Monday Headlines: G Train Grinch Edition

Greenpoint small business owners joined elected officials last Thursday to demand the MTA reconsider three consecutive weekends of G train shutdowns planned for December — right in the heart of the holiday shopping season. It’s the latest flashpoint in a year where the G’s outer-borough riders have repeatedly had to make the case, including at Albany budget hearings, that the line is no side character in the subway system but a lifeline with no good substitute.

“The G-train is the lifeline of Greenpoint,” said Assembly Member Emily Gallagher (D-Brooklyn) at the rally, organized with Shop Small Greenpoint. “When it shuts down, our community suffers—small businesses lose customers and our neighbors have a harder time getting to work, visiting friends, and connecting with their city… I am hopeful [the MTA] will do so again and revise their shutdown schedule this December.”

State Sen. Kristen Gonzalez (D-Queens) said the line has seen “more than a dozen weekend shutdowns” this year alone, with businesses “losing an average of 22 percent of their revenue during these shutdowns.” Still, she credited the agency for being willing “to engage with our community to find a solution that gets this critical infrastructure work done while minimizing community impact.”

A Shop Small Greenpoint report released in July found that 91 percent of neighborhood businesses lose revenue during G shutdowns, and 39 percent have had to cut staff hours or close entirely on affected weekends.

“At The WonderMart alone, holiday shopping in the month of December brings in a quarter of our annual revenue — enough to cover four to six months of rent,” said Perri Salka, the store’s owner and a volunteer organizer with Shop Small Greenpoint. “That is not revenue we can afford to lose this year.”

The MTA has not yet said whether it will revise the December schedule.

Elsewhere in the Empire State:

• The MTA plans to begin piloting a “virtual” reloadable OMNY card on smartphones later this year, nearly a year after the digital option was first expected to roll out. (Gothamist)
• NYC DSA co-chair Gustavo Gordillo, a prominent architect of New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani’s campaign, sat for a profile examining the gap between his anti-landlord politics and his parent-financed Bed-Stuy home. (The New York Times)
• Southold Democratic chair Kathryn Casey Quigley’s bid to unseat longtime Suffolk County Democratic Committee Chairman Rich Schaffer continues to divide the county party ahead of this fall’s leadership vote. (Newsday)
• Poughkeepsie’s new citywide 25 mph speed limit takes effect Sept. 1, following a Dutchess County Transportation Council study of crash data. (Mid Hudson News)
• New York State Parks and the Hudson Highlands Fjord Trail are asking a judge to dismiss Cold Spring and Philipstown’s claims that an easement doesn’t allow public access to a proposed riverside boardwalk near Dockside Park. (Highlands Current)
• Revelations gleaned from 60 days of Troy police Flock camera audit data provide the latest flashpoint in the City Council and Mayor Carmella Mantello’s fight over the surveillance system. (The Times Union)
• Former Binghamton Mayor Richard David, more recently a Broome County Clerk primary candidate, was arrested on a misdemeanor DWI charge after a traffic stop in Windsor. (Binghamton Press & Sun Bulletin)
• Onondaga County officials reached an agreement sending competing 12- and 16-year term limit proposals for the county executive and comptroller to voters in November, sidestepping a monthslong legal fight. (Central Current)
• A federal appeals court affirmed that John Sarcone III is unlawfully serving as the top federal prosecutor for much of Upstate New York, upholding a ruling that also voided his subpoenas of state Attorney General Letitia James’s office. (Syracuse.com)
• Canada will begin matching new U.S. tariffs “dollar for dollar” starting Sept. 8, after Prime Minister Mark Carney said his country is “at war” with the United States over the collapse of trade talks. (BTPM)