Brooklyn Councilmen Have 'Huge Concerns' About L Train Shutdown

WILLIAMSBURG, BROOKLYN — The MTA’s plan to cope with the impending L train shutdown will cause big traffic and pollution problems in Brooklyn, said city councilman at an oversight hearing in City Hall on Thursday.

“I have huge concerns about where Brooklyn stands on these plans,” said City Councilman Reynoso, who represents Bushwick, Greenpoint, and Williamsburg. “I’m very concerned about the lack of progress we’ve been able to make on the Brooklyn side.”

Reynoso critiqued plans — released Wednesday by the Metropolitan Transit Authority after City Council members decried the agency’s lack of communication — saying that much of the transit officials’ presentation focused on Manhattan, despite the fact that 350,000 of 400,000 L train riders commute from and around Brooklyn.

“The Fourteenth Street side seems more developed,” said Reynoso, as he looked over plans to install bus lanes, bike lanes and pedestrian walkways near Union Square. “It’s a stark contrast between what I’m seeing in Brooklyn."

And City Councilman Rafael Espinal, who is sponsoring a bill that calls for the MTA to buy electric buses, noted his frustration with the MTA's recent purchase of a $150 million fleet of diesel-fuel buses.

“The MTA's decision to retreat to diesel is a depressing and an antiquated move,” said the Bushwick representative.

“Hurricane Sandy, which damaged our beloved L train, was a product of human dependency on fossil fuels,” added Espinal. “Isn't it bitterly ironic that we are resorting to diesel, the same poison that caused this problem in the first place?"

Transit officials did their best to assuage concerns from the councilmen — and the hoard of public transportation advocates who appeared at City Council chambers to discuss the shutdown — but conceded the plan they presented would cause problems straphangers in every borough along the L line.

“This isn’t going to be an easy time,” said MTA managing director Ronnie Hakim. “But we’ll deal with it.”

“Hundreds of thousands of New Yorkers will be inconvenienced,” added DOT commissioner Polly Trottenberg. “Getting through this will involve shared sacrifice for many of us.”

Photos by Kathleen Culliton