Our office has just been informed by the MTA that due to the snowstorm forecasted for Saturday, they will be delaying the track work scheduled for this weekend on the F and G lines.
This means that the weekend shuttle bus service between Jay Street and Church Ave which was previously scheduled for this weekend has now been postponed to the weekend of January 15 and 16.
The 5-month northbound local F/G train service suspension at the Fort Hamilton Parkway and 15th Street stops which was scheduled to begin on January 10 will now begin on January 17.
Additionally, in response to our request that the MTA explore alternative service to replace the partially-closed stations during this time, MTA officials have agreed to meet with me and other concerned elected officials next week.
We are looking forward to this meeting and will continue to urge them to consider alternatives besides having to ride the train back to the Church Ave station in order to head towards Manhattan.
We will continue to keep you updated as more progress is made on this issue.
Serving the neighborhoods of Cobble Hill, Carroll Gardens, Park Slope,
Windsor Terrace, Borough Park, and Kensington456 5th Avenue, 3rd Floor * Brooklyn, NY 11215 * 718-499-1090
There were at least 19 cyclist fatalities in NYC through October 31, seven more than in all of 2009, according to an analysis of NYPD data conducted by the Wall Street Journal. And during the same period, 3,505 bikers were injured in crashes with motor vehicles, more than last year's total and up 20% compared to the first 10 months of last year.
Many of you have contacted my office today after learning abruptly that Queens-bound F/G service will be suspended at the Fort Hamilton Parkway and 15th Street stations for the next five months.This is part of a necessary project to rehabilitate the F/G line. But the MTA did not do enough outreach to provide advance notice and has not offered adequate alternative service. I will be working immediately to push the MTA to provide better alternative service during the project.The closure is part of the rebuilding of the F line's local and express tracks from Bergen Street to Church Avenue. The MTA is rebuilding tracks, signals, and switches along this entire section of the line. In order to complete the project, they need to detour the F train to the express tracks, which do not stop at either 15th Street or Fort Hamilton Parkway.Unfortunately, the MTA has informed us that this means:
- Queens-bound service will be suspended at both stations from Jan 2011 – May 2011
- South-bound service will be suspended at both stations from Nov 2011 – March 2012
More information on the changes can be found at the MTA website.The MTA has indicated that they will expand late−night bus service on the B61 to the 15th Street. However, the MTA is not currently offering any rush-hour enhanced bus or shuttle services and it is not offering any enhanced service for Fort Hamilton Parkway.Instead, the MTA is just instructing people to go south to the Church Avenue station, and then turn around there for Manhattan-bound service (at what is already an extremely crowded station).While this project is necessary, the fact that an alternative form of transportation is not being provided is an unacceptable hardship on people in Kensington and Windsor Terrace. In addition, too little notice was provided; as of last night, there was no notice up at the Fort Hamilton Parkway station, and the station clerk did not have information on the project.I am calling upon the MTA to implement alternative service — either in the form of regular shuttle bus service (at least at rush hour) or by extending and expanding service of nearby bus lines. I have been in touch with MTA officials to suggest these kinds of alternatives, and will continue to strongly urge the MTA to implement them. I will of course be in touch with you as we learn more about what alternatives might be available.BradP.S. I know this frustration comes right on the heels of the City’s deeply inadequate snow removal efforts. Kensington in particular bore the brunt of the City’s failures, with some blocks not getting plowed until the early morning of New Year's Day. In addition to the City Council hearing on January 10th to get to the bottom of what went wrong, I plan to redouble my efforts to insure that all our communities get the full level of government services they need and deserve.
To comment on this post, click on the post's title. Underneath the post, click on "Post a Comment."Please by advised that the same rules apply for bicycles as do for motor vehicles, i.e. stopping at red lights,stop signs, moving in the same direction as traffic etc. The 66th Precinct will be issuing summonses for these violations. Thank you all for your compliance. D.I. Sprague
In the Brooklyn neighborhood of Kensington, Mili Gonzales, 21, contemplated what she said was two weeks’ worth of garbage from the two-apartment house where she lives with her mother and four brothers. A broken umbrella, an empty box of baby wipes and a plastic case that held a bed set were out in plain sight, amid 13 large bags.
“Gift wrap, boxes, Champagne bottles, beer,” she said. Chicken bones were also stuffed into the bags, and to make matters worse, she said, it was time for annual housekeeping.
“We throw out the old stuff we don’t need for the new year,” like clothing, kitchenware and television sets, which were also out front waiting to be picked up.
No trains between Jay St-MetroTech and Church Av trains run in two sections: 
local to Euclid Av 
trains run between Court Sq and Hoyt-Schermerhorn Sts. 
or to Jay St-MetroTech and transfer to the shuttle bus making all stops to Church Av. To continue your trip, transfers are available to trains, making all stops between Church and Stillwell Avs. or trains at Bergen, Carroll, Smith-9 Sts, 4 Av-9 St, 7 Av, 15 St-Prospect Park, and Fort Hamilton Pkwy stations - Use free shuttle bus instead. or 
train at Jay St-MetroTech. 
or train at 4 Av-9 St. train at Church Av. | Station | EXPRESS Shuttle Bus Stop | Bus Stop |
| Jay St-MetroTech | on Jay St at Willoughby St | — |
Church Av  | on Church Av at McDonald Av | B35 |
| Station | LOCAL Shuttle Bus Stop | Bus Stop |
| Jay St-MetroTech | on Jay St at Willoughby St | — |
| Bergen St | on Court St at Amity St (to Church Av) | B57 |
| on Smith St at Bergen St (to Jay St-MetroTech) | B57 | |
| Carroll St | on Court St at President St (to Church Av) | B57 |
| on Court St at 1 Place (to Church Av) | B57 | |
| on Smith St at 2 St (to Jay St-MetroTech) | B57 | |
| on Smith St at Union St (to Jay St-MetroTech) | B57 | |
| Smith-9 Sts | on 9 St at Smith St | B61 |
| 4 Av-9 St | on 9 St at 4 Av | B61 |
| 7 Av | on 9 St at 7 Av | B61 |
| 15 St-Prospect Park | on Prospect Park West at Bartel Pritchard Sq (to Church Av) | B61 |
| on Bartel Pritchard Sq at Prospect Park SW (to Jay St-MetroTech) | — | |
| Fort Hamilton Pkwy | on Prospect Park SW at Greenwood Av | — |
| Church Av | on Church Av at McDonald Av | B35 |
| | This service change affects one or more ADA accessible stations. Please call 718-330-1234, 6 AM to 10 PM for help with planning your trip. If you are deaf or hard of hearing, use your preferred relay service provider or the free 711 relay. |
Q. My family and I are about to move to Kensington (or there about). Where's the best place to shop for someone who likes to cook?
Thanks in advance for your help!
A. hmm, i live in carroll gardens and sometimes go down to church ave in kensington to do my shopping. it depends on what you're looking for. I love the halal butchers on church (better cheaper lamb than around me) and the eastern european stores (great prepared foods and frozen dumplings and rye bread) there's also a mexican grocery and pretty substantial fruit and veg store. this is all on the stretch of church btw ocean parkway and mcdonald--not sure where you're going to be, but IMHO, that stretch of church is one of the better food shopping stretches in brooklyn—more than anything for the way you can almost literally shop the world. There are tons of bangladeshi groceries as well, but they are less useful to me as they generally don't carry the indian goods i'm looking for.
