M.T.A. meeting on L train had ‘tunnel vision’
BY LESLEY SUSSMAN
Details of a new alternative plan
to repair the L train’s East
River tubes were presented at
a hastily called emergency board meeting
of the Metropolitan Transportation
Authority on Tuesday afternoon.
However, speaking afterward, Downtown
Manhattan residents said they
had hoped to hear about more than just
the minutiae of the tunnel-repair work.
What they really wanted to know was
more about the “aboveground” aspects
of the former plan — such as bike lanes
and the 14th St. “busway,” for example
— specifi cally, whether these would
now be kept or scrapped. Similarly,
Manhattan Borough President Gale
Brewer also said she had hoped for a
wider-ranging discussion.
The 11th-hour emergency board
meeting, announced only last Sunday
by Acting M.T.A. Chairperson Fernando
Ferrer, came as somewhat of a
surprise to many board members.
The discussion centered on Governor
Andrew Cuomo’s last-minute proposal
—announced less than two weeks before
— that would derail the proposed
15-month complete shutdown of Ltrain
services between Manhattan and
Brooklyn that had been in the works
for nearly three years.
Instead of the so-called “L-pocalypse,”
the modifi ed plan would only
require an unspecifi ed amount of weekend
and nighttime shutdowns of one of
the two Canarsie tunnels at a time, allowing
the L train to run while repairs
are being made.
The emergency meeting was held
at the agency’s 2 Broadway headquarters.
Acting M.T.A. Chairperson Ferrer
kicked off the session’s nonpublic portion
by telling the packed room of concerned
residents that he asked for this
meeting “because I want the board to
have extra time to consider the plan.”
He added he feels that the new alternative
plan is a sound one, but wants to
ensure the fi nal scheme is the best one
possible.
“If we’re going to undertake a major
project and spend millions of dollars in
the process, let’s build something better,”
he said.
Ferrer also told board members that
a third-party consultant would review
any safety and environmental considerations
and then make a report back to
the M.T.A. board.
Ferrer was followed by Jerry Jannetti,
the senior vice president of WSP, the
main engineering consulting fi rm that
helped devise the original shutdown
plan, and is now also involved in Cuomo’s
alternative proposal.
Jannetti presented a lengthy technical
description of what type of reconstruction
work the new plan would entail.
Instead of a complete replacement
of all the East River tunnels’ concrete
Judy Pesin of the 14th St. Coalition told the M.T.A. board that Village and Chelsea locals never wanted
the 14th St. “busway” and the already-installed new bike lanes on 12th and 13th Sts. that were part of the
“mitigation plan” for the full L-train shutdown.
Andy Byford, president of the New York City Transit Authority, far
right, and Janno Lieber, chief development officer at the Metropolitan
Transportation Authority, to the left of him, listened intently to the
testimony at the M.T.A. emergency board meeting.
“bench walls” — which encase power
and communications cables — Jannetti
said the wiring would be “racked” high
on the tunnel walls.
He also explained that badly damaged
sections of the tunnel wall would
be removed and the M.T.A. would use
a fi berglass polymer to coat and fortify
the remaining sections — a technique
currently used on bridges and buildings
but never before in subway tunnels.
Comments about the meeting from
local residents ranged from support to
disappointment. Judy Pesin, a member
of the 14th St. Coalition — the Village/
Chelsea group that fought the original
full L-shutdown plan — said she was
somewhat satisfi ed by what she heard.
“But we expect that promises from
the M.T.A. to keep the community informed
will be kept,” she said. “We also
want a full review of plans regarding
increased bus and bike services along
14th St. and nearby streets.”
Betty Grossman, an E. 12th St. resident,
called it “a nuts-and-bolts meeting”
that did not address local concerns
about the impact of increased bicycle
and bus services.
“We don’t want 14th St. open only to
expanded Select Bus Services and more
bike lanes that are a danger to pedestrians,”
she stressed.
Arthur Schwartz, a Democratic
PHOTOS BY TEQUILA MINSKY
District Leader Arthur Schwartz,
who was the attorney on the 14th
St. Coalition’s lawsuit against
the L-shutdown plan, took in the
M.T.A. meeting. Even though Governor
Cuomo has called off a fullshutdown
plan, the coalition’s
lawsuit remains active.
district leader in Greenwich Village
and counsel to the 14th St. Coalition,
agreed.
“If there’s no need for alternative services
under the revised plan, then we’re
not going to need the expanded Select
Bus Service,” he declared.
Most critical of all was Manhattan
Borough President Gale Brewer.
“I’d like to see a real discussion,” she
told this newspaper. “I don’t think the
community’s hard questions have been
answered. I haven’t heard answers
to questions that I have. I don’t have
confi dence in the WSP consultant. We
need an independent evaluation of this
plan.”
Schneps Media TVG January 17, 2019 3