The second phase of repair work to the F line is set to begin next month, which will result in the closure of some platforms until March. But Councilman Brad Lander wonders if the middle of a sexual-assault epidemic is the wrong time to cut off access to the subways, the the Windsor Terrace blog reports. Brooklyn-bound platforms in Windsor Terrace—at 15th Street-Prospect Park and Fort Hamilton Parkway—will soon shut down for repairs, which means many commuters will be walking several extra blocks (in the dead of winter!), often at night. And because Windsor Terrace has been the setting for some of the sexual assaults that have plagued the area since March, the councilman is asking the MTA to help keep locals safe.
He suggests that the agency might delay the project until spring, when it would be lighter later; provide additional security in and around the shuttered stations; and/or consider extending an existing bus line to connect with the F at Seventh Avenue. Lander had also asked the MTA to extend that route in January, when Manhattan-bound service at the stations was suspended. The agency declined at the time. But, as Lander points out, “while that was a significant inconvenience, it was not a safety issue. However, [now] there is a very real safety concern.”