New York, NY – Friday, September 25, State Senator Kristen Gonzalez, Assemblymember Emily Gallagher, Council Member Lincoln Restler, and Brooklyn Borough President Antonio Reynoso celebrated MTA’s announcement there will be no weekend shutdowns of G Train service in December. This announcement comes one month after Senator Gonzalez held a joint press conference with Shop Small Greenpoint showing the negative impacts weekend G train closures have on small businesses in the neighborhood. This also comes five months after Council Member Restler and Borough President Reynoso held a press conference with local business owners and community members demanding the MTA speed up the pace of its repairs and shift its weekend shutdowns to overnight hours.

The MTA initially proposed needing to shut down G train service for the first three weekends in December to support work on the signal modernization project that has caused multiple G train service disruptions over the past several years, including two full weekend shutdowns in June and several more in July and August. The work initially scheduled for December was to repair the tube underneath Newtown Creek, which was damaged during Hurricane Sandy and had not been repaired since. The MTA completed tube repair ahead of schedule and will no longer need the December dates for this work. 

The G train is the only subway that services the Greenpoint neighborhood of Brooklyn, and is a lifeline to connect residents to other neighborhoods and bring in foot traffic to the small businesses in the area. 

The CBTC signal upgrades will make the G train line significantly faster and more reliable, as well as provide more frequent service. The full G train signal modernization project is scheduled to be completed in 2028. 

Shop Small Greenpoint conducted a survey in July and found that businesses lose an average of 22% of their regular business when the G train is shut down for an entire weekend. Many of these businesses make most of their annual revenue during the holiday season in December, and not having G train service during those weekends would have been disastrous. Senator Gonzalez held a press conference with small businesses on August 20 to call for the MTA to maintain service on the G train in December. 

State Senator Kristen Gonzalez said, “I am grateful to the MTA for listening to our community and finding a way to complete this important work without disproportionately impacting small businesses during the busiest time of year. Greenpoint’s small businesses are treasures with unique offerings of clothing, crafts, food, beverage, and experiences, and I am glad that people from all over the city will be able to visit them this holiday season. Thank you to Shop Small Greenpoint and all the community members who advocated for better and more reliable G train service.”

Assemblymember Emily Gallagher said, "For those of us who live, own businesses, work, or have loved ones in Greenpoint, the G train is our lifeline. The original planned weekend shutdowns–right in the heart of the holiday season–would have been detrimental to the health and wellbeing of our community. It would have impacted people going to work and to celebrate the holidays with their loved ones, and it would have meant that our incredibly vibrant small business community was effectively cut off from their customers during their busiest time of year. I commend the MTA for listening to our community and reversing this decision."

Council Member Lincoln Restler said, “I’m relieved the MTA is cancelling its three planned December weekend closures of the G train after our community organized to oppose the damaging shutdowns. The G train is a lifeline for Greenpoint commuters and small businesses, which have already endured several full weekend shutdowns this year on top of a months-long G-train shutdown in summer 2024. December is the most profitable month for many of our small businesses, which would have been seriously undermined by G train weekend closures. I’m grateful to all the neighbors, local business owners, and my colleagues, including Sen. Gonzalez, Borough President Antonio Reynoso, Assembly Member Emily Gallagher, for working with us to advocate against these closures.” 

Borough President Antonio Reynoso said, “Today is a great day. I am so glad that the MTA listened to the community and delayed the G train’s December shutdown. The G-train is Greenpoint’s only train line, and this shutdown would have deprived the Greenpoint community of the holiday season economic boom. I’m glad to see that the MTA is listening when New Yorkers organize and are working to find solutions with communities.”

Perri Salka, Owner of The WonderMart and Volunteer Lead Organizer of Shop Small Greenpoint said, "What a moment for Greenpoint! This is proof that when a neighborhood organizes, it gets results — proof that a shop owner with a survey and a stack of signatures can change a transit agency’s plans, and proof that Shop Small Greenpoint’s voice, and every neighbor who lent theirs to it, truly matters. Reversing these shutdown dates means our shop owners can count on a full, uninterrupted holiday season this year. I couldn’t be more grateful to Senator Kristen Gonzalez, Council Member Lincoln Restler, Assemblymember Emily Gallagher, Borough President Antonio Reynoso,Mom-and-Pop Czar Delia Awusi and the Brooklyn Chamber of Commerce for standing with us, and to the MTA for listening to this community and making the right call."

###