGEWOOD TIMES WWW.QNS.COM
More M trains to come after L train nightmare takes eff ect in 2019
BY ROBERT POZARYCKI
RPOZARYCKI@RIDGEWOODTIMES.COM
@ROBBPOZ
When the L train shuts down
next year for 15 months of
repairs, Queens commuters
can expect to fi nd more crowding
on other train lines — but also more
frequent trains.
The MTA announced on Oct. 22 that
it’s adding more than 1,000 roundtrips
on seven subway lines during the L
train shutdown. Additionally, it will
extend weekend service on the M
line — which emanates out of Middle
Village — all the way through Manhattan
via the Second Avenue Subway.
The L train closure centers around
the Canarsie Tube that connects
Brooklyn and Manhattan, which suffered
signifi cant damage during Hurricane
Sandy. While the MTA made
temporary repairs to restore service
following the storm, the tube needs
more extensive improvements, which
necessitates the long-term shutdown.
When that tube closes, L trains on
this side of the East River will be disconnected
from Manhattan. Though
still months away, the shutdown already
has many Queens and Brooklyn
residents who rely upon it concerned
about getting around. Some 225,000
commuters use the L train every day.
In recent months, the city and MTA
have announced various eff orts to
help accommodate the displaced
riders and ease congestion in Manhattan.
The plan includes shuttle bus
service, a new ferry service between
Williamsburg and Manhattan and
high-occupancy vehicle limitations
on the Williamsburg Bridge.
The latest cog in the L train contingency
plan will boost service on
subway lines which the MTA believes
riders will use as alternate routes. This
includes 62 additional roundtrips and
increased peak-hour service on the
M line, the closest alternative to the
L train; it operates in a near loop between
Middle Village and Forest Hills,
passing through Lower and Midtown
Manhattan along the way.
Moreover, the M line will be extended
on overnights and weekends from
its terminus at Essex Street in Lower
Manhattan to 96th Street on the Upper
West Side.
Additionally, the MTA will add 16
additional weekday roundtrips on the
J/Z line between Jamaica and Lower
Manhattan. That comes, however, at
the cost of rush hour skip-stop service
on the line between Broadway Junction
and Marcy Avenue, as all trains
will make all stops. Skip-stop service
will remain in eff ect between Jamaica
Center and Broadway Junction.
Service on the M line will be signifi cantly boosted when the L train closes
for 15 months next year, according to the MTA.
“The L tunnel reconstruction project
will be the most impactful Superstorm
Sandy-repair work we will undertake,
and as such, we must ensure we have
viable, reliable alternatives, particularly
on the subways where we can
accommodate the largest number of
riders,” New York City Transit President
Andy Byford said.
Photo via Wikimedia Commons
When the Canarsie Tube closes,
L line service will only run in
Brooklyn, between Bedford Avenue
and Canarsie-Rockaway Parkway
with reduced service. The MTA
will cut 88 weekday roundtrips, 93
Saturday roundtrips and 53 Sunday
roundtrips on the line.
Visit mta.info for more details.
State Senate candidates stump for votes at Middle Village meet
BY MARK HALLUM
EDITORIAL@RIDGEWOODTIMES.COM
@MARKUUSAN
The two candidates battling it out
for the 15th State Senate District
seat in southwestern Queens
met for a forum hosted by the Juniper
Park Civic Association during its Oct.
18 meeting in Middle Village.
Republican Tom Sullivan, challenging
incumbent state Senator Joseph
Addabbo in the November general
elections, played heavily on his military
career as a doer, while Addabbo
leaned on his record as a moderate
Democrat who works with both parties
on legislation and community
matters.
Addabbo, who was elected aft er his
time in City Council in 2009, said he
has passed more bills in the state senate
over the last year than ever before
with one mandating that fees levied
from a new Down’s Syndrome license
plate will go toward medical research
being signed into law by the governor.
“This year, 16 of my bills passed the
Senate,” Addabbo said. “I can’t do that
without my Republican friends. It’s
by working with others regardless of
party politics, regardless of who you
are for the sake of others and I love
doing that.”
Sullivan, who has served for 25
years in the military and currently
holds the rank of colonel in the Army
Reserves, said he will work to fi x the
city’s subway system by attempting
to hold contractors accountable to
completing projects on time.
“My personal political philosophy
is before you go out and represent the
people in the community, you have to
have walked in their shoes, and I believe
over the last 25 years I have done that
in multiple capacities,” Sullivan said.
Sullivan has worked in fi nancial
services as an analyst and also owned
a Brooklyn eatery for 10 years.
Addabbo said he is working to move
along the Penelope Avenue sewer
project, stalled for years due to lead in
the soil, as well as fi ghting to keep the
communities in his district from being
overburdened with homeless shelters.
“Warehousing of large numbers of
homeless people, it does not work. It
does not work for the community, it
does not work for the homeless people,”
Addabbo said. “Two billion dollars
later and this administration has
shown it to be true, it doesn’t work... It
creates frustration and anger in our
communities that we have not seen in
decades.”
Addabbo said he has tried to work
with the de Blasio administration for
alternative solutions — such as creating
new homes through converted
shipping containers, as it has been
done in California — to no avail.
Sullivan also said he will work to
also fi ght overdevelopment in Queens
by opposing property tax increases
which he claims forces people to
relocate and will be a voice against
Governor Andrew Cuomo’s plan to
provide free college classes to students
who commit to stay in New York for
an equal amount of time they were in
school following graduation.
“The overdevelopment has gotten
out of control; the parking, the hospitals,
the schools, the roads can’t bear
it anymore. The property owner can’t
bear anymore taxes,” Sullivan said.
Addabbo also opposes an all men’s shelter
in Ozone Park arguing that it poses a
risk to public safety being two blocks from
a public school, something he claimed
Mayor Bill de Blasio was unaware of.
The Mayor’s Turning of the Tide on
Homelessness has attempted to put at
least one shelter in every community
board in the city in an attempt to house
the estimated 60,000 people in the city
without a roof over their head.
File photos:
State Senator Joe Addabbo and challenger Tom Sullivan
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