We regret to remind you that, starting April 11, the L train won’t be running from 8th Avenue to Bedford Avenue on weekends through May 18. This is in addition to its current lack of service (March 25th-May 22nd) between midnight and 5am. While there’s no question this sucks for all of us, local Bushwick businesses are anticipating being hit the hardest, and are reaching out for our help.
“The L train is our lifeline to Manhattan and these particular dates cut deep into the heart of the spring season – our most crucial time,” states an online petition created to garner support against the MTA’s chosen course of maintenance.
Truth is, there really is no good time to shut down any subway line, especially not the L train, but the timing does feel like a particularly harsh blow. “We all need this spring after this horrible winter!” said Jamie Schmitz, owner of The Rookery, echoing all of our sentiments. Spring and fall are the main seasons in the dining industry. Plentitude of patrons during spring and fall is what allows restaurants to survive slower winter and summer.
The galleries located at 56 Bogart St (right off the Morgan L stop) whose most popular hours are on the weekends have decided to stay open late on Fridays to partially make up for lost visitors. Similarly, galleries TSA and Transmitter located at 1329 Willoughby Ave (off the Jefferson L train stop) will stay open until 9pm on Fridays.
Unfortunately, in a statement to Gothamist, MTA spokesperson Marisa Baldeo stated that work on the L-train “cannot be rescheduled later in the year because it cannot coincide with other scheduled work on the J/Z and G lines.”
“It’s a negative, sure,” said Montana Masback of Montana’s Trail House. “But we’re all in Bushwick to be a community with each other! …We just have to take care of each other and eat and drink locally.”
Subway maintenance is a necessary evil, one that hopefully will improve our most beloved (and hated!) line. Right now, we’re the ones that control whether or not this will be a minor setback or something more destructive for our favorite businesses- keep it local, Bushwick! We’ve got the best of Brooklyn, anyway: let’s revel in it this spring!
Image via Flickr user Richard Watts