G Train Gets Barely-Passing Grade
See the video at NY1:
http://www.ny1.com/content/top_stories/94988/g-train-gets-barely-passing-grade/Default.aspx
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March 5, 2009
February 28, 2009
G Line "Funeral"
Greenpoint Gazette
Riders, Community Activists and Politicians Rally to Save the G
Feb 25, 2009 by Khristina Narizhnaya
Since the V train was introduced in 2001, the Brooklyn-Queens Crosstown local G train service to 71st Avenue in Forest Hills has been a hotly debated issue between community groups and the MTA. With major budget deficits looming over, the fate of the G train is on the chopping block once again. To save money, MTA is proposing to cut G train service to 71st Avenue permanently, making Court Square in Long Island City the last and final stop.
Not surprisingly, the proposal was met with loud opposition from G train riders, community groups and local elected officials in North Brooklyn and Queens.
Last week the Straphangers Campaign, a NYPIRG campaign to improve mass transit in New York City, held a mock funeral for the G train service to 71st Avenue at Court Square station. Bagpiper John Maynard played several funerary tunes as “mourners” in black armbands, joined by Assembly members Joseph Lentol and Hakeem Jeffries, looked on. After the music, a minute of “subway silence” was observed, followed by laments regarding the G train service cut.
“Thousands of working people rely on this train to get to work and to live their lives,” said Gene Russianoff, the staff attorney for the Straphangers Campaign. “Without the G service [to Forest Hills] commuters will have longer walks or extra walks or transfers.”
Lentol said that although he doesn’t know what it will take to negotiate with Albany to save the G, in the upcoming weeks he is going to try to make sure any MTA-related financial legislation will include improvements to the G line.
“The transit system is suffering a major short fall and I will try to make sure that financing will be allocated for a better G service,” said Lentol.
Two days after “interring” the G train to Forest Hills, Lentol and Jeffries invited Richard Ravitch, the Chairman of the Commission of MTA Financing, along with MTA planning and operations experts, to ride the G train during rush hour with them to show the necessity and the shortcomings of the G line.
“There are a lot of people who depend on the G train,” said Ravitch after riding the G from Metropolitan Station in Williamsburg to Court Square in Queens. “I think a fair explanation of how it will be improved is in order.”
Ravitch’s proposed MTA rescue plan will adopt East River bridge tolls and a payroll tax on businesses to raise revenue in order to prevent public transportation service cuts.
Brooklyn’s Community Board 1 member and volunteer with Brooklyn Committee of Alternative Transportation Kevin Vincent said the G train needs to be saved in order to sustain the lives of local people, and to attract new residents to the neighborhood.
“New residents coming in to the neighborhood will have a harder time commuting,” said Vincent. “Also, the G train cut puts out a whole slew of working families.”
“The G train has been on the MTA’s endangered list for a while, but it’s always been a survivor,” said Teresa Toro of the Save the G Coalition. “Even in these hard times the G holds a special place in its riders’ hearts.”
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Riders, Community Activists and Politicians Rally to Save the G
Feb 25, 2009 by Khristina Narizhnaya
Since the V train was introduced in 2001, the Brooklyn-Queens Crosstown local G train service to 71st Avenue in Forest Hills has been a hotly debated issue between community groups and the MTA. With major budget deficits looming over, the fate of the G train is on the chopping block once again. To save money, MTA is proposing to cut G train service to 71st Avenue permanently, making Court Square in Long Island City the last and final stop.
Not surprisingly, the proposal was met with loud opposition from G train riders, community groups and local elected officials in North Brooklyn and Queens.
Last week the Straphangers Campaign, a NYPIRG campaign to improve mass transit in New York City, held a mock funeral for the G train service to 71st Avenue at Court Square station. Bagpiper John Maynard played several funerary tunes as “mourners” in black armbands, joined by Assembly members Joseph Lentol and Hakeem Jeffries, looked on. After the music, a minute of “subway silence” was observed, followed by laments regarding the G train service cut.
“Thousands of working people rely on this train to get to work and to live their lives,” said Gene Russianoff, the staff attorney for the Straphangers Campaign. “Without the G service [to Forest Hills] commuters will have longer walks or extra walks or transfers.”
Lentol said that although he doesn’t know what it will take to negotiate with Albany to save the G, in the upcoming weeks he is going to try to make sure any MTA-related financial legislation will include improvements to the G line.
“The transit system is suffering a major short fall and I will try to make sure that financing will be allocated for a better G service,” said Lentol.
Two days after “interring” the G train to Forest Hills, Lentol and Jeffries invited Richard Ravitch, the Chairman of the Commission of MTA Financing, along with MTA planning and operations experts, to ride the G train during rush hour with them to show the necessity and the shortcomings of the G line.
“There are a lot of people who depend on the G train,” said Ravitch after riding the G from Metropolitan Station in Williamsburg to Court Square in Queens. “I think a fair explanation of how it will be improved is in order.”
Ravitch’s proposed MTA rescue plan will adopt East River bridge tolls and a payroll tax on businesses to raise revenue in order to prevent public transportation service cuts.
Brooklyn’s Community Board 1 member and volunteer with Brooklyn Committee of Alternative Transportation Kevin Vincent said the G train needs to be saved in order to sustain the lives of local people, and to attract new residents to the neighborhood.
“New residents coming in to the neighborhood will have a harder time commuting,” said Vincent. “Also, the G train cut puts out a whole slew of working families.”
“The G train has been on the MTA’s endangered list for a while, but it’s always been a survivor,” said Teresa Toro of the Save the G Coalition. “Even in these hard times the G holds a special place in its riders’ hearts.”
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February 18, 2009
The G to Rest-in-Pieces?
Politicians, straphangers rally to protest G train service cuts
BY Michael E. Miller
DAILY NEWS
Wednesday, February 18th 2009
The G train as we know it is dead - or close to it.
Politicians and transit rider advocates rallied Tuesday in the Court Square subway stop at Hunters Point, Queens, to protest proposed cuts in G train service that could inconvenience thousands of commuters.
With the dirge of bagpipe music in the background and a funeral wreath in view, they mourned the possible demise of the subway line and called on Gov. Paterson to find new funds to "raise it from the dead."
"The G train has for decades been neglected in terms of resources provided," said Assemblyman Hakeem Jeffries (D-Brooklyn), a Bible in hand for the mock funeral ceremony.
"If G train service is cut off, thousands of Brooklyn and Queens riders will be left out in the cold," he said. "They deserve better treatment."
Faced with a $1.2 billion operating deficit for 2009, the Metropolitan Transit Authority has proposed slashing Queens-bound service on the G at Court Square to save money.
But despite the doom and gloom, there were signs of life to be found.
"Let's take today as an opportunity to raise the dead," said Assemblyman Joseph Lentol (D-Brooklyn), adding that the budget crisis has put subway concerns on the back burner. "We will get a plan down that saves the subway system, but we have to save the G."
The event was organized by the Straphangers Campaign, a transit riders advocacy group. The MTA's proposed cuts would lop off 13 stops in Queens from the G line, which now ends in Forest Hills. The cuts would affect other subway and bus lines with crowding.
A Transit Authority study found that the cuts to the G line would result in extra walking, longer waits and additional transfers for thousands of passengers in Brooklyn and Queens each day.
Aaron Donovan, a spokesman for the MTA, said the agency was hoping to avoid the cuts and prefers that Albany find other ways to cut the budget.
Daily riders on the G line as well as politicians also expressed their outrage at the plan.
Jose Cortez, 35, a cook on his way to work in Manhattan, said, "It's difficult now to get where I got to go. So just imagine if they cut the service."
__________________________________
BY Michael E. Miller
DAILY NEWS
Wednesday, February 18th 2009
The G train as we know it is dead - or close to it.
Politicians and transit rider advocates rallied Tuesday in the Court Square subway stop at Hunters Point, Queens, to protest proposed cuts in G train service that could inconvenience thousands of commuters.
With the dirge of bagpipe music in the background and a funeral wreath in view, they mourned the possible demise of the subway line and called on Gov. Paterson to find new funds to "raise it from the dead."
"The G train has for decades been neglected in terms of resources provided," said Assemblyman Hakeem Jeffries (D-Brooklyn), a Bible in hand for the mock funeral ceremony.
"If G train service is cut off, thousands of Brooklyn and Queens riders will be left out in the cold," he said. "They deserve better treatment."
Faced with a $1.2 billion operating deficit for 2009, the Metropolitan Transit Authority has proposed slashing Queens-bound service on the G at Court Square to save money.
But despite the doom and gloom, there were signs of life to be found.
"Let's take today as an opportunity to raise the dead," said Assemblyman Joseph Lentol (D-Brooklyn), adding that the budget crisis has put subway concerns on the back burner. "We will get a plan down that saves the subway system, but we have to save the G."
The event was organized by the Straphangers Campaign, a transit riders advocacy group. The MTA's proposed cuts would lop off 13 stops in Queens from the G line, which now ends in Forest Hills. The cuts would affect other subway and bus lines with crowding.
A Transit Authority study found that the cuts to the G line would result in extra walking, longer waits and additional transfers for thousands of passengers in Brooklyn and Queens each day.
Aaron Donovan, a spokesman for the MTA, said the agency was hoping to avoid the cuts and prefers that Albany find other ways to cut the budget.
Daily riders on the G line as well as politicians also expressed their outrage at the plan.
Jose Cortez, 35, a cook on his way to work in Manhattan, said, "It's difficult now to get where I got to go. So just imagine if they cut the service."
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