Stand Clear of the Closing Doors

When cramming myself onto the L tomorrow morning, as it makes its painstaking progress toward Manhattan, stopping under the river, pausing in the tunnels, inching its way across good old Manhattan, I'll console myself with the knowledge that, with a special computer program, some investment banking background, a good pair of running shoes, and a lot of free time, you can still make the MTA work for you.

We can't all be world record breakers. But we can all turn out to the next MTA public hearing, at the Marriot under the Brooklyn Bridge (not as cool, of course, as Le Jolie Under the BQE). The hearing is this Wednesday, 1/28, at 6 p.m. For a great rundown of the first of these eight public hearings, see Roving Storm's latest dispatches (which include a great mini-history of the MTA, a smart recap of the ongoing CB1/Yassky/Markowitz/Abate/Toro showdown regarding the Kent Avenue bike lanes, which reduce community parking (let's blame the DOT!), and a nice spotlighting of everyone's favorite New Yorker.



Meanwhile, the one and only Williamsburg Courier recently covered the public funeral for the Z train, complete with BBP Markowitz's own Bard-inspired eulogy: "Friends, New Yorkers, straphangers - I come to praise the Z train, not to bury it [sic]. Though the Z begins in Queens and ends in Manhattan, it is, like the J, Brooklyn to the core."



What else is Brooklyn to the core (or to all three corners)? The Broadway Triangle, 50 acres of East Williambsurg industrial land up for rezoning, and the topic of a town hall meeting tomorrow night, 1/27, at 7 p.m., in the P.S. 250 auditorium (108 Montrose, between Manhattan and Leonard).

And now, in honor of the Z...