In a reversal of last week’s pattern, there will be Manhattan bound service on the R and (midnight through the wee hours) N service at Court and Jay, but no Brooklyn bound service at these stations, as all trains will be sent over the Manhattan Bridge. If you happen to be on one of these diverted trains, you can get off at DeKalb Avenue (the first stop in Brooklyn) and change to a Manhattan bound train that will take you back to Court or Jay.

The following week (Monday the 13th through Friday the 17th) from 10:00 p.m. to 5:00 a.m. there will be no 2 or 3 service to or from Brooklyn, so no service at Clark Street or on the 2-3 platform at Borough Hall. Use the A, C, R (N late at night), 4 or 5 as an option.

Intomobile

The only planned service change affecting a train serving this area in the coming week is that, in a directional reversal of what’s been happening from midnight to 5:00 a.m. this week, during the same hours Monday through Friday (January 30-February 3) Brooklyn bound A trains will be re-routed over the F line from West 4th Street to Jay Street. Use the 2, 4, or N to get from skipped or nearby stops in lower Manhattan.

This coming week, Monday through Thursday, 3 trains will not be running to or from Brooklyn from 10:00 p.m. to 5:00 a.m. Monday through Friday, though 2 trains will be running on the same line, and 4 train service will be extended to New Lots Avenue. Also, Tuesday through Friday from midnight to 5:00 a.m., Manhattan bound A trains will be re-routed over the F line from Jay Street to West 4th Street. Use the 2, 4, or N for skipped or nearby stops in lower Manhattan.

Responding to our post about an illegal billboard that was blown down by last Friday’s high winds and blocked the southbound lanes of the BQE, a local resident noted that there is an illegal–because it is within 200 feet of a highway–billboard near Brooklyn Heights. It can be seen in the photo and from the north end of the Promenade quite clearly. Within your correspondent’s now fading memory, it has always advertised Apple products (the photo was taken in June of 2010, when the iPad was the latest gadget). Reader Andrew Porter forwarded the complaint to us, and to Brooklyn Heights Association executive director Judy Stanton, who gave the hopeful response, “If it is illegal it shouldn’t be hard to get DOB to enforce it.”

Preliminary reports indicate that the person was not the victim of a crime.

Traffic on the 4/5 lines is stopped on the southbound side, and northbound trains are bypassing the station until further notice.

The only weekend diversion affecting service on a line at local stations is that Manhattan-bound F trains will be running on the A and C line from Jay Street-Metro Tech to West 4th Street. This means no Manhattan-bound service at York Street in DUMBO (either take a Brooklyn-bound F to Jay and change for a Manhattan-bound train there, or walk up the hill to High Street). To get to the Lower East Side stations on the F line (West Broadway, Delancey, Second Avenue, and Broadway-Lafayette) take a Manhattan-bound A, C, or F to West 4th, and change there for a Brooklyn-bound F back to the skipped stop.

New York Times: The highway has also been an irritating neighbor for Lucille Plotz, 85, of Columbia Heights and her husband, Charles, 90. Take, for instance, a recent afternoon inside their apartment. First came the vibrations, then a loud crash; her butter cookies toppled from the counter to the kitchen floor, and the radiator cover dislodged and fell onto a wooden chair.

“If it was properly maintained it wouldn’t be a bother, but now it’s beyond just maintenance,” Mrs. Plotz said.

The article quotes another Heights resident, Bo Rodgers, as saying that when trucks hit bumps “it sounds like a bomb going off.”

Unfortunately, as we previously reported, the State has cancelled environmental studies considering possible options to the present BQE structure that is cantilevered along the bluff below the Promenade and along the east side of Furman Street. Instead, the Department of Transportation has simply committed to make those repairs that are necessary to maintain safety. But, as the article points out, the highway has been under continuous repair since even before it was completed.

During 2012, the MTA will institute a new policy of doing major maintenance work late on weeknights instead of on weekends. No major work is scheduled for next week, but there will be some beginning Monday through Friday, January 9-13. On those nights, there will be no 4 or 5 service between Grand Central-42nd Street and Atlantic Avenue (and therefore none at Borough Hall) in both directions from 10:00 p.m. to 5:00 a.m.

Check back with us next week and we’ll let you know of any other planned service changes.

Photo by M. Hermann for BHB

Motorists heading across the Brooklyn Bridge this afternoon were taken by surprise when their rear windows suddenly shattered. Eight cars on the Brooklyn-bound side of the bridge in the left-hand lane were passing an area where construction is ongoing, and sandblasting was in progress, when some sort of debris started hitting them. At least two cars collided during the hard brake that resulted, sending two people to the hospital. No other injuries were reported.

Photo by M. Hermann for BHB

“My ears are still ringing,” said Sasha Clemendore, who described the frightening sound of the impact. Emergency workers and numerous representatives from the construction crew working on the bridge were on scene immediately, and traffic on the bridge was down to one lane for over an hour. Damage to the cars ranged from golf ball-sized holes to near total destruction of the glass.

As a result of these project terminations, all plans for improved capacity or highway replacements have been effectively shelved for decades. This means that the current egregiously negative environmental impacts that these antiquated and crumbling highways have on the thousands of Brooklynites who live near them—or on the millions of roadway users who must travel on them while facing near-constant congestion—will not be substantively addressed for a generation or more. This is absolutely unacceptable and an insult to the residents of Brooklyn, Staten Island, Queens, and New Jersey who live or work near these structures or depend on them to access the region’s commercial core.

Additionally, the termination of these two projects constitutes a colossal waste of time and money. The Gowanus EIS began in 1997 and the EIS for the Cantilever section of the BQE began in 2008. Since then, literally thousands of hours of time by public participants and city and state employees has been invested in stakeholder meetings and in the scoping and planning process. Additionally, millions of dollars have been spent on contracts, data collection, engineers, outreach, and everything else that accompanies environmental review. Terminating these projects tosses nearly all that public money and time away.

Markowitz notes that, in addition to the economic importance of the highway as a route for travel, commutation and commerce, the existing highway structures have negative effects on both public health, because of the fumes generated by stalled traffic, and the value of nearby real estate. He writes that it ought to “be a state and national priority to overhaul and replace these antiquated structures.” He concludes:

I urge your administration to reverse the decision to terminate these projects. You have recently proposed funding infrastructure through the expansion of public-private partnerships including the use of pension fund investments to pay for our roadways and bridges. Although the details of your proposal need to be finalized, I believe it is a great start and should be used to immediately address Brooklyn’s I-278. Additionally, I request that your administration open a new dialogue with other elected officials at the City, State, and Federal levels to find opportunities to revive and continue these projects to the fulfillment of their expressed goals of solving the current traffic, economic, and environmental nightmare they create.

I look forward to receiving a positive response on this matter.

Update: State Senator Daniel Squadron has also asked the Governor to reinstate the BQE study, using funds from the infrastructure bill that just passed the Senate:

I’m asking Governor Cuomo to invest some of that money right here in the district — by moving forward with the rehabilitation of the BQE, funding an incentive program for Lower Manhattan businesses to become more energy efficient, and helping City Tech build a new academic center that will be a resource at the gateway to Brooklyn, while providing even greater opportunities for striving New Yorkers.

In these financially difficult times, NYSDOT is making strategic choices to make the best use of our limited resources, balancing core infrastructure preservation with fiscal reality while maintaining the safety and reliability of the transportation system. The alternatives being explored in the environmental study far exceed the financial resources available to us now and for the foreseeable future. Working closely with the Federal Highway Administration (FHWA), NYSDOT has concluded that terminating the environmental study is the most prudent and responsible course of action, allowing us to focus our resources on the highest and most critical needs.
…
The Brooklyn-Queens Expressway is a critical component of the transportation network for both New York City and New York State. Keeping it safe and reliable is essential to commerce and quality of life. Working with the New York City Department of Transportation, the New York State Department of Transportation will continue to support efforts to ensure that the Brooklyn-Queens Expressway remains a safe and reliable roadway in our transportation system.

According to a notice published in the Federal Register by the Federal Highway Administration:

Proposed future projects will continue necessary State of Good Repair projects to structures, roadways, and appurtenances, to ensure the continued safe operation of this important roadway corridor. With this approach, future plans for the roadway may be addressed in a comprehensive manner as funds become available.

In other words, only those repairs necessary to keep the BQE safe will be done in the forseeable future. Projects like the proposed tunnel are far in the future, if they ever happen.

For those traveling into Brooklyn, there are more complications. Manhattan bound 4 and 5 trains won’t be stopping at Eastern Parkway, Grand Army Plaza, or Bergen Street, so to get back from the Brooklyn Museum, Botanic Garden, Brooklyn Public Library Main Branch, or Park Slope, you’ll need to take an outbound 4 or 5 to Franklin Avenue and catch a Manhattan bound train there. The F won’t be running between Jay Street-Metro North and 18th Avenue, but will be replacing the C between Jay and Euclid Avenue. To get between Jay and 4th Avenue-9th Street, you’re advised to take the R. The G won’t be running from Hoyt-Schermerhorn to Church Avenue, but will be replaced by free shuttle buses.

babble.com

There will also be complications for those traveling into Brooklyn. The F won’t be running between Jay Steet and 18th Avenue. F trains will be diverted onto the C line between Jay and Euclid Avenue. To get to 4th Street-9th Avenue, use the R. G trains won’t be running between Hoyt-Schermerhorn and Church Avenue, but free shuttle buses will run in its place. If you’re going to Park Slope, Prospect Park, the main Brooklyn Public Library, the Botanic Garden, or the Brooklyn Museum, you can take the 4 or 5 out to Bergen Street, Grand Army Plaza, or Eastern Parkway stations, but there will be no Manhattan bound trains stopping at these stations. So, to get back, you’ll need to take a 4 or 5 to Franklin Avenue and transfer there to a Manhattan bound train.

Last evening’s Community Meeting got off to an interesting start when Brooklyn Heights resident and long time Brooklyn Bridge Park advocate Tony Manheim asked State Senator Daniel Squadron if, now that in a deal brokered in part by Squadron and Assemblywoman Joan Millman, the State has given control of the Park to the City, he and Millman would consider yielding their nominees’ position on the Park’s board to representatives appointed by the Mayor. He also asked if Squadron thought it now appropriate to have the Park’s management “collapsed into” the City’s Parks and Recreation Department. Squadron said he was “not excited” about giving up his slot on the board, but that Manheim’s ideas were “conceptually interesting.” Another person suggested that, instead of mayoral nominees, the board slots go to community representatives.

Things later took a heated turn when Marsha Rimler, after first saying she was “very disappointed” with Squadron’s handling of the housing-in-the-Park issue, asked Squadron if he would refer to the “board of ethics” (by which she presumably meant the New York State Commission on Public Integrity) the question whether his wife’s job in the Mayor’s office constituted a conflict of interest when he dealt with the City on this issue. Squadron said he considered this question “out of bounds,” and went on to say that he had negotiated zealously with the City and got it to agree to allow tax payments on the Jehovah’s Witnesses’ properties to be used for Park maintenance and operations, which the City had strongly resisted, and to defer any residential construction at Pier 6 until the next mayoral administation. Squadron also said that in his negotiations with the City he had helped to secure many amenities for the Park, including a skating rink, a floating swimming pool, and the Pier 5 “bubble” which, he said, he thought would become a reality despite the lack of responses to what he said was obviously a “flawed” initial Request for Proposals.

David Manning, who moved to the Heights from Manhattan hoping for peace and quiet, raised the issue of helicopter noise. Squadron said he had “worked in good faith” with the operators of the Downtown Heliport to try to find a workable solution, but that “good faith didn’t work.” He has now concluded that only a complete ban on tourist helicopter flights will work and, to groans from the audience, urged everyone to “keep chopping away.” A former Federal Aviation Administration official and Lower Manhattan resident said that this was the first time he had ever advocated curtailing aviation, but he believed that the tourist flights should be ended because they are “unsafe” and do not, contrary to what some City officials have said, contribute anything to the City’s economy because the operators are based in New Jersey and do all maintenance, repairs, refueling and the like there. Squadron added that the assertion that some people come to New York just to take a helicopter ride “doesn’t pass the laugh test.” Judy Stanton, Executive Director of the Brooklyn Heights Association, said a request for the City’s economic data on the helicopter flights had been made under the Freedom of Information Act. She also said the State Department of Environmental Conservation should monitor both air quality and noise at the heliport. Squadron said this was a good idea.

Squadron noted that the residential parking permits proposal faced a long and tortuous path before it could become reality. First the City Council, following this morning’s (Wednesday) hearing, would have to pass a “home rule message” asking the State for authority to issue the permits. The State Assembly and Senate would then have to pass enabling legislation, which would then go to the Governor for signature. If the legislation was enacted, the City Council would then have to pass an ordinance putting the scheme into effect. He said he viewed this as a quality of life issue, because “people driving around looking for parking spaces” has negative effects on congestion, safety, and air quality. He said Mayor Bloomberg had supported the idea when it was coupled with congestion pricing, but that the failure of congestion pricing to pass meant he no longer favored resdential permits. A story in today’s New York Post says that Brooklyn GOP State Senator Marty Golden opposes residential parking permits on the grounds that they constitute a “tax,”and that anyone should be allowed to park where they wish (Update: Could this also be because his rather convoluted district has more people who park their cars in Brooklyn Heights to get to the subway than has people from out of the area parking on their streets?) He said that the proposal would never pass the GOP controlled Senate. The same article quotes Bloomberg as now being undecided on the issue, noting that some residents favor the permits while some merchants oppose them. Update: The “home rule message” passed the City Council’s Committee on State and Federal Legislation today.

Transportation related issues dominated the rest of the discussion. Among the issues raised were: restoration of bus service over the Brooklyn Manhattan Bridge, improvement of security at the High Street subway station, better sevice on the G train, which Squadron said was the next line he would press the MTA to improve, and safety at the intersection of Atlantic Avenue and Court Street, where one person present said a cupcake vending truck creates a hazardous condition for pedestrians crossing.

Squadron also said he supports the campaign to establish a public middle school to serve students from Brooklyn Heights and nearby neighborhoods. He concluded by urging everyone to attend his next Community Convention, to be held early next year.

New York Post: “Permit parking is long overdue in Downtown Brooklyn, Western Queens, Upper Manhattan and other communities where residents must circle for hours trying to find parking near their homes,” said state Sen. Daniel Squadron, who is co-sponsoring the legislation with another Brooklyn Democrat, Assemblywoman Joan Millman.

The Post story mentions Brooklyn Heights as one of the neighborhoods “that have long been abused as virtual park-and-rides for mass transit commuters”. Under the proposal, a fee would be charged for the permits, and the City would decide what hours they would be in effect.

Reminder: Senator Squadron’s Community Meeting is this evening, from 6:30 to 8:00, at the Dodge YMCA, Classroom A, 225 Atlantic Avenue (between Court Street and Boerum Place).

If you are not a BHA member but wish to join, you may do so here.

Major issues before our community, which the Transportation Committee will address, include:

Residential Permit Parking, which has gained momentum in recent months as talk of congestion pricing re-emerges;

Congestion Pricing, which could be a solution to transportation funding shortfalls;

Parking Placard Abuse, which advocates are attempting to combat through new City Council legislation;

Pedestrian Access to Pier 6, …. and other critical planning issues.

It’s the S.O.S. for Heightsers this weekend, as the 2 and 3 trains will once again not run to or from Brooklyn, which means no service at Clark Street or on the 2/3 platform at Borough Hall, and the Manhattan bound A and C will again be diverted onto the F line from Jay Street to West 4th, which means no Manhattan bound service at High Street. Suggestions for coping follow the jump.

To get to destinations in lower Manhattan for which you would normally take the 2 or 3, use the 4, 5 (which, unlike most weekends, will be running to and from Brooklyn), R, or (late night) N, but not the Manhattan bound A or C, which will be running on the F line (i.e. through the Lower East Side) between Jay Street-MetroTech and West 4th Street. Brooklyn bound A and C trains will be running on their usual route, but won’t be stopping at Fulton Street, the last stop in Manhattan before High Street. Since there’s no Manhattan bound service at High Street, you North Heightsers will have to hike to Montague (Court Street) for the R or Borough Hall for the 4 or 5.

Treats: If you’re heading into Brooklyn, the 5 will replace the 2 to Flatbush Avenue-Brooklyn College, and the 4 will be extended to New Lots. Service on the G between Hoyt-Schermerhorn and Church Avenue will be restored. There are no diversions affecting service on the R or its late night replacement, the N.

Happy Halloween!

Wall Street Journal

The Wall Street Journal: Mr. Cuomo, a Democrat, tapped Mr. Lhota, a 57-year-old Republican who lives in Brooklyn Heights, to run the Metropolitan Transportation Authority, a giant agency with shaky finances that controls two commuter railroads, the New York subway and bus system and a host of bridges and tunnels.

Mr. Lhota’s appointment must be confirmed by the New York State Senate. If confirmed, he will take over the troubled agency, and join another Heights resident, David Yassky, Chair of the City’s Taxi and Limousine Commission, as a principal player in the City’s transportation scheme.

If you’re heading into Brooklyn, the 5 will replace the 2 to Flatbush Avenue-Brooklyn College, and the G will not be running between Hoyt-Schermerhorn and Church Avenue. If you’re planning a late season jaunt to Rockaway Beach, you should know that the A train won’t be going past Howard Beach, but a free shuttle bus (with a guy who’s got the disco on the radio) will take you the rest of the way. Also, for those going to Midtown North or Queens, the R train will be diverted onto the F tracks between 57th Street-7th Avenue in Manhattan and 36th Street Queens in both directions. To get to 5th Avenue-59th Street (Apple store, Bergdorf’s) or Lexington Avenue-59th Street (Bloomies), change from the R to the N at 57th; to get to Queens Plaza, take the A, C, or F to West 4th and change there for a Queens bound E.

Got all that? Good. Have a great weekend.