First community meeting held to discuss L train closure

The MTA and city transportation officials held the first series of community meetings in Brooklyn to discuss the impacts commuters will face during the L train shutdown.
The meeting was held inside the cafeteria of a Williamsburg high school Wednesday night.
The MTA says during a 15-month span beginning next April, there will be no L trains between Manhattan and Bedford Avenue.
The line will still run from there to Rockaway Parkway, but less frequently.
To mitigate the impact, transportation officials will enact HOV restrictions on the Williamsburg Bridge, add select bus service to a new 14th Street busway and add new protected bike and bus lanes throughout the affected neighborhoods in Brooklyn and Manhattan.
The city will also add ferry service.
The changes will affect about 225,000 commuters every weekday. Critics say the city's current mitigation plan leaves gaps.
"I will be using the shuttle ferry from Stuyvesant Town or Stuyvesant Cove to North Sixth Street or North Seventh Street in Brooklyn," says Larry Scheyer. "But when you get to the landing, there is not going to be any planned transportation according to the plans that we see."
More public meetings will be held in Manhattan on Jan. 31 and twice in February, once in each borough.