LAURELS & DARTS- Opinion from the Editors: Wednesday, November 20

LAURELS & DARTS
Opinion from the Editors

DART to the MTA, for stranding D train riders in a tunnel outside of Atlantic Terminal for two hours Friday night, then denying it. According to rider Iva Dixit, her train from Columbus Circle to Sunset Park crawled along until it reached Atlantic Terminal that evening, then simply stopped just past the station. Dixit says there were no announcements for more than an hour, no cell service and that other passengers were crying, banging on the doors and trying to pry them open. The MTA later told WNYC/Gothamist the delays were caused by 14 work trains butting ahead of the D train Friday night, and that Dixit’s train couldn’t have been stalled longer than an hour and 16 minutes. Reporters obtained text messages that verified Dixit’s timeline, however. 

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LAUREL to the Robin Hood of McNuggets, a former McDonald’s employee who took to Twitter to confess that, while employed by the restaurant between 2007 and 2009, he put 11 chicken nuggets into every 10-piece box he prepared. The tweet went viral, quickly racking up 900,000 likes. “Each and every one of you deserves those bonus nuggets,” said the fast food do-gooder, 26-year-old Cody Bondarchuk. One Twitter user attempted to tally the good deed’s cost to the company, estimating it would be nearly $40,000. “Anything that’s a little dig at corporate overlords is popular,” Bondarchuk told CTV News. 

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A second DART to the MTA, for neglecting the Brooklyn Borough Hall subway station until a large section of the ceiling collapsed last year, according to a report released Tuesday by the agency’s inspector general. According to the audit, inspectors became aware of the defects that led to the collapse two years before but failed to grasp the severity of the problem due to a lack of expertise in evaluating the condition of the station’s antique terra cotta tiles. Despite repeatedly noting the deteriorating ceiling in reports, inspectors failed to recommend action. Fortunately, only one person suffered minor injuries, but the incident did prompt the agency to spend $8.3 million in emergency repairs. 

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LAUREL to the state and city POLS who pledged $11.1 million to give Brooklyn’s Marine Park a badly needed facelift. The community was promised $4 million for repairs to the run-down, 530-acre green space by State Sen. Marty Golden, but after Golden lost re-election in 2018, the funds never materialized, leading some to accuse him of making a last-minute campaign promise with no intention to follow through. State Sen. Andrew Gounardes has pledged $5.6 million to restore the park’s playground, City Council Member Alan Maisel promised $4.5 million for the Marine Park’s inner oval and Borough President Eric Adams contributed another $1 million. The repairs are scheduled to begin in 2020.