Peaceniks Holding Up MTA Bleecker Street Construction

Remember how back in April how the MTA's $133 million project to connect the uptown 6 train at Bleecker Street with the B, D, F and V lines at Broadway-Lafayette had local merchants in a panic? They said their customers were being driven away by the massive construction ripping up Lafayette Street, and it really did look like an inconvenient eyesore down there. Well, the latest fly in the ointment is a three-story brick landmark building on Lafayette and Bleecker; dubbed the "Peace Pentagon," it's owned by the A.J. Muste Memorial Institute, where various progressive groups have their offices. MTA contractors couldn’t proceed with work because the scaffolding outside building is right where they need to dig. And the scaffolding can't be removed because, according to amNY, it's actually propping up the building. Officials now expect the project to be delayed two years because peace activists, not known for their spectacular wealth, need to raise hundreds of thousands of dollars to fix the building. It's bad news for retailers like Jack Wu at the Adore Floral store; he says, "I have customers who call and ask if we are still open. They are trying to modernize the system, but it's killing me."