Businesses in the construction path of the Second Avenue subway say they’re getting run over.
“I really don’t know if I can survive — I’ve lost 50 percent of my business,” said Tae Shin, whose Subway franchise at 93rd Street and Second Avenue is blocked by a four-story conveyor. “First they told us it would be done in 2014, then 2016 and now 2017,” said Shin. (The MTA officially says 2016.) “I really don’t believe anything now.”
Sidewalks are blocked to pedestrians. Dynamite “four or five times a day” stirs up rats and dust, said Shin.
It’s a taste of what’s to come as contractors dig the tunnel for the sorely needed subway down Second Avenue into the 80s and 70s.
The Beach Cafe, at 70th Street, lost half its outdoor seating when the MTA shrank its sidewalk to seven feet. “We may lose all of it,” said owner David Goodside. “If we lose those tables, with the combination of construction, we are doomed to fail.”
Access to all shops along Second Avenue is kept open during the digging, said an MTA spokesperson.
