Liz Robbins

But his new life wasn’t what he expected. He has spent the 21 months since then inside three federal immigration detention centers, imprisoned until he can collect $50,000 for a bond, while his asylum case winds through the appeals court.

One day this past summer, though, a lifeline arrived: Not $50,000, but a letter from Anne-Marie Debbané, a professor of geography at San Diego State University, near the Otay Mesa Detention Center, where he was housed for the first 20 months. “I am terribly sorry for what you are going through both in Cameroon and here,” she wrote. “I applaud you for your bravery, courage and determination in standing up for justice and freedom.”

Geh, now 29, was elated to hear from someone, even someone he had never met. “Thank you for your letters,” he wrote. “It gives me courage.”

Here began an old-fashioned correspondence that bloomed into a friendship, part of an unusual epistolary campaign initiated by San Diego State professors and others in suburban San Diego. Last week, the university library made public the digital archive of hundreds of letters from detainees, throwing open a window into the fragile lives of migrants from more than 20 countries living, some of them for years, inside a nondescript private prison.

The debate over how to receive immigrants in a country that both depends on their labor and criminalizes them as intruders has emerged as the signature flash point of the Trump administration, which has swept a growing number of undocumented immigrants like Geh into detention at places like Otay Mesa and vowed to secure the border against future illegal crossings.

But as Washington battles over the president’s plan for a border wall and how to handle an influx of new migrant families arriving from Central America, the letters exchanged in San Diego have made an international political drama intensely personal.

“In the U.S. our tendency is to really dehumanize migrants,” said Kate Swanson, another geography professor at San Diego State. “We put them in these concrete boxes. This helps them become visible.”

Detainees began writing letters, many using stubby golf pencils purchased for 6 cents from the commissary. They pleaded for help while telling their stories of rape, murder and torture in their home countries, and of separation from their children at the border. Volunteers responded with shock and empathy, sending Christmas cards, poems, pictures and updates about their own families. They also sent small amounts of money to the detainees’ accounts for purchases of such things as extra food and drinks, toothbrushes and sneakers.

For those awaiting imminent deportation, “all we could offer was commissary and moral support in the meantime — like the cup of coffee on the deck of a big ship that’s going to sink,” said Joanna Brooks, an associate vice president at the university who initiated the campaign, which has grown to 200 volunteers.

Otay Mesa, operated by a private prison corporation under a contract with the federal Immigration and Customs Enforcement agency, opened in its current building southeast of San Diego in 2015. Of the 930 immigrants in ICE custody as of this week, 796 are men.

But fewer than half of the detainees have criminal convictions, according to the latest records kept by the Transactional Records Access Clearinghouse of Syracuse University. Most are simply awaiting the outcome of deportation or asylum proceedings. Of those with criminal records, drunken driving and illegal entry into the country are the most common offenses, the analysis shows.

“We are not who President Trump thinks we are,” wrote Luis, a 19-year-old gay man from El Salvador. “What I want is to create conscience of who we are as migrants. We are not a danger to society.”

The letters, written in halting English and flowing Spanish, told stories of how people had wound up in a place so far from home. Mostly, they expressed longing to know that someone knew they were there.

“Whenever you reply my letters, it is a light for me in the darkness,” said an asylum seeker from the Democratic Republic of Congo who goes by the initial K in the archive. “It is true it makes me cry because your letter showed care and love as a human.”

As much as the communication has helped ease the loneliness for the detainees, it has deeply affected the lives of the letter writers as well. For Debbané, whose academic specialty is post-apartheid South Africa, the letters to Geh led to in-person visits and prison calls; they talked about colonialism in Africa, and shared books and articles.

“We are there for one another, and I believe that we appeared in each other’s lives at just the right moment,” she said of Geh, who was taken out of Otay Mesa by ICE on his 29th birthday and is now at a detention center in Alabama.

“I have all of her letters with me,” he said in an interview. “I read them every day.”

The letter-writing project began when the Trump administration’s policy of separating migrant parents from their children at the border was roiling the country last summer. Brooks gathered similarly outraged friends and colleagues at her house; together, they found the names and alien registration numbers for 30 detainees at Otay Mesa who had been part of a migrant caravan held up at the border in Tijuana. The volunteers rented a post office box for the detainees’ responses.

When the first batch of 16 handwritten letters came back July 11, Jennifer Gonzalez, a lawyer in the group, said: “We were all sharing bits and pieces and names and stories. I had this intense sense that each one of those letters didn’t just represent a real person, but they represented a family who missed this person, their community, down to their ancestors.”

Within six weeks, the group had a system in place for writing letters daily and depositing funds into detainees’ commissary accounts. The group estimates it has spent more than $10,000 since July.

“There are 140 of us who have organized to share our commissary,” wrote Ulises, who came to the United States to seek protection from the abuse he suffered as a gay man in Honduras. “We are people from different countries, India, China, Pakistan, Cuba, Jamaica, Vietnam, etc. There are many different languages and sometimes we have to communicate by signals because we don’t speak the same language, but that does not prevent us from providing moral support to each other.”

Terrie Vorono, a volunteer in the group, thanked him for his letter and offered a connection: As the mother of a gay son, she is an advocate for gay rights. “We know that our children are never 100 percent safe even in the United States,” she wrote to him.

The letter writers have not found universal support. Rosanna Benink, who has hosted volunteers at her house every Monday, said one of her friends wondered why she bothered.

“She said to me, ‘Well, they shouldn’t be here in the first place, so what did they expect?'” Benink said. She said she tried to explain that these were “true asylum seekers,” but ran into more apathy. “You get that reaction and it blows me away,” she said.

The volunteers asked the detainees to describe their living conditions at the prison, and the letters revealed common complaints: spoiled food, itchy soap, harsh treatment, lack of access to legal counsel. An advocacy group formed by the letter writers, Detainee Allies, published a separate report based on the findings from the letters.

“Things here become more and more unbearable,” a 50-year-old woman from Guatemala wrote on Dec. 3. “They make the temperature intensely cold, our bones hurt. The meal schedule is irregular and the food is not healthy. An officer said that it was food for dogs.”

The detainee named Luis, who had come via the migrant caravan and has since been granted asylum, wrote that for personal hygiene, “we are only given soap and shampoo, but the soap and shampoo they give us makes us itch.” To avoid it, he said, detainees must buy a better brand from the commissary.

Amanda Gilchrist, a spokeswoman for CoreCivic, the company that operates Otay Mesa, said officials at the detention center had been responsive to the needs of detainees, correcting problems when they came to light. She said facility managers monitored the temperatures and the food. “Meals in CoreCivic facilities meet or exceed nutritional standards, which are set by our government partners,” she said.

As the months have passed, some of the detainees have left — either winning the right to live in the United States or, more often, sent back to their home countries.

Swanson has found herself thinking often about one of the men she wrote to, Juan, who had come to the United States to avoid death threats from MS-13 gang members in Honduras.

She had written to him about her son and husband, and sent Honduran soccer scores. But he was deported after three months, and the letters stopped. Swanson said she was sure he was dead.

But it wasn’t so. Reached in Honduras last week, Juan said he was safe and planning to leave again for Mexico to find work; he wouldn’t try to return to the United States, but he did have one lasting memory from the experience: Swanson’s letters.

“I felt like I had family,” he said.

This article originally appeared in <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2019/02/07/us/immigrant-detainee-letters.html" id="1927d731-5d20-3246-a068-dc5f6ba2f348">The New York Times</a>.

Achiri Nelson Geh, a young activist deeply involved in the independence movement in southern Cameroon, knew he had to flee: Police officers had killed his brother, and they were looking for him. Making his way by plane, boat, bus and foot to Mexico, he surrendered to United States authorities at the border in the hope of winning asylum.

'A Light for Me in the Darkness': For Migrant Detainees, a Bond Forged by Letter

The Court of Appeals ruled that the state Civil Rights Law, as it stands now, still allows the department to withhold certain records of misconduct to protect individual officers involved.

The legal battle over making the disciplinary records public has raged for years, even before the death of Eric Garner in police custody in 2014 made the issue of transparency more urgent. At the time, the police said an obscure section of the civil rights law, known as 50-a, made it impossible to release the disciplinary history of the officer charged with using a chokehold on Garner.

The New York Civil Liberties Union, which brought the suit six years ago, called Tuesday’s decision a “terrible setback.”

“Anyone who has been paying attention to policing over the last several years around the country understands that police misconduct is a major national issue now,” said Christopher Dunn, the civil liberties group’s associate legal director.

“And you can’t have accountability without transparency. When the biggest police department in the country has a secret disciplinary system, that just breeds mistrust and that has to change.”

The civil liberties union had waged a six-year effort to release records of police officers who had gone before the Civilian Complaint Control Board and then had a departmental trial. The suit was started at a time, Dunn said, when the police still had a policy of stopping and frisking large numbers of men in high-crime neighborhoods.

Dunn said that the civil liberties union was not seeking the identity of the officers, but rather details about how police administrative judges decided misconduct cases and applied the law in their courtrooms in Police Headquarters.

The civil liberties group won the case in state Supreme Court, where a judge ruled that the Police Department had to release redacted documents. But an appellate court overruled the lower court, and on Tuesday, the Court of Appeals affirmed that decision.

The city’s police unions immediately hailed the decision as a welcome victory. The unions have long contended that disciplinary records can be used to harass officers, especially during cross-examinations. They also argue the disclosure of discipline records for police misconduct cases could undermine the faith the public has in law enforcement.

“For more than 40 years, the court has recognized the tremendous potential for abusive exploitation of these records and the harassment — or worse — of police officers, firefighters and corrections officers,” Patrick J. Lynch, the president of the Patrolmen’s Benevolent Association, the city’s largest police union, said in a statement.

Michael Palladino, the president of the Detectives’ Endowment Association, called the decision “exhilarating, especially in this climate.” He added, “The court recognized both the danger involved in police work and the protections intended by the law.”

Judge Michael Garcia wrote in the court’s opinion that it was not legal to release certain disciplinary records going back 10 years, including “misconduct allegations, hearing judges’ impressions and findings, and any punishment imposed on officers.”

“The statute was designed to protect police officers from the use of their records ‘as a means for harassment and reprisals and for purposes of cross-examination by plaintiff’s counsel during litigation,'” he wrote.

Mayor Bill de Blasio has called for changing the state law, as have a long list of judges, lawyers’ groups, public defenders and criminal justice reformers. In the past, those bills have gone nowhere because of Republican opposition in the state Senate. The legislation may stand a better chance once the next legislative session begins in January, when Democrats will control both houses of the Legislature and the governor’s office.

The city Law Department released a statement after the ruling stating that the law must be amended to achieve “the transparency this administration favors.”

Dunn said protections under the law might, for example, come into play in the case of Jazmine Headley, the 23-year-old woman whose baby was pried from her arms last week as she was arrested in a government office. The charges against her were dropped Tuesday.

“Under this ruling, we are never going to know if those officers are going to be disciplined under the NYPD,” Dunn said. “Whether you think they should be disciplined or not, there’s no question the public should know what happens with these officers, one way or another.”

This article originally appeared in <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2018/12/11/nyregion/police-disciplinary-records-court-ruling-nyc.html" id="46f942a6-30f4-38b4-a074-56c3d39ac113">The New York Times</a>.

Discipline Records of New York Police to Stay Secret, Court Rules

The latest legal effort by civil rights advocates to force the New York Police Department to make disciplinary records of police officers public failed Tuesday in the state’s highest court.

<h1>Achiri Nelson Geh, a young activist deeply involved in the independence movement in southern Cameroon, knew he had to flee: Police officers had killed his brother, and they were looking for him. Making his way by plane, boat, bus and foot to Mexico, he surrendered to United States authorities at the border in the hope of winning asylum.</h1>

This article originally appeared in <a id="6538b93c-d9c7-4c05-bb55-6f36c07798fb" href="https://www.nytimes.com/2019/02/07/us/immigrant-detainee-letters.html">The New York Times</a>.

6 Cent Golf Pencils and a Priceless Lifeline for Jailed Migrants

One day this past summer, though, a lifeline arrived: Not $50,000, but a letter from Anne-Marie Debbané, a professor of geography at San Diego State University, near the Otay Mesa Detention Center, where he was housed for the first 20 months.

6 cent golf pencils and a priceless lifeline for jailed migrants

<h1>When the Democrats wrested control of both legislative bodies in Albany, New York, they wasted little time pushing through their reform agendas that had been languishing for years. It was as if the dam had broken for the blue wave. To wit: Before 2019, the Child Victims Act had not even reached the full Senate floor. This year, it passed that chamber unanimously.</h1>

Gov. Andrew Cuomo has announced ambitious plans around criminal justice and women’s opportunities. In addition, the leaders of the Assembly and Senate have promised to address bail reforms, marijuana law, environmental concerns and measures to help stem the opioid crisis. These likely won’t be so easy to pass.

Here is a guide to keeping up with the swift changes in laws and what they mean:

The new Legislature first passed laws to ease voting for residents. Early voting and preregistering minors will be allowed, and those who move within the state will not have to reregister. Federal and state primaries will be held at the same time, the fourth Tuesday in June. The Legislature also closed the loophole that allowed corporations to pour almost unlimited amounts of money into election races through multiple limited liability companies.

For 16 years, lawmakers had been proposing to ban “conversion therapy” — working to change sexual orientation or gender identity — for minors. On Jan. 15, a law finally passed overwhelmingly in the Senate and Assembly.

The legislature later passed the Gender Expression Nondiscrimination Act, or GENDA, which prohibits discrimination based on “gender identity or expression” by employers, educational institutions, landlords or creditors.

Reproductive rights

On Jan. 22, the 46th anniversary of the Supreme Court’s landmark Roe v. Wade decision, Cuomo signed the Reproductive Health Act, which legally ensures the right to abortion in New York state if Roe v. Wade were overturned. The law took abortion out of the penal code, where it was allowed as an exclusion, and included it as a right in health law. It expanded who could perform abortions beyond doctors, to those licensed or authorized to do so. And it allowed abortion after 24 weeks to protect the mother’s health or if the fetus was not viable. The governor also expanded access to contraception with the Comprehensive Contraceptive Care Act, as well as protections against discrimination from employers for using contraception.

The loosening of some restrictions on late-term abortions spurred a backlash among conservatives, Republicans and religious groups, some of whom were seeking to use the issue to attack Democrats and rally voters toward the 2020 presidential election.

The Legislature voted for a stand-alone DREAM Act, approving state financial aid and scholarships for students brought to the U.S. without legal authorization. The vote came after nearly a decade of failed votes, the last when the bill was tied to an education tax credit.

Other issues remained on the table. Immigrant rights activists have been pushing Albany to approve of driver’s licenses for residents without legal authorization. Also being considered: reducing maximum jail sentences for certain misdemeanors that could otherwise lead to deportation.

The Child Victims Act had foundered for 13 years, held up by powerful private interest groups, some insurance companies and private schools, and some leaders of the Roman Catholic and Orthodox Jewish communities, many of whom had significant influence with Republican lawmakers. The act had not even gotten out of committee when there was a Republican-controlled Senate.

In 2019, with the Democrats in charge, every senator — Republicans and Democrats alike — voted for the bill, and the it passed the Assembly 130-3. Now if the statute of limitations has passed, victims can sue in civil court for damages, which religious leaders fear could bankrupt their organizations.

For the first time in six years, the Legislature passed a package of restrictive gun laws, even as it did so along party lines. The lawmakers voted on Jan. 29 to ban bump stocks, prohibit teachers from carrying guns in schools, and extend the waiting period for gun buyers who do not pass an instant background check. The new laws also included a “red flag” bill that would temporarily block or ban someone from buying or owning a gun if a judge deemed that person to be a potential safety risk.

Gamblers wanting to bet the farm on all varieties of the big game got their hopes lifted when the State Gaming Commission gave its preliminary approval to a set of rules that would allow sports wagering in four upstate casinos. But that agreement — which still needs to pass through a public comment period and another formal approval from the commission — is far from a bettors’ paradise.

It does not permit for online bets, which are allowed just across the Hudson River in New Jersey. The chairmen of the Assembly and Senate racing and wagering committees believed the commission has the power to authorize online sports gambling, but the governor’s office said that would take a change in the state Constitution, which requires two legislatures’ approval and a voter referendum. That will not happen until 2021 at the earliest, but betting at brick-and-mortar lounges could be a reality by April.

Recreational marijuana

The prospects for legal recreational marijuana are somewhat hazy. Legislative leaders have dampened expectations for a quick passage of such a law, despite Cuomo’s promises that it would be part of his 100-day agenda. The complexities of legalization of the drug, which is still technically illegal in the eyes of the federal government, are myriad — including schemes for its taxation, distribution and potential effect on poorer communities. Still, expect the issue to heat up as the April 1 deadline for the state budget looms.

Congestion pricing

Finding much-needed money for New York City’s subway system is one of the governor’s biggest priorities. But his big-ticket proposal — charging motorists who enter the busiest parts of Manhattan at the busiest times of day — is unpopular among legislators from the other boroughs and the suburbs (not to mention upstate legislators, many of whom do not see a reason to care). Even lawmakers who support the idea say they need to see more details.

Cuomo, a skillful tactician, is expected to use all kinds of carrots and sticks to get his way. But he is dealing with a rejuvenated, re-empowered Legislature, so expect a fight.

Criminal justice reform

Advocates want to do away with cash bail; guarantee speedy trials; reclassify which parole violations send people back to jail; and force prosecutors to give defense lawyers possibly exculpatory evidence — which they can withhold until virtually the last minute — earlier.

There is a lot of support among legislative leaders and Cuomo. On Thursday, Heastie declared his support for a “100 percent ending of cash-bail system” — a milestone for reformers, since the Assembly last year passed a version that would have preserved cash bail for certain alleged crimes. But some legislators have pushed back, citing public safety concerns, and law enforcement officials were expected to fight changes, too.

This article originally appeared in <a id="b77e3c09-41c3-48fd-986d-30cb5dc942eb" href="https://www.nytimes.com/2019/02/04/nyregion/albany-laws-democrats.html">The New York Times</a>.

Albany's blue wave wastes no time changing laws, what's next?

Here is a guide to keeping up with the swift changes in laws and what they mean:

<h1>At issue is the question of inclusivity, which has haunted the national movement since its inception.</h1>

The schism grew out of accusations of anti-Semitism against members of the national Women’s March leadership in Washington, prompting Jewish organizations, civil rights groups and other local Women’s March organizations to break from them.

Now the drama is playing off-Broadway, with two competing protests of the Trump administration in Manhattan happening Saturday.

At least twice since October, the two groups discussed unifying. But both times, conversations broke down under feelings of hurt and distrust.

A very cold chasm remains between leaders — and a physical distance of some 50 blocks.

How did there end up being two ‘marches’ in New York?

In the beginning, the only march that existed in the city was organized by the Women’s March Alliance, a grassroots organization separate from the Washington group. Katherine Siemionko, a former Goldman Sachs project manager with no prior community organizing experience, has been its director.

Then in 2018, the New York chapter of the national group, Women’s March, founded by Agunda Okeyo and other black activists, began organizing in support of various causes and then planning its own 2019 march.

Because the Alliance held the only parade permit that the Police Department would issue, one of the leaders of the National Women’s March group, Linda Sarsour, a Palestinian-American activist from Brooklyn, tried to join forces with the Alliance.

But on a call in early October, Siemionko said, Sarsour was “threatening” and tried to wrest control of the New York protest from her group.

But Sarsour said Siemionko refused to cooperate with the Women’s March group and that they were only trying to make the Alliance more inclusive to the city’s immigrant and minority communities.

“It’s not representative of the larger city,” Sarsour said in an interview. She instead asked for help from the New York Immigration Coalition, which oversees more than 200 community immigrant groups and of which she is a former board member. The coalition provided the money, equipment and staff for the rally.

In January, the Immigration Coalition also urged the Alliance to merge marches. By then, Siemionko said, it was too late.

“Nobody who holds a counter women’s march supports women’s rights,” she said. “There’s no justification for that behavior. None.”

How are New York City’s Jewish leaders responding?

New York’s Jewish leaders, in particular, are conflicted because of the Women’s March NYC’s connections to the organization’s leaders in Washington. Sarsour’s resolute position defending the Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions movement in protest against Israel’s occupation of Palestine has proved problematic for some.

But her co-leader, Tamika Mallory, helped push the divide as a result of her public support of Louis Farrakhan, leader of the Nation of Islam, who has called Jews “termites.” Mallory has condemned bigotry and anti-Semitism but has not condemned Farrakhan personally.

“If you are sympathetic to those who are prejudiced against Jews, we cannot stand with you,” Rabbi Ammiel Hirsch said in a sermon Friday at Stephen Wise Free Synagogue on the Upper West Side. The synagogue was disassociating from the Women’s March group and any events affiliated with it; Thursday, it will hold a panel discussion sponsored by Zioness, a women’s organization.

Other groups denouncing the Women’s March include the Jewish Community Relations Council and the National Council of Jewish Women.

Rabbi Sharon Kleinbaum, founder of New York’s most prominent LGBTQ congregation, Congregation Beit Simchat Torah, defended Sarsour, whom she has worked with on social justice issues, and Mallory: “They are not anti-Semitic.”

She was part of a group of nine rabbis who signed a letter supporting Women’s March NYC, saying Sarsour and Mallory “have taken meaningful steps” to be more welcoming and inclusive to Jewish women.

Rabbi Felicia Sol, of B’nai Jeshurun synagogue on the Upper West Side, urged her congregants not to forget black Jewish women, who will be attending the Women’s March NYC rally.

“It’s upon us to recognize that, to own who we are, of all stripes and colors and ethnicities, we’re not choosing to exempt our white privilege at a time when so much is at stake,” Sol said.

What do the march leaders say?

Sarsour admitted the group was slow to address concerns of anti-Semitism and has since revamped its Unity Principles to include Jewish women.

Okeyo, director of Women’s March NYC, said: “We’re certainly not anti-Jewish or anti-Semitic in any way.”

“There’s no hate there, at all,” she said, adding that she grew up in a Jewish neighborhood and embraced the community.

At a news conference Friday, Siemionko appealed to the Jewish community of Manhattan: “We specifically hosted on the Upper West Side as a hats off to the Jewish community, saying, ‘You are welcome to come.'”

Pointing to the large Jewish population in that neighborhood, Siemionko added that they would not have to travel on the Sabbath. She did not mention Jews living elsewhere in the city.

But wait, there’s a third option.

An informal gathering of people with disabilities and their supporters will start at 2 p.m. in the main hall of Grand Central Terminal, sponsored by activist group Rise and Resist.

Jennifer Bartlett, one of the leaders of an action billed as a “non-march,” said she felt frustrated by the leadership of the Women’s March Alliance. She said that for two years she had approached them to make their march more accessible and to put a disabled person on the board.

Siemionko forcefully denied allegations that she was not being inclusive, sensitive or legally compliant to people with disabilities; she sent a cease and desist letter to Bartlett, who has cerebral palsy, to stop her social media attacks on her.

Rise and Resist has endorsed the Women’s March NYC, and moved back the original timing of its rally so that people could attend both.

Is this a breaking point for the women’s march movement?

“Oh, no,” said Gloria Steinem, reflecting on her decades as a feminist leader, activist and writer. “It’s so not critical. This is why I keep saying older and younger folks need to be organizing together.”

She is supporting Women’s March NYC, having known Okeyo as a family friend for years. She said she respects the inclusive women’s rights platform that Women’s March NYC has produced, including legislative advocacy.

Steinem will be a featured speaker. Her advice to people who are confused?

“March with one of them. But march.”

Where and when will each action take place?

— The Women’s March Alliance will start its march at 11:15 a.m. at 62nd Street and Central Park West, where there will be a small, 8-by-8-foot stage. Gates open at 10 a.m. at 72nd Street and Central Park West.

Unlike last year, when there were numerous lengthy speeches, there will be only 15 minutes of speakers to kick off the march, to be named later, and entertainment, including a Brazilian women’s drum line and a Joan Rivers impersonator. The route will go across 59th Street to Sixth Avenue and finish at 44th Street about 3 p.m.

— The Women’s March NYC, which does not have a permit to march, will host a “Women’s Unity Rally” at 11 a.m. in Foley Square, between the courts and 26 Federal Plaza, which houses immigration agencies. The square, a city park, will open at 10 a.m. for rallygoers and will finish about 2 p.m.

This article originally appeared in <a id="f0020859-7a77-49f6-b5ba-f3c2de904595" href="https://www.nytimes.com/2019/01/16/nyregion/womens-march-rally-nyc.html">The New York Times</a>.

How New York City Ended Up With 2 Competing Women's Marches

NEW YORK — For weeks, bitter accusations have been flying on Facebook pages, in emails and on phone calls between two groups organizing women’s marches in New York City. They each say they are fighting for women’s rights, but they are also fighting each other.

How New York City ended up with 2 competing women's marches

<h1>So 2019 starts with whiplash. On Thursday, Gov. Andrew Cuomo announced that the L train was not completely shutting down for repairs after all.</h1>

Despite nearly three years of hand-wringing, community meetings and general upheaval to prepare for the so-called L-pocalypse, the governor announced a new plan that would avoid requiring a full closing.

In the original plan, a shutdown was deemed necessary to repair corroded cables in the tunnels spanning the East River that were damaged during Hurricane Sandy in 2012.

Instead, the governor said, they would be fixed with innovative technology not yet used in the United States, with the work taking place only on nights and weekends.

In one hour, Cuomo upended years of planning and hundreds of thousands of lives. It may be for the better. But will it even work? Why did he wait so long to do this? What did Elon Musk whisper in his ear during Cuomo’s “out-of-the-box” consultations? There are still so many questions, and we will answer them here as soon as we can provide an update.

Here’s what we do we know about what this means for Brooklynites, East Villagers and the rest of the city:

— How can they do this without a shutdown?

The Metropolitan Transportation Authority will keep both tunnels open during the day and do its work on nights and weekends, shutting down only one tube at a time.

Trains will run in both directions, but that will result in long waits between trains — up to 15 and 20 minutes — during repair times. The authority still plans on running more G, M and 7 trains to handle passengers who are rerouted during the repairs.

— When will this start?

Probably in April. Which was when the shutdown was supposed to start.

— How long will it take?

Transit officials said it could take 15 to 20 months. The previously planned shutdown was supposed to take 15 months. The governor stopped short of guaranteeing that it would not go beyond 20 months.

“It’s a silly question, ‘Am I going to promise on a construction project?'” he said.

— Who will be most affected?

L-train riders who work nights and weekends, or those who play on nights and weekends.

A luxury ride share company that started just for the shutdown, The New L, said it would keep its waitlist open, just in case the new plans didn’t work, and there was still a need for the $155-a-month service.

Construction and congestion on side streets in the East Village could be abated, sparing neighbors fumes from supplemental buses and asbestos in the debris removed from the tunnel.

— What about the 14th Street busway, special buses and other plans?

Andy Byford, who oversees New York City’s subways and buses, said there would likely not be a high-occupancy vehicle lane over the Williamsburg Bridge, as had been planned. Additional ferry service from Brooklyn to Manhattan will also not be needed.

No decision has been made regarding shutting down 14th Street in Manhattan for bus service (and also expanding bike lanes).

— For tunnel geeks: What is this new technology?

In December, the governor asked experts from Cornell University’s College of Engineering and Columbia University’s Fu Foundation School of Engineering and Applied Science to suggest alternatives to a shutdown.

Their solution was to abandon the old electrical cables now embedded in a cement bench wall, at the base of the tunnel; construct a new racking system on the sides of the tunnel, and hang new cables wrapped in fireproof material; and then fortify the bench wall with fiberglass polymer.

Still confused? So are we. Stay tuned.

This article originally appeared in <a id="834d40f6-c788-465e-8b34-afb06e118a4e" href="https://www.nytimes.com/2019/01/03/nyregion/l-train-brooklyn-manhattan-shutdown.html">The New York Times</a>.

The L Train Isn't Shutting Down After All. What Exactly Does That Mean?

In the original plan, a shutdown was deemed necessary to repair corroded cables in the tunnels spanning the East River that were damaged during Hurricane Sandy in 2012.

The L train isn't shutting down after all, what exactly does that mean?

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