In August, elected officials and North Brooklyn small business owners gathered to protest planned G train shut downs in December, arguing that the revenue loss from the train’s shutdown during holiday season would be detrimental.
On Sept. 25, State Senator Kristen Gonzalez, Assemblymember Emily Gallagher, Council Member Lincoln Restler and Brooklyn Borough President Antonio Reynoso celebrated the MTA’s announcement that the December weekend shut downs will be canceled.
According to a press release from the Office of the New York State Senate, the MTA completed tube repair ahead of its original schedule and will no longer need the three December weekends for work.
“I am grateful to the MTA for listening to our community and finding a way to complete this important work without disproportionately impacting small businesses during the busiest time of year,” Gonzalez said.
According to Greenpointers, the MTA has been working to upgrade signal systems since the summer of 2024. Since, weekend service outages have become routine.
A Shop Small Greenpoint survey found that businesses experienced up to a 24 percent sales decline during the shut down weekends.
“For those of us who live, own businesses, work or have loved ones in Greenpoint, the G train is our lifeline,” said Gallagher.
The announcement also comes five months after local government officials held a press conference demanding that the MTA speed up its repairs and shift its weekend shutdowns to overnight hours.
MTA spokesperson Lucas Bejarano said that the MTA appreciates feedback from small businesses, and has “taken significant steps to shift the scheduled weekend outages to better fit the community’s needs” in a statement to Greenpointers. The work being done to the G, he said,x will create dependability for the line for decades to come.
Reynoso said he is glad to see the MTA listening to community members after they work to organize and find solutions.
