Juan Monroy

One of the drawbacks of being on the western edge of Long Island City is that for nearly half the year, we don’t have weekend access to our main subway line. This year, we were scheduled to go twenty-two weeks without weekend service on the 7 line between Queensborough Plaza and Times Square.

But we’re expecting a snow storm Sunday night, and the scheduled repair work is cancelled.

The following Weekend Planned Service Change is CANCELLED.
No 7 service between Times Sq–42 St and Queensboro Plaza. Originally scheduled for: 2 AM Sat to 5 AM Mon, Mar 1 – 3

The cancellation now leaves us with twenty-one weekends of no 7 train service, provided they don’t tack on another weekend to make it up.

Graffiti on Number Seven Subway. Andy Nguyen, 1980. Washington Square Park and Washington Square Area Image Collection, 1850-1990. New York University Archives.

Twenty-one weekends sounds like a long time, and many local merchants bemoan that these repairs keep Manhattanites out of Long Island City. I don’t know if they ever thought about the locals who are trapped and might be compelled to eat a meal, have a drink or watch a comedy show or dance performance in our own neighborhood. Why not create some 7-themed special like $7 cocktail, appetizer, or cover specials? We’re all in this together, right?

As for me, the weekend work doesn’t bother me all that much. I rarely pine to ride the rails out of LIC. But if I did, thankfully, my club’s Spring Training Series starts next week, which means I’ll be spending most of my Saturdays on a bike again.

Heaven forbid I have to spend a weekend in Long Island City.