Despite Brooklyn’s 80-degree weather and high humidity, elected officials and local shop owners gathered outside CLAY SPACE Ceramic Center in Greenpoint on Aug. 20. Their message to the MTA was clear: A change to the G train schedule this December is necessary. Current plans would bring shutdowns during the holiday season for three weekends in a row.
In July, small businesses in Greenpoint lost around 20 % of their regular business on weekends when the G train was due for maintenance and upgrades, according to a report by Shop Small Greenpoint.
“We are urging the MTA to move their December dates to another time,” said New York State Sen. Kristen Gonzalez. December is a set of peak weekends for these small businesses, and a big revenue opportunity for businesses across the city, Gonzalez said.
“Greenpoint is so close to the city and we’ve become this mythical far-off land because of how bad the G train is,” said Natalie Como, owner of Jesus Christ Vintage. Recent shutdowns have caused a “palpable difference” in her sales, Como told BK Reader.
These weekends can be the “make-or-break” between losing money and closing, or making a bit of money and staying open another year, said Mark Caserta, Brooklyn Chamber of Commerce vice president of small business support.
For businesses like Como's, just one client on a day with train access can make or break the whole week.
The protest on Thursday comes after plans to shut down the train for 40 % of weekends in 2026. The MTA says that shutdowns are ultimately meant to modernize signals with CBTC technology, which can bring faster and more frequent service to the line.
While speakers at the rally acknowledged the importance of system upgrades, they disapproved of the MTA’s lack of communication with local residents about when construction takes place.
“We’re not saying that we don’t want to see the G train be improved,” Gonzalez said. “What we are saying is that the schedule under which these improvements have been happening have been detrimental to the small businesses in our neighborhoods.”
While the December shutdowns have not been publicly posted, small business owners found out about the winter schedule unilaterally, according to Janine Sopp, owner of CLAY SPACE.
“We rely on the G train as a lifeline to the neighborhood,” Sopp said. “Small businesses and the MTA keep the city alive.”
Other representatives at the protest include Assembly member Emily Gallagher, and Deputy Borough President Kim Council.
Gonzalez said that the MTA previously moved one of their shutdown dates in June as advocates requested, but that it was not enough.
The MTA has told advocates that they are currently looking into their request regarding this upcoming December.
