Clark Street Station Closure Rumors To Be Answered At Local Forum

BROOKLYN HEIGHTS, BROOKLYN — Rumors that a local subway station could be closed for as long as a year while the MTA works on its elevators will finally be answered during a forum with the transit authority's president Monday night.

MTA President Andy Byford will visit St. Francis College at 6 p.m. Monday for a public forum set up by local elected officials who asked him to share plans for the station with the public.

Locals have been worried about the 2/3 station upgrades, which would replace three aging elevators at the station, for months after The Brooklyn Daily Eagle heard from business owners in April that they could shut down the station for a year.

Business owners told The Eagle that closing the station for that long could force them out of business. The Clark Street station is accessed by three elevators and only uses its 10-story staircase for emergencies.

The Brooklyn Heights Association has been asking that the transit authority use a "phased plan" that would keep the station open throughout the project.

"A complete closure of the station would severely impact the small businesses within the station and on Clark and Henry Street, as well as 2 million riders who use the station annually, particularly those with limited mobility," the organization said.

The organization said that a full closure of the station is one of three options the MTA is considering.

The three elevators have been used at the station since it opened in 1919 and were last replaced, though it was possibly only the "cabs" not the entire elevators, in 1995. Brooklyn Borough President Eric Adams called the rickety elevators a "public safety threat" last fall after one of the elevators broke down and left straphangers trapped and scared inside for an hour, Gothamist reported at the time.

The meeting will be sponsored by Adams, Assemblymember Jo Anne Simon, U.S. Rep. Nydia Velázquez, State Sen. Brian Kavanagh and City Councilmember Stephen Levin.

It will be at 180 Remsen Street between Court and Clinton streets from 6 to 8 p.m.