Cause of Dampness Found at Hamptons Subway's Georgica Stop

SCENE ON THE SUBWAY

Actor Alec Baldwin, his wife Hilaria, their seven children and all their children’s friends enjoyed a kids birthday party by boarding the lead subway car of a train as it stopped at Amagansett on Tuesday, then staying on it for two hours. Everybody had a great time, including three strangers who had been in the car when the partygoers got on.

WETLANDS PROBLEMS

The luxurious stop at Georgica, between East Hampton and Sagaponack, has been dripping water from the ceiling onto the tracks and platform ever since it was tunneled out four years ago. Finally, now, the cause has been found. The East Hampton Town Environmental Department has discovered that the excavation for this new stop apparently is directly under wetlands just inland from the western shores of Georgica Pond. Discussions are underway about what to do about this. One proposal would have the town tunnel out the station 20 feet further into the ground so it is way below the wetlands. This might necessitate straphangers who use Georgica station to take two escalator rides down to get to the new platform. It would also require trains approaching the platform to go downhill from either direction to get there, then uphill to climb out.

TURBO ESCALATORS

At the request of numerous riders, the subway system this week is installing turbo buttons on each of the two escalators that take riders down and up from the street to the Southampton platforms.   You know the feeling when you’re coming down the escalator and you can see your train by the platform with the people just finishing loading and the doors about to close and you wish you could get down to it faster?  Well now you can.

All you have to do is press the turbo button. Going down, this is a big red button just below the railing exactly halfway between the top and the bottom. See your train in the station, press the button, and the escalator immediately lurches forward for 12 seconds, hopefully getting you onto that train before the sliding doors close. Another red button is located just below the railing on the up escalator halfway up, which does the same thing, but getting you up to street level and the sidewalk from down below that much faster.

We expect these turbo buttons to be a big help, particularly with women carrying large packages. And if this works out well in Southampton, we’ll turbo the escalators in all the stops.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY, “HAPPY” JONES

Happy Jones, one of the happiest people ever, is 41 years old this Wednesday. He’s worked on the subway system all his adult life, starting out as a shoeshine boy on the Southampton platform, then becoming a newsboy hawking the daily paper on the East Hampton platform, then turning in his bicycle to become a porter in the dining car, then doing a stint handing out towels in the men’s room.   He loves working on the subway system no matter what he does, and his most recent job is mopping and then waxing the Hampton Bays platform five times a day.   Everybody loves Happy.   He has a wink and a smile for everybody no matter what he does.   We celebrate in the Hamptons Subway cafeteria at 3 p.m. Tuesday so come down and have some of the wonderful angel food cake with a candle in it that Happy is baking for everyone. No gifts, please!

DELAYS DUE TO BICYCLE RACKS

There was a three-hour delay last Monday beginning at 7 a.m. when the subway system opened for the day. We deeply regret this. After last week’s decision by management to allow bicycles on the subway as long as they are placed in the racks provided, subcontractors made three dozen racks which, due to a misunderstanding, were not bolted to the platform, but bolted to the top of the subway cars as roof racks so the bicycles could accompany the riders to their destinations.

It soon became apparent, however, as bicyclist after bicyclist hauled their bikes up into the racks, that this was not going to work. Most bicycles up there were low enough in the racks to fit under the ceilings of the subway tunnels, at least barely, but sure enough, some of the larger and fancier bikes stuck up just a little too far. Over a 20-minute period, 17 of our beloved subway cars ripped off their racks, destroyed the ceiling light fixtures and mangled all the bicycles, must to the chagrin of our service department, which immediately had to send crews out to deal with these disasters all through the system. Not to worry, though, if you lost your bicycle. We are fully insured for just such problems. Just fill out a form about the value of your bicycle and you will be reimbursed, even jump up the dollar value if you want. Consider it pain and suffering: nobody is really going to notice.

COMMISSIONER ASPINALL’S MESSAGE

I recently renewed our contract with the Subway restaurant chain so they will continue to be down there selling their sandwiches on the platforms for another year.   I did ask, as many straphangers had asked me to, for them to put on their menu some of the fine soups that they sell, but I was informed that considering the jiggling of the trains as they went around the system, this might make a mess. They were quite right about this, keeping soup off their menu. I learn something new every day. But try the turkey and Brie sandwich. It’s my favorite and I highly recommend it.