South Portland G Train Entrance to Open

June 28, 2005, NY Daily News — The long-shuttered S. Portland Ave. entrance to the Fulton St. stop on the G train in Fort Greene is expected to reopen to the public next month, transit officials said. The entrance leads to the Queens-bound platform of the G train at that stop. The reopening means straphangers using that platform won’t have to walk two blocks underground and through a tunnel that stinks of urine to get to an exit, residents said. Residents said the entrance – which was never manned by a token-booth clerk – was closed because of high crime in the area in the 1980s and early 90s. Crime in the local police precinct has dropped 68% since 1993, NYPD statistics show. Still, some residents had reservations about the reopening. “The best thing they ever did was close it,” said Joel Murray, who has worked at a deli on the same corner as the shuttered entrance since 1968. “It was smelly; guys were sleeping [in the entrance],” Murray said, adding, “This is the fastest, easiest way for muggers to escape.”
G! This is Progress [NY Daily News]