Residents really have a knack for complaining about repairs that need to be completed in our community. There's no shortage of wanting every street repaved, wanting every block to have some accident deterrent signage installed and every waterfront community protected from storms. We can't certainly have it all!
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| This sums it up, right? |
We're also our worst enemies! When an announcement is made that something WILL be done to improve our community – that blocks will be closed off for days/weeks, or that major construction to BETTER our lives will be underway, we THEN complain that the inconvenience is too much to tolerate.
Really? So move out of one of the most heavily trafficked and facilitated city in the country!
Now that residents have begged the city and state to safeguard us and our infrastructure from deteriorating, it's only fitting that some of our requests be examined and that some course of action take place NOW! Since one of those plans of action includes the “L” train undergoing some critical repairs after Hurricane Sandy, we don't have a choice when it comes to a dent being put in our lives in order for conditions to improve in our city.
If all you're gonna do is complain NOW that we're screwed because the “L” will not be running underground due to these needed repairs for a couple of years, what happened to your city spirit? What happened to “We're New Yorkers, we're tough and we can get through anything!” Suddenly, our rough exterior of being able to make it in tumultuous times has been ground into the sand.
Suck it up New Yorkers!
Before the announcement was made that our precious “L” train would be shut down between Manhattan and Brooklyn – possibly starting next year – who knows what the conditions were that the MTA found. Perhaps the construction is long overdue and making the line more resilient is something that we have no choice but to endure. Yes, there's ALWAYS problems on the “L” line – but if you've taken other trains in the city, maybe you'll understand why.
From my experience, the “L” runs more frequently than almost ANY train in the city – every five minutes there is a train on your average weekday. The reason I believe so many trains can run at a time is because of the massive construction that the “L” has undergone over the years. Weekends are always horrible traveling on the “L” because we don't know if it's going to be replaced somewhere with a shuttle bus.
I get it!! Ya'll tired of the constant inconveniences! But you'd better suck it up! The “city that never sleeps” has so many transportation modes into the city! You can get on a bus in East New York that takes you to Broadway Junction and get two other trains (the A and C) to get into the city. Here in Canarsie, you can also get to the city by taking a bus to another train in the western parts of Brooklyn.
You don't like a little detour? You have to leave a little earlier so that our “L” line can be made stronger and more substantial? SUCK IT UP! I get it, you've been spoiled being able to take one train into the city and you don't like knowing everything is off kilt because alternate routes aren't the greatest. Well, is it going to be great when a catastrophe takes place and the Canarsie Connector collapses one day because the MTA refused to go to such drastic lengths to make repairs??
Let's get real! We're not the only ones suffering! The “N” train isn't making various stops in Bay Ridge for quite some time. Do you really think our community is being segregated because of ridership demographics? SUCK IT UP! No matter who you are or what community you live in, a disaster will impact your infrastructure and you should feel lucky that repairs are being completed.
While I do feel bad for residents in other communities like Bushwick and Williamsburg – since they have no other trains that can accommodate their commute – there will always be infrastructure improvements that will toss our schedule out of whack.
Whenever Gov. Andrew Cuomo addresses the media and says “We're New Yorkers, we can overcome anything,” (and other similar rhetorical statements) we should roll our eyes and say, NO, we can't overcome anything – that's why we're afraid to take detours and we're completely frazzled by a change in the way we travel!
How do you think people who travel in suburbs feel about their daily commutes – some of those trains on Metro-North, Long Island Rail Road and New Jersey Transit ONLY arrive every 20 – 30 minutes! They’ve adjusted their lives so they can make that one train and get to their destination on time.
If you’d rather continue traveling on an antiquated system and riding on a line where underground repairs go incomplete, protest all you want. Don’t complain when improvements have to be made and money doesn’t go into making our transit system better than it was before.
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