Subway Station Shutdown 'Failed Sunset Park,' Local Leaders Say

SUNSET PARK, BROOKLYN — The MTA "has failed Sunset Park" and "delivered an insult" to the community by only giving notice in English for its shutdown of the 53rd Street R train station and not providing adequate bus service in the interim, City Councilman Carlos Menchaca said Thursday morning.

The station will close for about six months starting Monday, March 27, for infrastructure repairs and upgrades that include countdown clocks, USB ports, LED lighting and more. (See the rendering below.)

While those improvements are welcome, the shutdown wasn't communicated properly, Menchaca says, and there isn't appropriate transportation alternatives during the stoppage. English-only signs were only posted recently, Menchaca says, which is not enough in the district full of Spanish-, Chinese- and Arabic-speakers.

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The MTA is asking customers to use the 59th or 45th street subway stations in the mean time or take bus service a (long) block away on Third and Fifth avenues.

On a frigid Thursday morning outside of the 53rd Street station, Menchaca, local leaders and business owners said that isn't enough.

"We want, on Monday, to have busses ready to go out and ready to take people as an alternative mode of transportation to the next station," Menchaca told Patch. He also wants an "overnight change" to the way the MTA is "treating the community by bringing multiple languages and properly communicate to people what's happening."

Ahmad Suliman, who works at a grill on the corner of Fourth Avenue and 53rd Street, said the intersection is bustling with working-class mothers and kids.

"MTA, this is a message for you guys," Suliman said. "I want one of you to stand on this corner and watch how many mothers are walking down the street with their children. For you guys not to have a bus here to help them and make them walk another eight blocks up or eight blocks down is ridiculous."

Melissa del Valle Ortiz, a 25-year Sunset Park resident who works with low-income residents and Section 8 housing, said the transportation delays caused by the lack of Fourth Avenue bus service will have a significant impact on poor community members.

"These delays, even by a few minutes, really do affect these families," she told Patch. "They have to take their kids to school and this added inconvenience, whether it’s cold or hot or they have a disability or whatever the situation is, they can’t afford it."

Patch has reached out to the MTA for comment and we'll let you know if we hear back. You can see a rendering of what the new station will look like below:

Lead image: Screenshot via Google Streetview